The Official Emotiva Q&A thread

[Tanooki]

How does one from Canada order, in the billing page there is no option for Canada and its provinces. (I still want to ship within the US just have it billed to Canada).

[aces high]

Originally Posted by Tanooki

How does one from Canada order, in the billing page there is no option for Canada and its provinces. (I still want to ship within the US just have it billed to Canada).

You have to call the 1-800 #.

[Parula]

Good morning Emotivians! I received my new xpa-5 yesterday and wanted to share a few thoughts and share a minor problem.
The xpa-5 is connected to a Yamaha rx-a3000 AVR and is driving a pair ofKlipsch Rf7 lls, an Rc64ll, and a pair of Def Tech 7004's.
I was a bit intimidated at first with the size and power of this amp and had fears I'd blow something up, break the glass shelf, or blow a circuit breaker. Fortunately, none of these things happened. Installation was actually rather simple and went off without a hitch. This amp sounds great! I feel fortunate to not have to deal with background humming or hiss. It's there but can only be heard from the tweeters and horns from a few inches away.
I do have one minor problem. It seems that in connecting the xpa-5 to the Yamaha rx-a3000, the AVR's OSD has been disabled. I've done some online searches concerning this problem but came up empty. Do any of you have any suggestions for correcting this problem?

Thanks, Michelle

[Parula]

Hey, I got that problem solved. If I switch the source to an unused one or, change to an unused scene, I can see the OSD. Problem solved!

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by Parula

Hey, I got that problem solved. If I switch the source to an unused one or, change to an unused scene, I can see the OSD. Problem solved!

I wonder if the video passthrough got turned on for that particular input. With my Marantz if I turn the video to passthrough I lose my volume overlay and settings overlay when I tinker with things.

Bill

[Parula]

Originally Posted by MrFattBill

I wonder if the video passthrough got turned on for that particular input. With my Marantz if I turn the video to passthrough I lose my volume overlay and settings overlay when I tinker with things.

Bill

Hi Bill. I checked the video pass through and it's disabled, probably because of another setting on my AVR. It's funny, upon doing some surfing on this subject, I find that most people are trying to find a way to turn off Yamaha OSD and from what I've read, there is no way to disable it.

[erict]

Originally Posted by Parula

Hi Bill. I checked the video pass through and it's disabled, probably because of another setting on my AVR. It's funny, upon doing some surfing on this subject, I find that most people are trying to find a way to turn off Yamaha OSD and from what I've read, there is no way to disable it.

If it works like my Anthem, then setting it in pass through would disable the OSD since it needs the video processor to lay the overlay.

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by erict

If it works like my Anthem, then setting it in pass through would disable the OSD since it needs the video processor to lay the overlay.

That is my understanding as well.

Bill

[HT + 2CH MAN]

...woke up yesterday morning not realizing I was going to have the receiver I had been online researching for (many ...many) months, digging up every scrap of information I could on it on in this forum, AVS, and miriad other audio sites and owners reviews, etc... in my possesion by the end of the day.

But then I moseyed over to some of the 'factory authorized dealers' sites and found a couple of online reatailers (CircuitCity and CompUSA amoung them) were offering the Onkyo TX-NR809 for 699.00, whereas each time I had looked around online in the recent past it had been selling (or at least offered) in the $799, 899, 999 range ...and Frys also had it marked on their in-store listening area display shelf for 799 ...never seeing close to the fabled $649 some have been fortunate enough to aquire it for from Amazon or Newegg at times.

Well, that was it, $699 was close enough.

So, armed with 3 of the above offer printouts, went to Frys (about 10 minutes away from me, including parking and climbing the stairs into the store...) at 6:15 pm ...and at 7:10 I was back home with the receiver box on the living room floor. Was easy.

TIP: Use a screensaver application ...here's a good free one I very much like ...it's been an invaluable tool to save information in my 'research'.

CNET Editors' review
by: CNET Staff on February 27, 2009
This outstanding freeware application makes capturing and editing screenshot images a breeze. MWSnap may come with an uninspired-looking interface, but it gets the job done without hassle. Its useful and very user-friendly features require no special expertise. You can capture a fixed or selected area of your screen, a particular window or menu, or the entire desktop. You can also set the application to automatically save after capturing. Bonus features include an onscreen ruler, a desktop magnifier, a window-information tool, and a color picker. MWSnap also lets you modify images by flipping or rotating them, and by adding a variety of frames and cursor shapes. It's an excellent choice for everyone from casual to experienced users.
Read more: MWSnap - Download.com http://download.cnet.com/MWSnap/3000...#ixzz1nQCDW7jc

...and just outline with the screensaver the part of the retailers sites that deals with the price they are quoting offering it for (...without all the payment options and shipping stuff...) ...thats the key part to print out and take with you to local places that will price match.

The supervisor for the AV dept didn't even bother with the "final delivered price" thing ...which would have included also 'matching' an included shipping charge. He just said "I'll do it" and asked if he could keep one of the quote printous I had brought, to include in his paperwork to show the other retailers price ...and had them bring me out a new, pristine looking, undented box (had already told him I would not accept a mauled box, or return or open-box unit).

That was it, simple. With tax, $758.42 out the door.

What I like about Frys' is that a) ...now I have 30 days to 'kick the tires', try everything out and see if it smokes or blows up... which was important to me judging from a couple of others experiences I have read on the forums. See if all the HDMI ports actually keep working, etc... and b) ...if there are any problems at all, all I have to do is do a good job of keeping all the pieces, box packaging, booklets, remote, and all the little plastic bags they came in, put it all back together ...and half an hour later I have my money back. I paid cash, so I will get cash back. I have never had a problem with a return to Frys, it always just 'works' to return something. And no having to deal with a shipping cost back to an online seller, and the inherent time delay.

If the receiver works perfectly, then I will purchase the extended warranty directly from Onkyo for $65 ...to increase it from 2 to 4 years. I know...BUT...I have read on forums where a guy that had bought a 'B stock' receiver got a new 'A stock' one ...and another got the newer, better model, when there was a problem with the warranted one. So those possibilities make it worth it to me ...and I've also heard some say there is somehow more, better, quicker, easer, more convienient access to more qualified authorized repair centers that way. Have no idea if that is true. But suspect it could be.

RESTRAINT, or lack of it....

The 'self discipline' and 'delayed gratification' part of me said that I was going to finish putting together all the other stuff of the home theater that I've been designing (and repeatedly redesigning (enhancing))... before I even open the box. Give me more incentive to get it done. And quickly. Right?. Put all the pieces in their final and proper places, then 'Flip the Switch' ...and hear how it sounds and looks... ...and part of me really thought I was going to do that.

...but maybe 15 minutes later (lasted that long) ...the box was open.

I particularly wanted to see if I had gotten the paper instruction manual, or the CD disk version ...and contrary to what others have said , I was happy to see I had gotten the CD one...as, my theory is, the paper ones came with the earlier manufactured versions of the 809, the CD comes with the later produced ones. Plus I wanted to have a look at the remote, the Quick Setup Guide, the little Audyssey microphone, etc...

My thought is that perhaps Onkyo heeded some of the earlier QC problems and that if I got a later one, maybe the bugs had been QC'd out of them by now. Hope so. I would like to hear what you guys think of that theory.

Have managed to restrain myself, so far, to leave the receiver in the box, but I suspect I will soon be looking at it, probably right after I finish writing this ...just to see that it is not damaged...

Well, just wanted to let you guys know I am now back on track to 'proceed' ...with the hackin' and hewin', gluein' and screwin' stage... now that I have finally got the central component of this whole thing in my grasp.

Once the initial HT is in place and relatively together and working / configured properly, the next bit will be UPA-1's for the left and right. Maybe the center too down the road, but I have an idea for the center that I am intrigued by, and will try that first. More on that later....

And yes, will do pictures as I go ...but will probably not post incrementaly as I build ...will just include them all with the final 'Done' setup pics. Hopefully, the build will go relatively fast, with all the time spent on the relatively careful design part of it...that's the hope anyway.

...well, the proof is in the pudding, better get to it...

Have a great weekend guys ...and all you out there also working on your HT projects...

HT + 2CH MAN


ps: Thank you Erict, and you solarrdad for your added setup adenda information, for your pic/diagram (stored it using that trusty above-mentioned screensaver) how-to on biamping 2 UPA's ...I will definately use the info, and nice and encouraging to know that I now have the proper information I will need to do it relatively quickly, and right, once I get to that stage. ...a 'visual' goes a looong way for me... Thanks much.

...and a shout out to Hammie. It's been a long time since I had last been on before today, during the HT designing stage that I've been in and have just been concentrating on that, and Hammie was instrumental in answering a question that helped tremendously in my 'down-to-the-wire' 'last minute' "I gotta decide one way or the other" (to catch a sale) decision on whether to have 1 sub or 2 in my HT setup. Happily, with his help, I have 2 emos (which I have not even heard yet...can't wait).
Hope all is going well with your HT endeavors these days Hammie.

[Bryceo]

im new to haven pre amps and stuff just woundering if ill get attacked for usking what pre/pro to run??

[ZIPPO]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

im new to haven pre amps and stuff just woundering if ill get attacked for usking what pre/pro to run??

You can use your receiver.

[Bryceo]

Originally Posted by ZIPPO

You can use your receiver.

as a pree amp?

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

as a pree amp?

Yes, it looks like your RX-V1000 has preamp outs.

[Bryceo]

It does have them but I'm not quite sure how to ues them some help would be deploy appreciated cheers bryceo

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

It does have them but I'm not quite sure how to ues them some help would be deploy appreciated cheers bryceo

If you buy A separate amplifier to add to the system. You use the Pre-outs on the back of the receiver to hook it up. You run RCA cables from the Pre-outs on the back of the receiver to the different channels of the amp. Then you run speaker wire from the amp to the speakers.

Example ~ Front left Pre-out to 1 channel of the amp. Then speaker wire from that channel to the front left speaker.

Hope that is what you meant with your PM

[HT + 2CH MAN]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

It does have them but I'm not quite sure how to ues them some help would be deploy appreciated cheers bryceo

Hi Bryceo.

...when using a receiver as a preamp ...you simply 'add' whatever amplifier(s) you feel, through research, reading, online reviews, talking with others as you are doing here...will give you increased horsepower over, above and beyond what the the amps that are built into your reciever are providing. By doing so you are bypassing the amps built into your receiver using the preout ports to do so.

That's what they are for, what they were designed to do, and what the manufacturers of recievers put them into their recievers to do. Sounds kind of ironic doesn't it...manufacturers buliding into their units the ability to bypass their own bulit-in amplifiers within their own receivers.

But they do so to offer you a receiver that can be used as a pre-amplifier to give you more flexibility with your audio and HT system, so you can customize it as you prefer it.

This is a continuation of the "modular" philosophy that I first became aware of when stereo "seperates" first came out, with seperate components for each function. You could decide which receiver (back then we just called them a "Stereo") you liked, which phono player, which tape deck, which speakers, and put them together however pleased you ...rather than, and as an improvement on, the early all-in-one cabinets that first came out, that had all the components built into one cabinet, and all decided on by that one manufacturer ...RCA, GE, etc.

You have the option to decide how many of the channels built into your receiver you come to feel you want to do this with, which of the channels from your receiver and whole system would benefit from increased and better amplification (better than the economics of recievers allows manufactures to provide within many recievers..in order to keep costs, and the price to the buyer down ...and stay "competitive".).

For example, if you have a 7.1 channel capable receiver, you can decide you want to better amplify just the main front left and right channel speakers ...in which case you could get a couple of 'monoblocks'...like the Emotiva UPA-1 that I like. They also have a more powerful and therfore of course more expensive XPA-1 monoblock. Or you can buy multi-channel external amplifiers from Emotiva, and many other companies, to amplify 2,3,5,7 channels...whatever you want and feel you need.

A monoblock is simply an amp with only 1 channel it has to amplify, resulting in no 'crosstalk' between channels, and other benefits.

Other generally highly desired benefits of using your receiver as a preamp by adding external amplification, are commonly gaining more "headroom" power in the form of a larger transformer and power supply, plus extra reserve power in the form of increased capacitance to give additional stored 'on-demand' power ...so the receiver is not straining to provide what the speakers need, particularly in the more dynamic passages in music or movies...or if you are going to run them at high volumn continously for a long time, for example, party time! ...which results commonly in cleaner, clearer sound, a wider, and often deeper 'soundstage', more natural sounding instruments and voices, and a 'blacker' "noise floor" ...meaning no background noise, dead quiet between passages of the source soundtrack, when there is no signal being sent from the music ...even if the volume is up high, will still be completely silent with a good system and amps. No hiss or hum ...amoung just some of the many improvements increased amplification per channel provides.

As I said you can decide how many channels to do this to. You could decide to amplify just the center channel of your HT for when you are watching movies to hear the dialogue more crisply and cleanly with better detail.

Many people, as I will, start out by externally amplifying just their front left and right channels, or their left and right channels plus center channel first. Then if they like the improvement enough, and think they want to or need to ...then they can later plug in additional amps into their receiver for the surround chanels. In which case their reciever would be doing NONE of the amplification, and would be fuctioning purely as a preamplifier, with AM and FM radios and some other things built-in of course ...but functioning purely as a preamp...from a strictly 'system ampification' perspective.

To actually do the above ...to "plug in" external amps to your receiver, you simply connect your speakers to your external amp, rather than to your receiver ...and run an RCA cable from the preout port on the back of your receiver of whatever channel you are choosing to externally amplify ...and plug the other end of that cable into the input of the external amp.

The signal from the source material, CD, Bluray, phono, radio, TV, whatever ...then goes through the receiver (for that channel) through the switching (and some other curcuits in the receiver ...DSP - digital signal processing, for example..), but NOT through the receivers amplifer for that channel.
And it is automatic ...so that if you plug in external amps to a channel or channels...the receiver will then send the signal from your CD or DVD to that amp ...because it saw/detected that you plugged the external amp into the preamp output on the back of your receiver.
It instead goes out of the receiver through the provided preamp output port, into and through your external amp, and out to your speakers.

The 'channels' you don't do this to, such as the surrounds, will then remain driven by the amps built into your receiver.

Your receiver will then be used as a preamp providing switching and signal pre-amplification processing...just as a dedicated seperate preamplifier/preprocessor does, for only those channels you decide to use external amplification on.

So your receiver already is a preamplifier plus radio and other things, plus amplifiers ...with the preouts giving you the opportunity to easily 'improve' the amplification of your system selectively.

Well, I think that roughly covers it. At least as best I can think of at the moment.
Hope it was not overly 'wordy'. And of some help to you.

Have Fun

HT + 2CH MAN

[Bryceo]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

If you buy A separate amplifier to add to the system. You use the Pre-outs on the back of the receiver to hook it up. You run RCA cables from the Pre-outs on the back of the receiver to the different channels of the amp. Then you run speaker wire from the amp to the speakers.

Example ~ Front left Pre-out to 1 channel of the amp. Then speaker wire from that channel to the front left speaker.

Hope that is what you meant with your PM

Originally Posted by HT + 2CH MAN

Hi Bryceo.

...when using a receiver as a preamp ...you simply 'add' whatever 'amplifier'(s) you feel (through research, reading, online reviews, talking with others here)...will give you increased horsepower over, above and beyond what the the amps that are built into the reciever are providing. By doing so you are bypassing the amps built into the receiver...using the 'preouts' to do so.

Thats what they are for...what they were designed to do, and what the manufacture of recievers put them into their reciever to do. Sounds kind of ironic doesn't it...manufacturers buliding into their units the ability to bypass their own bulit-in amplifiers within their own receivers.

But they do so, to offer you a receiver that can be used as a pre-amp, to give you, their customer, more fexibiltiy with your audio and HT sytem...so you can customize it as you prefer it.

This is a continuation of the 'modular' philosophy, that I first became aware of when 'stereo' 'seperates' first came out (seperate components for each function) ...you could decide which receiver (back then, we just called them a "Stereo" unit) you liked, which phono player, which tape deck, which speakers, and put them together however pleased you...rather than, and as an improvement/alternative to, the early 'all-in-one' cabinets that first came out, that had everything built into one cabinet, with all the parts in the cabinet decided on by the manufacture,...RCA, GE, whatever.

You have the option to decide how many of the 'channels' built into your receiver you come to feel you want to do this with, which of the channels from your receiver and whole system would benefit from increased/better amplification (better than the economics of recievers allows manufactures to provide within many recievers..in order to keep costs, and the price to the reciever buyer, down ...and stay 'competitive'.).

For example, if you have a 7.1 channel capable receiver, you can decide you want to better amplify just the main front left and right channel speakers...in which case you could get a couple of 'monoblocks'...like the Emotiva UPA-1 one that I like, they also have a more powerful (and therfore of course more expensive) XPA-1 monoblock. Or you can also buy multi-channel external amplifiers from Emotiva and many other companies, to amplify 1,2,3,5,7 channels...whatever you want and feel you need.

A monoblock is simply an amp with only 1 channel it has to contend with, and amplify, resulting in no 'crosstalk' between channels, and other benefits...

... other generally highly desired benefits of using your receiver as a preamp, are most commonly gaining more 'headroom' (more power, extra 'reserve' power...so the amp is not straining to provide what the speakers need, particularly in the more 'dynamic' passages in music ...or if you are going to run them at high volumn continously for a long time, for example, party time! ...which results commonly in clearer, cleaner sound, a wider, and often deeper 'soundstage', more natural sounding instruments and voices, and 'blacker' "noise floor' ...meaning no background noise, dead quiet between passages of the source soundtrack, when there is no signal being sent from the music ...even if the volume is up high ...will be completely silent with a good system and amps. No hiss, hum, that sort of thing...amoung just some of the many improvements increased amplification per channel provides.

Remember that I said you can decide how many 'channels' to do this to. You could also do the same with the center channel, for when you are watcing movies...to hear the dialogue more crisply and cleanly, better detail.

Many people, as I will be doing, start out by externally amplifying just their front left and right channels, or their left and right channels plus center channel, first. Then if they like the improvement enough and think they want to or need to 9, or can afford to ..then they can later plug in additional amps into their receiver.

To actually do the above ..."plug in" external amps to your receiver, you simply connect your speakers to your external amp, rather than your receiver, and run an RCA cable from the 'preout' on the back of your receiver, of whatever channel you are choosing to externally amplify ...and plug the other end of that cable into the external amp.

The signal from the source material, CD, Bluray, phono, TV, whatever ...then goes through the receiver..but only (for that channel) through the switching (and some other curcuits in the receiver, DSP - digital signal processing, for example..) , but Not through the receivers amplifer (for that channel).
And it is automatic ...so that if you plug in 'external amps' to a channel or channels...the receiver will then send the signal from your CD or DVD to that amp ...because it saw that you plugged the extenal amp into the preamp output on the back of your receiver.
It goes then instead out of the receiver, through the provided preamp output port...and into your external amp ...and through it, out to your speakers.

And the 'channels' that you don't do this to, like the 'surrounds' ...they will then remain driven by the amps built into your reciever.

Your receiver is then used as a preamp, providing switching and signal 'pre' processing (meaning pre-amplification processing)...just as a dedicated (seperate) preamplifier does, for only those channels that you do decide to use external amplification' on).

Your receiver is a preamplifier, plus radio and other things, plus amplifiers for each channel ...with the preouts giving you the oportunity to easily 'improve' the amplification, selectively, of your system.

And it is automatic ...so that if you plug in 'external amps' to a channel or channels...the receiver will then send the signal from your CD or DVD to that amp ...because it saw that you plugged the extenal amp into the preamp output on the back of your receiver.

Well, I think that roughly covers it. At least as best I can think of at the moment.
Hope it was not overly 'wordy'. And of some help to you.

Have Fun

HT + 2CH MAN

Thank you both so much for your help it means alot to me what emo would you suggest for runing 4 main speakers ?

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

Thank you both so much for your help it means alot to me what emo would you suggest for runing 4 main speakers ?

First ~ What 4 speakers ?

Front L/R & center & _____ ?

An XPA-5 has 5 channels.

Or you could buy 4 UPA-1 that are one channel each.

There are others but what is the 4th speaker you are talking about ?

[Bryceo]

Front left and right set 1 front left and right set 2

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Bryceo

Front left and right set 1 front left and right set 2

I see now. You are splitting the front channels from 2 speakers to 4.

What you get as for the amps is up to you. I guess I would get an XPA-5 to cover the 4 channels & it will give you an extra channel to use down the road if you want to change things up