I have not given any feedback yet. Yes I have seen the Emo website, and forum.
Someone on their forum started a thread asking if anyone had modded the Emo gear, but no one had. I might be the first? Or at least the first to write about it on the internet.
I was in no way knocking Emo products, just rather the "favourable" reviews of other reviewers, who seemed to be too "polite" to outright directly mention the shortcomings of the standard amplifier.
Hi Erin - absolutely no offense taken on my part about your review of Emo gear. Heck - I'm DIY'n my stuff (Ostripper has some stuff cooking that looks to be really interesting). I don't intend to seem callous but I've seen companies come and go - I plead guilty of having chased the illusion of the "best" of [fill in the blank] and have come full circle to good enough is good enough - sit back and enjoy the music - and go stuff your name brand and super tech specifications. The vast majority of folks at the EmoFest did not seem in the least bit interested in DIY audio gear! They were interested in getting the best bang for their $$$$$ and the parking lot was pretty full of high-end auto's for those that drove to the show. These folks are well educated and successful six figure income types, and have the brain power to make effective decisions when it comes to things such as spending - or investing - in what they regard as a worthy purchase. So - if those types (and I intend that as a positive statement) are spending $$$ on Emo gear then it certainly should be worthy of consideration. OTOH - it is important to make our own decisions and not simply follow the pack.
Last edited:
One thing I will say about most of the reviews of the Emo amps that I have read. (and I spent weeks searching for and reading every review possible before buying) they always seem to say they are good value and I would have to agree that they certainly are the best bang for the buck amp out there they are also very neutral as most reviews say.
Detail level is really excellent at low and high volume. I personally think that (after mods) It would be hard to buy a better sounding amp, this XPA-2 really does sound like a straight wire with gain. Now I just have to get a better DAC, as Paul just came over to have a listen and brought his new Raindrop-Hui 2x TDA1541 DAC over, and It killed my Analogmetric TDA1541 DAC. - Also highly recomended (the Raindrop-Hui DAC)
Detail level is really excellent at low and high volume. I personally think that (after mods) It would be hard to buy a better sounding amp, this XPA-2 really does sound like a straight wire with gain. Now I just have to get a better DAC, as Paul just came over to have a listen and brought his new Raindrop-Hui 2x TDA1541 DAC over, and It killed my Analogmetric TDA1541 DAC. - Also highly recomended (the Raindrop-Hui DAC)
Audio Room at Emo Fest; value of amps
Hi to all,
I was also at Emofest 2010; the speakers in the audio room were being amplified with four mono amplifiers. My android has a db meter app, and it was hitting 140 db,
although I've not calibrated the meter and lack confidence that it was utterly accurate. I ended up going outside and listening to the live band, which was much quieter. and more enjoyable. I can say that their speakers get very loud, and don't seem to be very distorted, although my ears don't seem to work normally at such high levels.
CD player was the Emotiva CD player. They weren't running an ipod when I listened.
As to the amplifiers from Emo, they are worth a listen since you can return them if you don't like the way they sound; you just have to send them back within 30 days. And they are very inexpensive when compared to almost any other (similar) gear.
Jonathan Smith
Hi to all,
I was also at Emofest 2010; the speakers in the audio room were being amplified with four mono amplifiers. My android has a db meter app, and it was hitting 140 db,
although I've not calibrated the meter and lack confidence that it was utterly accurate. I ended up going outside and listening to the live band, which was much quieter. and more enjoyable. I can say that their speakers get very loud, and don't seem to be very distorted, although my ears don't seem to work normally at such high levels.CD player was the Emotiva CD player. They weren't running an ipod when I listened.
As to the amplifiers from Emo, they are worth a listen since you can return them if you don't like the way they sound; you just have to send them back within 30 days. And they are very inexpensive when compared to almost any other (similar) gear.
Jonathan Smith
I would love to hear Emotiva's biggest floor standing speakers. They look really nice, they seem to be one of a very few companies making genuine big cabinet full range speakers.
Being in Australia, there is nowhere to audition. If they sound as good as they look, they are probably a bargain as well. I can only imagine the price if a well known speaker company made such a big cabinet (ouch).
Was anyone at Emofest able to assertain if the speakers were any good?
Being in Australia, there is nowhere to audition. If they sound as good as they look, they are probably a bargain as well. I can only imagine the price if a well known speaker company made such a big cabinet (ouch).
Was anyone at Emofest able to assertain if the speakers were any good?
Hey Jonathan - I wish I had known that another diyAudio guy was hanging around the EmoFest. It would have been nice to compare impressions about the gear etc. Let me know if you intend to attend 2011 and perhaps we can get hooked up.
When I went into the audio room there wasn't anyone running the system - probably busy tending to other things. I did look around because I wanted to ask some questions about the gear and if what I was hearing the normal sound of the system. The system was not cranked up at all - I'd guess around 80 db's average and the top end was dead - but that could just have been music selection or someone had "tuned" things the way they wanted for demonstration. The system sounded so bad that I only stayed for one tune and then buggered outta there and at the time was running off of the iMac on the desk at the back of the room (perhaps the change in source to the amps is what killed the sound). The gear they had running in the HT showroom was very good - and very loud.
The live entertainment was nice - the food was very good - and the people were first rate. I gotta hand it to Emo - they do put on a heck of an open house. Plus - they gave away some pretty nice prizes if you hung around to the end of the show (like a $10k system)
Another sign of good things for Emo - everyone I talked to while I was there already owned some Emo gear and were there to buy some mooooooooore!
Another nice thing to see was all of the young kids that everyone came with - like about 500 of 'em - and all having fun and well behaved. The next generation of audio nuts were bouncing around over in the fun house!!!!
Hi erin - sorry to say that I could not give Emo's big speakers a valid test while at the show. They were only up an running on one out of four visits and after that I was getting tired and wondered off to listen to the live entertainment.
This was my 1st exposure to Emo gear and I only went because they are close to where I live so I went out of curiosity more than anything. I have been looking for a decent source and they make a control unit I wanted to take a look at and the rest of the stuff was secondary to my interest.
When I went into the audio room there wasn't anyone running the system - probably busy tending to other things. I did look around because I wanted to ask some questions about the gear and if what I was hearing the normal sound of the system. The system was not cranked up at all - I'd guess around 80 db's average and the top end was dead - but that could just have been music selection or someone had "tuned" things the way they wanted for demonstration. The system sounded so bad that I only stayed for one tune and then buggered outta there and at the time was running off of the iMac on the desk at the back of the room (perhaps the change in source to the amps is what killed the sound). The gear they had running in the HT showroom was very good - and very loud.
The live entertainment was nice - the food was very good - and the people were first rate. I gotta hand it to Emo - they do put on a heck of an open house. Plus - they gave away some pretty nice prizes if you hung around to the end of the show (like a $10k system)
Another sign of good things for Emo - everyone I talked to while I was there already owned some Emo gear and were there to buy some mooooooooore!
Another nice thing to see was all of the young kids that everyone came with - like about 500 of 'em - and all having fun and well behaved. The next generation of audio nuts were bouncing around over in the fun house!!!!
Hi erin - sorry to say that I could not give Emo's big speakers a valid test while at the show. They were only up an running on one out of four visits and after that I was getting tired and wondered off to listen to the live entertainment.
This was my 1st exposure to Emo gear and I only went because they are close to where I live so I went out of curiosity more than anything. I have been looking for a decent source and they make a control unit I wanted to take a look at and the rest of the stuff was secondary to my interest.
Last edited:
If you attend the show you can get some discounts on the current gear plus the new models. You might have to wait a bit if you pre-order the latest stuff - and there is that "de-bugging" period you might have to wade through. The UMC-1 pre/pro that I have been desiring has undergone a pretty steep learning curve.
At least you could "kick the tires" on some gear before you purchased it.
I'm farly sure the XPA-2 has BJT in the output stages. I didnt really care to reverse engineer the ciruit and write a list of parts used.
Anyway it sounds good isnt that the main thing?
The XPA-1 is a bridged amp design, a bit stupid to use MOSFET power devices : Locanthi T-style BJT output stage.
XPA-1 uses ON Semiconductor NJW0281G/NJW0302G BJTs. Quite good tolerances, channel balance is only 0,1dB apart and they show similar performance what comes to THD%, noise and other measurable variables.
The only thing that bugs me little is that the other amp is biased little higher than the other. The other amp idles at 75w and the other at 67w. The amp that is biased higher, has less THD (0,0009% versus 0,002% @ ~4,5ohm @ 0,2W). It would be cool to try to change the bias of the amps, I think there might be some sonic gains left in the circuit.
XPA-1s are fantastic amps none the less.
Here's the picture of the one of the two amplifier boards in XPA-1. It was mentioned that XPA-2 uses electrolytics for DC blocking. I'm not sure if this is the case with XPA-1, does it seem that way? Any other possible modding targets?
The only thing that bugs me little is that the other amp is biased little higher than the other. The other amp idles at 75w and the other at 67w. The amp that is biased higher, has less THD (0,0009% versus 0,002% @ ~4,5ohm @ 0,2W). It would be cool to try to change the bias of the amps, I think there might be some sonic gains left in the circuit.
XPA-1s are fantastic amps none the less.
Here's the picture of the one of the two amplifier boards in XPA-1. It was mentioned that XPA-2 uses electrolytics for DC blocking. I'm not sure if this is the case with XPA-1, does it seem that way? Any other possible modding targets?
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Last edited:
Thanks for the photo of the XPA-1 board. It seems to be very nice quality.
The XPA-2 uses Elna Starget DC blocking caps. they can be replaced with any (as long as it fits) film cap of 2.2uf or greater, 5mm lead spacing, and this does make an improvement. (I used wima 3.3uf)
The XPA-1 looks like a really nice board to work on. It appears to use only film capacitors. You could upgrade the sound by replacing the "Sounder" brand film caps for something better. The "Sounder" brand is OK, but not as detailed as some.
Anyway, the XPA-1 sounds so good stock, that with carfull selection of quality components I think that amp could be transformed into the stuff ledgends are made of........
There is no such thing as too much power. Underpowered amp on the other hand is much more real issue as the tweeter burns easily if the amp clips excessively/prolongedly. One ought to know the limits of one's speakers by listening to their output. Basic rule is that don't turn up the volume once the output starts to sound compressed or distorted. This way the speakers won't get burned no matter how powerfull the driving amp is, or what is the thermal or mechanical power handling of the driven speakers.
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.