Emotiva UPA-7 Seven Channel Power Amplifier Review

Emotiva UPA-7 Introduction

When Emotiva finally unveiled their UMC-1 A/V processor, I knew it would be a hot product to review.  But rather than mating it with their monster XPA series amplifiers, I decided to review its complementary seven channel amplifier, the UPA-7.  I glanced over the specs of the UPA-7 and thought it would be a good product for its asking price, not realizing my bias against external power amps rated at under 200 watts/channel.  When I began unpacking the UPA-7, I realized I underestimated this amplifier.  Once I ran my bench tests, I found that I had greatly underestimated this product even more than initially thought.  The Emotiva UPA-7 in my mind is an embarrassment - not to itself, mind you, but to the industry.  What I mean by this bold statement is, it's built too robustly, measures too pristinely and performs too well for a seven channel amplifier selling for even twice its price.  I know you've all heard that song and dance before from other review magazines, but unlike the fluff at those places, I back up my statements with a comprehensive evaluation of this product contained herein.  My only concern is that Emotiva doesn't put too much weight into my assessment of the UPA-7 and inflate their prices.

Design Overview

The UPA-7 is a traditional class A/B amplifier design utilizing a single larger toroidal power transformer and large capacitance bank for its power supply.  I much prefer this over smaller individual power supplies for each channel much like Emotiva used to do with their MPS-1 and MPS-2 amplifiers.  Having a singular larger sized power supply allows the amplifier to deliver more power to any given channel if the output devices can handle it.   This in turn provides more available headroom which is critical for effortlessly producing large dynamics and peaks in music and movies.  Emotiva claims the UPA-7 has 90,000uF total power supply capacitance.  Since the UPA-7 is only rated at 125 watts / channel (8-ohms), they could get by with using lower V rated parts which greatly reduces their profile.  Thus Emotiva employed six 15,000uF capacitors wired in parallel to yield 90,000uF. In some of their prior amplifier designs, (ie. MPS-1, XPA-2), Emotiva implemented series-parallel 50V capacitor banks which allowed them to use smaller parts while still having 100V capability to handle the higher power output levels.  The problem with this method is you now have reduced the total available capacitance to 1/4th the sum of the parts.  In the case of their XPA2, which if you added up all the power supply capacitors came out to 180,000uF, the actual real capacitance available was only 45,000uF.  In reality, the UPA-7 has more available power supply capacitance than all of their current XPA series amplifiers.  Incidentally, the UPA-7 is also Emotiva's only seven channel amplifier currently available.  What lots of capacitance does in a power supply for an amplifier is reduce ripple, and increase available reserves to allow more sustained power with less fluctuations under heavy demand. 

We've established that the UPA-7 has quite a meaty capacitive power bank but what about the most critical power supply component - the power transformer?  Emotiva didn't pull any punches here.  They employed a large 850VA toroidal power transformer to ensure the UPA-7 could deliver all of its rated power and then some.  The amplifier modules utilize four output devices per channel ensuring that the UPA-7 is totally stable under 4-ohm loads.  I've never seen these type of components used in a multi-channel amplifier of such modest pricing.  

Emotiva UPA-7 Backview

 The back view of the UPA-7 is a bit bland but the connector spacing is well laid out.  It's rare to see a seven channel amp with such ample speaker connector spacing between channels as the UPA-7 has.  The speaker 5-way binding posts and analog RCA connections are all 2" spaced apart.  It's almost as if the UPA-7 was assembled by precision clock builders.  Try tugging on any of the connectors and you will notice how firmly planted they are to the back panel.  Emotiva really knows how to build a durable amp.

I didn't realize it at the time when I did my bench testing that my review unit mistakenly came with an 18AWG cord.  Emotiva informed me that all brand new UPA-7's ship with a two-prong 14AWG detachable power cord.  The Emotiva amplifier is capable of connecting to standard 120V domestic power or 220V for those wanting to really tap out the maximum power.  It detects the line voltage and switches automatically to the correct setting.  This is a rare and cool feature I almost never see in any amplifiers regardless of price.  There is an on/off switch for the front panel status LED indicators and a 3.5mm mini-plug trigger input compatible for 5-12V systems.  The only thing that I found missing were provisions for balanced input connectors but at this price, it's hardly a real criticism especially since their mating UMC-1 A/V processor doesn't have balanced outputs.  

Emotiva UPA-7 front panel View

The front panel sports Emotiva's industrial look found in all of their current products with their infamous silver power switch embroidered and backlit with their logo (yellow for off state, blue for on state).  There are seven LED indicators (one for each channel) that illuminate blue when the amplifier is operating under normal conditions and flash red when all hell breaks loose.  I was unable to create such a fault condition in my testing.  In fact, Emotiva states that this amplifier is protected from all fault conditions which to me is very important, especially with high power amplifier designs that can potentially be destroyed if shorted.  I can't tell you how many times I've swapped cables during comparative listening tests where I accidentally shorted the leads.  On competently designed amplifiers such as the UPA-7, the amplifier will simply shut down and protect itself and the foolish consumer that forget to shut it off before swapping speaker connections.  On poorly designed amplifiers, they will either blow output devices or catch fire.  In the 10+ years of reviewing amplifiers, I am proud to say I've only blown up one amplifier which is a testament to all of the brands engineering their products correctly with consumer safety being of utmost importance.

Set-Up

The UPA-7 is a bit of a bear to lug around, tipping the scale at 65lbs.  That's a lot of steel for such little coin.  I made the unfortunate mistake of trying to drag the amp a few inches on carpeted flooring for a photo op which caused one of the rubber feet to fall off.  I managed to put it back on with little fuss but I wish Emotiva would have secured these just a little bit better.  I found even when I tightened the Philips head screw down, it just kept turning.  Not a big deal, perhaps I'm picking nits but bottom line, don't drag this amp - pick it up. 

For this review, I tested the UPA-7 in the Audioholics Showcase Home Theater room.  I paired the UPA-7 with Emotiva's matching UMC-1 A/V processor.  The source was my Denon DVD-A1UDCI Blu-ray player and the speakers consisted of my reference RBH Sound T-30LSE Signature system.  All speaker cables were Kimber 8PR and all digital interconnects were Impact Acoustics Sonicwave. 

I tested the UPA-7 both in a 7.1 speaker surround scenario while I bi-amped my front RBH speakers for two-channel listening tests.  The RBH T30-LSE's are 4-ohm rated speakers with dips down into 2-ohms, so they represent a fairly tough load for amplifiers to drive.  Bi-amping them with the UPA-7 is sure to give the Emotiva amp quite a workout especially when trying to hit reference levels in my moderately acoustically treated 6,000ft^3 listening space. 

Emotiva UPA-7 Listening Tests

I fired up the Audioholics demo CD I prepared for my blind listening test during my recent trip to Axiom Audio.  I used this disc solely for two-channel listening tests with the UPA-7 bi-amping my front speakers which were run full range without any additional powered subwoofers.

Dianne Reeves - Never to Far
Bass was incredibly punchy and tight.  At high listening levels, the UPA-7 was able to provide all of the power I demanded without ever sounding strained.  The sound was a bit darker and more analytical than what I recall with my Denon POA-A1HDCI reference amp retailing for 10X the price.  I don't consider this a knock on the UPA-7, it's just a bit different.    The UPA-7 had no problems hitting reference levels in my large theater room. 

Fourplay - Amoroso
If only more mainstream jazz was this good and had actual airplay, I'd entertain listening to FM radio again.  The UPA-7 brought incredible clarity and separation of the instruments that I simply wasn't expecting for this dare I say "budget amplifier.  The cowbells and bongos were crystal clear while Lee Ritenour's guitars were forward with plenty of reverb.  Everything sounded as it should in a high end rig and nothing like it should for such a modestly priced piece of equipment.

Pat Metheny / John Scofield - Say the Brother's Name
Pat Metheny's guitar was like butter.  It's hard to believe such a masterful musician as he gushes over Bose speakers, but that's another story.  With eyes closed, I felt like I was listening to a live performance in a small jazz club in NY.  The UPA-7 handle subtle musical cues while also portraying confidence and cohesiveness during dynamic passages really provided that "better than being there experience" I often cite when coming across audio equipment that exceeds my expectations in droves. 

Sade - Hang on to Your Love
If your foot doesn't get tapping to Sade, then I suggest getting having your reflexes checked.  This song has a lot going on at once between the bass drum, and assortment of percussive instruments layered in Sade's hypnotic voice.  The UPA-7did a great job of keeping all of the instruments distinct, allowing you to really hear everything happening in the song.  Only when I really pumped the volume up to ear bleeding levels sitting in my back row to handle the sheer output did I start to hear the UPA-7 stress.  At that point Sade's vocals lost a bit of composure but considering I was running my reference speakers rated down to 2-ohms in a 6,000ft^3 room on a $700 125wpc amplifier, could this be a legitimate criticism?  I consider it more of a notation of the limitation of this product. 

Donald Fagen - Two Against Nature
The percussion sections came alive right out of the gate in this song.  I enjoyed the excellent stereo separation I was hearing on the UPA-7 while Donald Fagens voice rang true.  Great song, and great sound!

SACD: Patricia Barber - Modern Cool
It's been awhile since I fired this SACD up on my system but I wanted to see how well the UPA-7 handled the highest resolution formats.  Track #1 "Touch of Trash" The sustain of the bass was liquidy smooth while the trumpets just popped with dynamism.  Track #6 "Silent Partner" portrayed a very 3 dimensional texture to Patricia's piano with superb vocal clarity.  It was hard for me to believe that this $700 amplifier was piping out such high fidelity in Track #7 "Company".  The UPA-7 just sounded so solid and planted during the percussive solos.  Track #'s 8, 9, and 10 were very piano-intensive with the Tom Jones remake "She's a Lady" being a particular favorite of mine.  Not realizing it at the time, I was going in and out of a sleep coma brought on by such pristinely good sound while listening to the relaxing voice and keys of Patricia Barber.  The snapping of her fingers was convincingly lifelike and because the UPA-7 had such an exceedingly low noise floor, every subtle cue and detail of these tracks was extracted. 

For the multi-channel listening tests, I ran all speakers set to small and engaged my powered subwoofers.  This helped free up a lot of strain from the UPA-7 as it was no longer tasked to power the dual 10" subwoofers in my tower speakers that dip down to 2-ohms. 

DVD-A: Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
I've been a fan of Porcupine Tree since my college days back in 1996.  Lately they've grown on me like a tapeworm as I seem to be listening to their music on a daily basis.  Fear of a Blank Planet  is a DVD-A disc encoded in 5.1 MLP for the audio only tracks and DTS for the videos.  In the bonus tracks section "What Happens Now" is one of my favorite tracks on the disc.  The beginning of this song starts with percussions and because of the low noise floor of the UPA-7, they simply sound wonderful.  Once Steve Wilson overlays guitars and vocals sonic nirvana is reached.  I couldn't help to really crank the volume up on this track.  In fact, I try not to listen to Porcupine Tree in my Theater room because I have the tendency to play it too loudly and my primary system has virtually unlimited dynamics so it will allow me with no qualms.  The UPA-7 did a fantastic job of filling my theater room with mind numbing SPL levels.  I spent the next 22 minutes listening to "Anesthetize" while gazing at the lucid video depicting an over medicated, undisciplined society we've become.  If you're a progressive rock fan searching for a more up to date sound with a twist of metal, I can't recommend this band highly enough.  The UPA-7 seemed to be in agreement with me as well.

While sheer continuous output power is vital for a good amplifier, it's also important that that amplifier can convey full linearity at low listening levels which is where it spends most of the time.  To do so, a low noise floor is vital much like a properly set black level for a display is key to see all of the images detail.  Throughout all of my listening tests, the UPA-7 always maintained a deadened silence with no source material present, and very minimal added noise even during the faintest audible passages allowing all of the subtle details to be heard.   

Emotiva UPA-7 Measurements and Analysis

All measurements were conducted using our Audio Precision APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer.  When Emotiva found out we were using this test gear, they went out Nicky Santoro style (played by Joe Pesci) from Casino and bought the very same test gear.   This is a considerable investment in test gear that no other home theater publication and only a select few consumer A/V manufacturers make, which shows how serious Emotiva is about amplifier design and testing. 

I did some quick spot-checking on the UPA-7 amplifier gain structure to ensure it could be properly driven with a wide assortment of preamps or receivers.  My personal criteria for amplifier gain structure is that it should be able to hit full power when driven with 2Vrms.  Like the XPA series of amplifiers, the UPA-7 hit full rated power at 1.1Vrms input, so its gain is about 3dB hotter than typical.  Emotiva claims a 32dB amplifier gain which I assume is an open loop measurement since I measured 30dB when driving an 8-ohm load.  Emotiva feels it's better to have more gain for consumers mating their amplifiers with A/V receivers as many A/V receivers preouts clip if trying to drive levels greater than 1Vrms.  I agree with their assessment so long as the amplifier isn't excessively noisy as an end result.

Signal to Noise Ratio

Emotiva UPA-7 SNR @ 1 watt (CCIR Filtered)

When I measured Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) I actually had to do the measurement three times to confirm the results were real and not some weird system glitch.  I never expected the UPA-7 to measure this exceedingly quite.  I measure amplifier SNR at 1 watt to put everyone on equal footing and to also better gauge its low level performance where the amplifier spends most of its time operating at.  I consider 80dB @ 1 watt (un-weighted) to be a good measurement.  The Emotiva UPA-7 measured at a deadening silent 95dB @ 1 watt (with CCIR Noise Filtering engaged and about 10dB lower un-weighted).   This is one of the quietest amplifiers I've ever measured regardless of price and it certainly has a lower noise floor than any other Emotiva product I've previously measured.  For those wanting to know SNR at full rated power (125 watts), it was around 116dB.  This can be calculated by taking SNR @ 1 watt + 20* Log (Voltage at rated power / 2.83) for those wanting to power scale SNR measurements. 

Frequency Response

Emotiva UPA-7 Frequency Response

It was no surprise to me that the Emotiva UPA-7 exhibited ruler flat bandwidth from 10Hz to 50kHz with a gradual rolloff of about -1dB at 80kHz which is the bandwidth limitation of my test equipment.  Emotiva claims the -3dB is 150kHz and I have no reason to doubt that.  What I found quite remarkable was the channel to channel frequency Response deviation of +/-0.046dB that I measured.  This indicates very tight tolerances in parts selection and excellent overall engineering. 

Power Measurements

Using our Audio Precision APx585 8-channel HDMI analyzer, we conducted a full barrage of multi-channel amplifier tests on Emotiva UPA-7. We tested power using three methods all of which were taken at < 0.1% THD + N:

• Continuous Full Power Bandwidth (CFP-BW) from 20Hz to 20Khz into 8 and 4-ohm loads (up to two-channels)

• 1kHz Power Sweep vs Distortion (1kHz PSweep) - popularized by the print magazines, this is an instantaneous power vs distortion test at 1kHz. The problem with this test is it often masks slew related and or frequency response problems some amplifiers exhibit at the frequency extremes, and thus inflates the measured power results. It does provide an instant gratification # for consumers to argue over on the forums so we are now incorporating this test to please the masses.

• Dynamic PWR - 1kHz CEA-2006 Burst Method testing. This is a dynamic power measurement adopted from the car industry similar to IHF method only a bit more difficult for an amplifier and more representative of real musical content.

Keep in mind most review publications don't do continuous power measurements and they usually publish power measurements into clipping at 1% THD + N. Our measurements are very conservative as we use a dedicated 20A line with no Variac to regulate line voltage.  We constantly monitor the line to ensure it never drops more than 2Vrms from nominal which in our case was 120Vrms.

For more info on amplifier measurements, see:  The All Channels Driven (ACD) Test

Emotiva UPA-7 1kHz Power Test
Left Pic: ACD, 8 ohms;  Right Pic: 2 Channels driven, 4 ohms

  Emotiva UPA-7 Dynamic Power Test (1kHz)
Left Pic: ACD, 8 ohms;  Right Pic: 2 Channels driven, 4 ohms

Emotiva UPA-7 Power Measurement Table

Emotiva rates the UPA-7 as follows:

• 125 watts RMS @ 8-ohm (0.1% THD)
• 185 watts RMS @ 4-ohm (0.1% THD)

Emotiva doesn't specify at what frequency they rate their power output, but I assume they mean 1kHz which is how most manufacturers specify all channels driven power claims.  My measurements in this scenario came out a little short (117wpc x 7) compared to Emotiva's 125wpc x 7 claim but they informed me they do hold the line voltage constant at 120Vrms when conducting these tests.  I am willing to concede that our different test methods produced slightly different results especially as insignificant as these.  I was quite impressed with how the UPA-7 handled 4-ohm loads producing a whopping 240 watts x 2 into 4-ohms at 0.1% THD + N which was much higher than the 185 watt rating Emotiva spec'd for this amp under such load conditions.  Where this amp truly shines is in its dynamic headroom.  Again this is thanks to its large power supply capacitor bank and ample sized power transformer.  If you take my 240 watt continuous measurement into 4-ohms and calculate dynamic headroom based on my dynamic measurements above, the UPA-7 exhibits 1.25dB of headroom or 2.4dB if you use their claimed power into 4-ohms, which is quite excellent.

 FFT Distortion Analysis

Emotiva UPA-7 FFT Distortion Analysis
(left image @ 1 watt ; right image @ full rated power)

I ran FFT distortion plots at 1 watt (left pic) and full rated power (right pic) to determine how clean this amplifier really is.  At 1 watt, the spectral distortion was good with the second order harmonic (8.36 + 70.338)dB being 78.70dB down from the fundamental or 100*alog^-1(-78.7/20) = .012%.  At full rated power I observed (29.67 + 51.527)dBV being 81.2dB down from the fundamental or 100*alog^-1(-81.2/20) = .0087%   These are respectably good measurement but not the cleanest distortion spectra I've seen in some much higher priced well executed designs.     

Crosstalk

UPA-7 All-to-One Crosstalk at Rated Power

If the UPA-7 had an Achilles' Heel it would be its channel to channel crosstalk performance.  With all channels acting as the noise source or disturber, I measured each idle channel one at a time to determine the worst case channel to channel crosstalk.  At 1kHz the UPA-7 yielded -70dB @ 1kHz and -50dB at 10kHz for its noisiest channel.  I consider anything less than -40dB @ 10kHz acceptable so the UPA-7 met that minimum requirement with 10dB to spare.  With only 1 channel acting as the disturber, the adjacent channel produced -85dB @ 1kHz and - 60dB @ 10kHz.  Again these are very good numbers but not the best of what we've seen from Emotiva, most notably with their XPA-2 delivering a staggeringly low -140dB at 1kHz of channel to channel crosstalk isolation. 

Emotiva UPA-7 Conclusions

I'm actually growing tired of reviewing Emotiva amplifiers. They are mostly uneventful both on my test bench and my listening tests.  They don't falter, they deliver rated power (and then some) and they are built to last.  Emotiva is so confident of their reliability that they back the UPA-7 with a 5 year warranty.  I was pleasantly surprised with such a well written user manual that describes proper setup and placement of their product and amplifier load considerations when connecting multiple speakers to a single channel.  

The fact that Emotiva can deliver state of the art amplification at such a modest asking price of $100 per channel, simply boggles the mind.  Whether you're looking for a new multi-channel amplifier to update your system or to cure the common receiver with a power boost, the UPA-7 will do so exceedingly well in all but the largest most power hungry installations.  For such instances, you may want to take a hard look at their XPA or soon to be released XRef series of amplifiers.  In the meantime, you can rest assured that dollar for dollar, pound for pound, a better multi-channel amplifier does NOT exist on the market.  This is a safe purchase and a highly recommended one!

UPA-7 Amplifier
MSRP: $699

 Emotiva Audio Corporation
135 Southeast Parkway Court
Franklin, TN 37064

877-EMO-TECH (877-366-8324)

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Measured Power (4-ohms)
Multi-channel Audio Performance
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Features
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