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Emotiva XPA-2 driving 2 Ohm load (Infinity RS-II)

As an owner of electrostatic (M/L Spire) I am also well aware of the need for a stable amp(s). With that being said and given the the fact that your nominal imp. is 4 ohms with further falloff occurring in the upper registers I'd consider one of Roger Sanders amps. But depending on your budget the following would do nicely ………

Pass, Parasound, Plinius to name but a few.

FWIW, there's a used Aragon 4004 on the Gon for less than a grand
 
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runnin' said:
So the XPA can run 2 ohm loads? Then why don't they simply list the feature on the XPA page?
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Because if they officially/formally list 2 ohms the amp then will have to be tested in that regard and certainly could make it more difficult to pass, or maybe cause it to fail, UL testing, etc.

Not passing UL tests doesn't necessarily mean an amp is bad or won't do it ("it" in this case being 2 ohms operation), it could simply mean that some exposed surface(s) get hotter than UL guidelines/standards suggest.
 
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whoaru99 said:
Because if they officially/formally list 2 ohms the amp then will have to be tested in that regard and certainly could make it more difficult to pass, or maybe cause it to fail, UL testing, etc.

Not passing UL tests doesn't necessarily mean an amp is bad or won't do it ("it" in this case being 2 ohms operation), it could simply mean that some exposed surface(s) get hotter than UL guidelines/standards suggest.
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That's all fine, but the thing is, the XPA-2 is not UL rated. Also, the XMC-1 is Made in The USA, but it's not UL rated either.

I'm not saying the XPA-2 is a bad amp, just that owners(some of which have responded to this very thread) have found it can't handle some low impedance speakers. It's an amp built to a price point like every other piece of electronics out there, and at the price, corners have to be cut somewhere.
 
Serious question (I really do not know the answer) - what is the result of an amp not being able to handle low impedence speakers? Just not loud enough, or ?
 
runnin' said:
That's all fine, but the thing is, the XPA-2 is not UL rated. Also, the XMC-1 is Made in The USA, but it's not UL rated either.

I'm not saying the XPA-2 is a bad amp, just that owners(some of which have responded to this very thread) have found it can't handle some low impedance speakers. It's an amp built to a price point like every other piece of electronics out there, and at the price, corners have to be cut somewhere.
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That's interesting. I figured most everything these days would be UL approved if for no other reason than an attempt at liability mitigation.

Myself, I may have mentioned earlier, would go with a pro audio amp.
 
listen! said:
Serious question (I really do not know the answer) - what is the result of an amp not being able to handle low impedence speakers? Just not loud enough, or ?
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The amp heats up hotter than typical. At low volumes, not so much, but the more volume the tougher the load is. If there is thermal shut down protection, it will eventually go into protection, as the owners mentioned earlier in this thread. Heat above what the component is designed to handle can shorten its life, and in some extremes the amp will fail.
 
With some recently acquired inefficient speakers, I tested a few amps and finally ended up with an older 400 wpc Carver amp. Used, it costs less than $1/amp and provides a clean sound. Really brought out the low end that was missing from my speakers when they were driven from lower output amps. Emotiva seems cost effective as well, particularly on the used market. I suggest going with the most powerful, simplest design amp you can find. There's no substitute for raw horsepower!
 
rnorton said:
As is the Hafler XL-280, which can deliver 360 watts at 2 ohms. Mine has been driving my RS-II's in exemplary fashion for the last year.
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XL-280 looked like a nice amp, thanks for the recommendation on the other thread. I even bid on a few on the auction site but got sniped every time.

Then I did more reading and got worried about lack of speaker protection in older amps. So I decided to go with newer gear, bidding on few Parasounds (HCA 1000's and 1500's), but again lost. And then I heard about Emotiva and took the bait on this new SA-250 model.
 
Emotiva posted a PDF version of the manual on their site yesterday. In the manual they add a bit more color on this model:

"...The SA-250 was designed to be the the flagship amplifier for a new line of super-high-end studio
equipment. Although it inherits its short signal path Class A/B architecture from our audiophile
equipment, the SA-250 incorporates several circuit refinements and additions that raise its
performance to a whole new level...."

The full doc is here:
http://emotiva.com/resources/manuals/SA-250_user_manual_v11.pdf

There seems to have been some demand (depending of course on the size of this 'limited run'), since the shipping date for new orders has now been delayed to 12/31/2014 (mine is already shipping though), and the price has gone up by ~$200.
 
So they go from saying they made a limited run for the fun of it:

If you go to the 11:15 mark, they start talking about SA-250[on the podcast]...basically this is their best sounding amp, better than anything in their line-up at the moment, very quiet, local studios were asking for an ever high-end amp than what they had before, so they "made a limited run for the fun of it"…
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To it being the launch of a new line. Well, which is it Emotiva? To the consumer this is confusing, but at the end of the day it's a slick salesman talking out of both sides of his mouth trying to get sales. I don't have any respect for that.

I'll get off my soap box now.:D
 
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Well, please do let us know what you think of the Emo amp after you've spent some time listening to it. My guess is it will work fine. The RSII aren't as hard to drive as some of the larger Infinitys. In fact I drive my RSIIIb with a Soundcraftsmen A5002 and I sometimes put it into protect from overheating. Of course that is driving it like a wildman. Right now, I am using a newly restored Kenwood KA-9100 and it drives them just fine at pretty loud volumes. I would be really surprised if the Emo wasn't up to the task.
 
Well, it should sound decent, as any reasonably designed modern amp should. The point is the nonsensical commentary that Emotiva has been using to launch a new amp line. Words mean something, and if they're going to suggest that; nudge, nudge, wink, wink, "we only made a limited run, just for the fun of it", and then you find out it's a new line they have been working and engineering to produce, well, that's used car salesman country.

They need to get some integrity in their communication to the customer.
 
I got my SA-250 today, and have been playing my favorite (reference) CDs this afternoon and evening. Compared to my previous Onkyo A-9070 (clean 140 wpc at 4 Ohm), there is definite improvement in the bass. The bass is now tighter and more pronounced, more present (e.g. Boston "Third Stage" sounds just fantastic). Bass response feels like 'faster', and more controlled. And this difference is clearly present even at very low and moderate volume levels. In layman's terms it looks to me that this amp indeed has good headroom and quick response to produce as needed all current that the low impedance (~3 Ohm) dual woofers require. At least at up to moderate volume levels.

The mids and highs sound very much the same to me as with Onkyo. That is, they are produced w/o an effort or any coloration or additional emphasis that I would notice. In other words mids and highs sound neutral. Exactly how I like it. My RS-IIs produce fantastic mid and high sound stage and imaging (full dipole driver setup), and both amps are able to deliver equally well.

SA-250 is a very stylish, mature looking amp IMO, the front is better looking in real life than in the marketing photos. It is also a bit lighter than I thought, and not as high as I imagined.

The amp is also dead silent at idle. Even when I crank up the volume very high, there is no background hiss or noise whatsoever.

I have not yet had a chance to test SA-250 at very high volume levels (wife and kids were home today so I had to keep things civil), so I need to report on that later.

In short, the initial impression is that I am very happy with this amp. Definite improvement over my earlier setup.
 
Good that you've had an improvement in sonics. I've always stayed away from mass market integrated amps, etc., from Onkyo, Marantz(multi channel amps, their integrated are actually pretty good), Yamaha or Pioneer.

I'd like to hear a comparison between this new Emotiva amp and the XPA-2, which actually has a higher 8 ohm rating, 300 watts.
 
I was able to listen some Pink Floyd The Wall (Another Brick.. pt I-II) today w/o anyone else at home, cranking it up like crazy. Let's just say that SA-250 passed with flying colors (no clipping, no protection mode, no heating up, no warning lights blinking, just sailing like nothing was going on), playing PF so loud that it was not pleasant anymore (and I sometimes like my music loud). I have no need to go there again...but I am happy to know that the reserves are there... :)

Now, my listening room (the living room) is mid-sized, and I am sitting some 2.5-3 meters ( 7-9 feet ) from the speakers, so I do not need insane decibels out of the speakers to have it nice and loud where I sit.

There is a thread on Emotiva forums regarding SA-250, and someone was already comparing it to XPA-2, preferring SA-250 over XPA by a wide margin:
http://emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/39978/interested-sa-2-250?page=6
 
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