# Mirage OS3-FS with Emotiva XPA-3



## ovillegas (Jan 30, 2012)

Hello,

A while ago I bought 2 Mirage OS3-FS (front) and 1 OS3-CC (center) for my home theater. I have a Yamaha RX-V765 for a receiver.

I am newbie when it comes to amps and speakers (I bought the mirage speakers :doh, so I was wondering if it was worth to add an Emotiva XPA-3 to my front speakers (2 front and center). Currently my receiver outputs 95w discrete per channel (or so Yamaha says) and the speakers are (rated?) for 175w. The website says:
Frequency Response	52 Hz - 20 kHz +/- 3dB
Nominal Impedence	8 Ohms
*Power Handling	175 Watts*
*Recommended Amplifier Power	10 to 175 Wwatts*
Impedance	4 Ohms minimum

I understand Emotiva XPA-3 outputs 200w. 

As stated above, is it worth the $600-$700 to add the emotiva to my setup in terms of sound difference? I don't want to spend the money if the sound difference will be barely noticeable.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

ovillegas said:


> Hello,
> As stated above, is it worth the $600-$700 to add the emotiva to my setup in terms of sound difference? I don't want to spend the money if the sound difference will be barely noticeable.


Whether it's noticeable is highly subjective. I think most will say that dynamics are improved by a dedicated amp.

Will it be an improvement? Yes. Audible? Possibly.. Is the $600-$700 money well spent? I think so.
Emotiva makes some great amps. My feeling is that it's a good investment - and may easily outlast the speakers.


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## ovillegas (Jan 30, 2012)

Thanks for the input. 

Seems like I will give it a try. My current issue is that the speakers sound very clear when I'm listening to music at low volume (night time listening volume), I can distinguish every sound on the music. Once I turn the volume up (not blaring loud), the sounds start overlapping and does not sound very clear. I'm not saying it sounds awful, but it seems that the high range gets too mixed up with the mid range.


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

First impression to me sounds like the AVR might be running out of some steam. I think the Mirages are pretty nice - so I can't see how they are the culprit. I know that sort of muddy behavior your talking about.

If you don't like the Emotiva, you can always return it - and you're just out the cost of shipping.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
As Emotiva's use a good deal of gain, I think you will really notice the difference at low volumes. This was done both to impress new owners and to ensure it works with the broadest spectrum of AVR's. Some more High End amps require the Preamp Voltage to be a bit higher to get full power.
Cheers,
JJ


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## spurdarren (Jan 11, 2012)

I noticed quite a difference on my Klipsch speakers with the addition of a XPA-3. It really made them a lot more dynamic. My Onkyo seemed to have plenty of juice but I wanted to try an external amp. Very happy I did.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

spurdarren said:


> I noticed quite a difference on my Klipsch speakers with the addition of a XPA-3. It really made them a lot more dynamic. My Onkyo seemed to have plenty of juice but I wanted to try an external amp. Very happy I did.


Hello,
While a big proponent of Outboard Amplification, with Speakers as efficient as yours, I truly think you are noticing the high amount of Gain from the Emotiva. Klipschs can play at Reference Levels with but a handful of Watts. Primarily by virtue of their Horn Loading, Klipschs are legendarily efficient. They even use the fact that their Speakers require so little power in their Marketing as being ecofriendly.

Regardless, it is wonderful to have an Amplifier for in the future, as you might decide to use Speakers that are far less efficient and drop to a much lower impedance. All I can say is after listening to the original Klipsch Horn being driven by an ultra low power SET (Single Ended Triode) Tube Amplifier that outputs under 10 Watts at around 100db's, I have always admired just how efficient Klipschs truly are.
Cheers,
JJ


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## 86eldel68-deactivated (Nov 30, 2010)

ovillegas said:


> ... is it worth the $600-$700 to add the emotiva to my setup in terms of sound difference? I don't want to spend the money if the sound difference will be barely noticeable.


Based on my (admittedly limited) experience - me adding a UPA-5 to my system, and my buddy (who has the same front three speakers) adding an XPA-3 to his system - you'll notice a difference at louder volume levels, but it won't be "night and day".

IMO, you'd be just as well served by a gently-used UPA-2 for your mains (w/ your AVR handling the center and surrounds), or a UPA-5 or older LPA-1 for your front three and surrounds (w/ your AVR handling rear surrounds, if any).

As always, YMMV.


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## spurdarren (Jan 11, 2012)

Jungle Jack said:


> Hello,
> While a big proponent of Outboard Amplification, with Speakers as efficient as yours, I truly think you are noticing the high amount of Gain from the Emotiva. Klipschs can play at Reference Levels with but a handful of Watts. Primarily by virtue of their Horn Loading, Klipschs are legendarily efficient. They even use the fact that their Speakers require so little power in their Marketing as being ecofriendly.
> 
> Regardless, it is wonderful to have an Amplifier for in the future, as you might decide to use Speakers that are far less efficient and drop to a much lower impedance. All I can say is after listening to the original Klipsch Horn being driven by an ultra low power SET (Single Ended Triode) Tube Amplifier that outputs under 10 Watts at around 100db's, I have always admired just how efficient Klipschs truly are.
> ...


Actually I have read that the 7II's do have a fair amount of impedance drop. On the Klipsch forums and another forum site that I will not name.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
With an insane 101db efficiency, the RF-7's are a very easy Speaker to drive. I think this is a wonderful thing. The Avantgarde Uno is one of the best Speakers I have ever spent extensive time listening to as my Uncle owns a pair. It uses a huge Horn and is also over 100db efficient.

The RF-7's are an excellent Speaker with a very well braced Cabinet. I have never read that it had large impedance drops and is 8 ohm Nominal. If you have a friend with a non Emotiva Power Amplifier, I highly recommend hooking it up as the large amount of gain used by Emotiva gives the impression of unlimited power as it plays so much louder at low levels than pretty much every Amplifier I have owned or spent time with. That being said, aside from the XPA-1 and XPA-2, the other Emotiva's do not have notably large Transformers and Capacitance Banks. The XPA 1,2, and 5 actually all use the same 1.2 kVA Toroidal Transformer and the XPA-2 actually has the same amount of Capacitance as the 5 Channel XPA-5. The XPA-3 uses an 850 VA Toroidal Transformer and 45,000uf Capacitance.
Cheers,
JJ


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## tesseract (Aug 9, 2010)

ovillegas said:


> A while ago I bought 2 Mirage OS3-FS (front) and 1 OS3-CC (center) for my home theater.





ovillegas said:


> My current issue is that the speakers sound very clear when I'm listening to music at low volume (night time listening volume), I can distinguish every sound on the music. Once I turn the volume up (not blaring loud), the sounds start overlapping and does not sound very clear. I'm not saying it sounds awful, but it seems that the high range gets too mixed up with the mid range.



Omni directional speakers should be at least 3 ft. from any boundary, including the TV. Reflection from boundaries closer than this will cause smearing. Try moving your speakers and give another listen.

It never hurts to add more power, but try this first.


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

I initially added an xpa5 to 5 fairly efficient bookshelf speakers. It was a "just cause" purchase, it wasnt a need but rather a want. Not six months later I come across the now defunct av123 speaker set on craigslist. This set loves to play very loud, hearing damage levels here. So for what Im running now, and at the SPLs I run them, I doubt any AVR would be nearly as satisfying or able. Moral to the story is power is flexibility, I doubt power specs on any future processor will ever be a concern no matter the speakers Im running, and thats a priceless feeling.


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## ovillegas (Jan 30, 2012)

tesseract said:


> Omni directional speakers should be at least 3 ft. from any boundary, including the TV. Reflection from boundaries closer than this will cause smearing. Try moving your speakers and give another listen.
> 
> It never hurts to add more power, but try this first.


Thanks for the tip, I will give it a try!


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## tesseract (Aug 9, 2010)

ovillegas said:


> Thanks for the tip, I will give it a try!


Please, let us know how it goes.


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## ovillegas (Jan 30, 2012)

Well, I did relocate the speakers leaving about 3 ft in between walls and there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality. The only problem for me, is that now the speakers are too far out. 

I wonder if I would get a similar result if I use a sound barrier behind the speaker to prevent the highs from the tweeter bouncing.


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