New Amplifier in the House

[Midwest Blade]

After one of those internet surfing moments and a quick click before really thinking it through an Emotiva A-100 Flex Amp showed up via UPS today. Already declared with the one who must be obeyed, I am really looking forward to getting this new addition into service. I actually have had my eye on this amp for sometime and have had the desire to put together a mini system of CD player, amp and some bookshelf speakers I have looking for a hook up. May also be looking to add a pair of headphones as this has been a main selling point of the A-100. I have visited Emotiva at the past couple of Axpona shows and have never been quite sure how to take their approach, they usually have one of the louder and splashier displays at the show which is not usually my cup of tea.

Have Wednesday blocked off to get this hooked and powered up.

 

[March Audio]

After one of those internet surfing moments and a quick click before really thinking it through an Emotiva A-100 Flex Amp showed up via UPS today.

Already declared with the one who must be obeyed,

I am really looking forward to getting this new addition into service. I actually have had my eye on this amp for sometime and have had the desire to put together a mini system of CD player, amp and some bookshelf speakers I have looking for a hook up. May also be looking to add a pair of headphones as this has been a main selling point of the A-100. I have visited Emotiva at the past couple of Axpona shows and have never been quite sure how to take their approach, they usually have one of the louder and splashier displays at the show which is not usually my cup of tea.

Have Wednesday blocked off to get this hooked and powered up.

Did you have to pay import duty and what was her price

 

[Midwest Blade]

Did you have to pay import duty and what was her price

She just finished shopping at the recent anniversary sale at Nordstrom (US department store), she is still ahead by quite a margin.

 

[VMAT4]

What bookshelves will be paired with this amp?

 

[Midwest Blade]

System-Audio 1105, this is a Danish brand that has not been widely available in the US for quite sometime. I initially bought them as rears for a home theater system I put together nearly 20 years ago. I have plugged them in a few times into my main system and they still sound very good, looking forward to setting them up on their own.

If this little system works, just might lead to a step up bookshelf speaker in the future.

 

[restorer-john]

It looks cute and nicely constructed and reasonably priced.

Funny they call it a Flex amplifier. It only has one input. Not much flexibility there.

And this is a new way of looking at safety dropping resistors:

"Fans of vintage equipment will especially love the sound of the headphone output on the A-100, which is derived directly from the main amplifier outputs through precision dropping resistors – like the great sounding headphone outputs on high-quality vintage gear."

And you can bypass those resistors for people who want to accidentally burn out their headphones by direct connection...

 

[kniff]

Used to have the A-100 paired with an old Modi DAC and it worked pretty well! Sold it partly because of the size, specifially the depth and trying to fit it on my desk since it was part of that setup.. but i do miss it sometimes.

 

[Midwest Blade]

Fired up my mini system this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised with how good a modest mini system can sound. Easily strolled through a collection of cd’s, jazz, acoustic, female vocal, along with some Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac, The Waterboys. So the Emotiva A-100 is $249, my NAD player was $299, System-Audio 1105 speakers I honestly cannot remember but definitely under $500 for the pair 18 years ago. I am firm believer that good sound comes from the source material and then the speakers themselves which actually serve as instruments. Not sure how my components actually measure up in this little system, I would hope okay, meaning they do not add or subtract to the signal path and only serve to deliver and process the signal.

 

[typericey]

I think they call it Flex because of it’s flexibility to be a speaker amp and headphone amp.

I’m guessing they opted for a fan instead of a larger heatsink/case because they are marketing this for compact desktop use.

@Midwest Blade just curious: do you hear the fans? Does the fan turn on at all? Any hiss from the speakers?

 

[Midwest Blade]

I think they call it Flex because of it’s flexibility to be a speaker amp and headphone amp.

I’m guessing the opted for a fan instead of a larger heatsink/case because they are marketing this for compact desktop use.

@Midwest Blade just curious: do you hear the fans? Does the fan turn on at all? Any hiss from the speakers?

Nearly 4 hours of listening at moderate levels and the amp was barely warm to the touch, I checked a few times to see if the fan had started up and felt zip. Amp was dead silent between tracks. I will give it a try with headphones this coming weekend, Grado SR 80e which are fairly efficient. Naturally this looks small in the rack but would seem fairly large on the desktop as others have noted.

 

[jsrtheta]

Fired up my mini system this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised with how good a modest mini system can sound. Easily strolled through a collection of cd’s, jazz, acoustic, female vocal, along with some Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac, The Waterboys. So the Emotiva A-100 is $249, my NAD player was $299, System-Audio 1105 speakers I honestly cannot remember but definitely under $500 for the pair 18 years ago. I am firm believer that good sound comes from the source material and then the speakers themselves which actually serve as instruments. Not sure how my components actually measure up in this little system, I would hope okay, meaning they do not add or subtract to the signal path and only serve to deliver and process the signal.

I quite agree. You can get outstanding sound from very economical gear. The kind of sound that makes you nod your head the second it comes on, and you're a little surprised because it's such a modest setup. Source material and speakers. You nailed it.

 

[Newk Yuler]

I have an A-100. Previously have a friend that has one. The fans won't run unless you drive it hard for a bit. I bought mine for use with small speakers and ended up using it for a while with a set of Hifiman Arya headphones in straight-on mode with the resistors bypassed. It's something like 15 watts per channel into 32 Ohms, so yeah, there's that potential for accidentally destroying headphones. The volume pot is a bit touchy when used as a headphone amp. Decent amp however you use it. Has a good reputation for subjectively impressing a lot of users. There has been interest by more than one person in getting one on Amir's test bench. For Emotiva's popularity as high value equipment and relative price point(s) it would be great to get some ASR tests logged.

 

[Sal1950]

Funny they call it a Flex amplifier. It only has one input. Not much flexibility there.

Ageed, it's awfly restricted, too bad Emotiva no long makes is SP-1 add-on for the DC-1. Three regular analog inputs and one phono, it was used to expand the DC-1 to a full range pre-amp.

 

[JJB70]

A couple of times friends and I have plugged those Denon mini-systems which seem to have been so popular for so many years into well set up good speakers for a bit of fun. Despite costing an awful lot less than what people were usually using to feed their tip top speakers it was eye opening to experience just how good a small all in one mini box costing 300 quid or so is if given the chance to operate with good, well set up speakers.

 

[LTig]

[..]
And this is a new way of looking at safety dropping resistors:

"Fans of vintage equipment will especially love the sound of the headphone output on the A-100, which is derived directly from the main amplifier outputs through precision dropping resistors – like the great sounding headphone outputs on high-quality vintage gear."

And you can bypass those resistors for people who want to accidentally burn out their headphones by direct connection...

... or kill the power amp due to the shortcut which occurs when you plug in the headphone connector.

This is no joke, it has happened to me, with an Amber S70. The designer omitted any protection circuits except blow fuses in the power supply

 

[Xulonn]

I’m guessing they opted for a fan instead of a larger heatsink/case because they are marketing this for compact desktop use.

I would have no complaint about using fans to pass full-power pre-conditioning tests, or companies stating that the fan will likely never come on during normal playing of music based on their in-house testing.

 

[Midwest Blade]

Back from the weekend with a little report on the A-100. All seems well, ran it for a couple of hours, nothing really to report. Felt emboldened by the simplicity of the little piece and hooked it up to my Quad ESL 57's (my Quad preamp is in for a little service work so the ESL's were quietly pushed aside). Was not sure what to expect given the difficult load presented, the little Emotiva went right to work and played the ESL's with little trouble. I kept the volume level modest as I do not wish to fry any of my equipment unnecessarily, found the soundstage, imaging and accuracy was right on par. Pretty surprised at the stability of this little amp, nice to have a back up in case the Quad 405-2 decides to go down for good.