I recently received my Aperions (6Ts, 6C, 5DBs, 5Bs, & 12D) and they're wonderful.  Now I want to give them the power they deserve and supplement the Yamaha RX-V1900 with the Emotiva XPA-5 to run the front/side 5 speakers (the back 2x 5Bs can stay on the 1900).

My concern is potentially overloading the Aperions, spec'd at handling up to 300 watts. 

The Emotiva XPA-5 has details on its 8-ohms and 4-ohms ratings, but not 6-ohms, so first question is if anyone knows how the XPA-5 rates to run at 6-ohms? I assume it's somewhere between the two, but so far my searches haven't turned anything up.

My second concern is if I hit the 'Pure Direct' button on the 1900 and the XPA-5 drops down to powering just 2-channels will the power spike over the 6T's handling capabilities and damage my new Aperions?

Anyone with some relevant experiences care to chime in?  Thanks.

I run my 5B's and 5C off an XPA-3.  No issues, other than amazing sound.  BrowningGold does the same with his 3 6T's.

 

FWIW, the Aperion listening room at HQ runs all their speakers off a 200wpc Outlaw amp, regularly at loud levels.

 

DO IT. 

I echo PJ's suggestion.  I run my 6Ts, 6C, and 632-ICs (pre-cursor to the 6-IC) with an XPA-5 (often at very high volumes) and it all works and sounds great.  I use my Yamaha RX-V661 as a pre (and I use the Yammie to drive my rear surrounds since I have a 7.1 setup).  I don't know the output for the XPA-5 driving 6 ohms, but every time I listen to music the XPA-5 is only powering the 6Ts (set to large in my receiver).  They sound superb and I've never had any issues.  I think it would be worse for the speaks to attempt to drive them with inadequate power.  Happy listening.

 -Nick

Awesome.  Much thanks to you both.  Hearing the Emotiva line is used by others and, even better, used safely makes this a no-brainer.  I had horrible visions of cranking it up, flipping on Pure Direct, and blowing out my glorious new 6Ts!

Quick! To the wallet before the wife gets home!

Do the math... lol If 200 watts @ 8 ohm, and 300 @ 4 then it would be 250 @ 6 ohm.

I just got a xpa -3 and it does just fine with my 6 Ts and 6 C  Oknyo TX - SR 806 Driving my rears Sounds great

 

Grego

Yes, like I said I assumed that, but thanks for your terribly helpful "do the math" commentary...

I've been looking at adding an xpa-5 for my pair of 6T's, 5C and future aperion surrounds, but I'm only runninng an Onkyo 605 at the moment.....is this receiver capable of being hooked up to an amp such as the xpa-5 or am I looking at having to upgrade my receiver before going with an amp like this?  the problem is, I really don't have the budget to bite the bullet on a new mid-upper level receiver and and a more than adequate amp in the xpa-5 as well...I eventually would like to have a quality system that will open up the 6T's full potential....any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciatedthanks

mgvsev:

I've been looking at adding an xpa-5 for my pair of 6T's, 5C and future aperion surrounds, but I'm only runninng an Onkyo 605 at the moment.....is this receiver capable of being hooked up to an amp such as the xpa-5 or am I looking at having to upgrade my receiver before going with an amp like this?  the problem is, I really don't have the budget to bite the bullet on a new mid-upper level receiver and and a more than adequate amp in the xpa-5 as well...I eventually would like to have a quality system that will open up the 6T's full potential....any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciatedthanks

Looking at the specs of the SR605 on Onkyo's website, it only has a pre-out for the subwoofer.  So you would not be able to use an external amp with that receiver.  Like you, I was looking to upgrade my receiver to a higher-end model when I stumbled upon Emotiva.  For less than I was planning on spending on a new receiver, I determined that I could get an XPA-5 that was waaaay more robust than the amps in the receivers I was considering and hook it up to my existing receiver.  Going this route also alleviated my frustration with how quickly new receiver's become outdated.  I figured by investing in a quality amp, I'd have the power side of the equation taken care of for good.  If you can swing it, my suggestion would be to pick up a used or refurbished lower-end receiver that has a full set of pre-outs (you can probably find one for a few hundred bucks) and take advantage of the Emotiva holiday sale.

thanks Nick.....that's what I thought...I'd love to pick up the UMC-1 and an XPA-5 but it would run me around $1,500. As state previously, I can maybe swing one of them now....so here is my dilemma.....whichever one I would decide to purchase now would have to sit unopened on my shelf for 6 months or so until I can afford the other unit since they are dependent on one another keeping in mind my current receiver capabilities. Do you happen to know the advantages/disadvantages of purchasing an audio/video processor over a mid-level receiver that is most likely the same price and perhaps even more than the processor? As you know, the umc-1 isn't out yet so there are no reviews yet...thanks