Emotiva XPA-5 Gain

[hjones4841]

I am driving Emotiva XPA-5s with the pre-outs of a Denon AVR-A100. There is audible hum (well above 60Hz) from all channels when I am very close to the speakers (combo of K'horns, Heresy IIIs and RB-81 IIs in an 11.2 setup). All normal trouble shooting has been done (interconnects, ground loop check, etc.) I think the issue is higher gain of the Emotivas. Other than the $$ Jensen transformers, has anyone found decent lower price attenuators? I read that the ones from Parts Express are poor quality. Thanks for your input.

[Beechnut]

If you haven't yet, call emotivas tech support. I've heard great things about their team. Might be able to point you in a different direction.

[Johnny's Jill]

If you haven't yet, call emotivas tech support. I've heard great things about their team. Might be able to point you in a different direction.

Good call, Emotiva has been great so far.

Craig 73

[hjones4841]

Thanks for the input. Will do. I read that someone sent their amps in and had Emotiva reduce the gain. I am within driving distance of thier offices, so that may be an option.

[SuBXeRo]

i sold my xpa-5 and bought an outlaw 7125, that fixed my issue. I fought that annoying hum/buzz noise for over a year even having sent it in to emotiva to have them say everyting was working as it should. That statement bothered me because amps aren't supposed to have that noise regardless of the fact we have klipsch speakers. My outlaw connected to klipsch speakers are dead silent. I don't know if this is gain related that the buzz is there, the outlaw does have a lower gain but unless someone knew both amps engineering inside and out and could prove it, we are left guessing. I also want to mention that some people have xpa-5's that are dead silent with no residual noise.

I will say that the emotiva customer support is a very solid one and they do everything they can to help their customers. Despite the irritating noise of the XPA-5 it was a solidly built amp from what i can tell. I still have a UMC-1 and i am actually very happy with it. It has some small qwirks that i can live with but i love its customizabilities.

[sthomas12321]

I have the XPA 5 and with klf 30's, 20's all around no buzz at all.Ive ran them with balanced and unbalaned interconnects and never had a buzz issue. My xbox 360 slim will produce a buzz if I am not careful placing the power cable away from the gear(xbox 360 power cord not sheilded well aparaently)

[vnzbd]

I haven't had any of the hum issues that others have experienced with their Emotiva amps. I have used the Harrison Lab attenuators available from Parts Express and can attest to their quality. I used the 3 and 6 db units to attenuate the highs in a bi-amp set up. I believe that they also make higher db units that would trim the input to the amp, possibly helping the hum.

[cyto]

Thanks for the input. Will do. I read that someone sent their amps in and had Emotiva reduce the gain. I am within driving distance of thier offices, so that may be an option.

Where are you located? I am in Columbia, TN about 20 miles from the Emotiva headquarters.

I have 2 of their subs and the customer service from them is great!

Emofest is a good party too

[derrickdj1]

I am like SuBXeRo, any hum, buzz, hiss or the likes, bother me from the equipment or speakers. Hopefully Emotiva can solve the problem.

[W27]

My advice.. is return it and try another brand. You can buy a return shipping label from Emotiva that's much cheaper with their discount.

Adjusting the gain will NOT fix your hum. The high gain will give you more of a hiss out of the efficient horns. That hum is a totally different animal. I went through the same thing you're going through. I do not have a ground loop problem. The guys you talk to at Emotiva are not usually real techs at first. They have some screwy salesman that will waste your whole day trying ridiculous things. They basically weed out the simple things like having a balanced unbalanced switch in the wrong position. You wouldn't believe the things they wanted me to try! If you ask for Joe, he is a real tech who knows the units inside and out.

First they tried to convince me that the hum was normal. Then they tried to convince me that I had a ground loop. I had an XPA-2 hooked up to the same processor with the same wires for the front channels with no hum. I've also had numerous amps in my system before and after the XPA-5 and never had another hum. They wanted to exchange my XPA-5, but if the hum was still there I would have been over my 30 days and would have had to keep it! I asked if I could speak to someone more knowledgeable, because I didn't want to get stuck with an amp that hummed. That's when I spoke to Joe. He informed me that the XPA-5 uses a different topology than the XPA-2 and that they just weren't compatible with certain components. He told me that the only way to get rid of the hum would be changing my processor. Which was a nice new Integra.

Well... That was my experience. I'm currently using a B&K 200.5 in its place and couldn't be happier. There's no hum, much less hiss, and a nice warm sound that sounds great with Klipsch. They can be found used for close to the same price as a XPA-5. Maybe even a little cheaper. I think the Emotiva stuff looks awesome, it feels nice in quality, but I just couldn't live with that hum. The high gain did give me more hiss than other amps as well. Good luck

[Mborso1029]

I have been fighting with a hum in my setup for a longtime, i cannot figure it out. i have the xpa 5 as well. before the xpa 5 i had onkyo 809 rc 64 rf7 rs 62x4. i had a little bit of hum, didnt really worry because i knew i was getting the xpa sooner or later. after adding the xpa 5 it became alot more noticable. drove me crazy. so i do some messing around and relize it has the exact frequency as my flurescent lights...so i run a dedicated breaker to the outlet, no difference. purchase a panamax 5300 everyone says helps ...did not help. i ran cable line throught its filter as well,, hoping that if it was ground loop it would help it. It did not. i recently realized after hooking the panamax up that it is only a hum/buzz when i am watching through my wow cable box scientifc atlanta 8300. i am now thinking it is either the onkyo or something in the coaxial line that cannot be filter by the panamax. i just tonight found that wow installed a signal Amplifier about 20 feet from my HT. it is pretty much a splitter with one branch going to a power outlet that is plugged into a wall. and thinking about it ....probably would inject alot of noise into the line.

anyone have any experince with these "signal Amplifiers"

[W27]

Like I said... There's definitely some compatibility issues with Onkyo processors when using the XPA-5. But if you had a hum before the XPA-5 you may have a ground loop problem. Call Emotiva and they'll walk you through all the steps to find it or rule it out.

This may help as well

http://emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ampfaqs&thread=22709