Emotiva XPA-1L MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER Class A or Class A/B operation

afterburnt

Can anyone tell me what you think about these. They have some refurbs on sale. Thanks and don't yell at me for using the "E" word lol.

afterburnt

I am more so asking about the Class A or Class A/B operation. If I bought these I would have to nail them to the wall or leave them in the box until I move.

nooshinjohn

afterburnt wrote: »

I am more so asking about the Class A or Class A/B operation. If I bought these I would have to nail them to the wall or leave them in the box until I move.

You can get better amps on the pre-owned market IMHO, when you are settled in and ready to use them. These amps also need to see a 20 amp circuit as I recall.
If it were me, I'd pass.

afterburnt

john what do you know about the class A or class A/B function, what is that all about? I am on 20 amps for now or at least for 16 more months.

BlueFox

I have no experience with these amps, but if you can't use them anytime soon then I would hold off on the purchase. There are plenty around, and will still be available, maybe at a better price, in the future.

In so far as class A, A/B, my amps are like that, and I love them.

afterburnt

xcapri79 wrote: »

For the money, these are probably Emotiva's best amps.
Hard to do better for the price, new or used. I would highly recommend them.
Remember this is a fully balanced amp with XLR and RCA connections.
Each monoblock weighs about 35lbs.
I own two and would be the last Emotiva amps I would part with.

Each amp works from a standard 15A receptacle and you could run both off the same 15A receptacle.
I've A/B tested them against their XPR-2 amp at a friends place a couple of years ago.
He ended up selling his XPR-2 and bought a pair of XPA-1L's.
I was quite happy owning mine as they drive a pair of LSi9's so well.

The XPA-1L can operates in Class A mode for the first 35W for (4 to 8 ohm loads) then switches seamlessly to Class A/B to rated power. There is a switch on the front that allows you to switch between the Class A operation and Class A/B full time.
I use it if you are playing background music or for home theater. But for serious two channel music switch it to Class A.

The Emotiva haters here don't know this amp very well and will tar anything Emotiva with the same brush no matter how good it is.

x do you think it would be worth it to get these to drive my Monitor 70's? Hell I have no idea where I am going to end up but something separate to drive the fronts and another sub is on my short list. I am trying to do all of this before I croak, although I am having fun emptying my pockets (as slowly as possible) lol. Who knows, I have a csia6 on the way, maybe I will want new mains first???

F1nut

Each monoblock weighs about 35lbs.

My SACD player weighs more than one of those.

gudnoyez

yeah since your getting the CSIA6 replace those 70s with a pAir of A5s partial to the A5s only because I own them. you should of used that coupon towards both. Hey have fun building your system.

afterburnt

gudnoyez wrote: »

yeah since your getting the CSIA6 replace those 70s with a pAir of A5s partial to the A5s only because I own them. you should of used that coupon towards both. Hey have fun building your system.

gudnoyez thanks again, I only jumped on the coupon once I saw that no one else seemed to want it. I am taking baby steps and saving for some bigger and better upgrades. I am having a lot of fun with the stuff that I have so far and I am just looking for advice as to where to go from here. I would have to pretty much go into hock for those emos, I was just throwing it out there. The problem is that it is so hard to slow down, this is the first halfway decent system I have had since my stuff got ripped off when I was a teenager. The last good sounds that I had were in my car and I almost never drive it these days.

afterburnt

Oh and thanks for all of the advice Polkies you guys are great!

BlueFox

But you have to admit 'futureupgradeproofable' does have a nice ring.

PSOVLSK

DSkip wrote: »

nbrowser wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Saying that an amp is 'futureproof' or 'upgradeproof' is absurd.

A lil cap refresh/upgrade, some nicer other parts inside can yield beneficial results. I've had the chance to hear a bone stock HCA-1200II and my recapped HCA-1200II, stark differences for the better in the case of my amp, I don't feel like an idiot buying it from a used audio retailer that goes through what they sell and brings it up to snuff.

Not really the point though. Amps do have SQ differences. As good as that HCA-1200ii is, it is not a good match for all speakers. That is the point. Tonality may be a match, but new speakers may reveal flaws in the amp that were not there before (this happened with the Mitsubishi amp when I moved from the 6311 to the X). Also, speakers seldom have the same timbral presentation, so moving between speakers may yield in bad synergy.

It's all about synergy, and no piece is a one-size-fits-all type of product. If it were, we'd all own it by now.

And I believe you weren't too impressed with the Plinius on the 6311, but jaws dropped when you hooked it up to the 703. I dare say there are very few people who would say the 703 is a better speaker than the 6311.

Synergy. I'm finally starting to understand it better...and it stinks. Makes no sense that I can't put the better amp on the better speakers and get better sound.

PSOVLSK

xcapri79 wrote: »

What speakers sound bad with a McIntosh amp? I would love to know that.

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/speakers/stereo_speakers/acoustimass_3/index.jsp

F1nut

xcapri79 wrote: »

One of the big Denon DCD-35XX players?

Oh, hell no.

Nightfall

xcapri79 wrote: »

One of the big Denon DCD-35XX players?

Jolida or Cary?

afterburnt

Anyway if I like how this new Csia6 works out I will set my sights on the Rtia5's .New amps give me a headache lol. Thanks again for all of the help %^)

F1nut

Would it be one you modified with silverish buttons by the same manufacturer of my CDP?

Nah, that one weighs about 25lbs. IIRC.

Jolida or Cary?

Jolida never made an SACD player. Not a Cary either, but their SACD players are heavy mofos too.

ZLTFUL

Funny...my SACD player weighs in at the same weight as an XPA-3. Sadly, it weighs more than my MF A5CR...

nooshinjohn

My monoblocks weigh 80 pounds each, my Pass labs pre and Xono weight 35 each...

tonyb

The M70's are a fairly easy load for most any amp. You wouldn't even be using most that power anyway. Unless you plan on upgrading speaks in the near future, I'd hold off.

afterburnt

tonyb wrote: »

The M70's are a fairly easy load for most any amp. You wouldn't even be using most that power anyway. Unless you plan on upgrading speaks in the near future, I'd hold off.

Tony you dont think that monoblocks would help with these speakers?

F1nut

I'll answer, no.

tonyb

Jess is of course right. The M70'S are an easy load and a lot of that power would sit there idle. Any speaker would benefit some from the good clean power a decent amp offers, but imho, your hitting the extremes. Amps just don't put out their rated power as soon as you hook it up and turn it on.

If the speakers aren't sounding good to you, and you already have some decent power going to them, look for answers elsewhere in your system. Source components, cabling, settings in the receiver correct, placement, etc.

afterburnt

Tonyb I like the way that the speakers sound now (could they sound better?), I have 200 watts going to them from the XPA3, the XPL1L is 250watts. I have only thought about upgrading the speakers if they don't play well with this new Csia6 (The Polk Q&A says they are matched with the 70's, first time I have seen that) or that I like the Csia6 so much that I would want some Rtia's. In any case I eventually want to have all seven speakers on amplifiers so I wanted to know what is the benefit of hooking up those monoblocks instead of say an XPA2 before I upgrade the speakers themselves?

PS I would have asked about the XPA1 but they cost too much.

afterburnt

DSkip wrote: »

xcapri79 wrote: »

For home theater, I doubt you will hear any significant difference. For music, you can hear a difference as the XPA-1L is a better amp by design (35W Class A) compared with the XPA-2 or XPA-3 which sound essentially the same.

Not so sure about that. If that Emotiva is as good as you say it is, it will outclass the M70 and any improvements might be lost in translation. Keep it all in perspective. That isn't a diss on the M70, but they would be the bottleneck when moving up the electronics chain.

I'd be going after matching fronts first.

DSkip that is sort of my plan, max out on what the speakers will deliver and then upgrade them if need be. I believe it was you and some others that suggested Rtia5's for my situation. Why do you reccomend them over the Rtia7's or 9's?

tonyb

afterburnt wrote: »

Tonyb I like the way that the speakers sound now (could they sound better?), I have 200 watts going to them from the XPA3, the XPL1L is 250watts. I have only thought about upgrading the speakers if they don't play well with this new Csia6 (The Polk Q&A says they are matched with the 70's, first time I have seen that) or that I like the Csia6 so much that I would want some Rtia's. In any case I eventually want to have all seven speakers on amplifiers so I wanted to know what is the benefit of hooking up those monoblocks instead of say an XPA2 before I upgrade the speakers themselves?

PS I would have asked about the XPA1 but they cost too much.

Gotcha man. All that being said, I personally don't feel moving up 50 watts is going to make a difference worthy of the costs. The M70's simply aren't going to expose a better amps capabilities. That's not knocking the m70's either, simply stating that they have their limits and those limits are easily reached by what your feeding them now.

If you move up the speaker ladder, different story, but as is....save your coin I say. To get better sound from them, look at sources and cables, you have power covered.

BTW....I am not bashing Emo either. If you ever move up to the RTIA line though, a warmer amp may be a better match. Good luck to you on your journey.

afterburnt

xcapri I can't afford that center right now. I would have loved to have taken better advantage of the coupon but that wasn't possible. The Csia6 was on my short list and $200 bucks wasn't that hard to come up with. Lsi country is still over the horizon.

gudnoyez

afterburnt wrote: »

xcapri I can't afford that center right now. I would have loved to have taken better advantage of the coupon but that wasn't possible. The Csia6 was on my short list and $200 bucks wasn't that hard to come up with. Lsi country is still over the horizon.

Hey Burnt so your A6 did show up congratulations, I'm glad you were able to take advantage of that code. Like I said you're gonna love it?

afterburnt

Yes got it! I think that I posted on the coupon thread that it got here fast. I got it hooked up but haven't been able to listen to it yet. The dog is at home listening to it now lol.

afterburnt

Tonyb I now have some good cables IC'S and a power conditioner. Most of my music is FLACS streamed fom a pc via a blu-ray otherwise I am playing 5.1 music disc on a ps3 all through hdmi. I have some optical and digital coax cable that I could use if that would be an improvement.

Regarding upgrading to Rti's I am a bit hesitatant because xcapri and others have said the 70's are more musical. What do you think?

afterburnt

Not worried about clogging up the thread someone else could learn something too so please elaborate.