Which ones?
Showing 9 responses by tonyangel
Tonyangel, I'm curious, what is arguably better on the used market for that price? Well, if watts equal quality, then they are offering an undeniably good deal. I was referring to sound quality. I don't typically shop for amps rated at 500wpc, but if I was looking to spend $1600 on an amp or two, I'd probably look at the amps that Emotiva is offering (as I often do) and then I would look at the classifieds here. If you just take a look at what's being offered for sale here at the price of $1600 or less, there are more than a few that many would consider to be "better" and they would be able to make a pretty good argument in support of that point. Just pulling up the amp section I'm seeing the likes of Levinson, Belles, Linn, etc. Like I said, ARGUABLY better. It isn't always just about the power either. A pair of XP-1 monoblocks, 500 wpc @ 8 ohms and 1,000 wpc @ 4 ohms go for $1600 a pair at 160 lbs with free shipping, 30-day free trial and 5 year transferrable warranty. You appear to present the above information to make the point that it is a value that can't be beat; but if this is true, then it could also be said that there is no reason to consider an amp on the used market because you won't be able to find anything better at that price. So...are you saying that the answer to all of the "which amp should I buy?" questions posted on Agon is that they should buy an Emotiva (assuming that Emotiva has a competing model)? I hope that isn't what you're saying because that would be ridiculous. I was only suggesting to the OP that there may be other options on the used market. I also asked what model it was that he was interested in, which we do not know yet. The answer to that question may also make what I said more or less valid. Don't get me wrong, Emotiva makes some good bang for the buck stuff. |
I thought I did, when I mentioned the used XPA-1s for $1200, shipped. I also appears that I am wrong when I assumed above that watts do not equal quality. Apparently, you believe that it does. Apparently, I stepped on someone's toes. So, Mitch, have YOU heard the XPA-1s. Do you own them? Perhaps some comments about the sound quality that they produce would lend some credibility to your argument. |
You know, Mitch. As I said above, I was just trying make sure that the OP realized that there were alternatives on the used market. Besides, other than the amps mentioned above, there was also a Krell and a Belles, each of which was rated at 250wpc at 8 ohms, doubling that into 4. I'm sure that your Kappas would not have made either of those cry for their mamas. From a practical perspective, I doubt that there's a hole lot of difference between a 250wpc amp and a 500 wpc amp. I will concede that the larger amp would provide more headroom, but the question of whether that much headroom would be needed still remains. Personally, I'd grab either the Krell or the Belles before the Emotivas at the same price. What I find most odd is that you are making an argument for a product that you have NO experience with. It seems that you are basing your argument on what is written on paper and taking the watts=quality approach. I have heard amps in the XPA line and based on the experience and for the same money, I'd take the Belles all day long. Many also tout the 30 money back guarantee and free shipping. That is all fine and dandy and I commend Emotiva for having such a policy; although having that policy makes sense, since they are a direct seller and it's the only way that they can get people to audition their products. What some may not realize on the back end is that the return doesn't include free shipping. If the OP buys the XPA-1s and decides that he doesn't like them, he has to pay for shipping about 150lbs of amp back to Emotiva and that isn't going to be cheap. |
It looks like the XPR line may be a totally different animal. I'd like to know more myself. The only things that strike me as POSSIBLE areas of concern are that the power doesn't double when going from 8 ohms to 4 ohms, which is something that most amps with "testicular fortitude" do. Still, I don't know that it makes much difference when talking about a whopper of an amp like that. The other thing that bug me a bit is that the specs listed on their website says that 4 ohms is the minimum recommended load. On the other hand, another Agoner did contact Emotiva and asked them about this and Emotiva's response was that the amp would handle a load lower than 4 ohms without problems. If this is the case, Emotiva really needs to update their web site because this could leave prospective buyers believing that the XPR amps are capable of less than they truly are. |
Lowrider, There is surprisingly little info about the XPR, or I just didn't find it. I did a little looking during some downtime at work and didn't find much in the form of reviews. What I have run across is a pic of the inside of an XPR-1... http://www.technologytell.com/hometech/files/2013/01/Internals-of-Emotiva-XPR-1-Mono-block-Reference-Power-Amplifier.jpg I've also found out that the XPR-1 is actually two amps running in bridged mode running to a bank of 24 10KuF caps that are manufactured by Emotiva for the XPR line. Many are raving about them on the Emotiva boards. They are also saying that the XPR amps are apparently a healthy step up from the XPA line. It looks like a beast under the hood. What I'd really like to know is how many of those watts are available in pure Class A. |
Yeah, I ran across a post in a thread that said that the XPR actually does less than 1 watt in class A before it switches to class H, whatever that is. At this point, however, I'm not willing to discount any advancement in technology, in light of what has been accomplished with class D technology. Now you'll have to excuse my ignorance, but isn't it not so good to put the caps so far away from the amp modules? I don't know. I wish someone would chime in with some first hand experience. Oh, I also ran across a couple of posts in the Emotiva forums that were made by Emotiva employees and according to them, they had to specify a dedicated 20 amp line because it was necessary to accommodate the amount of current drawn during testing. They said that in real world use it was very unlikely that a dedicated 20 amp line would be necessary. |