Emotiva RPA-1 Build Quality and Setup

As a reviewer, I "need" things. Test equipment, a modicum of writing ability, and an opinionated mind. A lack of consideration for other's feelings with my opinion helps as does a stockpile of products upon which to heap my love or loathing (depending). Occasionally, I "need" new equipment. I need it like a crack addict needs a fix. Like a Krispy Kreme "needs" to be next door to a Jenny Craig. Like a politician needs a cause no matter how little they believe in it. Well, I had a couple of speakers coming in for review and I noticed that they were a little inefficient and perhaps could have benefited from external amplification. Being the dutiful reviewer I am, I gave Emotiva Audio a call to see if they could help me out with my looming problem. Dan Laufman decided that what I needed was a good two channel amp to put these speakers through their paces. He was right, I did need that. I needed it bad.

Emotiva Audio has been making a name for themselves as the answer to the question "can I afford separates"? Well, yes you can, if you buy them from Emotiva. To my mind there are three levels of receiver purchases, <$300, $300-$1200, and $1200+. If you are new to home theater you're looking at a sub-$300 purchase. Most people can't fathom spending any more than that. Once you break that barrier, you're looking at a mid-level receiver for someone that recognizes the benefits of sinking a little more into their receiver including increased functionality, configuration options, connection types, and more. After about $1200, you get into the realm of separates and flagship receivers. This is for your serious user that either has a lot of money or looking for quality amplification and processing for a very high end system. For many, many years you couldn't find a set of separates under $2000. Emotiva Audio killed that notion when they introduced their $899 Ultra Theater Series. Now they are taking on the high-end two-channel crowd with their Reference Audio Series.

Build Quality

Topping 50 pounds, the RPA-1 is no lightweight in the amplifier world. Emotiva suggests (and I concur) that you set the amp on the lowest shelf of your rack. My homemade flexy rack needed a little stability and the RPA-1 was the perfect fit. The piano finished lacquered wood panel sides of the amp are simply gorgeous and contrast nicely with the industrial front panel. Those of you in love with blue lights and analogue voltage meters will have a lot to like about the front of the RPA-1. Little blue needles jump as the amp pumps power to your speakers. They are a little small to see from a distance but just the fact that they are there is enough for some of us. If simplicity in design is a hallmark of an audiophile product, the faceplate is a model for others to follow. Two buttons, power and dimmer, run the centerline flanked on either side by two raised milled aluminum plates with blue light seeping from underneath when powered up. The light will turn red under a fault of clipping condition. Industrial looking? Yes. But it looks mean. And I like that in an amp.

While the RPA-1 is attractive enough to be displayed out in the open (under a little spot light as far as I'm concerned), it is rack mountable with the supplied hardware. The back of the unit sports an RCA in, a XLR in, and high quality five way binding posts for output to speakers. There is a 12 volt trigger input, a master power switch, access to the fuse, and a voltage selection switch. The unit can be configured ala the Turn On Selector switch for manual power on/off, 12 volt trigger on/off, and signal on/off. When in the signal configuration, the unit shuts itself down after 30 minutes and will power back on when it senses an incoming signal. It usually takes a second to sense the signal so you may lose the first beat or two of music. While the 30 minute shut down time should eliminate any inadvertent shutdowns doing playback, it is still possible during "talkie" movies that the amp could go into sleep mode. Personally, I used the supplied 12 volt trigger.

With a dual-mono design, each channel has its own massive toroidal power supply and electronics. In fact, if you could slice the amp down the center, you'd basically have to mono amplifiers. This design has its advantages in that each channel is fully isolated from each other yielding the absolute best channel to channel isolation for stereo separation. Stereo separation is an important aspect often overlooked in amplifier design. An amplifier with poor stereo separation will lend itself audibly as one that just doesn’t seem to make your speakers disappear into the room while instead sounding more like a wall of sound.

Just like all of the previous Emotiva amplifiers, the RPA-1 utilizes a Class H design which is similar to Class G and modulates the power supply rail voltage a bit higher than the output signal. It keeps the voltage across the transistors small and the output transistors cool. Overall, this provides for a cool running amp which explains how Emotiva Audio could cover up the side vents with the lacquered wood panels. The Class H is a fairly efficient design in comparison to an A/B design. The main difference of this amplifier compared to their flagship 7CH MPS-1 amplifier, is the former has about double the power supply for each channel of the latter. The transformer is much juicier allowing the amp to really belt out power into low impedance loads as you will see from our measurements later in this review.

Setup

Setting up an amp isn't exactly brain surgery so I'll be brief. Running RCA's from the receiver to the amp's inputs and speaker wire to the speakers should take all of seconds for most Audioholics. Since the 12 volt trigger doesn't have a 1/8th" jack, you'll need to connect the wires manually. All you need to do is loosen the screws on the green connector (I would think I don't have to say this but remove the connector from the back of the unit first) and insert the wires as indicated in the user manual. I found that the amp turned on and off instantly without any annoying pops or clicks with the 12 volt trigger and there was only a few millisecond delay on the "signal" setting. Basically, you'd miss the first note or two of a song waiting for the amp to turn on.