Emotiva XPA-1 monoblock impressions...

My wife got tired of me looking at amps and decided to just call up emotiva and order me a pair of XPA-1 monoblocks. They got delivered a few days ago and after lugging the beasts into the front room my wife just sat there and shook her head with a silly grin on her face

I will post my initial impressions right now and post a more detailed review at a later date.

My setup.
Front Mains: Martin Logan Spires
Center channel: Martin Logan Stage
Rear: Def Tech BP7006's
Sub: SVS PC12-NSD
Pre-pro: Anthem Statement D2v
Multi-channel amp: Emotiva UPA-5 (5 channel amp)
-- and of course two Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks
Cables: Signal cable analog two XLR IC's and Ultra speaker cables
TV: Panasonic 58" VT25
Source: HTPC bitstreaming to Anthem D2v (FLAC files from J. River Media Center)







Initial impressions: The XPA-1 is a very no nonsense amp. Clean lines and quality construction. While the bright blue LEDs might not be for everyone I actually like it and it matches the lights on the back of my Spires perfectly. You can always turn the LEDs off with a switch on the back of the amp.

So the build quality is top notch. As many people know, Emotiva products are made in China, but the company is based in Nashville, TN. They have amazing customer service and if any repairs are ever required they are done in the States (in TN). Anyway, now to the main part of any review....the sound.

After 15 or so hours of music and movies I feel I can give a nice impression of the XPA-1's. The sound is very neutral IMO. I just changed out my pre-pro to the Anthem D2v and the brightness that I felt the UPA-5 was causing actually disappeared. So my old trusty Onkyo 805 was a little too bright for my tastes I guess. I have had a chance to listen to some Miles Davis, Mahler, Bach, Ana Popovich, Bob Dylan and Muse. The XPA-1's seem to just laugh and dare me to push them harder. The music reproduction is very, very, very accurate. Even at low levels little details are dictated well. I would not call the XPA-1's warm, nor would I call them bright sounding. I really feel they are amps that will be whatever the pre-amp feeds them. The Anthem D2v as a preamp is no slouch and while not as musical as $4k and up pre-amps it is a very musical pre-pro.

Anyway, that is all I will write for now. I will throw more at the XPA-1's later when I get more time (and when I can play with them when the wife is out of the house so I can crank up the volume :devil.

About 200 hours on the amps and they are still proving that they can reveal little nuances that I haven't heard before. For example, in Mahler's Symphony #2 I know many little things about this piece because it was a major feature when I was in my college orchestra. Previously when I have listened to it, the UPA-5 is able to produce the power of the symphony, but it was never able to properly reproduce the blend of the instruments and vocals in the 4th movement. The XPA-1's do this amazingly and not only do they accurately reproduce the presence of the symphony, they are able to help with the placement of the instruments and the performers tremendously.

More to come when I get me new cables

LMAO Dude seriously Emo is the worst amplification on the planet

If you have no idea what you are talking about then don't even bother posting.

Your post is utterly and totally useless.

You say your wife got tired of you looking !! at amps and just decided to call emotiva . Why dont you go listen to amps instead of looking at them ? Thats pretty funny

What other amps have you heard ? Dude emo's is noisy and harsh and your review is misleading others into buying emotiva thinking its a good product .The build quality is terrible with cheapest of the cheap materials

I bought a 5 ch emo and try'd to give it a chance but is horrible and the binding posts on them are made of really crapy material found on low price chinese amps Whats the point of spending money on cables if they are hooked up to cheap sh^t binding posts .Sorry it if I hurt your feelings but you sound like an emotiva fan boy .The emo clubs the best place to post your unflagging enthusiasm for a sub par amp . This forum has great taste and lets me post this but if it was on the emo forum I would be banned and you would be praised

Do you like the graffiti thats all over the front of them mono amps ?

I dont understand why pay all that money for those wonderful speakers and that smoking hot D2 just to amp them with sub par amplification .If you think them mono's sound good just wait until you get yourself some krell or classe

Obviously you haven't heard the amps I am talking about. Yes, I have heard plenty of good quality amps to include McIntosh, Outlaw, Bryston and Anthem. The XPA-1's are very, very good amps. I am not sure where you are coming from, but you obviously don't know what you are talking about.

I have read your posts and you clearly don't quite understand half the things you read on this forum. Stop spreading fud. These are my impressions. If you don't like it, then bite me!

Dude ever saw that movie skyline where the flashing blue light sucks everyone in to be part of some alien collective intelligence ?

I dont need to hear the mono's because I have conversed with credible audiophiles who said they are below par to be polite .The Emotiva I own is garbage, crap ,cheap and ugly like a cheap mcintosh rip off

When I bought my emotiva amp the binding post crumbled in half when I try'd to connect my MIT speaker cables up .Half the binding posts would not even accept the bannna's .I called up the customer service department and told them this and they said it was not their problem and I have to pay $70 for shipping back a defective new amp ?..... Thats great customer service hmmm .I have a picture where you can see the horrible material they use for binding post

I posted on the emo forum and I got banned because the emo forum is just a marketing tool and not a real discussion .They deleted the whole thread because all they want to hear is guys like you praising them.

Don't ever get upgraditis with the wife, for a newer model; she's a keeper

I have an emotiva amp to run my rear channels and while I don't think it is a stellar amp, there is nothing wrong with it. It is also their bottom of the line because, well, it is running rear channels that aren't hard to drive and don't need a ton of power. I have a friend with an xpa-3 and it sounds fine. I wouldn't be afraid of buying an emotiva product and frankly, I wouldn't take the word of many audiophiles on anything as I think most of them imagine differences in sound based on price tags.

Does your wife a sister who is single?:rocker:

What exactly is a credible audiophile? Is that the same type of people who use risers for their cables, spend thousands on some snake oil bullshit and claim that this one thing, you know that one thing, makes their system superior to everyone else's??? Don't make me laugh.

Project, your comments are so obviously biased you are shooting yourself in the foot. Not to mention that it is well know that Emo's build quality is very good and their customer service is also top notch.

If there was something glaringly wrong with my amps or something I didn't like I would post it.

You really have to see a schematic & read a no b/s description of the circut. Otherwise theres alot of me too designs out there, theres only so much you can get for the money. Certain designs are capable of certain specs & some not.

Just read Kal Rubinson's review of the Emotiva XPA-5 in the November 2011 edition of Stereophile. He has very similar statements about the Emo amps to what I posted earlier, except for the statements that the bass is not detailed. I find the bass to be very detailed with adequate punch with the XPA-1's. I am not a bass-head by any stretch of the imagination, so take that statement with a grain of salt

Hocky said:

I wouldn't be afraid of buying an emotiva product and frankly, I wouldn't take the word of many audiophiles on anything as I think most of them imagine differences in sound based on price tags.

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A typical statement from an emotiva user .People take this hobby very seriously spending thousands and trying out all kinds of gear. If this is what you think then why even bother posting on an audio forum as it kinda defeats the purpose ? You should go to the emo forum and talk about how all cables, power cords and amps sound the same

runnin17 said:

What exactly is a credible audiophile? Is that the same type of people who use risers for their cables, spend thousands on some snake oil bullshit
it is well know that Emo's build quality is very good

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Some people like prada shoes and some people like to wear budlight flip flops from kmart

Runnin,

Thanks for taking the time to share your impressions with us. Regardless of what anyone says, if you like what you're hearing, than you made the right choice. Yes, Emotiva is a value brand, but IMO and in the opinion of many user reviews, they provide fine sound especially for the money. While the aesthetics aren't for everyone (and I sort of fall into the camp wrt the silver metal trim pieces), I know they sell black trim pieces and I even recall seeing someone's setup where they had exotic wood trim pieces built... and they looked absolutely beautiful... hugely improved the look of the amps.

Enjoy your system

runnin17, it sure does seem like projector has an axe to grind with EMO. Let it go, you don't have to defend your choice of gear to anybody. You only have 26 posts and hope you stick around. You'll find the majority of us here will use much more tact and won't crush your choice.

I have listened to a XPA-5 and found it to be a solid amp for HT. I didn't care for it in a 2 channel situation. Personal choice and no slam intended. Just like some of the guys here don't like a McIntosh 275 tube amp on panels which I also tried but didn't care for either.

On the other hand, you'll find that alot of us here at ML use tweaks that you refer to as snake oil. It is your right to not believe in such things as it is ours to believe. As long as the discussions don't get personal, which your post above came close to, I think you can have an ejoyable time here. There is a ton of good info on getting the most out of your ML's.

Gordon

Gordon, I only named one specific thing in the post you are referring to. Projector took his time to hijack my thread and spout utter and complete biased BS. People are entitled to their opinions and that is fine, but I don't have to sit back and let someone attack me and the components I choose to spend my money on. You will never see me personally attacking an member unless I am provoked. If that is an issue then this is probably not a forum I want to be a part of. I am hoping that is not the case though.

projectormovielover said:

A typical statement from an emotiva user .People take this hobby very seriously spending thousands and trying out all kinds of gear. If this is what you think then why even bother posting on an audio forum as it kinda defeats the purpose ? You should go to the emo forum and talk about how all cables, power cords and amps sound the same

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Are you kidding? I have rolled probably $40-50k in retail dollars through my system in the last 2 years. Don't get mad at me because many people participate in this hobby to try to call themselves elite and not because of the actual perceptible differences in sound quality.