[rbyar]

Good Evening All,

I would like to know your opinion on the quality of construction Emotiva Audio XPA-2 Two Channel Audio Power Amplifier. Also, if you have had any experiences with this unit. I would be pairing it with a tube pre-amp.  My speakers are Maggie 1.6QR.

Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

[JLM]

Build quality looks great, but if you read between the lines, the reviewers aren't ready to call them giant killers in terms of sound quality.  (For the price I wanted to like them real bad.)

[Early B.]

I've owned one and yes, it's definitely a giant killer for the price. Exceptional build quality and great sound quality. The amp is best used for dynamic music such as rock, R&B, country, etc., especially if you like to play it loud. If you're primarily a jazz lover, you may be better served with a more mellow amp. A tube preamp is probably a good match, generally, for the XPA-2. I listen mostly to jazz, so I eventually sold it for a pair of tube monoblocks, but I have the Emotiva XPA-3 on my HT system.   

[Sonny]

Well, I owned the XPA-5, I used it to bi-amp my speakers...they were good, but I eventually went back to my EVS switching amps.  I thought the EVS had more punch, slam, dynamics and so forth...the XPA amps are fine, warm to my ears and system, but wasn't for me. 

Hope this helps....

[azhtnut]

I just ordered one of these that should be here this week.  I am planning to test it against a McIntosh MC402 in a bi-amp set up as the low end amp.  I am using a Mac tube MC275 on the high and middle.  Not sure what to expect, but hope the XPA-2 is reasonably close on the low end at a $3K savings.  If not it wil go back on the 30 day trial return policy. 

Any thoughts on what to expect?  I'll report back after the comparison.

[azhtnut]

Good Evening All,

I would like to know your opinion on the quality of construction Emotiva Audio XPA-2 Two Channel Audio Power Amplifier. Also, if you have had any experiences with this unit. I would be pairing it with a tube pre-amp.  My speakers are Maggie 1.6QR.

Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Rybar,

Received my XPA-2 a couple weeks ago and will finally set it up this weekend in the bi-amp described earlier.  I'll report back at weekend's end on how the XPA-2 performs with comparisons to the MC402.

Marty

[Rclark]

Well, I owned the XPA-5, I used it to bi-amp my speakers...they were good, but I eventually went back to my EVS switching amps.  I thought the EVS had more punch, slam, dynamics and so forth...the XPA amps are fine, warm to my ears and system, but wasn't for me. 

Hope this helps....

 From what I understand, the SQ gets better with lesser channels in these models, with the XPA-1 monoblocks considered the best.

 The XPA-1's are probably in my top three of monoblocks in my potential price range. If that day ever comes I'd wanna get them modded, bored out, so to speak.

 The other amp I wanna try are the UPA-1 monoblocks. I know they won't be anything like my battery powered Vitue, probably not by a longshot, but it would be fun to play around with some high wattage, ab mono's.

 This company is pretty aggressive in their price range. Call Elemental Designs and order a couple subs, for example, and prepare to wait up to two months after they've taken your money. Emotiva has your order on the loading dock after the phone disconnects.

[poseidonsvoice]

 This company is pretty aggressive in their price range. Call Elemental Designs and order a couple subs, for example, and prepare to wait up to two months after they've taken your money. Emotiva has your order on the loading dock after the phone disconnects.

I've found this to be true, all too often. And I don't know if it is because one company sells mostly electronics while the other does mostly speakers. Needless to say, the Emotiva products are already built, waiting in their warehouse in Tennessee. I live in NC. I call and it has arrived here in Western NC by the next day.

So not only do they have aggressive pricing, but aggressive customer service. From a construction standpoint, I can say nothing but the best about Emotiva's work. I also own their in ceiling speakers which are designed by Vance Dickason and sound nice for the price. Maybe they will make a XPA-7 someday!

Anand.

[gregcss]

Hello Rybar,

Received my XPA-2 a couple weeks ago and will finally set it up this weekend in the bi-amp described earlier.  I'll report back at weekend's end on how the XPA-2 performs with comparisons to the MC402.

Marty

Looking forward to your thoughts. I have a Marantz SR5005 receiver and while it seems to power my speakers fine for music and HT, I think adding an XPA-3 to the FL, FR, and Center will take the load of the receiver and improve overall sound. If I like the XPA-3 I will use this for the center and rears and get an XPA-2 for the fronts. I would like to try W4S but I would need to spend $2-3k more for a similar setup.

[azhtnut]

Looking forward to your thoughts. I have a Marantz SR5005 receiver and while it seems to power my speakers fine for music and HT, I think adding an XPA-3 to the FL, FR, and Center will take the load of the receiver and improve overall sound. If I like the XPA-3 I will use this for the center and rears and get an XPA-2 for the fronts. I would like to try W4S but I would need to spend $2-3k more for a similar setup.

Unfortunately, I was able to do just a little testing before returning the XPA-2 on the 30 day trial.  It was not a good match with the McIntosh tube.  The bass had a lot of punch and was clean, but in the end I preferred the warmer sound of the MC402 amp in combo with the tube amp.

Hope that helps.

[Early B.]

Unfortunately, I was able to do just a little testing before returning the XPA-2 on the 30 day trial.  It was not a good match with the McIntosh tube.  The bass had a lot of punch and was clean, but in the end I preferred the warmer sound of the MC402 amp in combo with the tube amp.

No surprises there. The XPA-2 is a good amp, but not many people would expect it to outperform an MC402. 

[usp1]

I owned an xpa-2 for several months. Very well built amp for the money. I tried it with both solid state and tube pre-amps. While this is a great value for the money, I was bothered by the slight harshness in the treble. This was most pronounced when I paired it with emotiva's usp-1 preamp. Using a tube pre (Cary/AES AE-3) or an Odyssey tempest SS preamp reduced the glare a little bit. I currently own emotiva's mps-1 and an lpa-1 (predecessor to the upa-7). The lpa-1 like the xpa-2 has the glare but works wonderfully well for HT. The mps-1 is somewhat more refined and has less glare at the top end.

As other's have stated Emotiva's customer service is top notch. Great people, very helpful both before and after a sale. If the treble glare is not as fatiguing to you as it was to me, this is definitely a product to try. Be careful carrying it though, this thing weighs a ton!

[azhtnut]

No surprises there. The XPA-2 is a good amp, but not many people would expect it to outperform an MC402.

Agreed.  I was hoping that since it was driving the low-end that it would a reasonable replacement at a much lower cost.

[pslate]

If a Class D audio product has enough output for you I would strongly consider that as a possibility. I prefer my SDS-254 to my UPA-2. Not to say anything negative about the Emotiva unit, it works great powering my rear channel speakers in a 4.1 setup.

[Mr Peabody]

Emotiva is a good value, it can give some one a taste of high end of sorts with out the high end cost, the build is typically very good and heavy but after buying a USP-1 it depends on the unit, the USP-1 was like a typical preamp where the ERC-1 was like the proverbial tank.  Where Emotiva falls short in my opinion is they are void of any tonal quality.  Some call this neutral but I disagree, although I can't quite put my finger on another adjective at this time.  "Neutral" can still be musical as in some of the Class D amps but the Emo gear just isn't musical, it lacks textures and pace, it has just that, a void.  If you don't have the budget it's better than anything else in it's price but if you have the budget you will enjoy other quality gear better.

[vegasdave]

I agree.

[stanz]

Hi everyone,

I have two Emotivas XPA-2 in the vertical biamping configuration, the preamp is a Vincent SAT-1 and the source is Emotiva ERC-1 CD player. The sound is magnificent, dynamic, lively, very transparent and non-fatiguing. I might replace the Vincent with the Emotiva XSP-1 preamp, when it becomes available.


My system:
- Emotiva ERC-1 CD player
- Vincent SAT-1 tube preamp
- Emotiva XPA-2 power amp
- SoulSonic Impulse speakers
- Dynavox Flat speaker cables

[Rclark]

 You should sell your 1 and get the 2, it is quite a bit better. And your description of the sound is similar to my experience. They make excellent sounding gear. I am also, dutifully, waiting for the XSP-1 preamp and XDA-2 dac. Supposedly coming very very soon.

[Mr Peabody]

You Emo owners had better keep your boxes if you want your warranty honored or don't want additional expense by buying another original box.  I bought two Ultra 12's when they first came out, one was bad out of the box, I sent it back and just decided to go with one sub, the second one recently died, only about 2 years old, I didn't have room to store the box, now I am at a crossroad to spend $35 on a box plus shipping back to the company or forget the sub and move on.  Who knows how long it will continue to work if I have it fixed, by the time I spend money having it fixed plus original cost I may have been better off buying a higher quality sub in the first place, or at least one that doesn't make you ship in boxes only supplied by them.

[Rclark]

I think I remember it says to keep the packaging in the material that comes with it. I just have all mine for all my stuff. Pretty easy to store.