# Emotiva: My recent experience



## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

Hello All,

I just wanted to share my recent experience with Emotiva. I don't have a lot of Emotiva equipment, just the XPA3, XPA2 and the ET-3 Trigger Expansion Module (the the way, this is an excellent piece to expand your 12v triggers if you need more, you just need to 'dim' the lights as they are Really bright blue lights - I used LightDims, which reduce them by 50% and are a simple film that does not leave any gunk on your equipment).

Anyway, back to my experience. I have had the XPA3 since the end of 2009. At the beginning of December, it started acting up, shutting down due to it's protection mode (for any possible shorts, etc.). I double checked all my wires (speaker and interconnects) and they looked good. I also checked my speakers to make sure there was not a problem with them (crossover short, etc) and my AVR's pre-amp outputs for other problems. They all checked out fine (and if I put another amp in it's place, it worked out fine.

I finally called Emotiva on the 4th and talked to Fran about the issue. He suggested I bench-test the unit first to see if it did the same thing, with nothing attached. So these are the steps I tested:

Emotiva by itself, powered on --- no issues.
Emotiva with pre-amp attached and a load --- no issues
Emotiva with speakers attached, no load --- no issues
Emotiva with pre-amp and speakers with a load -single channel run --- no issues
Emotiva with all channels driven --- Failure, it shut down.

Note that I used a pink noise signal for the tests.

So I called Fran back the next day. He gave me an RMA# for repair. I shipped it out and they received it on the 7th. They ran a regular bench test (each channel one at a time) and it passed. He contacted me and said it seemed fine. I then mentioned all channels driven as this caused the issue. In the end, they replaced the CPU unit which controls the fault protections. Fran mentioned that this has been an issue before. They did a full battery of tests to make sure all was fine (including visual inspection of parts and solder joints). The unit was shipped back and arrived yesterday (the 21st). I hooked everything back up, ran it through some tests and it's Rock Solid again. 

I have to say this was extremely good service for a small (well, any size) company. The turn around was really quick and they were responsive to my issues. Emailing was so simple with them, I always got a response within 24 hours or less. Because of this, they have my business in the future. IMO their amps are well-built tanks that are sold at a ridiculous price for what you get. 


My hands to Emotiva :clap:


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I agree - great customer service from Emotiva.


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

Good thing you were able to troubleshoot it for them, otherwise they would have shipped it back after only checking it in single channel operation.
Glad it worked out and you are impressed with the customer service.


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

Emotiva is a great group of folks and they make some excellent products. Having been to their Emofest on several occasions I can say without reservation that they do care about their clients.


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## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

Chashint,

They were actually very good and listened to what I had to say. Fran is the one that suggested that the CPU has caused problems like mine before so said they would most likely change it out anyway and also run a full battery of tests.

Jack,

I agree! I would love to visit one of their Emofest events, just too far for me. I also feel they make some great products. Their amps are just hard to beat for the price (you get a lot for your $). As for a 'source', I think Oppo has the best bang for the buck in quality and for and AVR (processor), well, IMO I need to stick to one of the bigger companies since they can keep up with all newest processing/EQ (such as Denon, Onkyo, etc.). I would love to hear Emotiva's speakers, I'm curious how they sound but don't know anyone in my area that owns them. I've had various renditions of NHT since I love their sound and what you get for the $ (but also have other brands of speakers in our house).


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Emotiva's customer service department. We are all too ready to complain when something goes wrong, and tend to gloss over positive experiences like this. Thanks for taking the time to document your success story.


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## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

You're very welcome. I too, like anyone else, have problems with equipment once in a while. I think it's expected, especially from some companies that pump out multitudes of models (and a lot of each) in such a short time. It's expected (but not always experienced) that these companies can take care of issues right away since they have a higher profit (both margin and total) than smaller companies like Emotiva. I found this experience with them, as a small company, to be quite refreshing. I had a similar experience with NHT (another fairly small company). I'm very happy to support these smaller companies that take care of their customers, make great products for the price, and are good people.


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## c406664 (Dec 5, 2012)

Thanks for your post. I'm considering getting a couple of Emotiva amps and your experience makes me feel good about my decision.


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## cavchameleon (Jan 7, 2008)

c406664 said:


> Thanks for your post. I'm considering getting a couple of Emotiva amps and your experience makes me feel good about my decision.


Glad it helps! I bought mine based on good reviews, but now I really believe in the company. The warranty is transferable for 5 years which shows they back their products.


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## LCSeminole (Mar 28, 2010)

I've been a loyal customer from the first day that Dan Laufman opened up shop in Franklin, TN. I've had an XPA-5 for almost 5 years now, with no problems to date. Any time I've called for technical support help or for a warranty repair, I've had the same experience as the OP, and that is what makes for great customer service.


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