Emotiva xpa 5 / speakers question

ahmed

I have a marantz sr8001 receiver, with polk tsi500 (fronts), cs20(center),4xtsi300(surrounds).

I am thinking about using the sr8001 as a preamp and buy 2 of the emotiva xpa 5. I will have enough inputs to biamp the fronts/center and amplify the 4 surrounds.

My question is: given that my speakers are on the low end, will adding the xpa 5 be a significant improvement over using just the receiver. Also, would it be safe power wise, considering the tsi300 can only handle 150W/channel.

I just bought the speakers and built custom stands for them so I would rather not deal with upgrading the speakers at the moment.

geebolt

I had an Onkyo 807 with TSI500's front, CS20 center and R40's surround. Went with an XPA-5 and was / am very pleased with the results. Listener fatigue vanished and the transients were much improved. I can listen louder now but it doesn't "sound" as loud if that makes any sense. Its that much cleaner. I'v since upgraded to RTi A7's and moved the TSI500's to surround duty and also replaced the CS20 with a CSi A6. Also replaced the Onkyo with a UMC-1.
I don't know if the bi-amping of the fronts will do much for you and you could save a bit of cash by going with an XPA 3 for the front and center and an XPA 5 for the rest. But then you'd have one unused channel in the XPA-5 and I don't know if thats recommended...

George

mole'

i would use a XPA-2 for the fronts and use a XPA-5 for the rest.

polkfarmboy

ahmed wrote: »

I have a marantz sr8001 receiver, with polk tsi500 (fronts), cs20(center),4xtsi300(surrounds).

I am thinking about using the sr8001 as a preamp and buy 2 of the emotiva xpa 5. I will have enough inputs to biamp the fronts/center and amplify the 4 surrounds.

My question is: given that my speakers are on the low end, will adding the xpa 5 be a significant improvement over using just the receiver. Also, would it be safe power wise, considering the tsi300 can only handle 150W/channel.

I just bought the speakers and built custom stands for them so I would rather not deal with upgrading the speakers at the moment.

Its my opinion that The marantz 8001 will sound 30 times worse if you add the emo amps

Some people might call you a buht fhaker also for your choice

domflane

I'm with mole', or look for a 7 channel power amp with around 200 wpc. Sunfire comes to mind.

Toolfan66

mole' wrote: »

i would use a xpa-2 for the fronts and use a xpa-5 for the rest.

++++1000

geebolt

mole' wrote: »

i would use a XPA-2 for the fronts and use a XPA-5 for the rest.

+1 on Mole's suggestion. That would cost the same but you'd have 300wpc for the fronts.

Thanks Mole'. Why didn't I think of that???

And then there is always the upcoming XPR-7 with 7 channels @ 400wpc. But you need a 220v 30amp circuit to take full advantage of it...

George

cstmar01

You really don't need 2 XPA-5's because honestly I wouldn't think bi amping these would be needed honestly. Just one XPA-5 and you would be fine and run the rear surrounds off the AVR and your good to go.

Or get an XPA-3 and run the front 3 and the rest off the AVR. Once again it would have more than enough power for the surrounds.

cfrizz

What Mole said. No need to biamp, you will have all the power you need.

ahmed

Thanks a lot. I think that is what I'm going to do. XPA5 + XPA2. I now how to figure out if my 2x15amp circuits would be able to handle the load.

I have
300W lights
450W benq w6000 projector
275W ps3 (200-300)
20W WD Live
50W Tivo
???W Marantz SR8001 as a preamp
???W XPA 2
???W XPA 3

I can use my kill a watt to figure out the marantz. Any input on the xpas would be appreciated.