Let me just start by saying that I have had the itch for the past year or so to try out some new audio components. I wasn't sure which components they were going to be or which one I was going to get first. I was just sitting back waiting for the right deal to come along at the right time. I had decided that I would have to sell some gear that I own to get it if it seemed like the right choice for me. I also knew that I was going to read reviews about whatever product it was. I was not going to sell some of my vintage gear without being pretty confident that I was going to be happy with whatever new stuff I purchase.
Well, back on September 29, 2007 AK member ejfud, aka Gary, started a thread asking if anyone had the chance to listen to a Emotiva RSP-1 preamp / RPA-1 power amp setup. I had never heard of that brand but proceeded to the link he posted to a review done by Home Theatre High Fidelity. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volu...fier-rpa-1-power-amplifier-5-2007-part-1.html.
After reading the review I decided to check out the Emotiva website http://www.emotiva.com/ and proceeded to the RPA-1 power amplifier page http://www.emotiva.com/rpa1.html. The specs seemed impressive enough to me that I decided to check out the links to reviews posted on their site. Audioholics and Home Theatre High Fidelity have compared this amp to amps costing at least 2, 3 and even more times the amount of money and still gave it excellent reviews. I decided at that point that I would Google the RPA-1 to read more reviews. I decided that I had to go for it. After all, they offer a 30 day in home trial so how could I go wrong. I was honestly expecting that I was going to be sending it back after the in home trial. I figured that if there was any difference between it and my main amp at the time, NAD 200PE, that it would be so insignificant that I would not be able to justify in my mind spending the $600.00 plus shipping. By the way, the regular price on this amp is $699.00 but it was on sale in October for $599.00. Plus you get a 5 year warranty on every product they sell. Two good reasons to give it a try. I figured any company that can give you a 5 year warranty must have a lot of confidence in the build quality and quality of components used in their products. http://emotiva.com/whybuy.shtm.
When I got home from work the day the amp arrived and I bent down to lift the carton off the floor I was surprised at how heavy it was. I knew then that it wasn't the typical bpc that I've come to expect these days. The shipping weight was ~60lbs according to the shipping label. The amp itself weighs in at 51lbs. I remember saying to my son "This thing weighs as much as one of my HPM-100's". It is built like a tank.
I got it out of the box and set it on the table. The amp was inside a cloth bag with pull strings like you would see on the hoods of some winter jackets etc. There was also a small box with rack handles in it. "Pretty cool" I said to myself. Even the rack handles have the brushed appearance. I took it out of the bag and was impressed with the looks. This amp looks better in person then it does in pictures and feels rugged too. By the way, the chassis does not twist at all on this heavy beast. Tells me they didn’t skimp on the chassis construction. You can see from the second rear panel photo just how thick the chassis is. The piano black lacquer side panels are elegant. They are finished on all sides which is something rare in my experience. There is a master power switch on the back panel. After turning on the master switch it can be turned on either manually by depressing the power button on the front panel, by using the 12vdc Trigger input or by the Signal Sensing option that will turn it on when audio signal is present. I tried the Signal Sensing option but didn't like missing the first few notes of the music I was listening to. So I'm now using the 12vdc trigger option that turns it on when I turn on the preamp. There are RCA unbalanced and XLR balanced inputs.
The front panel has power meters that read from -60dB to +3dB. There is also a peak indicator light that changes from blue to red when the amp clips or other fault conditions occur. Personally I could live without the meters because they are difficult to read if you're not close to the amp. But they do add a coolness factor. The front panel is 3/8" thick black brushed aluminum with the silver brushed aluminum squares on either side. The silver squares emit a blue glow around them and the power switch changes from an amber color to blue when the unit is turned on. The meters are also lit blue. There is a dimmer button on the front panel to dim the lights if you wish. There are four different brightness levels to choose from.
I measured it to see if it would fit in place of the NAD amplifier and it was obvious that it was way larger. Even if I removed the side panels it would still be too deep. The only place it would fit is on the top shelf where my TT is. Bummer. I’ll have to replace the rack in the future if I decided to keep the amp. It has 5-way binding posts so the speakers can be hooked up in your preferred method.
I hooked it up and turned it on. I played Diana Krall “Live In Paris”. Immediately I noticed what I had been reading in the reviews about the level of detail and how each instrument had it’s own place in space. I played stuff by Phutureprimitve, Steely Dan, Patricia Barber, Walter Trout etc. Even when the music gets really busy, you can still hear the individual instruments. They don’t get mashed together. The bass is tight and very well controlled. The high end of the audio spectrum is crisp and detailed as well.
I believe that the detail and openness of this amp can be attributed to the fact that this amp is dead quite. I can put my ear to the speakers and hear absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. No hiss, hum etc. This is one quiet amp guys and gals. It uses discrete components in the audio circuits, 105 degree caps and 1% resistors. There is a 300watt toroidal transformer and four 18,000uf caps for each channels power supply. A third smaller toroidal transformer is used for the lighting and other support circuits.
The Class H power supply design is similar to Bob Carver’s Tracking Down Converter design from what I’ve read. I’m not technically advanced enough to say what the differences are though. What I can tell you is that it runs super cool and is efficient by design. You won’t be using it as a hand warmer. I can leave it on all day and when I turn it off in the evening it is still cool to the touch.
I’ve had it for just over a month now and totally enjoy this amp. I have not had this amp over -20dB, according to its meters, because it is so loud in my small living room. I doubt I will ever need to take advantage of its 200 watts/channel rating at 8 ohms.
I know I was wordy but I'm like the proud father of a new baby. I haven't had a brand new piece of audio gear in so many years. Needless to say I'm keeping it.
See photos at the following link. http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/audiobucket/RPA-1/
Paul
Well, back on September 29, 2007 AK member ejfud, aka Gary, started a thread asking if anyone had the chance to listen to a Emotiva RSP-1 preamp / RPA-1 power amp setup. I had never heard of that brand but proceeded to the link he posted to a review done by Home Theatre High Fidelity. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volu...fier-rpa-1-power-amplifier-5-2007-part-1.html.
After reading the review I decided to check out the Emotiva website http://www.emotiva.com/ and proceeded to the RPA-1 power amplifier page http://www.emotiva.com/rpa1.html. The specs seemed impressive enough to me that I decided to check out the links to reviews posted on their site. Audioholics and Home Theatre High Fidelity have compared this amp to amps costing at least 2, 3 and even more times the amount of money and still gave it excellent reviews. I decided at that point that I would Google the RPA-1 to read more reviews. I decided that I had to go for it. After all, they offer a 30 day in home trial so how could I go wrong. I was honestly expecting that I was going to be sending it back after the in home trial. I figured that if there was any difference between it and my main amp at the time, NAD 200PE, that it would be so insignificant that I would not be able to justify in my mind spending the $600.00 plus shipping. By the way, the regular price on this amp is $699.00 but it was on sale in October for $599.00. Plus you get a 5 year warranty on every product they sell. Two good reasons to give it a try. I figured any company that can give you a 5 year warranty must have a lot of confidence in the build quality and quality of components used in their products. http://emotiva.com/whybuy.shtm.
When I got home from work the day the amp arrived and I bent down to lift the carton off the floor I was surprised at how heavy it was. I knew then that it wasn't the typical bpc that I've come to expect these days. The shipping weight was ~60lbs according to the shipping label. The amp itself weighs in at 51lbs. I remember saying to my son "This thing weighs as much as one of my HPM-100's". It is built like a tank.
I got it out of the box and set it on the table. The amp was inside a cloth bag with pull strings like you would see on the hoods of some winter jackets etc. There was also a small box with rack handles in it. "Pretty cool" I said to myself. Even the rack handles have the brushed appearance. I took it out of the bag and was impressed with the looks. This amp looks better in person then it does in pictures and feels rugged too. By the way, the chassis does not twist at all on this heavy beast. Tells me they didn’t skimp on the chassis construction. You can see from the second rear panel photo just how thick the chassis is. The piano black lacquer side panels are elegant. They are finished on all sides which is something rare in my experience. There is a master power switch on the back panel. After turning on the master switch it can be turned on either manually by depressing the power button on the front panel, by using the 12vdc Trigger input or by the Signal Sensing option that will turn it on when audio signal is present. I tried the Signal Sensing option but didn't like missing the first few notes of the music I was listening to. So I'm now using the 12vdc trigger option that turns it on when I turn on the preamp. There are RCA unbalanced and XLR balanced inputs.
The front panel has power meters that read from -60dB to +3dB. There is also a peak indicator light that changes from blue to red when the amp clips or other fault conditions occur. Personally I could live without the meters because they are difficult to read if you're not close to the amp. But they do add a coolness factor. The front panel is 3/8" thick black brushed aluminum with the silver brushed aluminum squares on either side. The silver squares emit a blue glow around them and the power switch changes from an amber color to blue when the unit is turned on. The meters are also lit blue. There is a dimmer button on the front panel to dim the lights if you wish. There are four different brightness levels to choose from.
I measured it to see if it would fit in place of the NAD amplifier and it was obvious that it was way larger. Even if I removed the side panels it would still be too deep. The only place it would fit is on the top shelf where my TT is. Bummer. I’ll have to replace the rack in the future if I decided to keep the amp. It has 5-way binding posts so the speakers can be hooked up in your preferred method.
I hooked it up and turned it on. I played Diana Krall “Live In Paris”. Immediately I noticed what I had been reading in the reviews about the level of detail and how each instrument had it’s own place in space. I played stuff by Phutureprimitve, Steely Dan, Patricia Barber, Walter Trout etc. Even when the music gets really busy, you can still hear the individual instruments. They don’t get mashed together. The bass is tight and very well controlled. The high end of the audio spectrum is crisp and detailed as well.
I believe that the detail and openness of this amp can be attributed to the fact that this amp is dead quite. I can put my ear to the speakers and hear absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. No hiss, hum etc. This is one quiet amp guys and gals. It uses discrete components in the audio circuits, 105 degree caps and 1% resistors. There is a 300watt toroidal transformer and four 18,000uf caps for each channels power supply. A third smaller toroidal transformer is used for the lighting and other support circuits.
The Class H power supply design is similar to Bob Carver’s Tracking Down Converter design from what I’ve read. I’m not technically advanced enough to say what the differences are though. What I can tell you is that it runs super cool and is efficient by design. You won’t be using it as a hand warmer. I can leave it on all day and when I turn it off in the evening it is still cool to the touch.
I’ve had it for just over a month now and totally enjoy this amp. I have not had this amp over -20dB, according to its meters, because it is so loud in my small living room. I doubt I will ever need to take advantage of its 200 watts/channel rating at 8 ohms.
I know I was wordy but I'm like the proud father of a new baby. I haven't had a brand new piece of audio gear in so many years. Needless to say I'm keeping it.
See photos at the following link. http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/audiobucket/RPA-1/
Paul
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