XTZ A2-300 Power Amplifier Review & Comments

I had this little amp for a while. Sounded great but i agree with you Ed, the sound can be a little lean. You need to be carefull what speaker you intend to drive. But it does pack a punch despite its small form factor. Had no problem driving my Tannoy DMT 10 MK2's to earsplitting levels. Build quality is really excellent given its price. Feels solid.
 
I have XTZ's previous effort at an amp (Class A 100D3), which I really like, though it's a switchable class A or A/B. It does sound like 3 of these would be a good option for home cinema, as you say.
 
1500 damping factor?

That’s exceptional; anyone with flabby speakers could test these out.
 
I have an Edge A2-300 and I drive my Martin Logan SL3's, which drops down to 1 ohm at 20Khz.

Absolutely no issues at all and can really boogie, hard!

I have a Mark Levinson No331 Power Amp and my wife nor I can tell the difference in sound quality.

Definitely not lean sounding in my case, sound is very balanced and a vice like grip on the Bass Drivers. :cool:
 
I've driven a couple of different speakers with it. And I agree with MIKEVO om every accoount....

Thinking of buying three more to power My fronts in the cinema as well....they DO NOT dissapoint!
 
I wasn't going to comment but since reviews on XTZ kit are almost as rare as Hen's teeth, how could i resist. :D

I have had an Edge for a 1.5 yrs and cannot fault it one bit ( Cheers @MIKEVO :smashin:). It only drives a center speaker (XTZ 99.25) so you could say its under used. However, i have used it with my floorstanders in stereo mode and was very pleased with what i was hearing.
Like Mark, i don't find it lean at all. In fact the opposite. For the price paid with £50 off the rrp at the time, got a bit of a bargain IMO.

@nimman - Had the same idea for my fronts but i have the D3 which is still doing a stella job with them. Although the D3 has a bit more of a handle on things there's not really a great difference in sound between the 2 amps.
 
Agree with the others who have this amp, fantastic value, I tried one to start with replacing some high end mono blocks and was very impressed, so much so that I got another one for my centre channel! They are driving Kef Reference which dip to about 3 ohms with no problem, and as Mikevo mentioned the bass is very very controlled.
 
Also agree with the others, great amp! Paired mine with B&W 607, great control and impressive dynamics.
 
Sounds like it could give most PAs in small venues a run for their money - especially if you decide to mono block them
 
Nice little amp, can be a bit of a pain when setting it up with the auto switch on if you set it to full gain and then run a calibration.

What happens then is the AVR turns the pre-outs down a LOT at the amp can switch off. Solution is configure with the gain turned down or don't use the auto switch on.

I've done the latter and have no issues anymore and it drives some Arendal Towers very nicely indeed.
 
Hi everyone. I'm about to buy a
Denon AVR-X3600H receiver. Would this XTZ amp be a good option to power the extra channels the Denon can process? I've also been looking at the cheaper Tibo PA150, but don't mind spending a little more of it's worth it. I did ideally want an amp with 12v trigger in, but finding it hard to track one down at this price point.
Appreciate and help.
 
I’m looking at the XTZ Edge A2-300 to power my KEF R900’s through a Denon AVR-X4400h..
I do like the compact form factor which will fit perfectly in my rack, without upsetting the Mrs..

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Also agree with the others, great amp! Paired mine with B&W 607, great control and impressive dynamics.

Im considering one for my B&W 607
 
Im considering one for my B&W 607
You could wait a couple of months for the big brother amp. Its in the pipe and should be released soon.
Edge A2-400, supposed to be bigger and better in all regards and with XLR aswell
 
I have a Denon AVC-X3700H powering Arendal 1961 monitors and centre, would 3 of these amps running in mono be a good idea to power the LCR channels?
 
I have just bought the Edge A2-300 and my experience has been disappointing. I’m getting a constant hum sound from my ATC SCM11 speakers when connected to my Marantz AV Receiver for L & R channel. I thought at first it could be the Marantz, so I connected it to my Audiolab M-Dac and I’m still experiencing the same hum sound from the speakers. I also have the Cambridge Audio CXNv2 which I connected to the Edsge A2-300, this time I got a constant high frequency sound from the speakers. Perhaps the unit is faulty, who knows!!!
I don't have grounding issues as my Roksan Caspian M2 doesn't have any hum sounds or high frequency when theres no signal being passed through. I have good quality interconnects and the Edge is all plugged in the same power supply. I was just wondering if anyone experienced the same problem,
 
I have just bought the Edge A2-300 and my experience has been disappointing. I’m getting a constant hum sound from my ATC SCM11 speakers when connected to my Marantz AV Receiver for L & R channel. I thought at first it could be the Marantz, so I connected it to my Audiolab M-Dac and I’m still experiencing the same hum sound from the speakers. I also have the Cambridge Audio CXNv2 which I connected to the Edsge A2-300, this time I got a constant high frequency sound from the speakers. Perhaps the unit is faulty, who knows!!!
I don't have grounding issues as my Roksan Caspian M2 doesn't have any hum sounds or high frequency when theres no signal being passed through. I have good quality interconnects and the Edge is all plugged in the same power supply. I was just wondering if anyone experienced the same problem,

The Marantz doesnt have that good signal out from the RCA:s. Had exact the same problem when I had a Marantz. Cant tell you how to solve it. Turn the gain down abit and it gets better.

I actually switched to a Yamaha WCX-50 and its dead quiet.
So all I can say it was the Marantz in my setup.
 
That may be the case with Marantz, but didn't expect the same noise from conecting directly to my Audiolab M-dac or Cambridge Audio CXN(v2) streamer albeit that gave a constant high pitch noise from my ATC SCM19s in a different location. So i'm baffled!!
 
I bought a single A2-300 some months ago when they were on offer and used it to drive front left and right Arendal 1723 monitors in a HC setup with an Anthem MRX710 for center and surround. I was a little underwhelmed and could not really hear the difference using the XTZ as opposed to the Anthem. I believe this highlighted how good the Anthem was as opposed to being disappointed with the XTZ minimal improvement.

After reading some reviews of using two units and bi-amping (and seeing the price of the a2-400...) I decided to do this, but also go one step further and get a third for the center channel. It's early days and I have not done any proper calibration/level checks/ARC measurements yet, but WOW. Serious improvement. Sound-stage and separation is much improved, as is the realism of the sound, for example wind sounds like real wind.

Difficult to explain but everything sounds more 'real'. Very happy. Will probably get a 4th at some point to do the surrounds and then upgrade the Anthem to a processor :)
 
Not had any issues with mine no humming connected via a Denon AVR. Have read of issues like this before and its been another component or something on the same circuit that was causing issues that some amps have highlighted.

You could always try unplugging other components and see if the issue goes away, if it stays then it might be due to the AMP not being well.
 
Nice little amp, can be a bit of a pain when setting it up with the auto switch on if you set it to full gain and then run a calibration.

What happens then is the AVR turns the pre-outs down a LOT at the amp can switch off. Solution is configure with the gain turned down or don't use the auto switch on.

I've done the latter and have no issues anymore and it drives some Arendal Towers very nicely indeed.

Hi, please, what did you set the gain knob to please? What did the calibration then set your front speakers to level wise? And what sensitivity are your front speakers at what distance from MLP?

Just exploring the feasibility of the product's auto on function.
 
I can't remember what I turned it down to but I ended up increase the gain a bit afterwards anyway. Have no issues with it not kicking in at all now which is important and its still working fine in my setup.

Its not an exact science so I'd just give it a go and play from there.
 
There is no 'feasibility' issue. It will work. It just needs to be managed if you are running an AVR that has a calibration option.
 

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