EMOTIVA Thread Q&A [TECHNICAL TALK ONLY] - Page 380

Here are a few pictures of the black plexiglass face plate covers that I made for my XPA-1's. You can see the cut out that I made so some of the lights can still be seen. It took some time to get those cut outs polished.

Well then we are going to have to agree to disagree.

There are much cheaper sub, transducer, blu-ray, and power conditioning solutions out there with roughly the same features/capabilities. The Emotivas on the other hand are about the cheapest amps I could find. As far as subs, transducers, blu-ray players, and power conditioners are concerned, I feel I got the best of the best. I can't say the same for my amps.

Don't get me wrong though. I do like my Emotivas. Otherwise they would already be in the trash/donated/given away.

I suppose we will have to agree to disagree. How parliamentary.

The amps imho are very solid, are well made, and are sonically neutral. I can't ask for more than that.

Except for the LEDS?

The amps are made well, except for some LED issues. The amps with metering LEDs seem to be most affected. I have heard some that have had unequal brightness in their non metering LEDs. The amps are a good value and despite some quarks I really like my Emotiva amps. They sound really good.

d_m1010,

Can we switch gears for a second please? Do you have any issues with slight hissing (noise floor) out of your Emotivas? I run all my stuff off of 3 dedicated 20 amp circuits (with a Richard Gray on each circuit). My buddy is an electrician and he told me that my circuits are all solid (wired/grounded correctly). I was hoping the RGPCs would lower the Emotiva's noise floor, but I can still hear hissing about 2 1/2 feet from the front of each of my speakers. I borrowed a buddy's McIntosh amp and it is whisper quiet in my setup.

What are your experiences? Is a slight hissing sound normal?

My house is ~4 years old, and the 3 20 amp circuits are about 2 years old. If I remove the Emotivas from my setup (use the amps in my 4311), I hear no hissing.

doug.

Edit...

My Def Techs are rated at 89dB - 92dB if that helps.

I think this is exactly were Emotiva shows its self as the budget brand. I have a MMC-1 and a UPA-5. When they are sitting side by side there are several things that speaks to the quality of the manufacturing. The power button LED on the amps is painfully bright while the one on the processor is a nice soft blue. The power button on the processor has fallen off in my hand about 4 times. The lettering on the processor can easily be read from several feet but the amps lettering fads in to the face plate at any distance. The hue of the LEDs between the two is different as is the finish on the trim pieces. These indicate poor uniformity in manufacturing and that is why you/we are getting want we paid for. I don’t regret my purchases but at the same time I can see where they are getting some of their savings.

Emotiva was very honest with me. I told them about my XPA-2 LEDs not working all the time. They said they have had some problems with them. Exchanging for a new XPA-2 wouldn't necessarily fix the issue. It took a month for my XPA-2 to exhibit the issue. I don't have the time to hassle with exchanging my XPA-2. Most especially if I just get another one that exhibits similar issues.

YMMV.

It was probably Emo's "design" decision and they are not changing it...lol I have four of their amps, 2 UPA-7s, 1 UPA-5 and one XPA-5 and they are rock solid even when I compare them to my Rotel & Classe amps. One difference is the fit & finish (looks and QA) are better on the Rotel & Classe BUT at a huge premium. Emo does have problems with the quality of the blue LEDs and the consistancy of the brightness on they amps. Do a search on their forums and see people discussing the QA on the LEDs (an other stuff).

They do seem to come up with some very strange, not used elsewhere, ideas.

We are very similar indeed. I have three dedicated 20 amp circuits as well for all of my equipment. I have 5 Richard Gray units in the 'star cluster' he recommends. I have no hissing and my Focal Electras are rated at 91 db @ 8 ohms. I have a Rotel rsp-1570 a s a pre-pro. My school house was built in 1924 and my electrician friend also did the wiring. The one noisy component in my setup is the SVS ASEQ1 with my 6 SVS subs.

Well sh1t. I wonder why my Emotivas are making my Def Techs hiss a bit? I can't hear it from my listening position so it doesn't much matter.

BTW, you better have at least three dedicated 20 amp circuits. You have more gear than I do!!! ... and in a much smaller space you lucky duck.

lol, yeah it is a lot, but I haven't tripped a circuit yet.

My mains are 97db sensitive and are powered by a pair of XPA-1 mono blocks. If I put my ear 2 inches away from the waveguide tweeter I can hear the very slightest hiss. Six inches away and you cant hear it at all. This is with no content playing through the speaker with the room dead quiet. My center surrounds and rear surrounds are powered by an XPA-5. All of those speakers are 90db sensitive. They have a slight hiss. Its about the same as my mains. Maybe just a hair louder. You still need to be within a couple inches of the tweeter to hear this. My rear surounds are within a few feet of my LP and you would never hear a hiss. In my experience the hiss from Emotiva amps is quiet. As I stated before. I think Emotiva amps are a good value for the money. I would not be able to afford amps like this from any of the other companies out there.

Same with me. They did admit to having some issues with the LED's. In my experience the issues sometimes happened right out of the box. Sometimes they took about a month to appear. I also agree that sending an amp back in hope that the new one would be fine is not worth it. Because I have tried it with just having the same issues with the new amps. Its also not worth sending in for repair because the new parts that they use will most likely have the same issues sooner or later.

I've always had a slight hiss

Another great point .
Both my XPA-2 and XPA-3 Have also worked flawlessly for me also and couldnt be happier .

No hissing with my Klipsch and with there sensitivity level so high over a 100 and tweeter/horns if it was going to happen you'd think it would with my setup . Very strange your having that issue. Wonder if its your processor/ AVR or somewere else in your chain, Just a thought ?

no hissing here either with a UPA-7 & my speakers are more sensitive than TheFactor's Or nezff's

Whats the sensitivity rating on your speakers ?

Looks great man nice job !!

over 106

You should be able to hear a mouse fart with those speakers .

The UPA-7's are pretty user friendly

The XPA-3 that I had for a long weekend was dead silent on some PSB Synchrony 1's. I mean ZERO hiss unless you got on the volume and put your ear against the tweeter.

You may have a defective amp. Been known to happen with any brand. Have you tried pulling the inputs out of the Emo and see if the hiss is still there?

Thank you. Another great thing about that black plexiglass that I fabricated those covers from is that a local glass shop had some scrap that I bought for about $5 dollars. That black plexiglass is hard to find and expensive.

YW that was a score ! Great craftsmanship to .

Im lucky to have a good jig saw, a dremel tool, and a palm sander, along with some wet sanding and polishing skills to pull a job like that off. And some patience.

finally... my payment went through! my 3 amps will ship on the 21st of this month (crossing fingers) 2x XPA-5 & 1x XPA-3.. also got the ET-3 (trigger expansion module).. wohoo yippeee..

Guys anyone have any experience with the Emotiva single RCA Cables? i need like 11 of them to run an 11.2 setup from my amps to my processor..and was thinking if i should go for them or pay for something premium..

with the processor issue, i believe it effected the xpr line amps and the new processor yet to be released..

as for the status leds may be there is a loose wire or a short in a wire leading to control panel..

are you sure you're using cable rated for 20 amp loads?? don't matter if you got a 20 amp circuit breaker if the cable is only rated for 10-15 amps you'll be overloading the power cable back to the breaker box..