Connecting an Emotiva XPA-9 to a Yamaha RX-A3070

[DxTrEm3Fx]

Hello All,
I have had my RX-A3070 for over a year now. My system consist of the following equipment:
Sony XBR-65X930D
Sony UBP-X800 Blue-ray
Yamaha RX-A3070
Klipsch RP-280FA qty of 2 front LR qty of 2 rear LR
Klipsch RP-450CA Center Channel
Klipsch SPL-150 15" 400W
Xbox One X Project Scorpio edition 4k plays games in Dolby ATMOS-If the game was built with ATMOS.

Equipment Purchased waiting on Delivery:
Emotiva XPA-9 is a nine-channel power amplifier. The XPA-9 is populated with five of our High-Powered Single Channel Modules, and two of our Stereo Modules, for a total of five high-powered channels and four lower-powered channels. XPA-9 (250 watts / 8 Ohms / five channels driven).
Configuration:
5 x High-Powered Single-Channel Modules
2 x Stereo Modules

Power output (Stereo Modules):
65 watts/channel RMS into 8 Ohms; two channels driven.

I have 2 questions:

1. what will be the best way to connect and configure my RX-A3070 with my XPA-9? The Klipsch RP-280FA have elevation speakers built in with separate binding post so technically I have 9 spearkes and one powered sub.
2. Also In the time that I have had my RX-A3070. I have never seen it show in Dolby ATMOS on the receiver screen. My Sony UBP-X800 Blue-ray supports Dolby Atmos and I have purchased dolby atmos Blue-ray DVD's. But it never shows that it is processing in Dolby Atmos.

Thank you in advance,
Michael Lalla.



.

 

[Allan T.]

I have 2 questions:

1. what will be the best way to connect and configure my RX-A3070 with my XPA-9? The Klipsch RP-280FA have elevation speakers built in with separate binding post so technically I have 9 spearkes and one powered sub.
2. Also In the time that I have had my RX-A3070. I have never seen it show in Dolby ATMOS on the receiver screen. My Sony UBP-X800 Blue-ray supports Dolby Atmos and I have purchased dolby atmos Blue-ray DVD's. But it never shows that it is processing in Dolby Atmos.

Michael,

In regard to question #1, I don't think that you can use all of the channels on the XPA-9. The Yamaha lets you insert an external amp for the 2 front left/right channels OR up to four of the surround channels. If you look at the rear of the Yamaha, you will only see 4 plugs for pre-out channels. See page #34 of the manual for configuration info. The older Aventage receivers had full pre-outs (at least my old 2010 did). The Yamaha amps are pretty decent so I would look at using the amp on the fronts. On my 3070, I've got an old 250/WPC amp driving the fronts . . .

After you have decided which channels to use the external amp on, you will have to go into the setup menu.
1. On the remote hit on screen, scroll up/down till you find setup, hit enter,
2. Now scroll till you find speakers, hit enter
3. Find manual configuration, hit enter.

At this point you will get a lot of options. You will have to at least enter info for "pattern" and "amp assign".

If you want to totally go with manual configuration, the Yamaha will generate test tones and you can calibrate with a sound meter and set all of the parameters.

If you want to go with YPAO configuration you will have to go back to the automatic settings under "speaker". Then use the microphone provided with the AVR and follow the procedure in the manual. The auto procedure should use the manually entered speaker config and the amp assign.

In regard to question #2, the Yamaha has options on what it displays on the front of the receiver. Assuming you have everything right on the sony disc player, you will have to toggle through these via the INFO button on the remote.

Hope this helps.

Allan T

 

[DxTrEm3Fx]

Hello Allen,
Thank you for the response. That's is a bummer, I think it's time to sell the RX_A3070.

 

[Todd Anderson]

@DxTrEm3Fx EDIT, see below

 

[DxTrEm3Fx]

My intent was to power the front RP-280FA's , center RP-450CA and my rear RP-280FA's and let the RX-A3070 power the heights of the RP-280FA's. But it doesn't sound like I can do that?

 

[Todd Anderson]

@DxTrEm3Fx

Hang on.

I just cracked the manual. I think you can. You have front stereo pre-outs (#3)... you have a center pre-out (#6)... you have rear surround pre-outs (#5). And you can tap both #1 and #2 for heights.

It looks like you are all good to go. You can tap all 9-channels on your Emotiva, if you wanted.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Okay, so, to answer your questions:

1) You have a 9 channel Emotiva amp with 5 discrete channels and 2 stereo channels. So, I'd follow with your original assumption. Use the 5 Discrete channels for your front Left, Center, and Right channels AND your rear surround. Then, you can either run speaker wire direct from the Yamaha to your left, right, rear left, and rear right Atmos modules in your RP-280FAs. OR you can tap the Pre-Outs for height channels on your RX-A3070 and power those RP-280FA Atmos modules with your two Emotiva stereo amps.

You might need to go into your settings on your RX-A3070, but I don't think you will.

2) As for Dolby Atmos... you might have your receiver running in a mode that's over-riding pure Atmos playback. See the attached page from the manual:

So, you'll want to to have your receiver set on "Straight" ... OR, I'm fairly sure you can run it in Dsur.

 

[DxTrEm3Fx]

Hello Todd,
Thank you for the response. I have just sent a email to Yamaha Tech support to figure out how many channels I can actually power with an external amp. If you take into consideration what AllanT said on his post. And you start at page 30 through 38 of the user manual. I do not see a configuration showing all channels power up with an external amp.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yep, I looked through it. Most of that information is showing when/how an external amp is needed to achieve 11-channel performance.

But I’m 99.9% sure you can dump all 11 channels to an external amp if so desired.

See what Yamaha says, but I think you’re fine.

 

[DxTrEm3Fx]

Great news from Yamaha. I'm good to go. Thank you guys for all of your help. I dig the forum and will be hanging out more often.
"
Michael,
Thanks for your email. You can power all 9 (or 11) channels on external amps. You will just need to change the Power Amp Assignment setting to configure the "ZONE 2/F.PRESENCE" and "ZONE 3/ R.PRESENCE" pre-outs for Front Presence and Rear Presence duty respectively:

1) On the remote, press 'ON SCREEN' to bring up the menu

2) Select "Setup" --> "Speaker" --> "Manual Setup"

3) Select "Power Amp Assign" and set it to "7.2.4 [ext.FP+RP]"

4) Press 'ON SCREEN' to exit the menu

After changing this setting, and connecting the amp and speakers, you'll want to run YPAO again so that the receiver can activate and balance those new height channels. Let me know if you need further assistance.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Enjoy the setup! Look forward to reading about your impressions and seeing you around the forum!

 

[And666]

Hi Dx!
I'm also thinking of getting Emotiva for my 3070. How do you find your setup after adding power amp. Have the sound improved drastically? Any thoughts? Cheers!

 

[Allan T.]

DX, Wow, I just saw this. Man, this is a lot more complicated than I thought but at least there is a way. Sorry for sending you down the wrong path on this one!