SatK,

Scout the emotiva forums before you buy the new XPA-5. There have been numerous red lights of death on various channels on the XPA-5, which is why I went with a used LPA-1 (exactly that reason actually). The LPA-1 is tried and true paired with M80s.

cool, 5 hdmi inputs for that price?

That many problems with Emotiva stuff makes me leery about the brand, as much as I want a cheap amp. I know they've got quite a following, and that the owner is cool and stuff, but...

And if I read something like what I just said about Axiom, smoke would be coming out of my ears. Ah, the joys of being a hypocrite.

I've been over on the av123.forum but haven't been able to identify the complaints in question. I do tend to agree with your analysis though, it seems to me a power amp should be more or less trouble free, it should not be that complicated to amplify a signal without imploding.

Found a number of threads at the emotiva lounge and they state that the red light problem is just an initialization thing and is not a DOA problem, it happens once and is scary, but is cured by a blow dryer never to return (?).

I'm quoting one recent thread

"per Lonnie: In the dual differential and VAS stages, we use some extremely high bandwidth transistors (normally used in broadcast equipment). This is what gives the amp that really open and airy sound, as well as giving it lightning fast reflexes to reprpoduce all the nuances of the music. The tradeoff is that these transistors are more susceptible to static.

Due to the foam packing, static can generate during shipping, and even weather can affect that. If s static charge builds up in the amp this way, the base of a transistor can slightly turn on and start to conduct current in an idle state. The protect circuit will see this, and even though it is WAY down in the microamps of current, it will shut the amp down to protect your speakers.

Blowing air over the components for anywhere from 60 seconds to a couple of minutes will discharge the static an then it will wake up and run normally. Once the charge is gone, I have nevr heard of it returning, so you shouldn't have any future issues with it.

We're not sure why we've had a couple of these recently, but to prevent it, we're changing to an anti-static top covering bag on the amps."

Not sure if this is enough to put me off from pursuing cheap ostensibly quality amplification with a 5 year warranty, I'm still thinking of taking the gamble.

Sure, Sat; if an amplifier delivers the 20-20KHz frequency range flat and with inaudibly low noise and distortion within its designed power limits, that's all that any amplifier can do as far as being audibly transparent and not adding a sonic coloration of its own. Doesn't matter whether it costs $100 or $100,000, and claims to the contrary haven't stood up when put to the(controlled blind listening)test.

No question, Emotiva has had some issues and some recurring issues. I've owned 3 different pieces and I've had a problem with 2 of the pieces. ! was fixed with no other problem and the other is on the way to be be fixed now after a year. Their producst work well but they are certainly not perfect but what manufacturer is. As much as I like their products, if I continue to have issues, I would go elsewhere. I want something that works and not something that I'm not ever sure of. So far, I'm still a follower but not a blind follower!!

I think Emotiva's stuff is great-looking, but it almost seems like they're a little too good to be true in that there does seem to be a higher percentage of incidents of some type of problem/failure. I don't know if it's because they're still working their kinks out or if they're trying to cut too much off the prices.

I'm really liking the idea of Outlaw's coming pre/pro, but to be realistic, I don't have much of a need for them.

To that point, if you have time, be sure to read this article from Stereo Review. This is admittedly a very old article, but it presents one of the only true blind listening tests in carefully controlled conditions of different amplifiers that I've seen. The results are very interesting.

Which products? I am on the pre-order list for the UMC-1, but now I am starting to reconsider...