Need amp suggestion please

southbama61

I am somewhat of a newbie and am in need of an amp suggestion. My equipment is as follows

Onkyo TX-NR3010
Lsi25 towers
Lsic
Fx surrounds
DSW Micropro3000
Atrium 8-zone 2 patio

this is a 5.1 set up. I have learned that different amps provide different sound quality with different speakers. Hoping that a fellow Lsi25 owner can make a recommendation. I use for HT and music, but am more concerned with music sound quality. The city that I live in has no dealers of quality equipment, in fact, nothing even nearby. I realize that Emo is cost effective, but I am also understanding that music would suffer with their amps.

tratliff

Many members here running Parasound. They are pretty cost effective also. Lots of discussions about the different models on this site. Let the search feature be your friend. Good luck on your search.

ZLTFUL

Don't buy into the Emo hype. (that one oughta ruffle some feathers!)

Seriously though, I have owned Emos from the UPAs to XPAs to my current XPR-5 and I think they are a solid match with LSis. But *only* LSis.
RTis, RTiAs are a bad match as the XPAs tend to be a bit on the brighter side so matching them with a mellower speaker like the LSis is a good combo.

As for music suffering, for critical listening, I would agree. But is you are just relaxing in your recliner and are listening to some streaming music or just popped in a CD, not at all.

What kind of split will your system be used for? If it favors HT even in the slightest, the Emotiva XPA Gen2 amps are a solid match for the LSis.

That being said, my personal experience with amps in my HT system has been Adcom (GFA-555, GFA-5500, GFA-5503), Emotiva (UPA-2, UPA-5, XPA-2, XPR-5), Musical Fidelity (A5CR) and my little AMC Hybrid tube amp. For HT, the XPR-5 has topped the proverbial charts.
For critical music listening though, the Musical Fidelity and the AMC were tops.
The Adcoms and the rest of the Emos were all about on par with each other overall.

Parasound, B&K and Bryston are all solid recommendations as well.

mikeyb128

I had the exact same setup, minus the micro pro. I used a sunfire with great results. You can find them used for decent prices online. I also use b&k in a 2 channel system with lsi's and sounds great. Lots of b&k' s on eBay right now.

southbama61

ZLTFUL, thank you for the response. Most of the usage is HT, and like my music too. It is sounding like, for a novice like me, the XPA-5 should be sufficient?

ZLTFUL

You would be good to go with a 2nd Gen XPA-5. Is there better options out there? Yeah but you would have to look to the used market and most of those options aren't going to come with a 5 year transferable warranty. Plus Emo offers a no questions asked 30 day return policy. So the worst you are out is the shipping cost to return.

WLDock

The main reason many go for the XPA-5....its the only 200W/300W @ 8/4 ohm 5 channel out there for about $1K.

Outlaw Audio has some options:
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/5000.html
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/7500.html
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/7200.html

Powerful used options if you can get them to ship.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/rotel-rmb-1095-5-X-200-watt-power-amplifier-/171698954789?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fa0e2225

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/ele/4852999988.html

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ele/4872628126.html

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/ele/4872806588.html

ZLTFUL

I have. Several times and my opinion still stands. Everyone's ears are different and what may bow your skirt up may not work for others. I didn't enjoy the combination.