Emotiva equipmet, how good is it?

Schwantner as a brief XPA owner who's experience went up in a little puff of smoke I suggest you seriously consider the overall trend of these responses disregarding any positives that do not offer a direct in home comparison.

zerobias' is exactly correct. Those of us who can hear the affects of speaker, interconnect, and power cabling are warning you ("bad mouthing") that with your current speakers its quite possible you will experience the sonic tradeoffs vs cost that this product offers.

When you visit an audio brick and mortar and mention your interest in any particular brand or price point you'll have just done 75% of their work. Do not mention your budget. Convey your readiness to purchase if you hear the presentation your seeking. Using the same recording ask to hear their most extravagant system to give yourself an up to the minute sonic baseline to judge how much your willing to give up sonically. 

If you purchase this product carefully read and follow ALL the guarantee / warrantee information included in the packaging and printed from the website at the time of purchase. Be very clear regarding dissatisfaction as well as functionality and failure procedures for returning and shipping responsibilities. Verbal information is worthless. Any communication with this company should be done by delivery confirmed registered mail within the manufactures timeframes. And remember to have fun.

I have not used any of the Emotive amps but i have used their DACs. About 8 years ago i purchased my first stand alone DAC which was an Emotive XDA-1. I was pleased with it and later added 2 more to my other systems as i started streaming my ripped CDs wirelessly. Later the Emotiva XDA-2 came out and I purchased 3 of them for $200 each and sold the XDA-1s. The XDA-2 was a definite step up from the XDA-1 and could also be used as a preamp. For $200 each they were a steal. I still am using them and over the years I compared them to other DACs costing 5 to 6 times the price and could not really tell a significant difference. I have never had an issue with their DACs with 3 in use for about 8 years.

Regarding the Yamaha A-S801, it is a really nice integrated with a nice built in DAC which would save you money by not having to add a separate DAC. "Accessories for Less" has refurbished ones available at various times. The last time they were $599 for a refurbished unit. One of my sons purchased one for his system and is very pleased with it. It would be a nice fit with your present speakers.

I have had pretty much all the generations of Emotiva amplifiers.  I would say they are very excellent for the money and actually compete at a higher level.  However, everyone likes a slightly different sonic signature.
As far as the comments about "clinical and brightness", I will agree on some situations.  The "Gen 2" switchable Class A/AB circuit had a compromise in the Class AB setting where the bias circuit wasn't optimized and you actually got waveform crossover distortion (when the waveform transitions between positive and negative polarity).  This caused a slight bright edge to the sound.  Also, stock XPA amps were on the bright/harsh side, but this can be fixed with fuse upgrades.  XPR amps were slightly soft and cold sounding due to the stock fuses they had in those amps (but were voiced slightly warmer than the XPA).  Gen 3 is very good, but not as good as previous generations because of switching power supply.  It's lacking the bass punch/power and it just doesn't quite sound as real/there as the previous generation.

You can not go wrong picking up a pair of XPA 100’s. I have a pair in my main system that are being used most of the time. While I can get a better sound with my Pass XA30.5 the XPA’s do quite well holding their own at this price point. Im preamping with a upgraded Sonic Frontiers Line 1 or when using my Modwright LS 100 preamp its a whole different sound that I like much better but I prefer the sophistication of the Line 1’s volume control not to mention that part of the upgrade is better chips for that purpose. The line 1 is better with a tube based amp as it can not "color" the sound as well as the Modwright. In a good way of course. As many will say pairing a tube based amp or pre with solid state amp or pre is often the way to go.   (either the amp or the pre tube and the complimenting unit be the opposite so to speak)I also really like that the Line 1 has the read out screen and much more of an incremental volume control. The modwright is remote controlled although we are talking motorized volume control . At any rate. . The XPA’s are a bargain. Well made. Not a hiccup since Ive bought. Bought them originally to give a bit more power for my ML’s. Finding a pair used would be an even better deal.

I think it's nice Mid Fi stuff