Swap for emotiva???

[avncars]

hello all. after spending about 3 hours day in and day out, week after week looking through everybodies galleries and reading through 1000's of threads, gave me many great ideas, helped me in many ways, and noticed alot of thing...

one of the things i have noticed is that the majority of setups that have an external amplifier stick with the same brand, it seem everyone uses Emotiva amps. currently i am using a marantz sr7002 going into a B&K 200.7. i am very happy with my setup and think it sounds absolutely incredible. but my question is, am i missing out on something? this is my first setup using an external amp, so i do not have much to judge my system to, plus i dont see ANYBODY else on here using B&K...soooooooooo! would my system sound far better if i dropped the B&K and picked up am Emotiva amplifier???

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Originally Posted by avncars

hello all. after spending about 3 hours day in and day out, week after week looking through everybodies galleries and reading through 1000's of threads, gave me many great ideas, helped me in many ways, and noticed alot of thing...

one of the things i have noticed is that the majority of setups that have an external amplifier stick with the same brand, it seem everyone uses Emotiva amps. currently i am using a marantz sr7002 going into a B&K 200.7. i am very happy with my setup and think it sounds absolutely incredible. but my question is, am i missing out on something? this is my first setup using an external amp, so i do not have much to judge my system to, plus i dont see ANYBODY else on here using B&K...soooooooooo! would my system sound far better if i dropped the B&K and picked up am Emotiva amplifier???

Are you going for power output or sound quality??

The reason why most people on here shoot for Emotiva is because their amps provide a lot of clean power and a good sound quality that is far superior to any AVR's on board amps for a low price. It's the whole 'best bang for your dollar' mind set. So to say that you're system would sound better is purely subjective and its up to you to decide. However in my opinion, I wouldn't touch a thing with your setup on terms of swapping out your B&K for an Emotiva. Nice Setup.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by avncars

hello all. after spending about 3 hours day in and day out, week after week looking through everybodies galleries and reading through 1000's of threads, gave me many great ideas, helped me in many ways, and noticed alot of thing...

one of the things i have noticed is that the majority of setups that have an external amplifier stick with the same brand, it seem everyone uses Emotiva amps. currently i am using a marantz sr7002 going into a B&K 200.7. i am very happy with my setup and think it sounds absolutely incredible. but my question is, am i missing out on something? this is my first setup using an external amp, so i do not have much to judge my system to, plus i dont see ANYBODY else on here using B&K...soooooooooo! would my system sound far better if i dropped the B&K and picked up am Emotiva amplifier???

Emotiva really burst onto the scene a little over a year ago. They have a good quality product, that has been proven to be reliable, and have filled a gap that people saw - it was affordable.

Before that, it was B&K, who didn't have Emotiva's Web marketing technique. They only place I've ever seen them was at Magnolia (high end Best Buy), and I got a B&K 125.2 to drive my Sonus Faber Domus mains.

It is a superb amp, with flawless performance. The Domus is a sheer power hog, and a 4 ohm load - no way I was going to drive these with a receiver's internal amp. So I bought the B&K as an afterthought, after prying my wife's fingers from around my neck while I was looking at a Macintosh amp.

The Domus is inefficient (rated at 90 db) so you need some deep reserves for movie watching. My B&K, rated at 125W at 8 ohms, and 185W at 4 ohms, has no problem doing this, at reference volume. I'm always suspicious of these power ratings, since I think distortion at 4ohms output is always higher than advertised...but the B&K is extremely clean, always. There is no distortion I can detect, and my wife, an extremely critical listener, is very pleased.

Unless you have a need for more channels, stay with the B&K 200.7 you have. It is a beast, extremely clean, and matches anything Emotiva has released to date. Emotiva fans and admirers - of which I am one - like the fact that we're not looking at Rotel money to get performance like that. But there's definitely no need for you to switch.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Audiophile_At_Birth

Are you going for power output or sound quality??

The reason why most people on here shoot for Emotiva is because their amps provide a lot of clean power and a good sound quality that is far superior to any AVR's on board amps for a low price. It's the whole 'best bang for your dollar' mind set. So to say that you're system would sound better is purely subjective and its up to you to decide. However in my opinion, I wouldn't touch a thing with your setup on terms of swapping out your B&K for an Emotiva. Nice Setup.

+1 ! Agreed!

[solarrdadd]

I think if your system sounds great to you then i wouldn't worry about what everybody else has or is doing. if you don't think your system sounds great then, that is a different story. first determine if it's an issue of amplification or component performance, i.e. do you have a "not so good" player but a good amp or a good amp but a "not so good" pre/pro? try to make those determinations before you do anything. are your speakers getting good power from the existing amp you have? perhaps it's the speakers. i'm just saying, seriously review your existing components and determine, why you think you might need to change them relative to just wanting to change them because of what everyone else has. be ashamed to change something, spending that money and find out it's not what you thought then you'll be down on emo and the folks who use it.

by the way, as i rated it a while ago, you've got an incredible setup, gear and room wise. you have what a lot of us wish we had in both and your worried about what we have! isn't that the way it always is?!? I wish i just had the dedicated space and the look of the room you have. look at those front 3's, dude, trust me, be thankfull and satisfied. i know this is a hobby that it's hard to be satisfied but trust me, you've got a great setup and yes, i wish i had it, but, i'm also happy with what i have. your setup is sweet!

please keep us posted & best of luck.

[ManUtd]

Honestly I don't think anyone here can tell you if going from a B&K 200.7 to an Emotiva amp would yield to a positive difference in YOUR setup. Besides the amp there are many other factors that can affect the sound (room acoustics, source, speakers, etc.). If you really want to try out Emotiva, you could always make use of their 30-day in-home trial. If you decide to return it then it would only cost you the shipping.

That said, I have heard the B&K 200.5 at a friend's house and at a store and I really liked it. Recently I decided to upgrade my amp and the B&K (200.5 or 200.7) was my first two choices. Then I found out about Emotiva and read countless threads and reviews. I figured it was worth a try. I have the XPA-5 coming in a couple of days. If Emotiva didn't exist I would probably be listening to a B&K by now.

[ShockWave]

Originally Posted by ManUtd

Honestly I don't think anyone here can tell you if going from a B&K 200.7 to an Emotiva amp would yield to a positive difference in YOUR setup. Besides the amp there are many other factors that can affect the sound (room acoustics, source, speakers, etc.). If you really want to try out Emotiva, you could always make use of their 30-day in-home trial. If you decide to return it then it would only cost you the shipping.

That said, I have heard the B&K 200.5 at a friend's house and at a store and I really liked it. Recently I decided to upgrade my amp and the B&K (200.5 or 200.7) was my first two choices. Then I found out about Emotiva and read countless threads and reviews. I figured it was worth a try. I have the XPA-5 coming in a couple of days. If Emotiva didn't exist I would probably be listening to a B&K by now.

+1, great post. You can't lose with the 30 day trial. Nobody can say if it will be better unless you all were in the same room.

BTW, great set up. Really like what your dad did to that room. Beautiful!!!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by avncars

hello all. after spending about 3 hours day in and day out, week after week looking through everybodies galleries and reading through 1000's of threads, gave me many great ideas, helped me in many ways, and noticed alot of thing...

one of the things i have noticed is that the majority of setups that have an external amplifier stick with the same brand, it seem everyone uses Emotiva amps. currently i am using a marantz sr7002 going into a B&K 200.7. i am very happy with my setup and think it sounds absolutely incredible. but my question is, am i missing out on something? this is my first setup using an external amp, so i do not have much to judge my system to, plus i dont see ANYBODY else on here using B&K...soooooooooo! would my system sound far better if i dropped the B&K and picked up am Emotiva amplifier???

Your Marantz and B&K are a wonderful combination. Don't do anything stupid. Enjoy your system and be confident that your sytem is better than a large percentage of people on planet earth with audio/video systems.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Your Marantz and B&K are a wonderful combination. Don't do anything stupid. Enjoy your system and be confident that your sytem is better than a large percentage of people on planet earth with audio/video systems.

+1 ~ Vary well said !

[Pycroft]

I agree with what most people have said. Emotiva = good bang for the buck, not audiophile quality (Although they claim to be). B&K is a higher level amplifier. I havne't used the amp you have, but had a B&K amp in my 2 channel system that I liked very much, it just couldn't power my upgraded speakers. Stick with the B&K!