Which Parasound would be a big step up for me?

ROHfan

What would it take to bring a significant increase in performance to my system? I've always liked my XPA-3 but I have to admit I've been jonesing for a Parasound for some time. The Halos seem to get great reviews and I'm eyeballing the A52 right now. Can anyone share their Parasound upgrade experiences? What did you upgrade from/to? Was it what you expected? Did it exceed your expectations?

Lietuvis91

I'll give you my 2 cents.

I've played around with:
NAD T995, which is 5x100
Parasound HCA 1000a 2x125
Parasound HCA 2200a 2x200

All of which really are great little amps that will have most speakers sounding good, but the HCA 2200a is something special. I ran my lsi9s using the NAD amp for the longest time, which sounded ok, but there seemed to be a kick missing out of the sound. I swapped the NAD for the HCA 2200a and that made a pretty big difference. The music became more lively and crisper.

Knowing what I know now, if I were to get another amp, it would be either a Parasound a31 or a51. It's pricy, but can be had used for a pretty steep discount, and I hear it's suppose to be close to the old 2200a in sound quality.

From where you sit, I don't know if money is well spent on a a52, but if you really want to try it and you find a used one for a good price, then it's your call.

Are you trying to address a specific problem with your sound or just want to try something different?

ROHfan

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Are you trying to address a specific problem with your sound or just want to try something different?

Something more. Everything sounds really good to me but with all the praise Parasound gets around here I just want to see if I can get "more." More of everything. Dynamics, presence, authority. I guess it's just my obsessive personality, if anything.

voltz

mine too!....with all the praise of the Parasounds here its hard not to want to up grade to one ...your running a 7.1 if I'm correct? otherwise just a 2-3 channel amp would be fine but its hard to say if the change in amps would be worth the $$$

Plus your speakers may have a lot to say about it...as Electrostatics speakers are a different beast!

ROHfan

voltz, I've actually been running the HT in 5.1. I use the Emo to power the front stage. But every time I turn on the front heights for 7.1 everything gets a little softer, a little less dynamic. It's weird, I know. I may try Atmos when enough people here have had some time to experiment with it but I'm kind of settling into 5.1 nicely.

Lietuvis91

ROHfan wrote: »

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Are you trying to address a specific problem with your sound or just want to try something different?

Something more. Everything sounds really good to me but with all the praise Parasound gets around here I just want to see if I can get "more." More of everything. Dynamics, presence, authority. I guess it's just my obsessive personality, if anything.

If you are not trying to address a specific problem, then it's hard to come up with a reason to "upgrade". I've never heard the emo amps, so i can't comment on comparing the two, but I have heard from others that emo tends to be more "in your face" than the higher end amps. But if that isn't something you are trying to address, then maybe stick with what you have. Ignorance is bliss... sometimes it's better just to enjoy it ;-)

Emlyn

I had an XPA-5 for a while and enjoyed it for home theater use. It was not lacking in power. In fact that is its main problem. Emotiva cranked up the gain on their XPA amps at the expense of refinement. It did sound "in your face", but that was what I was looking for at that point in time. In comparison, Parasound amps offer the same level of power and speaker control but with less noise and an overall much more refined sound. Low end output is better controlled. I actually "downgraded" to the XPA-5 from Parasound amps in my home theater system, but only because it was used for home theater, and only because it was cheap. Eventually I got rid of it after I got a Pioneer Elite receiver that could handle 4 ohm speaker loads and sounded better by itself.

If I was looking for a new amp, it would probably be the Halo A31 for the front end in a 3.1 system. Too bad Parasound didn't come out with that design when it first brought out its Halo line. I had an A52 at one time in a 7.1 system. It's an excellent amplifier in its own right, but may not be what someone is looking for to drive large main speakers. I used an A21 for that.

mrloren

I will buy your xpa-3 from you when you upgrade

Irrenhaus

I have a 2125 and I use it on the SDA-1C sometimes. It works really good. Nice warm sound and can drive them to nice levels.

Cheers

dpowell

The Halos are an excellent amp. I owned an A51 prior to settling on a Sunfire Signature Grande. In a side by side comparison of the Halo vs Sunfire, the sound signatures were nearly identical with a nod to the Sunfire in the bass dept. The Halos run hot while the Sunfire does not. If you are sold on going Parasound, I would recommend skipping the non-Halo line. I started with the HCA series but always had my eye on the Halos. There is a significant difference in detail and performance between the two series.Ultimately which amp sounds best will be up to your ears and the other gear you are using. Looking at your signature, your Emo power amp is the weak link in your setup right now.

ROHfan

dpowell wrote: »

Looking at your signature, your Emo power amp is the weak link in your setup right now.

Yeah, but at this point I don't know what direction I'm gonna go. I just scored a pair of SDA 2B Studios that Trey's gonna mod for me so that will eat up some of my cash. The amp upgrade may have to wait. At least until I hear what the Emo can do for the modded SDAs.

dpowell

Got it. I would recommend now that you are getting a fully modded set of SDA's that you find someone in your area who has SDA's where you can A/B the Emo with another amp. That's a very inexpensive and enjoyable way of hearing different gear without the expense of buying something you hope will be an improvement.

dpowell

I can't speak for Carver amps. I started with 3 Parasound HCA-1200 II amps. I used one for each of the front three channels. They sounded great but the Halo A51 was a substantial upgrade. Detail was vastly improved. Hearing the A51 and the Sunfire A/B'd, I can say that the Sunfire was my preferred choice for a variety of reasons. The 2.3TL's now get 2 x 400wpc channels each on the Sunfire and the center gets the remaining channel. More than plenty of headroom and they sound so sweet! It would cost some serious $$ to get the next few % gain IMO.

dpowell

One of the features I like most on the Sunfire is that each channel comes with two sets of outputs which gives you the option to experiment with which sound you like best. One output is more of a solid state sound while the other has a bit more of a warm tube sound. I combine the two and use the more tube sound on the highs but with the SS punch on the low end.

ROHfan

dpowell wrote: »

...find someone in your area who has SDA's where you can A/B the Emo with another amp.

Calling polrbehr! I love bothering him. 8)

voltz

^^^^^
That is what friends are for

Mikey081057

dpowell wrote: »

The Halos are an excellent amp. I owned an A51 prior to settling on a Sunfire Signature Grande. In a side by side comparison of the Halo vs Sunfire, the sound signatures were nearly identical with a nod to the Sunfire in the bass dept. The Halos run hot while the Sunfire does not. If you are sold on going Parasound, I would recommend skipping the non-Halo line. I started with the HCA series but always had my eye on the Halos. There is a significant difference in detail and performance between the two series.Ultimately which amp sounds best will be up to your ears and the other gear you are using. Looking at your signature, your Emo power amp is the weak link in your setup right now.

I have both a Halo A21 in my 2 chan and a TGA 7401 in my HT, and agree that their sound sigs are very similar. If your objective is to make you HT sound great then the Sunfire is my recommendation... YMMV but the Sunfires in an HT config are hard to beat for the $$$. I probably think an A21 and a A51 would make 1 hell of an HT rig but might have a hard time substantiating the cost for HT. If you are determined to do that then bless you as I am sure it will be fine....

I am in the process of tuning my LSiM config with my Marantz AV 7701 and am so impressed with my flexability.

Surprisingly the Sunfire is very musical yet can deliver an incredible HT experience as well.

Feel free to come and listen to my rigs and best of luck to you in the rabbit hole!

ROHfan

Mikey, I'm there! Would love to hear those LSIm's. Where are you located?

Mikey081057

Sunny SW Florida... Anytime my brother!

ROHfan

Mikey081057 wrote: »

Sunny SW Florida... Anytime my brother!

D'oh! I'm on Long Island. Perhaps I'll take you up on it the next time we go to Disney.

Inspector 24

I have a minty condition HCA-3500, they pop up quite often in fact. If I had the money laying around I'd buy a second one if only to have it I've enjoyed it that much.

What I can tell you is that it's not as large a step up from something like a HCA-2003 as the 2003 was from a 1206, but holy cow it never seems to run out of juice, even driving the A9's at 110db with some Skrillex (wore earplugs for that ) It's way too loud to listen comfortably, but nothing sounded out of place. At normal volumes it's made the A9's an absolute joy to listen to compared to when I first got them and tried using just an AVR. Yes, it gets warm, don't crowd it and get a fan if you need to. It's a heavy beast, if you don't feel confident get a friend to help move it.

The best part, when I talked to the Parasound guys at CES two years ago about upgrading they were a bit dubious as to how much of a difference I'd hear between the HCA-3500 and anything else. Is the new stuff better they asked, sure, but will I guarantee it will be a massive difference...can't do that. The 3500 is one heck of an amp and the architecture is apparently very similar to that in the JC-1's. That was good enough to convince me that I had found my end of the road until I have speakers many many many times more expensive than A9's...and a dedicated room...in a new house...with a couple exotic cars in the garage.

acmf74

I was thinking of replacingy adcom 5802 with a parasound A21.

This thread got me thinking.

TNTsTunes

acmf74 wrote: »

I was thinking of replacing my adcom 5802 with a parasound A21.

This thread got me thinking.

It makes me wonder too. I do like my 5802's and try to avoid A/B comparisons since the rabbit hole get deep quick. Both of them seem to do a good job with my SRS 2.3's and 3.1's.

I'm still interested how they compare though.

acmf74

Has anyone have had any experiences with the 5802 and A21?

Inspector 24

I'm selling my minty HCA-3500. That would be a big step up. Anything better and you'll be spending several thousand dollars.

Lietuvis91

dpowell wrote: »

I started with the HCA series but always had my eye on the Halos. There is a significant difference in detail and performance between the two series.Ultimately which amp sounds best will be up to your ears and the other gear you are using. Looking at your signature, your Emo power amp is the weak link in your setup right now.

I have been down a similar road, and have to echo these comments. I got the a21 several days ago, used with under 100 hours on the amp (which is suppose to mean the sound should improve even further after 200 hours or so, but who knows...)

I went from an HCA 1000a to an HCA1500a to now the a21. Each upgrade was a significant improvement, but there is no question that the a21 makes my LSi9s do things I didn't even expect. Given the same exact gear and cables, with the HCA1000a the lsi9s sounded nice, but a bit boomy/drony. The sound was surprisingly clean (other than low end), but a bit flat. I'd label it as a "quality boom box" kind of sound, but overall nothing to write home about.

Swapping to the HCA 1500a impressed me. The speaker nearly disappeared, the sound stage widened, the bass cleaned up and became punchier, and most importantly the sound became more detailed and realistic, with each instrument drawing attention to itself instead of everything sounding more or less the same, as on the HCA 1000a. I thought I had found a sweet spot and was done with my amp search.... lol!

The best way to describe the swap from the 1500a to the a21 is pretty much an identical magnitude of improvement as the switch from the 1000a to 1500a. The speaker almost entirely disappears. Space between instruments gets even wider. You almost want to point to the location where each instrument plays. The realism of the sound is pretty astonishing, and because I'm not use to it, kind of freaky. The pull of each guitar string captures your attention, forces you to pause and listen as you would at a live concert. It's a pretty captivating experience.

(note: Monoprice 12g speaker wires used for all comparisons.)

If I were to pair LSi9s with an amp and had a tight budget, i'd go with the hca1500a or 2200a without a doubt, this is already pretty impressive. If your budget is more accommodating, then go for the a21. Just keep in mind it's a BIG SOB!

tratliff

I have had the A21 in my system for almost 2 years. Prior to that had a rather large Yamaha receiver RX-Z9 and prior to that denon separates. The Denon POA-2400 did an OK job but soundstage, clarity and separation was nothing special.
The Yamaha did a pretty good job until the volume was raised. Then I moved to the A21. What a difference. Sometimes I think it could have a slight bit more power but the soundstage and clarity is awesome. I will keep the parasound equipment in the mix for a long time.

Inspector 24

I spoke with the Parasound guys at CES a couple years ago, when I asked how much improvement there would be from a good functioning HCA-3500 to something in the Halo series they were very hesitant to say it would be significantly better. They lauded that amp and saying the architecture inside is quite similar to the JC1 mono blocks, and while the components inside are improved they didn't seem to think there would be a massive night and day difference.

When I joked that they're supposed to encourage customers to buy new products they kinda shrugged and said, well that's not us, gotta tell you like it is!

Still want to hear some Halo gear to know for myself though.

halo

I used to have a Halo a23. I liked it. it didn't seem to have enough power for me. It can be run mono with another a23 for some serious power, but I think that the bigger amp can be a solid addition all by itself.

I remeber it ran a little warm.

Then I gave some tube amps a try and the sound was nice, but the power was lacking.

I went back to solid state in the form of a Sanders Sound Systems ESL amp. After that, I've never looked for anything else. It has massive amounts of power and it runs cool. Amazing sound quality. Lifetime warranty. One of the best audio purchases I have ever made.

HAM

Guys,

Reading through the thread I have some questions. I upgraded my speakers to the LSiM platform: 705s, 703s, 706c and am keeping the LSiFXs and PSW1000 for now.

I sold my Onkyo PR-SC5006 for the Integra DHC 60.5 and am pairing that Pre with an Integra DTA 7.1 THX Ultra2 9-Channel Power Amplifier (150W per channel).

I recently acquired two Sunfire Grand Cinema 5 channel/200W amps. I believe they do a better job driving the LSiMs than the DTA, at least more presence and detail in the music I listen too, not to mention the HT movie setup.

I am now considering selling the two Sunfire amps and shooting for the Sunfire TGA-7401. However, that is at least $3K and I am already over my budget. Since the Sunfire amps I own are in mint condition and the only thing I am missing is the original box for one of them, I am thinking that between the Integra DTA and the two Sunfire I might be very close to that number that would afford me the TGA-7401 with the 7 channels I need.

But another concern I have is that since I haven’t auditioned one I am wondering if it’s worth all the hassle of selling what I have.

I can’t go near Kurt300’s Parasound setup… so Sunfire is where I would like to stay.

Any suggestions one way or the other? Mikey, I see you have a Sunfire TGA-7401 in your rig… what say ya?

Thanks guys!

Timothy Smith

I have a Parasound HCA-1200 II that you can try out. Not sure where you are located.