Emotiva UPA-500 Five-Channel Power Amplifier

80 watts RMS all channels driven,says it all. The big names do not rate that way,all they will give is theirrating at only 2 channels driven!!Unit has ,when properly hooked up,no discernible hum at full volume no signal,beautiful!!Very heavy,uses a toroidal power supply,which will give very stable internal voltage,also reduces possibility of 60 cycle hum!!Only con is no input signal level control! Audio output is pure and accurate with a warm sound not tinny. My systemuses an Oppo BDP 105 as my preamp and Bluray player.All signals go through this 105,with the pre-audio out being the result of Sabre DACS (digital to analog)converters in the 105. The 500 does not color the audio at all. I use JBL and Polk for my audio drivers. Good Hunting ,The Serferdude

The upgrade bug hit me and I am glad I took the hit. I own a Sony Elite DA2400 ES receiver which has been a great performer so far. I have been waiting to get into the world of separates for a while and thought I will start with the amp first. I own a simple set up for HT with Bose 301s taking Front L/R and the center anchored by the venerable Def Tech Procenter 1000. The rears are in ceiling speakers. Polk RC60i and subwoofer a Polk PSW505. So far the sound has been great, but once I installed the Emotiva UPA 500 and powered all speakers through it the upgrade was immense. Everything sounds much more clear even at lower volume levels.Set up guideI researched a lot of forums on how to set up an external amp with your AV receiver and did not find information anywhere to let me know how to go about it. As a bit of an experienced audio nut I decided to take the plunge and figure it out myself. The following things are needed when connecting a power amplifier to an AV receiver instead of a Home theater pre like Marantz AV7701.A lot of forums told me that i would need to gain match amps to receiver pre outs. That is partially true. A lot of AV receivers do not put out rated 2Vrms on their pre-out when their volume is raised all the way up. This is needed for some of the expensive amplifiers such as Bryston, Classe etc. The advantage with this particular amplifier model is it hits the maximum output level for getting the 80 watts not at 2V but at 850mV which most receivers under 1.5$ will hit. Instead of spending on a very expensive pre and amp set up, if your HT resides in a rooms which are around 3000-5000 cuft of space... go for this amp. I can guarantee you that you will hit the THX rated levels of 105db easily in your listening area provided you have efficient speakers and a decent enough subwoofer. I actually measured peak levels around 100dB/8feet playing the Lord of the Rings battle Scene. If you look up noise levels you will see that at 100dB you will lose your hearing pretty quickly if its sustained. I needed ear plugs as it was insanely loud.1. Make sure that your existing AV receiver has pre outs for all channels that you would like to amplify. these can be unbalanced (RCA connectors) or balanced (XLR). I am guessing if it any AV receiver within 1500$ its gonna have unbalanced connectors.2. Use RCA connectors to hook up AV receiver pre outs to amplifier inputs for the specific channels.3. Remove connections from the speaker outputs on receiver and plug them into the outputs of the amplifier.4. If your AV receiver comes with an auto calibration software, hook up your mike and do the auto cal like you would normally. Once the levels have been set up tweak them for finer adjustments on your receiver.5. You will control the volume level directly through the AV receiver.Listening testsDiana Krall, Norah jones and other Jazz artists - the performance sounded deliciously sweet, my Bose 301 speakers sound like they just got opened up a notch. if you really want to get the full performance from these speakers or any other mid range priced speaker i suggest you upgrade your amplifier first.The volume levels are also pretty apparently higher. Example, if previously I needed to listen to background music, I needed around -20dB on the AVR, i need to be only at -25 to -30dB with this amp to get clean and clear sound.If this little amplifier can sound so good and loud at the same time, most folks are mad for setting up 200W/channel amplifiers in their home. 5-stars to Emotiva for this gem. A definite buy if you are looking to step your home theater/listening experience.

I coupled this with the Emotiva UMC-200 and believe me, it sounds amazing! Upgraded from the Denon AVR1911 which was the best AVR in it's price class at the time (2010) with a pristine audio quality. Initially I was just hoping for an increase in power but was pleasantly surprised by the entry-level audiophile quality sound!!! The highs were clear with a lot of air and at the same time, not fatiguing at all! The mids very smooth and clean. Vocals (both men and women) sound very natural and are not overshadowed by the instrumentation! Children s voices however, were a little 'weighty', but I found this better than being too weak and getting lost in the mix. The most pleasant surprise was the bass, which was much more intricate and articulate, helping to produce that bottom air that 'pressurizes' the room the way most home theater enthusiast prefer it... like walking on a cloud of bass! Overall I must say that the Emotiva UPA-500 has to be one of my best audio purchases ever!

I've had this amp hooked up for a couple weeks now and I must say I am most impressed.Originally my set up was an Onkyo 809 receiver powering five Polk Monitor series towers, center and surrounds. I used the pre-amp outs on the Onkyo to hook into the Emotiva."Wow!" was all I had to say. The Onkyo is "rated" at 135 watts for two channels (the Amazon page says 7, but they likely got that from marketing, so can't fault them) and does indeed sound good. But when used as a pre-amp to the Emotiva, it's hard to put into words just how much "better" it sounds.Is it louder? Maybe. Very hard to tell.Does it sound better? Oh heck yes. It sounds so much cleaner and the amp seems to have reserves of power out the wazoo, if I can use that term. Just listening to normal TV through satellite was much better, then I tried blu-ray. Wow again.Would I buy it again? Oh yes.How hot does it get? Not at all so far. It just sits there, and is very cool to the touch.The only negative I can say is that I can't use the 12v trigger to turn the amp on, but that is no fault of the Emotiva. The Onkyo only has a 12v trigger for the zone 2 speakers. Bummer for Onkyo.

Replaced a UPA-200 2 channel amp with this 5 channel amp as I had upgraded all my speakers to Martin Logans. The Martin Logan speakers are rated at 4 ohms, and while my Denon 4311ci amp had no problems driving these speakers, I found that this amp, which is rated at 4 ohms, really opened up the sound of the speakers.