Emotiva LPA-1 Impressions by Joe Sixpack

[Rich-n-Texas]

MAN! My homemade speaker cables make this thing sound GREAT!

[audio amateur]

Welcome to the forum Joe

[kexodusc]

MAN! My homemade speaker cables make this thing sound GREAT!

Cool. Can you make me some?

Knock any pictures off the wall yet?

[audio amateur]

He doesn't have any pictures on his walls

[L.J.]

Dude, stop being a tease and post the review already

[kexodusc]

Dude, stop being a tease and post the review already

Yeah, I'm dying to learn how this amp performs!!!

[Rich-n-Texas]

Oh come on Kex, you know better than I do!

I'm very happy that I made this investment. I don't have everything set up properly yet, but it has made a world of difference in my living room. I sat down for a few minutes between sliding this loveseat this way and that recliner that way for some Pink Floyd "Animals" tracks and it just blew my mind what I was hearing. No lie, I got goose bumps while Gilmore was wailing away. I could actually hear (and I may not be describing this right) a passage or lick come to an end instead of what I've previously perceived as it fading away into the song. The punch from the bass (mains bass) was there, and everything just seemed much tighter, with more detail. While I was watching the "Pulse" concert, I heard the backing gals' oooohhing and aaaahhing at times that I'd previously not heard them at all. I don't have my surrounds connected yet because after moving the audio rack to the opposite end of the TV stand, my cables to the wall jacks came up a bit short. The amp is sitting on an old printer stand in front of the receiver for now because I won't have the IC's that I ordered from Blue Jeans until next week.

The first CD I played was a Tears for Fears disk that I always liked because it IMO was well produced and has quite a few instruments outside of the normal Rock-n-Roll pieces. These tracks were played at "concert level" but I have to say at times the songs sounded a bit harsh. I was playing the song "Shout" and the cymbals and guitar kind of made me cringe a little, but then I checked the level with the SPL meter and well, the volume in the room was tapping the 100 dB mark ( ) I think that'll tame down when I finish with room treatments. I want to finish up with room treatments now so PLEASE STOP TALKING ME INTO BUYING STUFF... OKAY?!
That means you L.J.

I have to recalibrate the receiver because as I mentioned, I've moved furniture around and the speaker placement has changed so I'll chat more about this after everything's in place and has been tweaked some more.

Thanks again for your input Kex. Good advice, well received. And oh yeah...

...this amplifier can play LOUD

Oh YEAH! ("Thank you God")

[kexodusc]

The first CD I played was a Tears for Fears disk that I always liked because it IMO was well produced and has quite a few instruments outside of the normal Rock-n-Roll pieces. These tracks were played at "concert level" but I have to say at times the songs sounded a bit harsh. I was playing the song "Shout" and the cymbals and guitar kind of made me cringe a little, but then I checked the level with the SPL meter and well, the volume in the room was tapping the 100 dB mark ( ) I think that'll tame down when I finish with room treatments. I want to finish up with room treatments

Scary isn't it. Too much of that will damage your hearing
I really can't get over how much easier on the ears this amp plays music at 90 db + levels compared to my other amps. Judging by your comments above, you experienced the same thing I did - total loss of loudness awareness. It just plays clean and mean.

I have to recalibrate the receiver because as I mentioned, I've moved furniture around and the speaker placement has changed so I'll chat more about this after everything's in place and has been tweaked some more.

Thanks again for your input Kex. Good advice, well received.

Wait till you get your receiver settings calibrated...

so PLEASE STOP TALKING ME INTO BUYING STUFF... OKAY?!
That means you L.J.

I'm guessing you have a pretty good opportunity to here to apply some reciprocal pressure to return the favor...

[Rich-n-Texas]

The volume level on the receiver was set at -5dB when I read the SPL meter. Later, when I was listening at what I thought was a reasonable volume, the meter was peaking at 80 dB. I was certainly surprised when I saw that.

[kexodusc]

The volume level on the receiver was set at -5dB when I read the SPL meter. Later, when I was listening at what I thought was a reasonable volume, the meter was peaking at 80 dB. I was certainly surprised when I saw that.

Don't read too much into that (the -5dB setting) - the gain structure of the LPA-1 and your Yammie's internal amps are probably different. Also, the signal doesn't travel the same path obviously so its probable there's different signal strength reaching each amps what with one having to go through pre-outs and so forth. I've noticed 8 dB difference between the loudest and quietest amps I own. Quite a bit.

Distortion really affects our sense of loudness - absence of distortion (THD, clipping, etc) doesn't sound as loud as the same music played with even just a little bit of audible distortion. I get a kick out of some of the car audio guys in my neighborhood who tell me their stereos already hurt their ears so they don't need more power. when more power would keep their ears from hurting.

[diggity]

man that amp is a big mutha!! where did ya put it?

[Rich-n-Texas]

In my house!

[diggity]

i thought texans lived where the buffalo roam

[Rich-n-Texas]

Nope. "Nothing here but steers-n-*****s!"

[pixelthis]

i thought texans lived where the buffalo roam

He's not a "texan", hes from jersey.
If he lives in Texas his entire life he gets to be a yankee who lived in TEXAS HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
You dont get to be French by moving to France, same with the south, or Texas.
Same applies with being a yankee, you dont get to be a yankee by moving north.
THANK GOD

[audio amateur]

He's not a "texan", hes from jersey.
If he lives in Texas his entire life he gets to be a yankee who lived in TEXAS HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
You dont get to be French by moving to France, same with the south, or Texas.
Same applies with being a yankee, you dont get to be a yankee by moving north.
THANK GOD

I've lived in France my whole life. Does that make me French?

[L.J.]

PLEASE STOP TALKING ME INTO BUYING STUFF... OKAY?!
That means you L.J.

HUh?

Dude, what's up with that review. Surely you got your cables by now. I get my BJC cable the next day.

[Rich-n-Texas]

HUh?

Dude, what's up with that review. Surely you got your cables by now. I get my BJC cable the next day.

Brought them in about 30 minutes ago. I appreciate BJC sending them USPS Priority, but could they not have at least packed a little bubble wrap around them?

Anyway, you didn't like my review? In my case I don't have anything to compare this amp to, obviously since it's my first component purchase of this type in the signal path. And I wasn't able to audition other speakers, so again, nothing to compare to. I can only speak to what I heard with the old HTR 5740, then the 3800, and now this thing. Each step of the way I heard improvements; I'm astonished with what the speakers sound like now but I can't say that they're at their full potential. Kex OTOH has had all sorts of contraptions to mix and match so his review is definately going to be one laced with more experience and thoroughness (hopefully that all made sense).

In any event, since I have the A/V furniture in a more accessible position, I'm going to do some mods to the audio rack (like pull that crappy cardboard backer panel off), and I might buy another HDMI cable to replace the one that came with the FIOS box. Right now I have the Monster HDMI cable running directly from the STB to the TV, and I'd swear the picture looks much better than with that long black cable. I'm going to swap that one back in then compare. I'm also thinking I may not have something in the receiver set properly, so I want to do a side-by-side with that scenario as well. I have to make longer speaker cables too.

I'll have everything in place sometime this week, and then I'll get more panels made up.

Update your gallery yet L.J.?

[L.J.]

Brought them in about 30 minutes ago. I appreciate BJC sending them USPS Priority, but could they not have at least packed a little bubble wrap around them?

Anyway, you didn't like my review? In my case I don't have anything to compare this amp to, obviously since it's my first component purchase of this type in the signal path. And I wasn't able to audition other speakers, so again, nothing to compare to. I can only speak to what I heard with the old HTR 5740, then the 3800, and now this thing. Each step of the way I heard improvements; I'm astonished with what the speakers sound like now but I can't say that they're at their full potential. Kex OTOH has had all sorts of contraptions to mix and match so his review is definately going to be one laced with more experience and thoroughness (hopefully that all made sense).

In any event, since I have the A/V furniture in a more accessible position, I'm going to do some mods to the audio rack (like pull that crappy cardboard backer panel off), and I might buy another HDMI cable to replace the one that came with the FIOS box. Right now I have the Monster HDMI cable running directly from the STB to the TV, and I'd swear the picture looks much better than with that long black cable. I'm going to swap that one back in then compare. I'm also thinking I may not have something in the receiver set properly, so I want to do a side-by-side with that scenario as well. I have to make longer speaker cables too.

I'll have everything in place sometime this week, and then I'll get more panels made up.

Update your gallery yet L.J.?

Oh, I'll have to go back and read this thread. No, no updated photos yet. I'll try to get around to it next week. How the heck do you post those small pics that get bigger when you click on them?

[kexodusc]

o I want to do a side-by-side with that scenario as well. I have to make longer speaker cables too.

If you go ahead doing side-by-side swaps with the amp and receiver, and you're swapping cables, be careful. Turn them off. Unplug them even. You could get zapped which would suck, but even worse, you could short your receiver or amp if you accidentally cross wires while its on.
I bumped the bananas while trying to maneuver mine in my rack and it tripped the protect mode once. Good thing too - I managed to yank a wire out of a banana and sure enough it had landed flat on another terminal.

A/B tests are fun, but they're a lot of work.

Anyway, you didn't like my review? In my case I don't have anything to compare this amp to, obviously since it's my first component purchase of this type in the signal path. And I wasn't able to audition other speakers, so again, nothing to compare to. I can only speak to what I heard with the old HTR 5740, then the 3800, and now this thing. Each step of the way I heard improvements; I'm astonished with what the speakers sound like now but I can't say that they're at their full potential. Kex OTOH has had all sorts of contraptions to mix and match so his review is definately going to be one laced with more experience and thoroughness (hopefully that all made sense).

Personally Rich, I tend to put more weight on reviews from (credible) people with less experience. Sometimes you really have to "learn how to listen" to pick out differences in equipment upgrades. I go into a near shaolin ninja state of concentration whenever I compare DAC's because I find differences to be extremely small. Same with CD players.

If a total newb can walk in a room and immediately realize he's hearing things he didn't hear before, then I tend to believe the improvements are more substantial.
I bet people find your perspective every bit as valid, if not more so than mine. I never really expanded too much on how the receiver's internal amp compared since I had already done that with the other power amps I elected to use and I probably just skipped ahead.

I suspect most interested people who would read what you have to say would be receiver owners looking for a decent (perhaps their first) multi-channel power amp, and they'll want to know how it stacked up against a comparable receiver, not how it fared against other amps. That's probably the biggest target market for this particular amp, at least.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Oh, I'll have to go back and read this thread. No, no updated photos yet. I'll try to get around to it next week. How the heck do you post those small pics that get bigger when you click on them?

PhotoBucket has an option that will generate an HTML code for "Clickable Thumbnail Images".

[f0rge]

maaaaaaaaaaaaaan...now i really want one...

[Rich-n-Texas]

I'll have all five channels singing tonite after I make up another pair of speaker cables.THEN we'll see what the neighbors think.

(Yes, I'll also remember to demo the Genesis DVD-A with questionable merits)

[Rich-n-Texas]

Well, I'm running on all five (.1) now, and the results are the same. Heavy bass passages cause lowered mids, including vocals with DVD-A's. dB level seems to make no difference, so I'm going to blame the DVD-A standard and leave 'em on the store shelves.

[kexodusc]

Well, I'm running on all five (.1) now, and the results are the same. Heavy bass passages cause lowered mids, including vocals with DVD-A's. dB level seems to make no difference, so I'm going to blame the DVD-A standard and leave 'em on the store shelves.

Well, if it's happening on 2 different amps at all volumes I'm inclined to believe it's the recording - either intentionally made that way or just a unfortunate oversight of some sort.
You'll find as your system gets better you'll start to notice all sorts of terrible nasties in various recordings that you didn't here before.
It's like a superhero's curse.