Emotiva RPA-1

[Black Sand Cable]

I love stuff that turns out to be something when I was expecting nothing!

I have been putting together a few systems for people lately and as a result it has given me the chance to try out some pieces I might not normally check out. The Emotiva RPA-1 is one of those. I put together a decent little 5.1 system for a customer of mine who trusts my judgment and when it was all said and done I felt that the system could use a stand alone two channel amp to compliment the NAD T-773 receiver and Paradigm speakers I installed. I looked around for a decent quality two channel amp that would not break the bank but still offered up decent performance. I ended up making the call on the RPA=1 and man oh man it's not what I was expecting.

Prior to installing it at the rightful owners residence I installed it in my own system. My current McIntosh MC402 was replaced by the RPA-1 and the results knocked the shit out of me! For $700.00 this amp is a steal and the performance it offers is mind boggling. Yes this thing is that good and is good enough that I ordered another one for myself as I want to spend more time with it.

Bass, clarity, control all the buzz words that one can use to describe a good amp come to mind with this amp. It's not perfect and at the end of the day may not equal the MC402 but for $700.00 bucks if it gets 90% of the way there it's a no brainer.

I have also dealt with Emotiva a few times in the past and it was refreshing to see the customer service is still outstanding! (Thanks Lonnie!)

If anyone is after a two channel amp you owe it to yourself to ignore the price and try one of these things.

[richidoo]

Hey, that's saying something if it's even in the same league as the mac.

I had similar experience with Audiosource 200 I bought for patio and ceiling speakers. It played surprisingly well on the big speakers considering it's price of $250, and by the time it was broken in, it sounded damn fine! Now I see it on Amazon a week later for only 210, free ship.    It would make a slammin mid fi amp, throw in a pair of Infinity beta 50s, a SB and you're all set. Buy a porsche with the leftover. HAHAHA

[Black Sand Cable]

I'm not sure it how it will compare to the Mac but I intend to find out!

I was doing some searching on the RPA-1 a few minutes ago and it would seem that at least one "pro" reviewer agrees with me.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/amplifiers/emotiva-rpa-1-amplifier/

[Nick B]

Thanks for the info. I've bookmarked the site and read some of the descriptions. I have no idea what the cost would be for quality parts, but it doesn't seem possible to make an audiophile quality 2 channel amp for that money   

[Carlman]

Well, I got to looking at the Emotiva gear based on the recommendation here... and found they had a $500 pre/pro that very closely matches my McIntosh gear (in looks)... Since HT is only about 90% as critical to me as regular 2-channel listening, I thought it might be worth investigating.  They have a nice forum as well and apparently can customize an amp to your needs.   (I only need a 3-channel amp, they only show 2, 5 and 7 channel amps on their site.)

I've emailed them and invited them to join... May never hear anything but who knows... would be interesting to hear more from these folks...

-C