Parasound HCA 1200ii vs NAD 7600 differences

gurot1

I noticed someone selling an HCA 1200ii online. Other than the 7600 (which currently drive my lsim705) being an integrated amp, does anyone know if there would be much of a noticeable difference between the two? Looks like the parasound has more power, but not sure how that would be noticeable as I usually dont crank it. Right now I am just using the power amp portion of the 7600 with an emotiva xsp1 doing preamp and ht bypass duties. I am tempted to buy the parasound, but I already have a collection of amps and speakers thanks to this forum and I am trying to limit purchases!

tophatjohnny

Can't speak about the NAD but that same Parasound was a great amp for me until I did a huge upgrade! Loved it while I owned it.

gurot1

What did you end up upgrading to? What types changes did you notice?

tophatjohnny

I now have the Liberty Audio B2B 100 and it's a whole different animal.

tonyb

tophatjohnny wrote: »

I now have the Liberty Audio B2B 100 and it's a whole different animal.

Yes it is, but to be fair....a whole different price category too. For roughly the 400 bucks a HCA 1200 goes for on the used markets, you'd be hard pressed to do better.

gurot1

Coverting to US dollars, the price I saw works out to ten USD..just joking...That's why I am even contemplating it. Cheap enough for me to try and not lose too much if I decide to sell it if it not make a difference .

tonyb

gurot1 wrote: »

Coverting to US dollars, the price I saw works out to ten USD..just joking, but it would be less than 200 US.

That's a steal bro....but at that price one has to wonder if anything is wrong with it.

soundfreak1

Ditto on the parasound, great amp!

gurot1

I think I will.email the person and see if it available. What should I be looking out for when checking out the amp if it still available? How do I know if it needs a recap? How much does it cost to recap?

soundfreak1

Ck L/R balance as for volume, they have output relays that willake a audible "click" at power on. This is normal. If one chan. is weak most likely it is the relays (bought mine from parasound for 25. Bucks new. Also I did a "highend recap and paid 275. For the main power caps installed ( very well worth it.) This was an HCA1200. also did rail caps which were only a few bucks each.

gurot1

Thanks for the tips. I gonna check out amp later today

gurot1

Ended up picking it up. The only issue with the amp is the the power switch. It has been hardwired on, so plugging it in turns it on. Nit really an issue for me as it not controlled by remote anyways and I was gonna hook it up via a power bar. Sounded fine at the sellers place. My little ones not go to sleep on time yesterday, so didn't get a chance to hook it up yet. I beat someone to the amp, seller mentioned after there was another person who was going to buy it later that day if I hadn't bought it.

gurot1

Ideally it would be nice to get a remote on, but I have no idea if that is even possible (I am thinking it probably not advisable)

soundfreak1

Maybe I missed it but what preamp are you using?

gurot1

soundfreak1 wrote: »

Maybe I missed it but what preamp are you using?

It is a four letter word (cue up Taylor Swift) around here, emotiva xsp1 gen1. I found a used one in mint condition in a price range slightly out of what I was looking for, but it had the main features I was looking for, HT bypass and bass management with slight tone control ability. I had also been looking at parasound 2100 or p5, but not many used units came up and with the tanking canadian dollar, the emotiva looked like a good buy. Pretty clean sound, but havent had a lot of time to play around with it.

soundfreak1

Never had my ears on one. Was just going to mention that the parasound amp lends itself to incredible sound when matched with a tube pre. I'm sure others will chime in here as many have done this as well. But I'm sure you will love the amp. As said before replace the power switch right away ( I'm sure you can buy the part from parasound without issue as my expierance with them has been very positive.) Best of luck and enloy.

gurot1

What are the differences between the hca1200 and hca1200ii? Is the mkii same as ii?

soundfreak1

If you go to parasound.com (discontinued products there is a crap load of info on all of the older ps. Full specs sheets and you can see the differences. They have a real good website and you can call them they are most helpfull.

Polkie2009

The mkii is a newer model, perhaps THX certified? Rackmount front plate?

gurot1

Weird, i just checked the website and I didnt see the hca1200. I saw lots of others, hca1201, hca1205, etc. But no hca1200ii. Looking at the amp, it is thx certified. Rackmount front plate.

soundfreak1

Yep it must have been dropped due to space. I will look and see if I still have a date sheet

soundfreak1

Here they are got them from parasound on a Google search

soundfreak1

This is the 1200ii

gurot1

Thanks for digging for the info. Got to love google search!

soundfreak1

It was at parasound.com

gurot1

Finally tried out the parasound today. To be honest there were two of us listening and we didn't hear much of a difference. We listened to the same track four times with each amp, switching cables to each amp every time. If anything, the parasound might be a tad louder at same volume on preamp and the bass might hit the low notes on the towers slightly louder, but we couldn't be certain. At first we thought we heard the bass difference, but when we listened a few times focusing in on the bass, there wasnt much difference that we could hear. Initially I thought the highs might be a little airy and clear on the NAD, but that didn't seem to be the case. The nad has the benefit of being able to be turned on via a remote, but the parasound does look nicer and a lot cleaner because it ia just a straight power amp. I had really been hoping to hear a difference!
One thing that i did forget to test was low listening volumes. Might do that over the next few days when I get some free time.

Doing this comparison led to a more important issue, the music sounds lifeless in the couch seat and a lot warmer when I sat on the end of the table which is four or five feet infront of the seat. When I had the sub on, it integrated much nicer with the towers, when in the couch, I could tell the sub was behind the couch, but on the table it was harder to place and felt like I was all around me. Unfortunately I can't pull the couch forward any (currently about 16 inches from the rear wall). Time to research what I need to do to improve sound at my current listening position.

honestaquarian

If the couch pposition is lower than the table position,THAT would explain the differences you heard.That and the table position being closer.

tonyb

gurot1 wrote: »

Finally tried out the parasound today. To be honest there were two of us listening and we didn't hear much of a difference. We listened to the same track four times with each amp, switching cables to each amp every time. If anything, the parasound might be a tad louder at same volume on preamp and the bass might hit the low notes on the towers slightly louder, but we couldn't be certain. At first we thought we heard the bass difference, but when we listened a few times focusing in on the bass, there wasnt much difference that we could hear. Initially I thought the highs might be a little airy and clear on the NAD, but that didn't seem to be the case. The nad has the benefit of being able to be turned on via a remote, but the parasound does look nicer and a lot cleaner because it ia just a straight power amp. I had really been hoping to hear a difference!
One thing that i did forget to test was low listening volumes. Might do that over the next few days when I get some free time.

Doing this comparison led to a more important issue, the music sounds lifeless in the couch seat and a lot warmer when I sat on the end of the table which is four or five feet infront of the seat. When I had the sub on, it integrated much nicer with the towers, when in the couch, I could tell the sub was behind the couch, but on the table it was harder to place and felt like I was all around me. Unfortunately I can't pull the couch forward any (currently about 16 inches from the rear wall). Time to research what I need to do to improve sound at my current listening position.

Are the speakers set to small or large ? Try large if not.

gurot1

honestaquarian wrote: »

If the couch pposition is lower than the table position,THAT would explain the differences you heard.That and the table position being closer.

I never paid attention to height. The table is probably an inch higher or so. The sound at listening position is worse when sitting or standing right infront of the couch.]

I have the speakers running full range through the preamp....no avr.

cnh

Parasound is a nice amp. But the NAD is no slouch either. If anything, I'd say the Parasound might have some more detail and sound-stage. Speaker pairing is also important. Not surprised you don't hear a (Trump?) "huge" or should I say huge difference-have to check with Strunk and White on that (if only I could find my copy, you know my memory is not what it used to be-the same was said of the philosopher Morris R. Cohen after he had a stroke!).

Nightfall

Try listening for other differences such as soundstage width, heigth, depth, imaging, dynamics, etc instead of just listening for tonal differences.