Rich_Guy Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 My Emotiva was delivered Friday Jan 2nd, here is my review. Packaging: Well packaged, double boxed with thick foam protection. Included inside is the amp, power cord and manual, the amp is wrapped in clear plastic, the cord and manual each are in plastic ziploc bags. Power cord is round, detachable with a 3 prong plug. No other cables are included. Shipping was done very quickly, my order was placed late at night and shipped the next morning. Appearance: Nice looking, I like the styling for an amp, basic and solid, it looks good with the rest of my equipment. The black anodized aluminum front panel is very thick, the visual edge which can be seen is 5/16 inch thick, this is just the visible edge the actual front panel is likely even thicker. Writing on front is engraved into the aluminum not just silk screened. The amp is very heavy weighing about 70 lbs, the amp sits on large heavy rubber feet, rear connections are nice quality. The brushed aluminum front panel is black anodized, satin silver brushed aluminum trim pieces on each side in the front and the main casing is sturdy and black powder coated with a slight texture. The Amp is both large and heavy so be sure your rack stand can accommodate it. Sound: My listening volume settings have remained at the same level, also my calibration levels for each speaker did not need to be adjusted the volumes were all still good. Before I received the amp I thought I might need to raise the volume of the surrounds to keep up with the fronts but I found this was not needed. The surrounds even seem to have improved probably because the receiver no longer has to power the fronts dedicating the receivers power only to the surrounds. My system already had more volume available than I needed, with the added power there should be more headroom. With the amp my system sounds a little cleaner and more detailed, bass is a little tighter and with more punch. Listening to music the sound is more detailed, I have noticed a few things I never noticed before on songs I regularly listen to, instruments seem to have more separation, vocals slightly clearer. Music listening was done in 2 channel with subwoofer. With home theater both voices and effects seem slightly clearer and more defined. The XPA-3 has had an overall improvement to the sound of the system. Also even though the amp is not powering them surrounds do not seem underpowered and the system seems nicely balanced. Both music and home theater have improved with the most noticable improvements to music listening. The amp runs very cool producing almost no heat at all to or from the case. My system used in these tests: Front mains- RF-5 Center- RC-7 Surrounds- RS-3 II four used in 7.1 (2 side and 2 rear) Subwoofer- RW-12d Receiver- Onkyo TX-NR900 Overall I am very happy with the XPA-3, it is a nice improvement to my system. I originally purchased the amp on sale for $599 with free shipping (regular price is $649), one week after my purchase Emotiva reduced their sale price to $499 with $25 shipping. Emotiva has a 2 week sale price matching policy and with one simple phone call the $75 difference was credited back to my credit card. Emotiva seems to be a very nice company to deal with and has a nice web site and online forum that seem to give them a very good reputation. I give the Emotiva XPA-3 a definite thumbs up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Traveler Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I appreciate the review. It seems these Emotiva amps are an improvement to the ones in lower-to-mid level AVRs, but I wonder how they compare to the amps in higher end ones. [^o)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedjack Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for the review. Emotiva is going to be my next amp as soon as I sell some of my Carver stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 I appreciate the review. It seems these Emotiva amps are an improvement to the ones in lower-to-mid level AVRs, but I wonder how they compare to the amps in higher end ones. My Onkyo TX-N900 was a $1,500 receiver the 2nd best in Onkyo's lineup at the time. I have always liked the receiver very much and it never seemed to lack power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Traveler Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 ...My Onkyo TX-N900 was a $1,500 receiver the 2nd best in Onkyo's lineup at the time. I have always liked the receiver very much and it never seemed to lack power. I can appreciate that, but I would consider an upper end unit one that can pass THX Ultra II standards whereas your Onkyo is rated as THX select. {Edit Note: To achieve the Ultra II rating an AVR must be able to drive speakers that have impedance dips as low as 3.2 Ohms in a multichannel configuration.} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Regardless, I don't think anyone should delude themselves into thinking any receiver can hang with one of these 70 pound monsters. I also think being able to handle low impedance loads isn't the same as producing really excellent sound quality while providing it. I know what "excellent" sounds like, and as much as I like my Denon -- it comes up a bit short. It's plenty easy enough to live with for what I'm using it for, but certainly lacking in clarity and detail. I'm sure there's better than Emotiva, but I'm also sure it sounds better than what I'm using. Nice job Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Hawk Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 thanks for posting the review - I can't wait to get my xpa-5, but I think I'll have plenty of reviews to read on here before I get mine to keep myself occupied =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Traveler Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 ... I know what "excellent" sounds like, and as much as I like my Denon -- it comes up a bit short. It's plenty easy enough to live with for what I'm using it for, but certainly lacking in clarity and detail. I'm sure there's better than Emotiva, but I'm also sure it sounds better than what I'm using. Dean, I respect your opinion and I'm not discounting what you are saying, but I don't think I am lacking that much (if any) clarity and detail in my slightly less than 2,000 cu ft. Home Theater. I had to do without a Denon AVR 48xx series for 5 months and in the meantime tried to make do with a AVR 3805...The first thing I needed to do was replace my RF-3 towers with RB-75s because the sound was more muffled with the lower end Denon. Then I had better quality sound in the system, but I found myself listening consistently between 5 and 6 dB lower than on my AVR 4802R every night... 5 months later when I received my AVR 4806 I played around with several speaker configurations, but came back to the Home Theater I have listed in my sig and definitely had better Sound Quality at the 80 to 85 dB I had been accustom prior with the AVR 4802R. I realize that it's not all amp related, but I am not convinced that I am going to see "Night and Day" difference especially if you are only saying that your AVR 3808ci "comes up a bit short," compared to hooking up an external amp to it. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 After listening to music much of the day today all I can say is I really love the change in sound. Listening to my music some songs are like I have never heard them before, the crispness and clarity. The XPA-3 has brought to life some recordings I thought were not recorded well. The change is definitely very good. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Gvozdjak Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Sweet. Can't wait for my XPA-1s to come in now. One's coming in tomorrow, but I have no clue where the other one is. They were suppose to ship at the same time... Looks like no EMO love for me till the end of the week. [] How's the imageing? Notice any difference? I went with the XPA-1's in hopes of getting the absolute best channel seperation and imageing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 How's the imageing? Notice any difference? I went with the XPA-1's in hopes of getting the absolute best channel seperation and imageing. Yes the imaging has improved a lot. The XPA-1's will be a fantastic front stage I am sure, I am jealous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWL Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I know what "excellent" sounds like, and as much as I like my Denon -- it comes up a bit short. It's plenty easy enough to live with for what I'm using it for, but certainly lacking in clarity and detail. I've had two Denon receivers and I never would have described them as lacking in clarity and detail......interesting. What would you be comparing to? These Emotiva amps have got me interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 I know what "excellent" sounds like, and as much as I like my Denon -- it comes up a bit short. It's plenty easy enough to live with for what I'm using it for, but certainly lacking in clarity and detail. I've had two Denon receivers and I never would have described them as lacking in clarity and detail......interesting. What would you be comparing to? These Emotiva amps have got me interested. I'm curious to see how many guys still own them a year from now. I have owned 2 Onkyo receivers (my last 2) and other brands as well, home theater has been my hobby for around 20 years since the beginning days of surround sound, I would have never described any of my "at the time current" systems as lacking in clarity and detail, yet I have continued to improve them. I have always been very proud of my systems. Unless Emotiva have some unforeseen high failure rate (which I do not expect) I would expect to see them around for awhile. My experience with them has me now convinced to use a separate amp(s) with more power from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I've had two Denon receivers and I never would have described them as lacking in clarity and detail......interesting. What would you be comparing to? Good power amps like the Bryston 3B-ST and QSC Powerlight running with a tube preamp -- I'm comparing the sound to things I've owned in the past. When I first brought the Denon home and hooked it up to some RB-5's for a test run I thought it sounded about as pedestrian as you can get. When I joined the forum, I had RB-5's being driven with a 200 wpc Luxman amp and Anthem tubed linestage -- I remember what that sounds like -- barely in the same ballpark with the Denon. It did open up a little after the first few days which stopped me from taking the thing back. Since my focus was on HT performance and not 2-channel critical listening, I was willing to live with it. O.K., if HT receivers aren't lacking in "clarity and detail" compared to the "better" set ups, then what are they lacking in when we compare them? I think most of the money goes into the front end of these units -- and then they tack on 7 power modules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Congrats on what I'm sure is a great amp.I'm not tellin' anyone their avr needs an outboard amp,but no avr I've owned(up tp $3k msrp) can compete with even the 125 watt version amps.I have a 50+ pound THX Ultra avr,not nearly as good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo1 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Glad to see the Emo lineup getting some love here.. It's a great combination! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vital Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Dean, I respect your opinion and I'm not discounting what you are saying, but I don't think I am lacking that much (if any) clarity and detail in my slightly less than 2,000 cu ft. Home Theater. I am running RF-7s just like you are and I can assure you an Emotiva XPA-2 will knock your socks off. So will the XPA-5 and XPA-3. You went from a 4802 "125 watts" to a 3805 "120 watts" for a few months and everything was muffled. Emotiva's XPA-2 pumps out over 300 watts of clean power. The clarity, seperation, bass, everything is just better. It's really not even fair to compare them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo1 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I had to do without a Denon AVR 48xx series for 5 months and in the meantime tried to make do with a AVR 3805...The first thing I needed to do was replace my RF-3 towers with RB-75s because the sound was more muffled with the lower end Denon. Then I had better quality sound in the system, but I found myself listening consistently between 5 and 6 dB lower than on my AVR 4802R every night... 5 months later when I received my AVR 4806 I played around with several speaker configurations, but came back to the Home Theater I have listed in my sig and definitely had better Sound Quality at the 80 to 85 dB I had been accustom prior with the AVR 4802R. I realize that it's not all amp related, but I am not convinced that I am going to see "Night and Day" difference especially if you are only saying that your AVR 3808ci "comes up a bit short," compared to hooking up an external amp to it. ;-) They have a 30-day home trial - you could give it a shot with no risk... Think about it this way - If you noticed a difference between different models in the same line, don't you think you'd notice a difference when you step up to a true amplifier? Another thing I like is that the amp is a "permanent" piece of gear - it's not like an AVR hat'll be outdated in a few years.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 So I gather they no longer make Home theater processers? Its now just amps and speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerserkNitro Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 They havent released the new processor yet...UMC...a month or 2 out...from what i heard.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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