Experiences with XTZ A2-300

[Ram]

Hi All

Am new to the forum. Most members here seem to be experts or very knowledgeable in your field and hope to seek your expertise and advice on some thoughts that I have to better my sound.

I own a pair of easy to drive Klipsch RP 6000f front amd 504C centre speakers , Jamo Surrounds and Front Heights, Onkyo RZ 830 amp, Marantz UD7007 cd/sacd/bluerayplayer and recently purchased an XTZ A2-300 stereo power amp.

The power amp drives my Onkyo for stereo as well as movies. I watch movies quite a bit but do enjoy stereo music. I use streaming via Tidal mostly and a fair bit of old CDs. The reason I went for a power amp to add on to my onkyo was to enhance sound quality. I must say the XTZ really helped open up the onkyo revealing clear, detailed and transparent sound at louder volumes as well. Bass delivery was good too. Tight and punchy.

However for movies or you tube, the XTZ amp still doesnt express its full potential as yet. Maybe I have fully caliberated yet. Or my gain on my XTZ is not at the right setting. Have it at 75% now. Not really sure what the gain is meant for to be honest.

Has anyone had similar experiences to share?

Initially was thinking of emotiva or cambridge 851W but guess was happy enough with the XTZ esp at its price to get it without trying the other two. Not sure if the other two would have been better.

Now in search of my audio quest am thinking should I

(a) Get 2 XTZ amps and have them power each of my speakers. Will the added power and focus result in considerably better stereo sound? or

(b) Get a Bluesound Node 2i or Network Player connected to my power amp for my Tidal. Will that enhance better sound for streaming. My current Onkyo830 which can stream Tidal from the onkyo app has this
AKM (AK4458) 384 kHz/32-bit DAC Image. Would the Blusound Node dac be better?

Hoping to seek your advice and valuable views. Appreciate it.

 

[MZKM]

Not really sure what the gain is meant for to be honest.

To match the output voltage of your Onkyo. The lower it has to gain (increase) the incoming signal, the cleaner the output. However, not enough gain will mean it won’t have as much wattage.

 

[dinglehoser]

Welcome to the forum, but why did you post this same thing in three different places over the course of several hours?

In any case, what's good for goose is good for the gander - an optimized system is going to sound better regardless of source content. I'd start with level matching and room correcting on what you already have before throwing more money and parts at it. My wild guess is that if you're noticing a lack of satisfaction on movies but not music, your center channel (presumably powered directly by the Onkyo) isn't level matched with the left and right channels (now powered by your outboard amp).

 

[Ram]

Hi

To match the output voltage of your Onkyo. The lower it has to gain (increase) the incoming signal, the cleaner the output. However, not enough gain will mean it won’t have as much wattage.

Hi Thanks for your response

I have my gain set on my XTZ at 75% of maximum. My Onkyo pre out voltage and impedence measures 1 V/470ohms and input sensitivity amd impedence of 200mV/ 47k ohms. Will setting my XTZ at 75% of max be a suitable or level matched with my Onkyo for better audio? Sorry am not very familiar with the matching part. Appreciate your views

 

[Ram]

Welcome to the forum, but why did you post this same thing in three different places over the course of several hours?

In any case, what's good for goose is good for the gander - an optimized system is going to sound better regardless of source content. I'd start with level matching and room correcting on what you already have before throwing more money and parts at it. My wild guess is that if you're noticing a lack of satisfaction on movies but not music, your center channel (presumably powered directly by the Onkyo) isn't level matched with the left and right channels (now powered by your outboard amp).

Hi

Sorry was not sure which is the most suitable forum to post and hence posted in the most applicable forums hoping for some response.

Thank you for your informative advise. I currently have some absorbent acoustic panels on my back wall opposite my system. You are probably right. I would need to look at powering up my centre speaker as well to level match the front left and right to get better sound for movies.

I thought the centre speaker was more for vocal clarity and not for sound effects. So i left that alone. If i power up my centre you gather there would be an audible difference for movies? I can leave my surrounds as it is then?

But if I do power up my centre, I might have two channels on the XTZ unused though. Thats something I need to contend with.

Appreciate your views

 

[MZKM]

Hi



Hi Thanks for your response

I have my gain set on my XTZ at 75% of maximum. My Onkyo pre out voltage and impedence measures 1 V/470ohms and input sensitivity amd impedence of 200mV/ 47k ohms. Will setting my XTZ at 75% of max be a suitable or level matched with my Onkyo for better audio? Sorry am not very familiar with the matching part. Appreciate your views

You want it to pair nicely with the volume of your Onkyo, you don’t want max gain as you cost accidentally turn the volume up on the Onkyo and it would be crazy loud. So, set the Onkyo volume to decently high (maybe what you used to be at when using the internal amps), and then adjust the gain until you get good loudness.

 

[Ram]

You want it to pair nicely with the volume of your Onkyo, you don’t want max gain as you cost accidentally turn the volume up on the Onkyo and it would be crazy loud. So, set the Onkyo volume to decently high (maybe what you used to be at when using the internal amps), and then adjust the gain until you get good loudness.

Thank you for the sound advice. Will try this

 

[Lorenzo74]

Hi All

Am new to the forum. Most members here seem to be experts or very knowledgeable in your field and hope to seek your expertise and advice on some thoughts that I have to better my sound.

I own a pair of easy to drive Klipsch RP 6000f front amd 504C centre speakers , Jamo Surrounds and Front Heights, Onkyo RZ 830 amp, Marantz UD7007 cd/sacd/bluerayplayer and recently purchased an XTZ A2-300 stereo power amp.

The power amp drives my Onkyo for stereo as well as movies. I watch movies quite a bit but do enjoy stereo music. I use streaming via Tidal mostly and a fair bit of old CDs. The reason I went for a power amp to add on to my onkyo was to enhance sound quality. I must say the XTZ really helped open up the onkyo revealing clear, detailed and transparent sound at louder volumes as well. Bass delivery was good too. Tight and punchy.

However for movies or you tube, the XTZ amp still doesnt express its full potential as yet. Maybe I have fully caliberated yet. Or my gain on my XTZ is not at the right setting. Have it at 75% now. Not really sure what the gain is meant for to be honest.

Has anyone had similar experiences to share?

Initially was thinking of emotiva or cambridge 851W but guess was happy enough with the XTZ esp at its price to get it without trying the other two. Not sure if the other two would have been better.

Now in search of my audio quest am thinking should I

(a) Get 2 XTZ amps and have them power each of my speakers. Will the added power and focus result in considerably better stereo sound? or

(b) Get a Bluesound Node 2i or Network Player connected to my power amp for my Tidal. Will that enhance better sound for streaming. My current Onkyo830 which can stream Tidal from the onkyo app has this
AKM (AK4458) 384 kHz/32-bit DAC Image. Would the Blusound Node dac be better?

Hoping to seek your advice and valuable views. Appreciate it.

why don't invest in Diraclive to attenuate room effect and align (time domain) each driver (and get time coincident) ?
with your setup you have enough power actually. Eventually (i didn't see it) you miss below 50Hz frequency ... why not adding a sub?