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Power or Refiniment? (1 Viewer)

JohnRice

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I guess I must be tough on amps. My main speakers (Thiel CS 3.6) are notoriously difficult to drive and it seems they are sending their second amp to an early grave. It's an Emotiva XPA-2, and the same problem it's developed claimed the prior amp, an Aragon 4004II. That Aragon was not a cheap amp, not that the Emotiva is exactly cheap either. So, I've been trying to decide what to replace it with. I was being steered toward a more "refined" type of amp, the Parasound Halo a23+, a high bias A/B with pure class A input section. It's lower power at "only" 250 WPC at 4 Ohm. I'm tempted though, by the Emotiva XPA-DR2, which is about the same price, but where the Parasound is "Old School", the Emotiva is more cutting edge tech, and also touts some serious power. The Emotiva uses some controversial circuitry, like a switch-mode power supply, but as I research that design, it sounds like it can theoretically be an improvement over traditional designs, especially with such a high power amp. Kind of like how Class D can theoretically be superior to A/B, if it's implemented properly. The XPA-DR2 can provide 1,000 watts into one channel, and 800 watts simultaneously to both channels, again at 4 Ohm, which is what the Thiels are.

Any thoughts?
 

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