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Emotiva XPA - 1 mono blocks.

So before all the audiophiles burn me at the stake please here me out! I pulled the trigger on a set of these mono's due to a couple of factors.

1. While I throughly enjoyed hoppy as much as the next person. I do have a wife and childeren so my budget restricts me from buying $5k plus amps.

2. I had $2k to spend on amplification up grade. Everything I found by the big names for 2k was 15 to 20 yrs. old and i was scared to pick up someting that would be an expensive repair/update within a year of buying due to the age of the unit.

So my question is arethere any real world experiance with the XPA 1's out there that can give an unbiased/fair review of the amps? Again I don't expectthem to compete with mcintosh or krell amps at their price point. But I would expect them to compete with say Rotel/parasound units that are in the same price range.
2channeljunkie
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,611 posts
 
.
Junkie, the ultimate test is how the amps will sound in your room with your equipment. Every opinion out there is using totally different equipment than you...in a totally different room. The only way to see is to try the amps yourself. Opinions are all over the place. Some love the amps and some don't think much of them. Let your own ears be the judge.

Be sure and get back to us with your review when you get your amps. If you like the amps...don't be afraid to say so. No one can tell you what you hear. Ignore the highbrow audio snobs and the Emotiva fanboys and be honest with yourself. Are you buying new or used?
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2channeljunkie OP
99 posts
 
Mitch a set of used ones. The will be combined with a Musical fidelity cdpre 24 and Dunlavy SC 4 speakers with MIT MH-750 big wire speaker cables.
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Junkie, the Emotiva amps should be a pretty good match for your speakers. The XPA-1 has quite a bit of capacitance and current capability. This should result in a fairly "authoritative" bottom end.

The X series of Emo amps do exhibit a bit of sibilance when new, but this diminishes with use. And since you are buying used this should not be an issue.

The best advice we can give you is to get 'em into your room/system and give them a fair listen. For the money you spent, I doubt you could do much better. And since you bought used, the depreciation has already occurred. You should be able to sell them for about what you paid should the need arise....

-RW-
2channeljunkie OP
99 posts
 
Thanks RW
2channeljunkie OP
99 posts
 
OK so I got to play with the XPA mono's for just a little while today and must say that I wasn't disappointed with what I herd. I will have more time tommorow to evaluate them and will update at that time...
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