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Emotiva vs. some bigger boys

I have just ordered a Emotiva 3 channel amp after testing it against a few better known models. Here's the short story...

My recent gear....Manley Stingray II, Def Tech BP7004 speakers for theater, Magnepan 1.6, Odyssey Stratos, Rogue Metis pre, Rotel 1090, MJ Acoustics Sub, SVS sub...and so on! I typically spend 7-10K on a system and I like to call that the low end of high end....

My buddy bought my latest set of Magnepans 1.6's which were modded with better stands (I'm waiting for my new Merlin TSM-XMr's to mate with my new Stingray II) and he also has the Odyssey/Rogue combo, which he bought after he heard mine. Other speakers in the room: Revel M20's and an old pair of Proac floor standers-not sure of the model.

The amps were the XPA-3 and the XPA-2. Most of the listening was done with the Metis by Rogue.

I'll cut right to it. Both Emotiva amps had less than 100 hours on them and both sounded better than the Rotel 1090 for dynamics, detail and soundstage. Bass was stronger on the Emotiva, but we also thought the Rotel's bass was a bit more true and quick. Space around single instruments was superior on the Emotiva XP3, open and very lifelike. But on some recordings the Emotiva was a tad too bright and in those cases I may have chosen the Rotel for extended listening. Still, with a fine recording, such Lyle Lovett Pontiac, we both agreed the Emotiva was superior to the Rotel.
Next up was the Odyssey, which matches beautifully with the Rogue pre. This was a MUCH closer contest. The Odyssey is well broken in and has a dry accurate bass response that is very hard to beat, better than on some FAR more expensive amps in fact. The Emotiva had a slight edge in the upper midrange, but the Odyssey seemed to offer a smidge more resolution/detail. It was very close. On the Proacs we couldn't even hear much of a difference, but the Magnepans exposed the character of both amps more.
Just to be "complete" we tried my new Manley Stingray II, which is not broken in at under 60 hours. The Stingray could not control dynamics as well as the big amps, but vocals and single instruments were far more "real" and "in the room" sounding. We still felt that the Emotiva would not make music lovers unhappy, especially if mated with a nice tube preamp.
Pitting the 3 channel XP3 against it's more powerful 2 channel sister, we noted very little difference. The 2 channel version MIGHT have created a deeper soundstage, but we were getting sleepy and running out of ear power!

Summary:
I was seeking a used amp in the 2000 dollar range to run my theater, but I have ordered a XPA-3 instead. I will most probably add the 2 channel or monoblocks from Emotiva next. For home theater these are VERY serious amps that give up nothing or very little against pricier stuff. The bonus is that they can be quite musical. With their higher power they even will eclipse some gear that costs more. For example, I've listened to a lot of Bryston gear and I think the Emotiva amps are more musical...and that was with a very low cost Rogue preamp.

So that's my review and opinion. I will post a follow up review when I have the Merlins. I'm very curious to see how the Emotiva will sound on them vs. the far more expensive Stingray. I don't expect the Emotiva to ever be as sweet sounding, but I suspect it will be more dynamic and fun for certain recordings.

Cheers,

Rob
robbob

Showing 2 responses by plato

plato
1,543 posts
 
My money's on the Wyred 4 Sound amps for best bang for the buck. Also, the Wyred amps are a lot easier to lift than the Emotivas. After trying many very good amps I have two Wyred amps, the STI-500 and a ST-250. They replaced two other very good amplifiers in my systems, a Cary CAD 120S tube amp, and the NuForce Ref9 V2 SE's, which are both in the $5k area.

I also have a VTL ST-85, which sounds quite respectable in its low-power triode mode but not that wonderful in its high-power tetrode mode. But I'm currently using the Wyred ST-250 in its place in combo with a tube line buffer. Overall I like the Wyred setup better. It is more detailed, dynamic and has a larger more expansive soundstage. With the tube buffer, it's comparably musically sweet to the VTL in triode.

The big Cary 120S seemed to lose detail though it held up fairly well in other areas. And the NuForce amps in retrospect seemed a bit brighter and less musical than my Wyred 4 Sound amps.

One of my friends used to own the Emotiva XPA-2 amp and he liked it very much. But now he owns the older Spectron Musician II amps (one more updated than the other), and likes the Spectron amps better. Another of my friends uses an XPA-2 to power the dedicated subwoofers of his Wisdom Adrenaline speakers and uses NuForce Ref 9.02 amps on the mid/tweet ribbon panels.

Be advised that the Wyred amps do take a couple of hundred hours to start strutting their stuff, so don't expect miracles if you try them stone cold right out of the box. If you can find one that's already broken in for evaluation purposes, that would be best.

I want to close by thanking Robbob for taking the time to post his views on the amplifier comparisons he's made and for letting us know about his experience with the Emotiva amps. I would be curious to know what he thinks of the Emotiva/Merlin pairing vs his previous Odyssey/Magnepan system. :)
plato
1,543 posts
 
Rob, the Wyred 4 Sound ST-250 is priced at only $995, and sounds just as good as Wyred's more expensive amps... the main differences being power output and whether or not it is an integrated model. So if the Emotiva is priced at $800 and the Wyred 4 Sound at $1000, I grant you that it is 20 percent more expensive... but not exactly 3x the price as you suggested. And the ST-500 is only $1500 for anyone who needs that much power. Many systems will need no more than the ST-250 provides...

Weseixas, yeah... I feel your pain. It did take my unit around 3 months of playing on and off for it to sound its best. Same for my speakers. I wish manufacturers would put more break-in time on products before sending them out, but I doubt that it would be very practical for them.
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