XPA-3 placement

[zumbo]

All I found so far is 120W x 3 @8ohm with .02%.

I am not saying for you to replace your amp. I just posted the amp for others that may be interested.

It has less power, but is more desirable IMO.

 

[just-some-guy]

Made in Japan!

lets remember. at one time "made in japan" was synonymous with "made in china".
not that i am saying that amp is bad, i am sure it is fine.

just sayin.

 

[zumbo]

lets remember. at one time "made in japan" was synonymous with "made in china".
not that i am saying that amp is bad, i am sure it is fine.

just sayin.

That is incorrect.

Denon is a Japanese company.

Japan builds the most reliable products in the world.

 

[ougrad02]

All I found so far is 120W x 3 @8ohm with .02%.

I am not saying for you to replace your amp. I just posted the amp for others that may be interested.

It has less power, but is more desirable IMO.

I know. I don't intend on replacing it at the moment unless I am unhappy with it. My ears will decide for me. If I don't feel the xpa3 does anything for me then Ill move to something else which is why I inquired about other options. I'm new to the separate amplifiers so I'm just trying to understand your points and reasons for believing other products are better so that I may understand better. Whether I agree with you or take your advice and get rid of the emo amp is irrelevant to me. I'm just trying to learn what I can. Thanks for continuing to engage.

 

[just-some-guy]

That is incorrect.

Denon is a Japanese company.

Japan builds the most reliable products in the world.

no, YOU are incorrect. how old are you ? when i was a teenager, "made in japan" meant, in every "way, shape, or form", the SAME thing "made in china" does these days. back then, there was a whole lotta junk coming from japan. things have gotten better, just as things from china are getting better.

now. i am not implying that denon ever made junk. i am just sayin that "made in japan" did not always mean quality.

 

[zumbo]

no, YOU are incorrect. how old are you ? when i was a teenager, "made in japan" meant, in every "way, shape, or form", the SAME thing "made in china" does these days. back then, there was a whole lotta junk coming from japan. things have gotten better, just as things from china are getting better.

now. i am not implying that denon ever made junk. i am just sayin that "made in japan" did not always mean quality.

Man, you must be old.

When I was a kid, I got my first motorcycle. Honda XR75. Bulletproof. As far from junk as you can get.

When I was a teenager, I got my first car. It was a 1976 Toyota Celica. Flawless perfection. And it was just a $1000 used car.

I have since owned about 7 Toyota's, 2 Datsun's , 1 Nissan, 5 Honda's, 3 Yamaha's, 3 Red Max, 4 Denon's, and on-and-on.

Made in Japan has never, ever, meant junk.

 

[zumbo]

You see, the problem was Americans tried to pass Japanese products off as junk.

Yet, those old machines kept going and going.

Today, everyone knows it. This is why Japanese autos and bikes are king.

This is also why one must pay a premium price to get a Denon that is made in Japan.

I honestly can't believe I am debating this. Feels like 1979 all over again.

 

[zumbo]

And yet still, you see problems with the Chinese made Denon's.

Problems with Chinese Marantz as well.

 

[just-some-guy]

Man, you must be old.



Made in Japan has never, ever, meant junk.

lol, well, not yet. but i'm workin on it, and fighting it .

again, you are incorrect. at one time it did "imply" junk = some stuff was, some stuff wasn't.

so. this is the end of this debate from me. but do not mistake this as conceding .

 

[zumbo]

 

[Mike Ronesia]

So ougrad02, Where did you end up putting the XPA-3? How do you feel about the sound compared to the receiver alone? I know when I added my amp to my Denon the difference was huge. The louder it got the bigger the difference. The Denon was OK at low volumes but clipped well before reference and I didn't like feeling limited or risking my speakers.

I'm like you and don't know all the fancy terms but I know when something sounds better and it was a no brainer, heck even my wife noticed and she rarely pays that much attention. I'm not interested in spending many thousands on components but am sold on separates at this point.

I hope you're enjoying it.

 

[ougrad02]

So ougrad02, Where did you end up putting the XPA-3? How do you feel about the sound compared to the receiver alone? I know when I added my amp to my Denon the difference was huge. The louder it got the bigger the difference. The Denon was OK at low volumes but clipped well before reference and I didn't like feeling limited or risking my speakers.

I'm like you and don't know all the fancy terms but I know when something sounds better and it was a no brainer, heck even my wife noticed and she rarely pays that much attention. I'm not interested in spending many thousands on components but am sold on separates at this point.

I hope you're enjoying it.

To be honest it doesn't really have a permanent home yet lol. It is currently just sitting on the floor next to my sub. I'm in the process of rearranging things so I may even buy a new av stand to put everything on. We'll see.

As far as sound.....yes I think it sounds amazing. I don't really have anything to compare it to as far as other separate amplifiers but when compared to just the Onkyo 705 I was using I feel as though it is a rather noticeable difference. I really feel like it opens the speakers up and makes them shine. I may even get a upa-2 now to drive the surrounds and use the Onkyo purely as a processor. I settled on the Paradigm Studio line after auditioning a ton of speakers. A lot of them in home. I was planning on doing the same thing with amps. I've heard monoblocks from outlaw and now the xpa3. I was hoping to try the anthem mca50 but now I'm not so sure. The anthem is a great amp I'm sure but I don't know if its justified to spend that much extra money when I'm extremely happy with the emotiva amp. I think I may take the money I saved by going the emotiva route and upgrade my receiver. I like the new receivers from anthem and I'm also thinking of maybe getting into an Integra 40.1 or 40.2 depending on what prices I can find and then just using the xpa3 and upa2. Sorry I know you didn't ask all that and I'm kind of rambling now. Overall though I'm really very happy with the xpa3. I was actually surprised at the difference it made.

 

[ougrad02]

Now that I think about it I think I may just go ahead and order the upa2 now and go look for an integra 40!

 

[ougrad02]

Mike,

How do you like the UMC-1 as a preamp? How did it compare to when you had just the Denon?

 

[Mike Ronesia]

Mike,

How do you like the UMC-1 as a preamp? How did it compare to when you had just the Denon?

The UMC-1 seems to have as many people that hate it as it has that love it. The problem with the haters is they have either never tried it or they had an early one. Those had issues for a lot of users. I have a early one and never experienced a lot of the issues others did. I have a simple setup with no cable box and I think that played a big part with the early issues. Mine just works so I don't think about it much from a issues standpoint.

That said, I love mine. My Denon 2808 Denon ran hot, was powering it's amp even though I was not using it to drive the speakers and a few other things that I used as reasons to justify the purchase. Setting up and making changes to the Denon was a pain, their manual and setup layout was not user friendly at all. It did work well though once you got it set up. The UMC on the other hand is supper simple yet has so much you can do with it. You can set it and forget it or fine tune it for different inputs using multiple different profiles. It's very flexible.

To be honest I had no expectations of it improving the sound over the Denon, I just wanted one. I hooked it up and did a quick setup and then put in a disk that I use for the THX test when I make a change. Tammy (wife) and I are sitting on the couch and I start the disk and we both look at the bathroom because we hear water running in the sink... It was on the disk and the many times I'd used it before with the Denon we had never hear it. I played it 3 times and we both are just like wow! How did we miss that before. It kinds freaked us out a little because it had us fooled. I've done no blind testing but that alone sold me on the SQ improvement. Again I didn't expect to hear any and was very pleasantly surprised.

The remote is a big metal brick but I us a Harmony 1 so no big deal It is good looking so I leave it out and it's more part of the decor then anything.

I say if you're in the market it's worth a look. You have 30 days to see if you like it and it will help spread the wealth so some poor Chinese guy can make a buck to feed his family.

I think the thing with made in China is who is in charge and is it made to their specs? I think there are a lot of quality products that come out of China if the quality control is set to higher standards. I would also guess there are made in China components in most things made in Japan, US and Europe as well. Sorry, just needed to add my thoughts on that.

Don't forget you can take the trim off if you don't like it.

 

[zumbo]

 

[Mike Ronesia]

Boy, after all the time it took you to come up with that reply I was really hoping for something a little more cleaver. Very disappointing, very disappointing indeed.

 

[zumbo]

Boy, after all the time it took you to come up with that reply I was really hoping for something a little more cleaver. Very disappointing, very disappointing indeed.

You're right. At this point, it's a battle that is just plain silly for me to be fighting.

I am here due to my passion for the hobby. I love quality, and good sound.

Others are here due to their extreme knowledge of how components are built, and they are far too advanced to get involved with most that are just looking for cheap equipment.

Then, there is the others. These seem to be here to sway newly joined members to buy some johnny-come-lately brand they have never heard of. What is amazing to me, is how well it works.

Tried-and-true. It's what I do.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think it's about what we can afford.

If we were all millionaires, I bet we would all own McIntosh, Mark Levinson, Krell, and all those big boy amps.

But some good folks cannot justify buying more expensive gears.

Different strokes for different folks.

I love this hobby, and I like to see everyone else love this hobby too with whatever gears they own.

If my friend loves the sound of his $400 Sony receiver and $500 Bose speakers and talks about them all the time, I'm cool with that also. I may not like his gears at all. But I like the fact that we have something in common - we both love this hobby and can talk about it all the time. I would never tell him that I think his gears are crap either.

I may not buy Emotiva, but I don't see any problems with other folks buying them.

 

[Alex2507]

If my friend loves the sound of his $400 Sony receiver and $500 Bose speakers and talks about them all the time, I'm cool with that also. I may not like his gears at all. But I like the fact that we have something in common - we both love this hobby and can talk about it all the time. I would never tell him that I think his gears are crap either.

I may not buy Emotiva, but I don't see any problems with other folks buying them.

Sounds like you're equating Emo with Blose but that's cool. Some folks have earned the privilege of saying they are crap by owning them and some folks have earned the privilege of saying they are awesome by the same route ... kind of like you with the refurbs.

Why am I posting here? Do you sense an imminent thread derailment? I went to a Bose store yesterday. I listened to some 901's and saw a demo of their $5k+ 46" LCD TV.

... my work here is done.