Emotiva Amplifiers ?

bladesmith · « **on:** 5 Apr 2015, 09:44 pm »

Anyone use Emotiva Amplifiers ?

I have a neighbor who has one and it sounds pretty good, just haven't spent much time listening to any of the Emotive products.

I was wondering what people/audiophiles here think about there amps ?

Thanks,
V...

Early B. · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 Apr 2015, 09:50 pm »

I have two Emotiva amps. They are fantastic home theater or second system amps.

Austin08 · « **Reply #2 on:** 5 Apr 2015, 10:50 pm »

My friend has their mono block and like them a lot. He said they are better than his Acurus 250

Phil A · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 Apr 2015, 10:54 pm »

Quote from: Early B. on 5 Apr 2015, 09:50 pm

I have two Emotiva amps. They are fantastic home theater or second system amps.

+1 - have an XPA200 in a spare system

mresseguie · « **Reply #4 on:** 5 Apr 2015, 11:43 pm »

Have any of you felt the sound is a bit tinny or thin sounding? I have read of folks claiming their amps aren't as warm sounding.

I have no experience personally.

Early B. · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 Apr 2015, 12:30 am »

Quote from: mresseguie on 5 Apr 2015, 11:43 pm

Have any of you felt the sound is a bit tinny or thin sounding? I have read of folks claiming their amps aren't as warm sounding.

I have no experience personally.

Emotiva amps are great for what they are, and they're tough to beat for their price, quality and customer service, but don't expect high end sound. .

bladesmith · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 Apr 2015, 01:45 am »

I didn't know they were class A/AB amps. I thought they were all class D. And the prices seem right.

SoCalWJS · « **Reply #7 on:** 6 Apr 2015, 01:59 am »

Quote from: Early B. on 6 Apr 2015, 12:30 am

Emotiva amps are great for what they are, and they're tough to beat for their price, quality and customer service, but don't expect high end sound. .

This.

Rock solid. Great deal. Decent cosmetics. Think great bang for the buck.

If I could justify the $$$$$, I would sell my XPA-1's for something else, but it would cost some serious dollars. They are great for HT, but I would like something a bit more "refined" for 2 Channel.

Paddlefoot · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Apr 2015, 10:54 pm »

Their amps are hard to beat for the money... I have XSP-1 , XDA-2, ECR-3, XPA-2... Driving Magnepan 1.7 ... You would have spend a lot more money to have a very subtle difference in sound quality. You can try them with 30 day... Return them if you don't like them. Are there better products than Emotiva... Sure... For a lot more cash.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Apr 2015, 11:43 pm »

For the price they are very good amps. For their price all their products are very good.
I tried out one of their stereo amps I think it was an XP-2. Worked fine but to my ears it made my system sound a little bit harsh.

Cheers
Charlie

a.wayne · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 Apr 2015, 01:52 am »

Emotiva monoblocs are not cheap , for 2 K there are quite a few amplfiers that wont sound tinny or harsh, this would make them unacceptable to me ..

steve f · « **Reply #11 on:** 11 May 2015, 04:50 am »

They aren't bad but I'd go for something a bit more expensive and better sounding. ATI or Odyssey come to mind.

JLM · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 May 2015, 12:13 pm »

Quote from: mresseguie on 5 Apr 2015, 11:43 pm

Have any of you felt the sound is a bit tinny or thin sounding? I have read of folks claiming their amps aren't as warm sounding.

I have no experience personally.

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.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 May 2015, 01:10 pm »

The Secrets of Home Theater site has reviewed several Emotiva amps (along with amps from many other manufacturers). They are worth checking out, but it will probably boil down to what kind of sound you prefer for music and HT. Emotiva does have a 30 day no-questions-asked return policy. If you are close to Tennessee, the shipping probably wouldn't be too bad.

Phil A · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 May 2015, 01:21 pm »

Quote from: mresseguie on 5 Apr 2015, 11:43 pm

Have any of you felt the sound is a bit tinny or thin sounding? I have read of folks claiming their amps aren't as warm sounding.

I have no experience personally.

I have no complaints about the sound. Very solidly built and great value for the money. Besides the XPA200 in my third system posted above, I've owned the XDA-1 which I had in an old house. Was really impressed with that lots. Most of all for built quality. The DAC was built like a $2k DAC metal remote and all. For around the $250 I paid for it there really could be no complaints. Certainly competitive with entry level high end you would find at a dealer for a whole lot less money.

fex02 · « **Reply #15 on:** 11 May 2015, 01:43 pm »

I have met Dan and Lonnie at the emo show in atlanta.They are really nice. I have owned allot of their products.the mono's a-a/b sound really nice.for the money a great value.Its a good company making products in America employing americans .

steve f · « **Reply #16 on:** 11 May 2015, 02:23 pm »

Most Emotiva gear is still made offshore. I remember a press release that announced some USA production.
I hope this becomes a trend with other manufacturers, as I am willing to pay a bit more for American made goods.

The only negatives I find with the products is looks, they need a better design firm, and the probability of getting stuck with their gear when reselling or trading up, because of their non-audiophile image.

steve

JLM · « **Reply #17 on:** 11 May 2015, 04:04 pm »

The essence of good design iMO is form following function, not 1/2 inch thick sculpted metal faceplates and/or no display. The Emotiva look is their house look, the OLED display is clear, functional, and dim-able. My DC-1 has 2 knobs that turn and push to provide all functions, which I much prefer to requiring a remote or multiple button pushes while others lack a remote altogether. BTW the DC-1 has a heavy metal remote with buttons only on the top half which I like, but unfortunately like much audio gear it is not backlit.

Resale for Emotiva would be lower, but so would be the original price. Once I decided I could live without DSD, the decision to buy the $450 (10% off for Axpona show pricing) DC-1 was easy versus comparable DSD enabled units costing $750-1550 more. So it's purchase price is about the same as I'd lose reselling one of those other pieces.

Rclark · « **Reply #18 on:** 11 May 2015, 04:57 pm »

Yeah, "warm" as a positive adjective for a piece of hardware makes me vomit a little in my mouth. Get me to the music, cut through the BS. If the recording is warm, it will let me know, sure enough, I dont need to encourage it.

Colorations suck.

And Emotiva is awesome, try them, you have literally nothing to lose but maybe the inconvenience of printing a returning lable Iif you don't like it.

Btw each Emotiva piece I've owned and then sold on Audiogon I got nearly what I spent buying. Resale value is NOT LOW.

Phil A · « **Reply #19 on:** 11 May 2015, 06:46 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 11 May 2015, 04:57 pm

Btw each Emotiva piece I've owned and then sold on Audiogon I got nearly what I spent buying. Resale value is NOT LOW.

Yep - excellent resale value!