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

mgvsev:

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

I can give you a couple more things to chew on.  The sale at Emotiva takes $100 off the price of an XPA-5, so even if you bought one now and didn't use it for 6 months, you'd save way more doing this than putting $700 in a savings account right now and waiting six months.  If you got an amp now, I'd recommend hooking it up to an iPod (using a min-jack to RCA connector) to test the amp and make sure it works before shelving it for six months.  Another advantage of going this route is it would motivate you to save for a pre/pro or receiver, knowing you just dropped a lot of coin on something that is gathering dust.

As for your question, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're wanting to know advantages/disadvantages of getting a dedicated pre-pro as opposed to getting a similarly-priced receiver with pre-outs.  Assuming I got your q right, keep in mind that most pre-pros are pricey, so a similarly priced receiver would likely have more features.  For example, for the cost of the new UMC-1 ($700, which is cheap for a pre-pro), you could get a receiver that does everything the UMC-1 does plus has features the UMC-1 doesn't have such as Dolby Pro Logic IIz (height channels), Dolby Volume, Audyssey equalization, more zone capabilities, headphone jack, etc.  If the latest and (sometimes) greatest features are important to you, you can't beat the bang for buck feature set you'd get on a receiver from a major manufacturer (Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, etc.).  However, if you value sound quality over features, the pre-pro will have the theoretical advantage.  I say "theoretical" because the example of the pre-pro I was using (UMC-1) isn't out yet so no one can say what it sounds like in their room with their system.  By not having internal amps in a pre-pro, there is less to interfere with the audio path.  Also, dedicated pre-pros often have higher quality DACs that are responsible for converting the digital signal that comes from your CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, iPod, etc. to producing sound through your analogue speakers.  Sound quality aside, one practical advantage of getting a dedicated pre-pro as opposed to using a receiver with an external amp is the internal amp in your receiver would still be drawing current even if it wasn't powering your speakers, so you'd be wasting some energy.

Hope I didn't add to your dilemma.

-Nick

once again, thanks for the clarification......not to worsen matters but Emotiva just released their UPA-5 at 125 Watts a channel for holdiay price of $499 including over $130 in free cables.... the reason I bit the bullet on the 6T's  was because they are the best of the best(as far as Aperion towers were concerned) and since I had the room for them,  but as long as they are limited by the product that's driving them I'm not receiving their full potential. Would I still be selling the 6T's and myself short by going with the upa-5 at 125 Watts as opposed to the XPA-5 @ 200? I'd be saving over $300 bucks compared to purchasing the xpa-5 but the reason I got the 6T's was so that I would never had to wonder "what if". Would the UMC-1 and the UPA-5 be a significant upgrade over the Onkyo 605 I have now? Would it be $1,200 worth of upgrade?  thanks

Personally, I wouldn't describe 125 watts of all-channel-driven power as selling your 6Ts short.  This would likely yield a significant audible improvement over the internal amp in your 605.  You can endlessly carry on with the "what if" speculation.  For example, even if you got an XPA-5, would you wonder "what if" you had gotten XPA-1s instead?  What are your listening habits (movies, music, games)?  Do you listen to multi-channel audio (SACD or DVD-A) or frequently play music in all-channel stereo?  Do you value the sound quality for music listening and movie watching equally?  How big is your room?  Do you really like to crank your system?  While only you would ultimately be able to determine whether or not a UMC-1 and UPA-5 would be $1,200-worth of an upgrade over your 605, the answers to the questions above should help you to determine what to prioritize.

In my situation, I never wanted to worry about pushing the weak internal amp in my receiver too hard and causing distortion in my 6Ts.  I have a 7.1 system and I place I high emphasis on the sound quality of my music, I have an extremely large room, I like to crank my tunes, and I only listen to my music in 2.1.  Since I didn't have enough money to buy everything all at once, I got an XPA-5 to use with my receiver's pre-outs.  But, my plan is to add an XPA-2 and a pre-pro to my system so I can ditch my receiver once and for all.  I'd use the XPA-2 to drive my 6Ts and use the XPA-5 for all of the other speakers.  If Emotiva had made the UPA-5 at the time, I probably would have gotten that instead of the XPA-5.  But I would still have planned on getting the XPA-2 for the 6Ts because the quality of my 2-channel music is more important to me.

my room is kind of hard to explain. It is 26' long. As far as the width goes, for the first 4'(of the 26') it's 20' wide(because that's where my steps come down), then its 16' wide for the next 9'(the 9' wall is the wall my home theater equipment/TV is(the steps come down behind and are parallel to this wall-viewing/seating area is on opposite wall about 14' away), then for the last 13' it cuts in to 13' wide. Kind of an L shape.I finished the room maybe 18 months ago and have been working toward a well rounded home theather/music listening set up as budget permits. As stated, I got a pair of 6T's and a 5C and since I needed something to drive them and didn't have much money left and didn't want to leave the T's in waiting, I settled for a popular wesite reviewers recommendation of the 605 which was supposedly the best value and set of features for the price. I'm beginning to wish I would have gone for something more powerful(but I didn't have the cash at the time, right?), not that it sounds that bad cranked up pretty high(actuall it sounds pretty darn good), but when I can crank it up almost all the way I realize I'm lacking some much needed power to drive these towers with additional power and clarity. My listening habits are as  follows: We like watching a good movie now and then with good effects although I have not invested in surrounds or a sub yet(probably would enjoy moveis much more with these pieces in place), I love to crank some of my old metal cd's such as Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Sevendust, Creed etc...as well as Floyd, Zepplin.....my wife likes some pop and Reggae...you name it, although we do not find much time to listen...when I do, I like it loud....since I only have the front three, music in all channel stereo is currently impossible. I like to hook up the iphone and stream Pandora. I definitely value sound quality of music and movies equally. I can get the xpa-3 to satisfy my current configuration, but if I know that I will eventually add surrounds(sooner rather than later) I wasn't sure whether to go with the upa-5 for the same price or get the xpa-5 and be done with it. Frankly, I still need alot and don't know what to invest in that makes the most sense next. Sub, Surrounds, Pre-Pro or upgraded receiver, and/or amplifier. What an extra 5 grand would do?

 

 

also, since the upa-5's output is 125 watts@ 8ohms(all channels driven) and 185 @ 4ohms, I suppose it would put out 160 watts per channel for the 6T's? If this is the case, would the output to drive the front three be even more since I do not currently have surrounds? not sure if that is how it works

Thanks for the explanation of your room and your listening habits; that really helps.  Knowing that you are "working toward a well rounded home theater/music listening set up" and also knowing you can't buy everything all at once (like many in this hobby, myself included), I suggest buying a pair of surrounds next.  While I agree that being able to turn up your receiver almost all the way when listening to music is not ideal, the bottom line is it sounds good to you.  Since that is good enough for now, I suggest investing in the home theater part of your system at this time.  In other words, I'd take the approach of getting everything in your system to be decent before getting one particular area to be excellent.

After the surrounds, I'd recommend getting a sub.  While the 6Ts can go pretty low, they still do not compare to a sub designed to push air down to 20Hz or so.  Once all of this is in place, I'd save until you can get both an amp and a processor (either dedicated pre-pro or receiver with pre-outs) at the same time.  Emotiva will have more sales (for the last couple of years, they've had the holiday sale that's currently going on and another sale around the 4th of July).  This is all my opinion/two cents of course.

And yes, the way the UPAs (like the XPAs) are designed, using fewer than the total number of channels on the amp will increase the wattage for the channels you are using, as all of the energy of the power supply is directed to however many channels are being used.

Good luck in your continued quest for audio nirvana.  In my opinion, speakers are the most important piece of this equation, and in having the 6Ts and a 5C for your front soundstage, I'd say you're off to an excellent start!

-Nick