Emotiva XPR-2 to replace my EP4000

[unklegpants]

I have had an 4 x 18" FI IB setup for about 4 years and love it. I am currently building a new house and almost ready to move it in. I wanted to get quieter AMP (fanless), and at the same time was looking into getting more power. Would an Emotive XPR-2 give me real world louder and possible more accurate sounds out of my IB setup, or would I just be wasting my money? FYI each speaker is 2 ohm and they would be paired in series so this EMO would run two 4 ohm loads. Here are the rated specs.
1,000 watts / channel (x2); both channels driven; into 4 Ohms.

Thanks,

Greg

[ThomasW]

Despite what people say I have heard audible differences between power amps. That said those differences were primarily when the amp was used in a passband higher than where a subwoofer plays.

I would be surprised if the Emotiva didn't sound somewhat better than the Behringer but I seriously doubt that the improvement would be enough to justify it's $1800 price tag.

Since you're going to build how about a dedicated, isolated, space for the Behring where the fan noise won't be a problem? Use a dedicated circuit with a wall switch. Be sure turn the Behring on first and off last when powering up the system.

[unklegpants]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately I am not doing a custom home, but i will highly customize after its done. I will be building a dedicated shelving rack outside of the theater for all the equipment but it will be next to the living room upstairs. I think you are right, it does not justify the $1800. I built a 12v trigger for the Bahringer to turn on and off after my Denon turns on and off. They are both on separate dedicated 20am circuits. Do you mind if I ask why it is important that it is first on and first off. In my current setup it is second on and second off.

Thanks,

Greg

[ThomasW]

Aug 28, 2015 14:51:17 GMT -7 unklegpants said:

Do you mind if I ask why it is important that it is first on and first off. In my current setup it is second on and second off.

Sorry regarding power amps it's supposed to be last on, first off, this is SOP for all audio system. This goes a long way toward avoiding loud transient thumps/pops when cycling the system on/off

[20litres]

Reviving an old thread.

My ep4000 died that has been powering 4x 2ohm SVC ib318 for 15 years. I don't have WAF right now for a replacement.

I do have an available Emotiva XPR-2 that shows 400ish watts a side on 4ohms.

Ep4000 showed 1750 watts bridged.

I also have an emo xpr-1 monoblock with bridge rating is 4ohm at 1000 watts.

Ideally, I would like to run the monoblock since the web suggests it would give a little more than the Xpr2 which is already half the ep4000. But, I can't find any wiring diagram to get 4x 2ohm drivers to a 4ohm load?

I have had the emos on Craig's off and on but more scammers than legitimate interest.

[20litres]

I could run 2 of the ib3s in series for a 4ohm load to the monoblock at 1000 watts total.

Then run one of xpa2 channels at 400/500ish watts for the remaining 2?

[dan77]

Wow. Since the 90’s, that is awesome. I am only at 5 years. I am such a newb!

Just days ago I ordered 4 18 IB3’s that are 2 ohm each. Other than using an inline resistor I don’t think there is a way to make 4 2 ohm speakers present a 4 ohm load.

So I will be doing roughly what you are proposing, I will be using (essentially) 2 amps. Each amp will be presented a 4 ohm load by wiring 2 2 ohm speakers in series.

I will be using the NX6000DSP. It is essentially 2 NX3000’s placed into a single chassis. It cannot be bridged.
Maybe wire them up as you suggested. I don’t see any tuning concerns. But you will need an SPL meter to balance them out as the amps will be pushing different amounts of power.

[20litres]

Somehow the emo amps are running the 4x ib318's too hard. On a better LFE movie scene they are too aggressive, loses detail. Makes the same, noise as when I have the AVR trim too high. But, I have backed avr trim to -12 and no lfe boost.

I have ran thru all the options on my XPA1@600w at 8ohms in series.
Xpr2 bridged at 800w, 500 per side at 4ohms.

Even my xpa100 does not sound good.

Lol, I have checked and double checked the drivers are wired in series.


When the ep4000 first died I had an old crown xls1000 that, bridged, should put out 1000 watts at 8ohms. Did not have the pop of the ep4000, but still doable. Is weird that the emo, at similar wattage, is so different?

I will keep working on it.

[20litres]

The web suggests xlr can run a little hotter than rca. So, I quickly tested DB for XPA1 tone in audyssey manual for SW trim. Then switched to RCA from my marantz 7702mkii. Same tone the rca was down 4db compared to Xlr.

I could pull my notebook into the theater to run rew. But, this was enough to start running scenes with RCA cable now instead of Xlr. Lo and behold everything is manageable now for my usual scenes that I test.

Does make me nervous if the xpa1 has certain HP filters. But, for the short term, everything sounds good.

[dan77]

I wanted to purchase Emotiva for my IB array. I am willing to spend $1800 to get that last 10% of goodness. So I called them directly asking if they had high pass filters built in and if so, could it be defeated. They had to consult with the engineering department but the answer was yes. Emotiva has a non-defeatable 16 hz High Pass filter on all their amps. They did not know what the slope was interestingly enough. They just don’t sell their amps to bass loving addicts so those specs were not something they had available.
The person on the phone assumed it was probably 18, but was not sure and engineering did not have those specs available. Apparently no one calls and asks questions like that.

I think Behringer is so popular because of price for sure, but it has been shown that they do not have a built in high pass filter.