Home Theater Dilemma

[freestyle]

What did you decide on Nezff? I just snapped up an xpa2 and 3! Using my sony es for a pre pro for now.

[nezff]

i might wait. I really wouldnt mind getting the xpa3 because of the price but not sure if Im going to have the room in my entertainment center for it.

[Youthman]

Freestyle, please post your thoughts on the XPA-3 once you have some time with it.

[freestyle]

Hey Youthman.....I'll post up pics too....haha.............The 3 is gonna be powering the center and the surrounds so that is what I'll be posting about......The xpa2 is going on the 83's, which I've heard completely wakes them up!

[InVeNtOr]

i am in the same boat. i have the 805 and want to trade it out for the UMC-1. i may have miss read it but if you get rid of the Onkyo you will need a 7 channel amp. my suggestion is if you want the UMC-1

UMC-1 Set up:

XPA-3 (run front 3)

UPA-7 (run rear 4).

the reason why i suggest the UPA-7 to run the rears is because of Emotiva's design you get 218.7watts per channel. (4 channels).

i go that route because if you decide to run a 7.1 with all towers for what ever reason, all your channels will be aprox 200 watts.

Onkyo Set up:

XPA-3 (for fronts)

Onkyo (for rears).

you will not hear a difference between the xpa-5 or the xpa-3 running the front speakers. even emotiva says this. i have called and asked for the same reasons you put in your tread. klipsch speakers are so effecient i highly doute that they even pull over 100 watts at the volume you like. so having 200 watts vs. 250 watts, there wouldn't be an audiable difference.

i would personally go with the UMC-1. sell the onkyo for $500 to make it a quick sell. since you can't use your gear right now you wont miss out on not having the UMC-1. it's better to lower the price and sell quick then to have it for sale for 6 months, because by then the price on it drops from the manufacture then you have to lower your sale price to keep up. sell it now, you never get what you paid for it anyway.

[nezff]

I dont have 7.1. only 5.1. Im not understanding what you mean by the upa7 pushing 218 watts?

Also my concern wasnt going either with the xpa3 or xpa5 for the power. its was because of the pricing. My main concern was either going with the xpa3 or xpa5 if I get rid of my onkyo or not. If I do get rid or it, then I will have to get the xpa5 and another pre/pro or the UMC1.

If I get the xpa3, which is cheaper, I can keep my onkyo to run the rear channels.

I dont think I could let my onkyo go for that cheap since it is basically brand new with a extended three year warranty from J&R. I was thinking $800 plus shipping. I paid $979 plus warranty.

[InVeNtOr]

emotiva has an A/B design. that means the total watts is divided by used channels. so in the case of the upa-7, if you use all 7 channels you will get 125watts each. if you use 6 channels you get 145watts. 5 channels = 175 watts. 4 channels = 218 watts. etc. also don't forget, that any channels that doesn't use all it's avaliable power, it goes to a channels that is using more than what is allowed. so if you have an xpa-5 and your rear channels are only using 100 watts, and your mains is needing more than 200watts, it will take that extra 100watts the rear channels are not using.

if your delema is between the xpa-3 and xpa-5 and money is the issue, it's a no brainer to get the xpa-3. you won't hear a performance increase with the xpa-5, especally if you are only powering the front 3.

if you want a really great deal on a xpa-3 check out here. for me it comes to $457.00. i think that's an awesome deal. it saves me $63 off the current sales price. it still isn't great enough for me to buy it, but it sure did make me think about it. i am looking to get the UMC-1 first, i really don't need the xpa-3 yet. i will let my LPA-1 power my entire system and see how it goes.

as far as your 876 goes, i would have no idea what to sell it for, i was just throwing out a random number. i do know this, you want the price low enough to get someone to buy it quick. the longer you hold on to it, it loses value. than manufactures start lowering prices, then you have to, to keep it a great deal. the cycle continues until it's best to just keep it. you never get close to your money back, that's why it sucks when you get the "upgrade bug." if you want my personal thought on the price, to make me buy it, i would say $700 and split shipping. i think that would get somone off their wallet. bare in mind i havn't done any searches to find the lowest price for a brand new one. also at $700, you can take that and buy a UMC-1 for no out of pocket money.

i am in the same boat you are. i have the 805 and want to sell it for money to buy the UMC-1. i just don't know the value of the 805 and if it's worth the trouble. in the long run i would like to have an XPA-3 for the mains, my current LPA-1 for rears, and the UMC-1 for the brains.

anyways, good luck with what ever you decide.

[Youthman]

the longer you hold on to it, it loses value. than manufactures start lowering prices, then you have to, to keep it a great deal. the cycle continues until it's best to just keep it. you never get close to your money back, that's why it sucks when you get the "upgrade bug."

That's one reason why I really try my best not to buy new equipment (or new cars for that matter). When you go to sell it, you get your tail kicked. If you buy good quality used equipment at a good deal, even when you sell it, you can often get what you paid for it or a little less. But sometimes, we've just gotta have something brand new (like my projector). Guess that's the price we all pay for buying new.