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In Reply to: RE: Adcom 5500 vs Emotiva XPA-2 posted by slovell1 on September 22, 2015 at 17:18:37
I have owned an XPA-2 before and one of the Adcom 5400s which is the little brother of the 5500. Both of them possessed good bass and dynamics. The Adcoms have the Mosfet top end which tends to be more forgiving and less detailed. I found the Emotiva to be very neutral in the midrange and top end. If you have a preamp and/or speakers that tend to sound on the neutral to bright side I would not go with the Emotiva. That is why I sold my XPA-2.
Since moving to a set of Goldenear Tritons with ribbon tweeters and a tube hybrid preamp which both tend to have a more laid back top end I now use the little brother of the Emotiva XPA-2, the XPA-200 which works quite well with both of them.
I would say you are taking a side ways step. But having a new amp with a warranty is a good thing IMHO.
Good luck,
Bill
Follow Ups:
Nice lesson on synergy between equipment
Thank you,
IMHO Jolida provides a lot of bang for the bucks along with the Marantz. I don't know about needing the 300 watts RMS that the XPA-2 provides with the 98 DB sensitive KLF-20's. It seems like using a sledgehammer on a tack maybe. I could get a very good deal on the Marantz MM-7025 and MM 7055 amps from a dealer friend of mine. I'd get less power from the 7025 than I get from the 5500, 140 vs 200 for the KLF's but the power would be the same with the 7055 vs the 7000(140 per) for the center and surrounds. All my speakers are Klipsch so they're all pretty efficient. One plus with either the Emotivas or the Marantz amps would be the ability to use balanced cabling, something to consider I suppose.
Edits: 09/27/15 09/27/15
As you said, it doesn't take much power at all to drive the Klipsch, so I wouldn't worry about finding a big 200+ watt amp. The Marantz amps are a good value. May not provide a noticeable upgrade in sound but you'll be modernizing. If it's in your budget look at the Parasound A23, this would be an upgrade IMO.
You could even get away with using the Rotel 200x2 Class D amp that did sell for around $1300.00.
Curious about this statement: "The Marantz amps are a good value. May not provide a noticeable upgrade in sound but you'll be modernizing."
I'm new to amps/pres/etc. - what's the benefit of modernizing if there's no discernable change in audio? Warranty/support?
Thanks!
Remember the OP's original question "I've got an Adcom 5500 that's getting long in the tooth (15 yrs+) and starting to sound a bit on the ragged side. I'm trying to decide whether to have it serviced/modded or buy something new like the Emotiva. Would this be an improvement or a step sideways?"
The Marantz would sound some different from the Adcom, especially the 5500 which has a fairly unique sound due to the MOSFET's, but it would be new and it's a respectable amp despite the value price. So I'd say it would be more of a "sideways" as it may not be better in performance but it would be as good with a different sound. So it would depend on if the budget or wanting a sound improvement is the larger goal.
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