Hey guys, I just bought a new amp off Ebay. Even though the deed is already done, I was hoping to hear some opinions. It's the Parasound HCA-800II which I got for $190 used. It looks like it should put out substantial power for any speakers I will get in the near future.
How do they compare sound wise with ones like NAD, Rotel, Marantz, etc? I'm just a tad bit curious since it's coming in Wednesday :D
Well, both bad/good news. The bad news, UPS really sucks at shipping. The nut that held the transformer came lose and hit the power switch breaking the plastic. The good news is, it looks as if nothing else is broken :D
So, I went outside to find a jolly good CRT we were throwing out for spring cleaning, took a sludgehammer, and huzzah, a temporary switch for testing! Bit of desoldering, snapping PCB, and finally resoldered for testing purposes. Only got electrocuted once in the process, which went over through my shoulders rather than my heart, or at least that's where the pain was(heh, I always knew electricity would be my end. Just not yet >_>).
Well, I have two questions now. There's two dials for line level . . . what should these be placed at ideally? Second, would a new amp possibly highlight flaws in source material I didn't hear with my old Technics amp? Like crackles and pops? The file I was listening to was a 220kbs VBR of a live orchestral final fantasy performance . . .