Subtantial improvement over Emotiva XPA-1's?

Leog2010, whether or not these amps bring out the best in your speakers is a roll of the dice. And it's a "dicey" game. You may have to just roll the dice and take the financial risk. All the brands you mention should on paper be a sonic step up from Emotiva; you will not know anything until you hook up the new amps and listen to your speakers, but you could end up having to re-sell. Not familiar with Theta, but Clayton and McIntosh have great reputations for quality. But good quality amps mated with the wrong speakers lead to dissatisfaction. Here's a thought, get some ideas for amps from the speaker maker Tyler.

Also, nypr2003 has XPA 1's and has owned Tyler speakers too. Might want to contact him.

I'd go with tubes and not worry about the D1's bass response. Supplement with a small sub/s that would have control your rooms bass EQ.

You'd end up with the lushness of tubes and deeper more controlled bass.

I'm really considering a pair of Rogue Apollos monos with KT120 tubes... Any comments?

Love my Rogue Stereo 90 with KT120s. It is back at Rogue now getting updated to Super Magnum status.

I vote for the McIntosh MC601 monoblocks, regardless of what type, brand, or spec speaker you have, the MC601 will bring out the best out of the speakers you have.