Thinking about a seperate amp

The XPA-5 is awesome. Do it.

WARNING: Going separates may cost you more money than you think. IMO, if you're gonna get a monstrous multi-channel amp, upgrade your speakers, as well, especially the fronts and the center. Eventually, you'll want to make additional upgrades until your entire system is changed out in order to bring it up to the level of your separates.

What are your listening preferences -- movies-to-music?

What's your budget?

Focus on upgrading the two front speakers, and get the best fronts you can barely afford. Buy what you really want the first time (within reason, of course). Don't skimp here. Then put your current fronts in the rear and sell your rear speakers.

What Curved said.

All speakers improve with more amplification. It might not be night & day or it just might be. It certainly was for my 18 yr old RTA-8T's!

If you have been listening to the crackpots over at Audioholics...DON'T They don't believe in anything except specs, and doubleblind listening tests. Your ears can't be trusted since it's all psychological. (you want to hear an improvement, therefore you do!):rolleyes:

Since you are planning on upgrading your speakers anyway, get the amp now & enjoy it with the system you have now & it will be one less upgrade you have to make in the future.

Besides, with a XPA-5 you will even be able to upgrade to the LSI's without worries about having enough power to drive them!

curved wrote: »

I say go for it and see how it sounds....if you are skeptical, you can always buy a used amp. Rotel, Parasound, Adcom, etc

A nice 5 channel wil last you a loooong time. That will be a good investment.

Mutelight,

I had a somewhat similar system (Monitor 50s, 30s, and CS1) powered by Yam 663. Adding an XPA-5 made a huge improvement. More bass, more detail, sweeter tone, less boominess---like new speakers. I can't help thinking that your 70s would show improvement at least as great.

The downside in my case was the speakers instantly became quite obviously the weak link in the system, so I had to upgrade to a pair of LSi9s ($900 from Crutchfield. Now when I see their price on Polk Direct I want to cry) which sound terrific. New ICs from Blue Jeans made a nice improvement too.

One upgrade can lead to another and it gets expensive. But the XPA 5 is the one audio purchase I've never regretted (except for sometimes wishing I'd gone for an XPA 2 instead) (and come to think of it I don't regret the BJC ICs) and I can't recall seeing anywhere any suggestion that XPAs work better with one sort of speaker than another. So my suggestion is if you're interested in the Emo try it out; it will probably be a great help to your Monitors now and will work well with any speakers you get down the road, and if necessary you can send it back.

(However, check my postcount and apply the newb discount to all of the above.)

Good luck,

early b. wrote: »

cfrizz -- it's time for you to upgrade your speakers and hear what you've been missing.



(...changes into flame retardant clothing...)

lol:d

No need Brad, I's a nice person!:D

I will upgrade my speakers when they either die, or when Matt designs a new LSI tower speaker that I can physically manage.

I put a bug in his ear about it at PF2008! He immediately started throwing out ideas of how to accomplish it!:D

If my beloved RTA's die before Matt comes out with a new speaker, I will buy the Dynaudio Focus 220's.

Early B. wrote: »

Cfrizz -- it's time for you to upgrade your speakers and hear what you've been missing.



(...changes into flame retardant clothing...)

You are unfairly condemning the XPA-5 based on results from the lower wattage LPA, because you didn't want to spend the money for the XPA. Until you have tried the XPA, you really don't know if it is true or not.

Someone else on here has had both the LPA-125 & the XPA-5 & he heard a clear difference with BOTH for the better.

Power is power regardless of who's name is on the product. Outlaw & Emotiva have enabled lots of people to get into separates at an affordable price, with lots of happy customers now enjoying their systems even more.

Kex wrote: »

I wasn't trying to say that aiming for 200w/ch was not a good thing, Cathy, just that a 200w/ch Emotiva might not be the same as 205w Parasound. My point was, other than being cautious when choosing entry level amplifiers, that a 200w/ch Emotiva is not necessarily better than some other amplifiers, possibly even some with fewer than 200w/ch. The XPA-5 seems like a bargain, just as the LPA-1 did when I tried it, but if it doesn't work, it's too expensive at any price. In that case, it might be better value to save up some more and pay twice the price of the Emotiva for something that did work as intended, or explore other options on the used market, or spend the same amount of money on other improvements that might yield better results.

Kex,
In a previous thread
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72192&highlight=understand
I asked why someone would buy the XPA-2 ($799) rather than the XPA-5 ($799) given that the specs are similar for two channel operation and the latter gives you more flexibility. There I was told that the XPA-2 just "sounds better." It seems to me that you were making a similar suggestion above.

I also don't see why it is an insult to use the phrase "entry level." Many people on these forums refer to R50s as entry level. They were truly my entry into real audio equipment and that is a good thing.

NewHTguy wrote: »

I also don't see why it is an insult to use the phrase "entry level." Many people on these forums refer to R50s as entry level. They were truly my entry into real audio equipment and that is a good thing.

Entry level is the lowest cost in the line which usually translates into the lowest quality. Emotiva gear is not on the same level as most "entry level" amplifiers. The XPA-2, for example, sounded just as good as an amp I owned previously that retails for $2,200, and it's build quality is as good as most amps costing several thousand dollars. So based on the build quality and sound, I don't consider these amps to be "entry level." Entry level amps would be stuff like Audiosource, HK PA2000, Outlaw monoblocks, Marantz MA500 monoblocks, most pro amps, etc.

Again, you are making assumptions about a more powerful amplifier from the same company that you haven't tried all because you were disappointed in the lesser powered amp that you did buy.

Then to boot, you attribute that disappointment to the fact that you didn't spend a few hundred more on a 'NAME".

Until you have tried an XPA 5, you really have no basis for your claims to go to another brand.

We always try to tell people looking for amps, as many of the companies that build them & to also shop Audiogon for a used one.

Kex wrote: »

We can also agree on that: I was hinting at the same thing earlier ...

I would also add to that list "what is your favorite listening level?". For people who like to listen frequently to music at 90dB or above, an external amplifier with 200w/ch might be the only way to get there, with the right speakers too. For people who listen mostly between reference level at 85dB, and lower, a good receiver might yield the desired results IMO.

Very good point!! Compare a 40w tube amp to a 200w SS amp. There is a huge difference between the 2. If I wanted to listen to music at low-moderate levels, I would hands down go with the tube. If I was always pushing the hell out of my speakers, I'm going to want that power.