emotiva....what's the catch?

Upstatemax

steveinaz wrote: »

Emotiva is a good value product---but they are a value product. If you're the average listener and just enjoy a step up from the everyday equipment, it will work for you just fine. If you're a brandy-snifter, smoking jacket type; you might want to go a little more high end. Also keep in mind that if you go "used" you may find better products at the same price levels.

Think of it this way, you can buy Hyundai's top-of-the-line car, but it still isn't a Mercedes.

+1

I'm a big fan of VALUE. Knowing that, I try and stick to used market if possible.

If used is not in your comfort zone, I think Emo gear should be a real consideration.

gdb

I especially enjoyed the prospect of melamine in pet foods shipped to America from communist China ! :rolleyes:

steveinaz

You're not planning on eating your emotiva amp, are ya?

tonyb

What dog food and Emotiva have to do with each other is beyond me.

If crap in dog food is your main concern, and I am a huge fan of dogs, nobody is twisting your arm to buy dog food from china. Plenty of natural dog food makers right here at home to satisfy anyones needs

cstmar01

I've owned the XPA-1's, XPA3 and UPA2 and some other stuff by them.

Overall was it the best of the best, no. I didn't mind it for HT as it was a ton of power and easily drove the system. For 2 channel it wasn't my fav and would recommend something better.

Also the XPA 1's drove me nuts as you have such a wide span in the binding posts which is just silly as I had to have custom made speaker cables for them.

and yeah their forum is terrible. Once someone says the moved away from emo amps they are treated like they are stupid and WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? which is just annoying. They will not support each other if they want to talk about cables, or anything and just will have a bombardment of "it doesn't make a difference why do you waste your time?" which doesn't help anyone.

steveinaz

Buy Blue Buffalo, only the best for my monkey-faced pugs.

gdb

"What dog food and Emotiva have to do with each other is beyond me.

If crap in dog food is your main concern, and I am a huge fan of dogs, nobody is twisting your arm to buy dog food from china. Plenty of natural dog food makers right here at home to satisfy anyones needs"






Just another in a long list of negatives about Chinese goods. ( for those too dense to glean the correlation)

tonyb

The one on the left kinda looks like you Steve. :cheesygrin:

tonyb

gdb wrote: »

"What dog food and Emotiva have to do with each other is beyond me.

If crap in dog food is your main concern, and I am a huge fan of dogs, nobody is twisting your arm to buy dog food from china. Plenty of natural dog food makers right here at home to satisfy anyones needs"






Just another in a long list of negatives about Chinese goods. ( for those too dense to glean the correlation)

Probably best suited for another thread but yeah.....got the correlation, china= crap, Emo, blah blah. Sure you don't want to bring chinese drywall into the thread too ?

You won't find too many to argue against your point in some chinese goods, but it's not a broad brush to be used anymore as it was in the past when it comes to electronics. We make crap too, doesn't mean everything we make is crap.

gdb

Seems as though it may have been "lost" on you...........:rolleyes:


As does post 61 by headrott, where tires,toys,coffee makers etc. were cited.

"If you buy from China (in general), good luck."

sucks2beme

I'm ok with EMO. It's their fan base that gets on my nerves.
Go value is good value. But many go over the top telling us how
great it is. That's what provokes the over the top negative responses.
I spent time over at Head-fi, the term is FOTM(flavor of the month).
A new product comes along, gets high praises, and after a while it goes out
with a wimper. A combo of over the top fans and shills hype stuff to death.
EMO is a value amp and seems to get the job done. If I rebuilt my HT system I might go
that route. But for serious 2 channel? That's where this kind of stuff falls short.
Tried and true, and USED is where my 2 channel goes.

BlueFox

As a software engineer I am not a fan of China, or India. However, my Polk LSi15s are made in China, my PSB Synchrony Ones are made in China, my Aerial Acoustic 7T cabinets are made in China (speaker finished in the U.S.), and I love all three speakers.

Tankman

tonyb wrote: »

The one on the left kinda looks like you Steve. :cheesygrin:

Lolo..

steveinaz

That's my boy Theodore Martini (LOL--Teddy). Martini, laughingly after my middle name of Martin. yeah--I know "Steve Martin" I get it. The other one is Bella Jean, after Bev's middle name of Jean.

Upstatemax

gdb wrote: »

I especially enjoyed the prospect of melamine in pet foods shipped to America from communist China ! :rolleyes:

I've seen more recalls on American and Canadian made dog foods than Chinese ones...

starkiller

Stay on topic people, this is about Emotiva, not where its made, not about all things chinese or taiwanese or japanese or americanese, its about how good or not they are...opions are fine as long as they are educated. Value vs perceived value, warranty, cost, kind of room, associated gear..all that gets factored in on buying decisions. Some of the posts in remind me of grand parents who both use to like John Denver till they saw a picture of his "long" hair and decided they didn't like him anymore:eek:

PubFiction

headrott wrote: »

First let me point out that I am not "knocking" Chinese made gear, I am simply pointing out my personal experiences with Chinese made equipment and people I know personally and their experiences and what I hear reported (example: Chinese made toys containing lead, Chinese made tires blowing out, killing the driver and passengers, coffee makers that stop working in 2 to 3 months, etc.etc.). I am simply stating what I have seen in 18 to 20 years of paying attention to Chinese manufactured items. I have no inherent bias against Chinese made items. If you think I am pointing out stereotypes you had better read again where I included Japan in the list of quality made items. Japan progressed to making higher quality electronics in less than 20 years. 20 years have gone by for China and despite you trying to put a "high quality standard" spin on the Chinese quality (in general) it simply does not ring true. Is there Chinese made gear that are better quality? You bet, but as I stated they are the exception not the standard. To compare Chinese made electronic equipment to German, U.K., USA and Japanese made electronic gear is a joke. There is no comparison (from my experience with Chinese made gear compared to German, U.K., Japanese, and USA made gear). I also have no bias against Emotiva gear, and people can buy what they want (as I stated in my last post). I am simply stating that (in general) Chinese made gear does not equal the quality of USA, German, Japanese, and U.K. made electronic gear (and items in general for that matter). Take or leave what I say. That's for every person to decide. All I am saying is that Chinese made items are not made to the same quality as the countries I mentioned above. I know it's a fact, I've experienced it first hand many many times over the last 18 to 20 years, period. If you buy from China (in general), good luck.

Like you said you are making a generalization based on anecdotal evidence. But you leave out comparable anecdotes from say the USA, like SUVs rolling over, tons of car recalls and failures, even recently contaminated drugs killing people in hospitals. The europeans used to look are America in exactly the same way. I cant tell you just how many times I grabbed a product like these hose sprayers and I purchased a product that was more expensive because it was made in America and turned out to be a POS, could have spent less as recieved a perfectly working Chinese "knock off".

And since there has been very little if any reccomendations for amps that compete in the price and power range of Emotivas then we cant really compare quality based on that. I mean that should really be the point, what companies make an equal amp to emotiva that is made in the USA, germany or whatever that's the same price.

tonyb

Price alone will not dictate quality, but I'm still a firm believer in you get what you pay for. A Mercedes and a Ford Focus will both get you to the grocery store but doesn't mean the the Ford is better or a Mercedes killer.

sucks2beme

Once again, being a good bargain amp is just that. No, there's not going to be any recs here
better new amps at the same price. That's not the point. You want a new amp at that price point,
that's the go to choice. It's the same reason people buy Kia cars. It's ok, I don't have a problem with that.
But don't ever think that EMO is as good as it gets. That the part that gets on our nerves.

rdb2001

Well I am not a fan of emo and think there fan bois are the worst but for fun, I am going to try their xpa1s out in home for 30 days. I have a friend who has owned parasound jc1's and say the emo's are just as good. Those are his claims but I want to see how they perform for myself. I am 3 hrs from their headquaters and frequently make trips there for work so the cost will be nothing for me to try them. I currently own a bryston 4bsst2. My dealer is allowing me to demo a pair of 7bsst mono's that he recently got in a trade in. I figure this would be a better time than any to see how emo stacks up as they have similar specs to the bryston monos. If they are 90-95% as good, then they have done their job well for the cost. My 4bsst2 retails for 3k more than 2xpa1s do with no sale and the 7bssts go for more. HT will not be evaluated as HT is easy to do. It will be strictly 2 channel with hi rez digital files and some cds. This should be fun.

tonyb

sucks2beme wrote: »

.
But don't ever think that EMO is as good as it gets. That the part that gets on our nerves.

Cha-ching.....bingo ! Exactly

cfrizz

tonyb wrote: »

Price alone will not dictate quality, but I'm still a firm believer in you get what you pay for. A Mercedes and a Ford Focus will both get you to the grocery store but doesn't mean the the Ford is better or a Mercedes killer.

sucks2beme wrote: »

Once again, being a good bargain amp is just that. No, there's not going to be any recs here
better new amps at the same price. That's not the point. You want a new amp at that price point,
that's the go to choice. It's the same reason people buy Kia cars. It's ok, I don't have a problem with that.
But don't ever think that EMO is as good as it gets. That the part that gets on our nerves.

Once again, some of you guys are living in the past, find anywhere in this thread or any RECENT thread where anyone has said that Emotiva was the best thing since sliced bread.

I haven't seen this kind of comment in ages, but this is the excuse you use to immediately put the gear down, even when no one has made this kind of a comment.

Not everyone can start at the top, not everyone is willing to buy used just to get more expensive gear. Some of you are really doing a dis-service to people who feel this way and basically putting them down because they want to start their journey on beginner/value whatever the hell you want to call it gear.

If you are going into Emotiva's lounge and watching them foam at the mouth about trying other gear and then come back here and start putting down the gear on here because of what was said in ANOTHER forum, is just wrong.

If someone comes on here asking about Emotiva, it doesn't mean they are a fanboi and should immediately be slammed or the gear dissed. It just means they are looking for UNBIASED information.

Some of you have clearly shown that you cannot give an unbiased opinion simply because you can't let go of what happened in the past and that is what turns these kinds of threads into such a mess.

It really is a shame and sad.

sponger

It's true that no one in this thread has said that emotiva amps would hold up in a pepsi challenge against premium hardware. But here is a statement from Emotiva's website describing the XPA-200:

Emotiva website wrote:

Equally at home powering a super stereo system, or the front channels of an audiophile surround system.....

Here's a statement from Emotiva regarding the XPA-100:

Emotiva website wrote:

If you're looking for the ultimate in audiophile amplification, then you need a set of XPA-100s

In other words, the manufacturer is claiming that its products are in fact "audiophile-grade." While this type of marketing-speak is expected, I can't say I've ever seen a reputable company make such a heavy-handed claims about entry-level equipment. So, I figured that if they aren't being wildly generous with the audio nomenclature, then their amps really are much more than meets the eye.

I carefully read through every yay and nay in this thread, and while the nays were very informative and thought-provoking, the yays convinced me to continue taking emotiva into serious consideration for the time being. I especially enjoyed reading the comments describing the Monitor 70s as "revealing" speakers.

I'm in no rush at the moment, and I'm probably going to hang back for awhile.

Thanks again.

F1nut

It just means they are looking for UNBIASED information.

I used my ears, which were not pleased. Is that UNBIASED enough for you?

mantis

rdb2001 wrote: »

Well I am not a fan of emo and think there fan bois are the worst but for fun, I am going to try their xpa1s out in home for 30 days. I have a friend who has owned parasound jc1's and say the emo's are just as good. Those are his claims but I want to see how they perform for myself. I am 3 hrs from their headquaters and frequently make trips there for work so the cost will be nothing for me to try them. I currently own a bryston 4bsst2. My dealer is allowing me to demo a pair of 7bsst mono's that he recently got in a trade in. I figure this would be a better time than any to see how emo stacks up as they have similar specs to the bryston monos. If they are 90-95% as good, then they have done their job well for the cost. My 4bsst2 retails for 3k more than 2xpa1s do with no sale and the 7bssts go for more. HT will not be evaluated as HT is easy to do. It will be strictly 2 channel with hi rez digital files and some cds. This should be fun.

If the Emotiva amp even competes with the Bryston , that speaks volumes to me. We carry Bryston and IMO some of the very best sounding gear on the planet. There amps are incredible.
I'll be waiting on your review of the Emotiva amp , this should be very interesting .

tonyb

Lets also not forget Brystons warranty....20 years, if they still offer that. Sure that also plays into the price tag.

pearsall001

F1nut wrote: »

I used my ears, which were not pleased. Is that UNBIASED enough for you?

According to you your ears also dislike B&W speakers. So let's seen now...your ears dislike both Emo gear & speakers from one of the most well respected manufactures in the world...hmmmm. Interesting observations.

F1nut

Doesn't matter who makes it if it doesn't sound good and since you're doing nothing more than strirring the pot, I'll respond in kind. My ears don't like Yamaha or Rotel gear either.

rdb2001

mantis wrote: »

If the Emotiva amp even competes with the Bryston , that speaks volumes to me. We carry Bryston and IMO some of the very best sounding gear on the planet. There amps are incredible.
I'll be waiting on your review of the Emotiva amp , this should be very interesting .

Your thoughts are exactly mines. If it even competes with the brystons, that says alot. I have the 4bsst2 and 5bst and they are great amps. Probably as high end as I will ever get. Only way I sell them if I can get amazing deal on the 7bsst. Front end electronics are a recently purchased rogue audio perseus tube preamp, marantz na7004 feeding a peachtree audio idac. Might be able to even get a M2Tech dac. A friend of mine has one and maybe willing to let me borrow it. Monitor Audio GX300 speakers. Audioquest King cobra interconnects and audioquest speaker cables. I will be in nashville friday so hope to pick up the pair then. Will burn them in for about a week and go from there.

rdb2001

tonyb wrote: »

Lets also not forget Brystons warranty....20 years, if they still offer that. Sure that also plays into the price tag.

They still offer it but its more to it now. If you buy used, you must have the original bill of sale and it must have been purchased from an authorized dealer. It started with a certain date code that they put this in place. Not sure how strict they are when it comes to upholding it. So making sure the person you are buying from still has the original bill of sell with serial number on it is the key.