[ratso]

btw before this thread goes any further: mr. OP are you asking about emotiva amps or as you said, EMOTIVE amps?

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0803/emotivecalile.htm

[srb]

btw before this thread goes any further: mr. OP are you asking about emotiva amps or as you said, EMOTIVE amps?

Although the title says "Emotive", the text says "I have two Emotiva amps".

I've come to realize that few people check their posts either in Preview or after posting.  I'll also correct misspelled titles in my replies, but of course only the original post title is displayed in the topic lists.

Steve

[bladesmith]

My auto-correct is not correct again...

I was enquiring about people who have some experience with there amps..

It was suppose to be Emotiva and I think others have figured that out..

And I appreciate any input, I thought they looked very substantial, but I have never heard one as of yet....
And they seem to be getting some good reviews from people, after they get broken in, which I have heard take a long period of time.

[srb]

I've only owned an Emotiva DAC, the XDA-1.  A good value for a remote controlled DAC at $249 and well built, but certainly not a "giant killer" or "game changer".  I returned mine not because of the sound but because several listed features I was most interested in were not implemented in the initial release.

I have an acquaintance who got a pair of Emotiva monoblock amplifiers, and although he thought they sounded very good he ended up returning them because he said there was substantially more noise (hiss) apparent that he didn't have with his Parasound amplifier on his mid-high sensitivity 93dB speakers.

I would be interested in what any Emotiva amplifier owners had to say about noise/hiss and what sensitivity speakers they were used with.

Other than that, the more blue lights they have (XDA-2 DAC, preamplifiers and processors) the more hideous they look, unless you like the look of a very bright blue airport landing strip.  Most of the amplifiers don't have that amount of lights, and some of the other components may have a dimmer and or off feature for the lights.

Steve

[RDavidson]

Yeah. The look of their gear is kind of, I dunno, "adult-childish" compared to others who make products in the same price class, like Rotel, Parasound, etc. Emotivas gear doesn't look bad per se, more than it looks unrefined and trying too hard to wow young people. It wouldn't take much just to make the products look a little more understated while still unique to the brand. My guess is that they never had a design firm design the look of the gear, or they hired a young freelance designer on the cheap. I say the latter because fresh out of school MANY years ago, I could've been guilty of this type of "unrefined" work myself.

Not bashing Emotiva. Just providing perspective on the esthetics, which seem to be a bit polarizing.

[Sparky14]

I've had several Emotiva amps. Admittedly, the older blue LED lights were way too bright, but those have been toned down. Otherwise, I think the cosmetics are just fine. My current Emo amp (XPA-200) is quite outstanding. I have also had an XDA-2 DAC for a couple of years now. Although I've considered replacing it, truth is I don't think I would have much to gain.

I've never had any performance complaints about any of my Emotiva amps. Even their small form factor amp is nice.

Why have I had "several"? Because I like changing equipment, and Emo stuff always resells well, so it has been easy to sell and move up. If I had space for monoblocks, I'd be all over some XPA-1s.

[JLM]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I prefer design that is understated, form following function, small without being too tiny, money going into good engineering & content, black or silver versus brown (old NAD) or champagne.

Yes, several high-end brands try way too hard to impress.  Recently at Axpona I felt like immediately leaving the rooms that had some of most gaudy gear.  I can forgive Emotiva, at a much lower price point, for a relatively minor faux pax compared to such "sins of commission".

[Bob in St. Louis]

I do not own any, but an intrigued by the positive reviews.
A couple questions:

- Is it.... "e-mow-TEE-va" or it is "e-MOW-ti-va"?

- Has anybody modded them to increase the sound quality?

[apollophono]

Not that my opinion matters but.....

I like blue lights on equipment.  I always loved the blue on old Marantz receivers
in the 70's.  Other equipment manufacturers did it too.  It was soothing at night
to listen to headphones in bed and the glow of blue next to you.  I will agree with
JLM that I like form following functioning, but I'm not one to give advice on style-
I WEAR SOCKS WITH SANDALS!!!  Call the fashion police pronto!!! 

Bob I think it's pronounced EEE mo ti va.  Just Kidding!!!  I have no idea how it
is pronounced.  I'm not one who can speak either.  My name is pronounced
Soh lease.  Spelled Solis.  I've heard all kinds of variations.  I and answer to all of
them and others I can't spell on this family friendly website.   

[Rclark]

I love the blue lights on the XDA2. Imo the whole design is 1950's ultra futuristic with that long bank of buttons. Its a beautiful piece. And the ERC's are very very good looking players, in real life they look very high quality,  better than pictures.

Cant speak for other Emotiva gear.

Oh, and their remotes are better than anything, pure luxury, solid brick of metal.

[Rclark]

Oh and ZERO noise or hiss with any of it, and I haveNcores and Maggies. Emotiva is not cheapo gear, at all.

[Paddlefoot]

I think the Emotiva gear is great for the money, i have the XSP-1, XPA-2 XDA-2 ERC-3...with Magnepan 1.7i....sounds damn good to me...most of the stuff has a dimmer for the lights....kinda cool looking...to each his/her own i guess.

[albireo13]

I've been running with the Emotiva CDP. ERC1, their pre the USP-1, and the amp UPA-2.
Love it!

Great sound, black background. 
Put your effort into speaker selection. You don't need to sink major $$ in high end amps.
The sound is 90% speakers and acoustics .... 10% electronics.

[RDavidson]

You don't need to sink major $$ in high end amps.
The sound is 90% speakers and acoustics .... 10% electronics.

So if your electronics are lacking, ie not resolving the recorded material to the best extent, then how do you think this affects the eventual sound produced by the speakers? Don't you think your speaker's performance is directly tied to your electronics' capabilities? Do you not believe an automobile's performance is directly linked to its drivetrain? I pose these questions, because you suggest higher end electronics aren't worthwhile, but higher end speakers are. I 100% disagree. Speakers don't make a system any more than a chassis and wheels make a car. This isn't a bash on more affordable gear, but high end gear has its place just as much as entry and mid-fi stuff does. I will concede that the laws of diminishing returns kicks-in pretty hard at a certain point. But that point, in my experience, is so dependent on the listener's preferences, goals, acoustics, and experiences, that it is really impossible to put a number on it. And that's why some are completely content with whatever they can get from Best Buy, while others can't rest until their system gets as close to a live performance as possible. Some people are content with a Toyota Corolla. Others must have a BMW. If your goal is to get as close to recreating the sound of a live performance using entry and mid-if electronics with high end speakers, you'd be mistaken. You can't put a Toyota Corolla engine and drivetrain in a BMW and expect the best. I'm not saying Emotiva gear is a Corolla drivetrain. I'm just saying that if you can afford better, there is better to be had. I don't think Emotiva owners would dispute that. Emotiva gear is intended to be high value gear with very good quality and performance.....and there's a lot to be said for that. Having these kinds of options for those who can't jump feet first into a $100k system, let alone a $5k system, is good for the home audio hobby as much as the Mazda MX5 is good for auto racing and car clubs.

[dap7777]

Do you want everything to sound warm?  Is your goal to listen to your gear, or to music?  Please take this as a question for all audiophiles to be constantly on guard of: can you handle the truth?  Not saying Emotiva offers the ultimate audio truth, just posting a yellow caution sign on the road to audio honesty. 

At Axpona Emotiva openly displayed the guts of their receivers (don't recall seeing that from any other manufacturer, OTOH they are big and had a large display).  But their guts looked very well built/designed (versus sculpted faceplates or glowing tubes), representing a good baseline for all to follow.

Disclosure:  I did pick up a Emotiva DC-1 ($500 prosumer DAC/pre-amp/headphone amp) at Axpona, my first Emotiva purchase, which seems to be well built and from early auditioning offers a solid sonic value.

What a great post!  Thanks.

[dap7777]

So if your electronics are lacking, ie not resolving the recorded material to the best extent, then how do you think this affects the eventual sound produced by the speakers? Don't you think your speaker's performance is directly tied to your electronics' capabilities? Do you not believe an automobile's performance is directly linked to its drivetrain? I pose these questions, because you suggest higher end electronics aren't worthwhile, but higher end speakers are. I 100% disagree. Speakers don't make a system any more than a chassis and wheels make a car. This isn't a bash on more affordable gear, but high end gear has its place just as much as entry and mid-fi stuff does. I will concede that the laws of diminishing returns kicks-in pretty hard at a certain point. But that point, in my experience, is so dependent on the listener's preferences, goals, acoustics, and experiences, that it is really impossible to put a number on it. And that's why some are completely content with whatever they can get from Best Buy, while others can't rest until their system gets as close to a live performance as possible. Some people are content with a Toyota Corolla. Others must have a BMW. If your goal is to get as close to recreating the sound of a live performance using entry and mid-if electronics with high end speakers, you'd be mistaken. You can't put a Toyota Corolla engine and drivetrain in a BMW and expect the best. I'm not saying Emotiva gear is a Corolla drivetrain. I'm just saying that if you can afford better, there is better to be had. I don't think Emotiva owners would dispute that. Emotiva gear is intended to be high value gear with very good quality and performance.....and there's a lot to be said for that. Having these kinds of options for those who can't jump feet first into a $100k system, let alone a $5k system, is good for the home audio hobby as much as the Mazda MX5 is good for auto racing and car clubs.

On the other hand, a spark plug is a spark plug regardless of how much you sink into it--although I suppose you could buy one made out of platinum and diamonds.  Think it would give a better spark?  Maybe that's a better analogy.   For me, agreed, I'd put 90% into speakers.

[JLM]

I'm a "speaker guy" of sorts (some go IMO over the top).  Being the only remaining transducer in the modern audio reproduction chain (vinyl was the other) speakers have the job of changing one form of energy into another, which is orders of magnitude more difficult than simply amplifying signals.  And speakers have to do this is an unknown environment of varying room conditions (room size, distance to walls, ceiling, floor, nature of those surfaces, furnishings, etc.).  While there is no perfect speaker (all this room matching aside), most would agree that we are closer to building the perfect amplifier. 

So recommend buying speakers to suit the given room (many enthusiasts "over stuff" their rooms with speakers), then find amps to complement the speakers on a technical and aesthetic basis (impedance matching, power matching, imaging, palpability, etc.).  While any sane audiophile will admit that amplifiers can/do affect the system sound (assuming each amp is properly impedance/power matched), the value proposition normally goes to investing more into speaker rather than electronics. Years ago I witnessed how good a $4000 amp playing through a $5 car speaker put in a simple sealed box could sound (remarkable), but the point was made that no one in their right mind would spend in that proportion.  Scoffers will find exceptions such as DIY or limited bass output examples, but this just reinforces the notions that many audiophiles are perhaps more into hobbying than listening and no one accept an amp that only goes down to say 60 Hz.

The professionals have this figured out.  They use active monitors (low voltage crossover feeding one amp per driver, typically all self contained in the speaker cabinet).  Woofer size is selected based on room/space size, porting (if used) is based on proximity to surfaces, and tone controls (gasp) are used to contour the sound to the surroundings (select the speaker to fit the given space).  The amps are selected to match up best to the chosen drivers and are almost an after thought.

[electricbear]

Emotiva now has a retail presence. We have had them at the store where I work for about 2 weeks now. We brought in a large part of their product line up. As others have stated, they offer great value. They are not high end but for what you are paying they are competing with much more expensive products. They do require run in. The amps definitely sound better after a week of constant run in. Will they make your system sound as good as a piece from Ayre or Bryston? No, but they are a fraction of the cost. We brought them in to give Maggie owners an option of good power with a minimum investment. 

[bladesmith]

Emotiva now has a retail presence. We have had them at the store where I work for about 2 weeks now. We brought in a large part of their product line up. As others have stated, they offer great value. They are not high end but for what you are paying they are competing with much more expensive products. They do require run in. The amps definitely sound better after a week of constant run in. Will they make your system sound as good as a piece from Ayre or Bryston? No, but they are a fraction of the cost. We brought them in to give Maggie owners an option of good power with a minimum investment.

I tri-amp my system with one large stereo amp for the right/left/woofers and two smaller amps, one each, for the left/right chnls, to support the mid/tweeter on each side.

What do you think about using a Emotiva amp for the amp driving the woofers ?

V...

[RDavidson]

On the other hand, a spark plug is a spark plug regardless of how much you sink into it--although I suppose you could buy one made out of platinum and diamonds.  Think it would give a better spark?  Maybe that's a better analogy.   For me, agreed, I'd put 90% into speakers.

Not really a good analogy because it suggests that higher end electronics are ONLY made of better or more expensive  materials, and not actually better performing. Yes, that can be the case sometimes. But believe it or not, there are manufacturers who make expensive gear who are also on the leading edge of technology and circuit design. When you get into the better stuff (the well-engineered / well-designed stuff), you get more refinenent, resolution, nuance, tone, ie closer to the recording. You have to listen and experience it for yourself. Right now, it's as though you're judging a Ferrari without ever driving one. If you feel you are getting the best performance from your speakers with your 90/10 ratio, that's cool. They're your ears and experiences, not mine. I only suggest keeping an open mind and exploring.