Emotiva Audio XPA7 7-channel audio amplifier

I am reviewing this for the product and to help with any undecideds. I was not sure if I even needed a power amp. I have Klipsch RF-7II's witha sensitivity of 101 db and a beast of a receiver which is an Onkyo tx-sr805 at 135 wpc. Many people in forums said I do not need the extra power and would not be gaining anything. Even had further doubts because the preout from my receiver is 1.2 volts according to Onkyo and the input to the Emotiva for full output is 1.5 volts. I went ahead and took the gamble and purchased the amp after speaking with Emotiva support and the next day I had buyers remorse and called Klipsch for their input. I was told from Klipsch that the Gen 3 amp would make my speakers really sing and without the extra power it was like driving a Porsche with a Prius engine. Boy were they right! Now for what I have experienced.The extra power sure has made a big difference in multiple ways. Stronger and tighter bass along with much better high end. When the volumeIs turned up the higher frequency is much more fuller and not shrill and bright as before. The extra power is much cleaner and more detailed. 3D imaging is very good. Vocals sound like it is from the center speaker but it is turned off. My review is for the two channel experience currently.Also to my surprise the left/right stereo imaging is at least twice as fast as before. I do not hear any hiss when the volume is all the way turned down. This is a very good amplifier and I have no regrets at all. Plenty of power and I am hearing new sounds in songs that I have not heard before. The Onkyo is a good receiver but with the wattage capacity of these Klipsch speakers this power amp really helped. The Emotiva runs very cool and is very easy to set up. I wish I would have purchased sooner. If anyone has any questions/comments I will reply.Hope this helps,Dan

So far, so good. I have it teamed with a Marantz AV7005 pre-amp and PSB surround system. Nice open sound stage, good dynamic range, good build quality. Given the power output, it's a very good value compared to the competition. I'd give it 5 stars if I was certain it would last at least 10 years. I've replaced two high end amps (by a different, well-respected manufacturer) over that time period in the past, so I'm understandably doubtful.

I was using this for almost 30 days. Sound quality was good. Compared to my Yamaha RX-A2070 the sound quality is not noticeable to be honest. It also maybe I was using the preamp on my Yamaha so that could cause it. Whats really good about this amp is that it only uses around 36watts with normal listening. One day I was tinkering around and paused the music then I heard the hissing noise coming from the speakers. So I went to check further and found out the hiss have weird buzzing noise with it. So I went stick my ears to the mid-range and woofers and I heard the humming. Yes you dont hear the hum when you step back a foot away but still, knowing that this amp is humming drives me nuts! I used to build audio amps like 100 tto 300watts as a hobby. Number rule is to not have a hum. Hiss can be eliminated but can be also acceptable if its just too low. In this case the amotiva xpa2 gen3 really failed. To think this is a big company they should have known what they are doing. I too trusted that the amp that it would not hum that I never bother checking from the beginning but luckily i accidentally found it. I will never buy their power amps again. They should fix this. By the way I called their tech support and they say this is acceptable that it is because of the high gain which is 29db. For me this is not acceptable. Hum is never acceptable. The amps I build before had 39db. You can elimanate the hum by proper placement of components and proper grounding. The hiss can also be eliminated by lowering the input impedance. I also checked my Yamaha and it does not have a hum.

will it has more power than my hk3490 it lacks sound quality. after hooking this amp up to my hk3490 this amp just flatten out the sound, in other word it took away the warm sound that the hk produce and flatten it out sounding like a cheap amplifier.

While at first listen, the XPA2 may dazzle you with lush clarity, please be way that this lushness may come from some added compression that makes softer sounds like reverb louder, and some high frequency distortion that could further accentuate clarity and airiness. For this reason, this amplifier, regardless of its power output and price, seems, to this amateur reviewer, to suffer fatal lack of dynamic range which can affect very important, fundamental aspects of music. For example, when listening to a solo violinist, you may be able to hear things like the sound of the bow hair on the string with the XPA2, but you may miss when the violinist changes between playing softly, and even softer in a split-second.

The XPA2 is Audiophile equipment at a modest price. I am very pleased with the quality of construction, looks and performance of this amplifier. This amp will pump serious watts and sound levels without breaking a sweat. I use a pair of highly regarded Role Audio's "Enterprise" speakers and Emotiva's XSP-1 pre-amp to complete my 2 channel Audiophile system. The XPA2 is the third gen. model which features an improved power supply resulting in cooler amplifier operation temperatures and substantial weight reduction over it's predecessor. With the prodigious 300 watts per channel of the Emotiva, the first thing I heard was a complete absence of distortion at pretty much all volume levels. The sound is smooth, sweet, clear, from a deep tight Bass all the way to the highest frequencies. Stereo-field, channel separation, Soundstage are excellent against a background totally free of noise. Along with the usual RCA connections Emotiva equipment offers quality XLR input and output found mostly on high-end audiophile systems. I highly recommend the XPA2 and with my present system, I am hearing and listening to music like never before.