Replaced my HK3485 with Parasound PL/D-1100 and HCA-1500a

mikey1987

*WOW*

There was so much detail and "oomph" of music I was previously missing. The difference is night and day.

I can now here midrange and bass at lower volumes without having to turn up the volume. Much more well rounded sounding.

I think the fact that the HCA-1500 can supply a healthy dose of power at 4 ohms and the response curve of the RTi10's dips down in the 4ohm range below 100hz makes a big difference.

Thanks to all who made the recommendations for Parasound!

It's at the point where my DAC is the weakest point and will now need upgrading ;P

deronb1

I had that exact pre / amp combo. Liked it a lot. Did you get the remote for the pre?

mikey1987

deronb1 wrote: »

I had that exact pre / amp combo. Liked it a lot. Did you get the remote for the pre?

The PL/D 1100 came with the factory remote. I love how it adjusts knob by motor when you turn the vol up or down from remote.

deronb1

mikey1987 wrote: »

The PL/D 1100 came with the factory remote. I love how it adjusts knob by motor when you turn the vol up or down from remote.

Sweet! it is a cool setup. My powered 2Bs and really brought out the low end.

Polkie2009

That bass and midrange you hear at low volume is the Class A amplification kicking in?

boston1450

Congrats. Nice step up Mikey. Plenty of quality power for those speakers. Enjoy

EndersShadow

mikey.... if can throw out a suggestion I am enthralled with my Cambridge Audio DacMagic (first version). They can be found for around 200 - 300 bucks.

Mine isnt going anywhere anytime soon unless I happen to stumble into a Azur 851C Dac/Pre combo (which wont happen lol)

mikey1987

EndersShadow wrote: »

mikey.... if can throw out a suggestion I am enthralled with my Cambridge Audio DacMagic (first version). They can be found for around 200 - 300 bucks.

Mine isnt going anywhere anytime soon unless I happen to stumble into a Azur 851C Dac/Pre combo (which wont happen lol)

That was actually my plan. There are so many options out there right now. Too many, in fact.

The only one I can't find any bad reviews about is the DacMagic. And it seems to be the one that all the other DACs are compared to.

My fiancee is gonna kill me when she sees the credit card bill. LOL

EndersShadow

mikey1987 wrote: »

That was actually my plan. There are so many options out there right now. Too many, in fact.

The only one I can't find any bad reviews about is the DacMagic. And it seems to be the one that all the other DACs are compared to.

My fiancee is gonna kill me when she sees the credit card bill. LOL

LOL... well like I said the DacMagic v1 can be found for decent prices. If you get the DacMagic Plus you do get a headphone output and it can work as a pre, but I dont know anything else because I dont own that model lol....

tonyb

Congrats Mikey....now you hear for yourself why some of us call a receiver a jack of all trades and master of none. Until you hear for yourself what good quality power and a decent pre bring to the table, you may never know what your missing. Rock on...

Dennis Gardner

Congrats! What you are missing is tubes.....the next big WOW moment.

tonyb

LOL....nuthin' like tossing the guy down that rabbit hole head first.

Dennis Gardner

tonyb wrote: »

LOL....nuthin' like tossing the guy down that rabbit hole head first.

Those two things opened up my rig more than anything else, quality watts with tube flavoring. I would rate quality cabling a distant third. Anything beyond that has been barely incremental in comparison.

Even his move from 2bs to 1Cs is less of a wow moment in my thoughts than good power and tubes in the mix. He already had his SDA wow years ago.

tonyb

Just bustin chops Dennis.

Sometimes baby steps are needed to appreciate the differences. Other than that, I agree with tubes and the "wow".

mufsoman

Mike - so glad to see you got your hands on a 1500A and notice the difference. I have no experience with tubes, but now you can wonder like me, "what if I climbed the Parasound amp ladder and tried a 2200ii or 3500....." I can help to push you further down that rabbit hole too!

steveinaz

That's a mighty nice setup that you will enjoy for a very long time.

EndersShadow

mufsoman wrote: »

Mike - so glad to see you got your hands on a 1500A and notice the difference. I have no experience with tubes, but now you can wonder like me, "what if I climbed the Parasound amp ladder and tried a 2200ii or 3500....." I can help to push you further down that rabbit hole too!

Or a Rotel 1095 ...

mikey1987

I ended up ordering some premade Sewell speaker cables from Amazon with extra $$ I had and wow. Not gonna say it was the best possible thing to do, but I swear music sounds much better now that I'm not using the lamp cord speaker I was before.

For $20, the cable looks amazing and worth the piece of mind knowing that my speaker wire isn't the weakest link in my set up.

I would definitely recommend Sewell pre-terminated banana plug cables. Looks nice and secure as well.

Mikey081057

Congrats dude... I am looking forward to a new amp in the near future and really like what I hear about the bigger Parasound amps..

How did you make out with your office rig?

mikey1987

(Other) Mikey - great! Bass is a little lacking but the highs are much crisper than my home rig. The home setup RTi's are a little too bright for some jazz music, especially where the recordings aren't the best. But it sounds amazing on my office rig. In the end I am happy with my choices as I tend to listen to more bass heavy music at home (for which the RTi's do justice) and more relaxing music at work (where the AE's really shine).

soundfreak1

Welcome to separates! Parasound makes very fine amps ( have had a few myself) enjoy. A really good DAC makes a BIG improvement!!! Especially now since you have good clean sound. Sourcing is a good direction to go from here.

voltz

You are dancing now!! Congrats!!

disneyjoe7

Neighbors: pissed off


Nice Parasound is sweet...