Emotiva Amps

They're for real. They were my first foray into hi-fi. Great company with personable customer service, a 40% discount for current customers who buy their next gen gear (pre/pros only) and a fine line of low cost, well engineered electronics. the price cuts come from dealing internet direct and manufacturing done in China. Their forum is at emotivalounge dot com.

i concur about audioholics, though. i used to read that all the time but now am convinced its a club started by nerds with no money who couldn't get into the prom.

I love the reviews and the podcast, and agree with Tom Andry on a lot of things when it comes to avoiding esoteric snake oil.

However, I can't stand their discussion board. Sometimes I think Clint and Tom feel the same way...

That being said, I am very interested in the Emotiva gear, especially the upcoming XMC-1. If it really does comes within performance range of Anthem, Parasound or even Sunfire, then that will be the way I'll go. The AH fan-boy response turns me off a bit though.

I tried the XPA-2 amp on my system. It sounded much better than the Adcom and Rotel amps I have. The problem was that whenever I turned up the volume the amp would shut down. I had heard that the amp had problems with some speakers but I was suprised it had problems with the Tyler Acoustics Linbrook System 2s. I returned the amp and got my money back without any hassles.