’Tis the season, it seems, for sequels to popular audio components. For last month’s review, I dug into the Vincent Audio SV‑500MK hybrid integrated amp, which adds HDMI and Bluetooth capabilities to the beloved SV‑500 (at the expense of some analog connectivity). This month, I’m digging into the new Emotiva BasX TA2+ stereo receiver/preamp/DAC/tuner (US$1299, CA$1750, £1099, €1248), which adds a whole heck of a lot more than that to the template established by the original TA2.
Before we get to the goodies, though, let’s take a moment to admire the outer shipping carton in which the TA2+ is delivered. This may seem like such a small thing—because it is a small thing, when you get right down to it—but I love the rounded corners of the lid flaps. They’re wholly unnecessary. They add nothing to the structural integrity of the box. What they do, though, is signal a certain ethos: “Working-class people deserve some nice things.” Those rounded corners, in a sense, set the tone for your initial experiences with the TA2+.
Yikes, though. As hyped as I was by the rounded corners, I was bummed to open up the outer and inner cartons and find the TA2+ itself cradled in crumbly, icky expanded polystyrene (EPS) instead of softer, more shock-absorbent, (slightly) more environmentally friendly, though admittedly more expensive, expanded polyethylene.
What’re you gonna do? Can’t win them all. You can also see here the accessories box tucked on the right side of the TA2+, along with the pack-in literature in a bag on top of the receiver.
In case you’re wondering why I keep saying “receiver” instead of “integrated amp,” the inclusion of an FM antenna in the accessories box should give you a clue. Also included are a really hefty soft-touch power cord and a 3.5mm cable for 12V trigger operation.
Pried loose from its crumbly EPS constraints, the TA2+ itself is wrapped in a very nice cloth bag that provides extra protection, even if it does serve as a magnet for those infuriating little foam globules—most of which I brushed away here, simply in an attempt to keep our art director, Karen, from removing those bits with Photoshop. Nevertheless, a few stray bits persisted.
Out of its bag, the TA2+ exhibits that classic Emotiva aesthetic: straightforward, black, no-nonsense, with blue LEDs and a stout, workhorse-quality construction that I just dig. You can also just barely see the receiver’s innards through the ventilation holes in the top panel, including the beefy toroidal transformer, the internal wiring, and, if you know where to look and what you’re looking for, the heat sinks and cooling fans.
Here’s a closer look at the BPR‑3 remote control included with the TA2+. It’s a pretty tidy affair that doesn’t overwhelm you with buttons. In fact, the only source that has its own button is the FM tuner. All other inputs are cycled through using the DIGI and ANA buttons. If memory serves, you can also cycle through all inputs using the left and right buttons of the D‑pad, whereas the up and down buttons control volume.
And here we get our first look at the greatly expanded I/O of the TA2+. New additions above and beyond what the TA2 offered include an HDMI ARC port, an upgrade from USB‑B to USB‑C, and balanced XLR inputs and outputs. I’m not loving the fact that the Bluetooth antenna isn’t a screw-in option, since those things tend to snap off at the slightest provocation, and it would be nice if it were replaceable. But that’s picking nits, I suppose.
A closer look at the back reveals that the speaker-level connections come in the form of beautifully chonky five-way binding posts that feel every bit as substantial as they look. You might notice the high-pass and low-pass DIP switches to the left of the speaker-level connections, though, so let’s take a closer look at what’s going on there.
The TA2+ handles bass management entirely in the analog domain, and you’ve got some flexibility in how to set it all up. The subwoofer outputs have a low-pass option with a knob that lets you engage a 12dB/octave filter with a cutoff frequency ranging from 40 to 200Hz. The preamp outputs also feature a high-pass filter option with the same slope and frequency range, which is also applied to the speaker-level outputs.
Interestingly, Emotiva only labels the extremes of the frequency ranges of both controls, so you have to do some math if you want to set a precise crossover frequency. Turns out, each tick on the dial represents a 13.33Hz increase, meaning you have to go up three ticks if you want to set an 80Hz crossover, for example.
I meant to set the knobs as such before taking my unboxing photos, but realized after the fact that I’d actually set the LPF and HPF to 93.33Hz. Oh well. That’ll be an easy fix during installation and setup.
And here, finally, we get a look at the new digital connectivity, including the HDMI ARC port and USB‑C DAC connection, both of which are situated right above the surprisingly sophisticated phono stage, which supports MM and MC cartridges, with provisions for 47-ohm and 100-ohm loading for the latter.
I don’t have a moving-coil cartridge to test the phono preamp, but I will be putting it to the test with my MM cartridge, along with all of the digital sources I can throw at this thing. Keep an eye out for my full evaluation in the coming weeks. All in all, I’m as excited to dig into this one as I have been about any product in quite some time. I loved so much about the Emotiva TA1, just not the fact that it struggled to drive my big Paradigm towers with bass-heavier music. With its significantly more substantial output stage, I just don’t see that being an issue with the TA2+. But we’ll find out soon.
. . . Dennis Burger
dennisb@soundstagenetwork.com
