Home Theater Review

Emotiva might be a relatively new name in the world of value-oriented audio. However, ask any high-end audio manufacturer executive what the company is and they will be able to tell you all about it. Emotiva is the Internet-direct house brand of an U.S.-based OEM company that designs and makes many of the best AV preamps in the world for brands that I am not really allowed to talk about. Take it from me, they are some of the biggies and the products are notably feature-laden and, more specifically, very reliable.

Emotiva offers a pretty swanky AV preamp, but they also have a $1,699 (including free shipping in the United States, which is no small added value, considering this beast of an amp weighs over 100 pounds) Class-H seven-channel amp that is a game-changer. Class-H amps are used primarily in professional audio applications, such as sound reinforcement, and, as far as I know, the Emotiva is one of the few consumer amps that use the technology, although Class-D amps have become popular with some manufacturers in recent years. The Emotiva MPS-2 packs 200 watts per channel into eight-ohm speaker loads and can put out upwards of 400 watts into two-ohm loads. The Emotiva is dressed mostly in black, with a number of blue lights on the front, which give it the hue of a Krell amp. Sonically, the amp is all business, which is just what you want from an amplifier. There is practically no coloration, yet there are tons of power, giving you authoritative control over your speakers. The idea that you could have too much power for your system is a fraud. You don't blow speakers from having too much power. You get into trouble because you don't have enough power. With the Emotiva MPS-2 in your rig, trust me, you will not have that problem.