Hi everyone. As of above, has anyone tried Parasound pre-amp and power amp before? Generally how do they sound? Price wise, does it justify well with the sound quality their gadgets produced? Any inputs welcomed.
J. Vigne
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Parasound offers excellent design that ranks with some of the best in the world. Their build quality and reliability have increased substantially in the past ten years as has their price. They offer a three dimensional sound when partnered with comparable quality equipment. They are mostly characterized as nuetral with a "tubey" solid state nature. Superior to either brand, Parasound might be characterized as the point between Rotel and NAD.
Seems good. It might produce the kind of sound signature I have been longing for without going into tubes. Shall check it out someday. Thanks for sharing dude!
now someone else said just the OPPOSITE about parasound here. they said that parasound has a little bit of a treble lift which is the opposite of "tube sound"
i don't know about parasound personally, but that was the amp line i was considering buying to get more treble out of the maggies i wanted to buy.
i can say that NAD has a tubelike sound as it's treble is on the soft side. NAD + NHT superzeros = unbearably dull and muffled treble.
parasound is definately respected, but now i want to hear more opinions on it. could it be that someone gave me the exact opposite recommendation for what i was looking for... super extended treble?
rotel DEFINATELY has that type of sound over warm old NAD. i despise warm. yech! phooey! LOL
so who was right... this guy or the other guy? is parasound bright or polite?
J. Vigne
Unregistered guest
Posted on
I guess it depends on whether someone continues to think tubes have to have a rolled off high end response. They do not. The general feeling is tubes are rolled off and solid state is flat. Why not consider most transistor gear to be bright and tubes to be flat? Because that is not what the manufacturers of popularly priced transistor gear want you to believe. But most reviewers will praise a solid state amplifier that has a "tube like sound". What ever anyone's personal opinion of tubes, the sound of tubes is more often emulated and desired than the sound of soild state.
There are good tubes and bad tubes as well as bright tubes and rolled off tubes. The same can be said of many pieces of solid state equipment. Both technologies have excellent examples of their given technology.
If someone has listened to good tubes for any length of time, they will understand the idea of tube sound is more than just frequency balance. Tubes will more often have the harmonic structure of the music correct and the natural attack and decay of the note will be better defined with tubes. Transparency is the forte of good tube design.
If that is the sound you are looking for, Parasound might be a good solid state choice without going to tubes. If you are judging audio products by nothing more than bright or not bright, then my answer above will have no relevance and should be ignored. If you also consider NAD to be rolled off in the highs (i.e., tube sound) then Parasound, as I stated will be slightly brighter. It will not have the same frequency balance as either NAD or Rotel.
I understand that frequency balance is a bit like salted food - one person's delight is another person's food scraps. The question was not whether the previous writer hates this or that. The question was about an opinion of Parasound by some one who has heard the product, not someone who hasn't. I would suggest anyone considering the purchase of any audio equipment should listen for themself and not just read someone else's opinion, including my own.
i DEFINATELY gree with that sentiment! everyone has their own sonic priorities. mine lean towards treble extension and bass rolloff. "flat bass" sounds too extreme to me. i prefer a more "dry" sound.
learn the lingo and what it means, then when you do your own listening, you'll know what it is that you like or don't like.
i like bright solid state type sound. ANYTHING described as "tube like" = avoid at all costs to me, but probably more people prefer a warm tonal balance.
give me "fast and clinical" every time.
nout
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Well I guess I like something in between both extremes. A tiny bit harshness and dryness gives some texture which I lke, I don't like it too soft and liquid.
if you dig neutrlity... then do give magnepans a listen to. they are beyond flat sounding. the smaller and cheaper ones are a TINY little BIT polite in the treble and rolled off in the bass, but in between the extremes, it's like listening to giant headphones only with sound outside your head. you've never heard bass so fast in your life either.
they are super detailed, but at the same time super relaxed. i want a pair of MMGs so bad. they are extremely neutral and make vocals sound spookily real. i wouldn't bother to sub them, but would lean towards an amp with a little extra treble zing for low level metallic percussion.
not really about amps, but something you might want to try hearing for yourself. they're the best kept secret in hifi and the best bargains too. i like $1000 maggies better than $8000 B&Ws, but B&Ws do cover that very top octave like champs.
Anonymous
Posted on
Hello! About six months ago, purchased parasound C2 pre-amp, A52 amp and T3 Tuner. FANTASTIC! Running Klipsch RC-35 and RW-12 Sub in my theater. Sound great. Customer and Tech support very helpful in setup. Auto calb mike for levels works very well. J.
I own two amps - the HCA 1500A and the 2200MKII. Other than the issues described in the "Slow turn on" thread that I wrote, I love them. I am using the 1500A to drive Magnepans and there is now problems there, and at the price, you can't beat it!
I have a Parasound AVC-2500U processor and a Parasound HCA-1205A amp and can say I am very happy with them. The system sounds great. I started out with a Parasound AVC-1800 teamed with a Nakamichi PA-5. Had that setup for about 5-6 years. Sounded good but the Parasound amp is much better than the Nakamichi sound wise. The PA-5 was a solid amp, sounded nice though I thought it was a bit bright. I recently sold it and replaced it with the Parasound HCA-1205A which was an immediate improvement. Then I found a great deal on an AVC-2500U which I always wanted so I sold the AVC-1800. Here's my current system: Parasound AVC-2500U, Parasound HCA-1205A, Denon DVD-2900, Paradigm monitor 9 mains, Paradigm CC-370 center, Paradigm mini monitor surrounds and a Boston Acoustic VR-500 sub. Awesome sound in both home theater an music.
The parasound should be a good match for Maggies.. The are very neutral with mids and highs, and have very strong lows. they should match well with the Maggies, Also, they go for super cheap on Ebay!!