I told you so...

When I sold my Parasound A21 because I'd bought an A51 to manage my 2 & 5 channel listening through my Yamaha RX A3020, a voice in my head said "don't look back you can never look back" well Don was wrong.
Immediately realized digital music via RCA's through my Yamaha did not work.
Result is a v.crowded Samson SRK21 rack with mismatched silver Parasound A21 (sounds very good though) 2 x Furman power, LG Blu-ray, Netgear switch, AC Infinity Multifan S3 & the Cambridge 851N to look at in the front.
Added 2 x 703's to replace the 705's in the 5.1 system, so far all is good (definitely much better) in my audio visual world.
Excuse to attach a photo or 2, more importantly lesson to all; don't be hasty or your rack components won't match..
jne7q410sal1.jpg
d21mzjjvd9jj.jpg

Comments

  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,056
    edited July 2018
    I got a A31 in the HT setup in silver don't bother me a bit, however it sits on a black amp stand off to the right between the stand that has all the other gear, and the right tower speaker the color mis match is not as noticeable that way as if it was all in the same rack with all black gear. The way it looks you have that rack placed behind your
    set up no one will notice it anyways nice rig by the way, got a love those Parasound Halos.
    Home Theater
    Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable

    2 Channel
    Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+

    Stuff for the Head
    JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365

    Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
    Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin B)
  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    Aluminum foil, dull side, could be a solution.
  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    Not to derail but how do you like the furman? I was considering one to combat the noise floor.
  • ukcolin99
    ukcolin99 Posts: 286
    Definitely like Furman units, plug them in leave them alone. I have 2 x PL-PLUS units in photo, plus a PL-8C 15 without the lights. They will increase in value in Oct 2015 they were $157 now same unit is $239.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,922
    looks -- purposeful.
  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,471
    Nice looking rack. ;) How hot do those amps get?
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    Too tight for me Dave.
  • ukcolin99
    ukcolin99 Posts: 286
    Thanks mh, needed a different look, older viewers will recall my horrible ULine wire shelves, now everything is hidden in the Rack behind the TV stand (except the Cambridge) using BAFX IR repeater.

    Thanks DH, No issues (& no back on the Rack), the 51 has space to breath, the Furman directly above the 21 is around 6" deep so most of the amp is clear. By far the hottest component is the Yamaha, (AC Infinity Cloudplate T1 fan above). If I put the temp sensor directly above the Yamaha, fans will run within minutes.

    To be fair I am not pushing either Parasound very hard; 706c & 4 x 705's driven by the 51 & tiny rears running off the 3020 for TV/HT.
    Mostly adult volumes on the 2C/21.
    They do all run at once, I'm a huge watch muted movie/sports while listening to 2 channel music, guy.
  • cfrizz
    cfrizz Posts: 13,415
    Nice stack of gear and rack!
    Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
  • ukcolin99
    ukcolin99 Posts: 286
    Thanks cf, for those interested the pile of wood, drill, place mats & motorcycle lift (not pictured) were used to maneuver the amp into position so the mounting screws aligned with rack mounting holes, that beauty is heavy.
  • ukcolin99
    ukcolin99 Posts: 286
    Final lesson of the day for the Solid State Digital gang, we know who we are, (embrace the convenience & quality).
    If something does not sound right it’s you not your components. Last year power was suddenly down, checked connections, changed wires, checked settings & warranties. Found inexplicably my iTunes master volume was set at three quarters instead of max, still have no idea how it changed (best guess software update).
    Last week after the black Parasound A21 was installed, detected left speaker output was slightly lower than the right. Checked Mac Pro & iTunes settings first, dived deep into Cambridge set up, checked connections, hoped it was Spotify - not, Lossless iTunes also sounded right side stronger.
    Surely it couldn't be my new to me A21 bought off the 'Bay from 100% seller. I'd carefully checked & adjusted the back of the Parasound before Rack install; Input Balanced, Ground Normal, On/Off Manual, Gain maximum, Manual start (middle setting). Visual check looked okay. Out of town for a few days, laid in bed (at night) thinking what have I missed?
    Started again checking speaker connections, looking closely at rear of unit & component connections, everything looked good, reached back through my mess of wires, tried to turn right Gain dial clockwise to maximum, would not move, turned left Gain dial, it moved an hour on the clock face to maximum. Fixed it. Can't imagine how that gain dial moved, sadly why it took so long to isolate the issue, blaming age related deterioration.
    52exwbtt9ms8.jpeg
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,922
    in the 1970s, we on the CB (Citizens' Band) radio had a benediction of sorts that we would share with our fellow CBers.
    Keep the shiny side up, and the dirty side down

    52exwbtt9ms8.jpeg

    You, sir, have turned the dirty side up.

    ;)
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,922
    A more typical example of a CBer who has failed to keep the dirty side down.

    70btoewiqh4t.png

    :p
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    ukcolin99 wrote: »
    Started again checking speaker connections, looking closely at rear of unit & component connections, everything looked good, reached back through my mess of wires, tried to turn right Gain dial clockwise to maximum, would not move, turned left Gain dial, it moved an hour on the clock face to maximum. Fixed it. Can't imagine how that gain dial moved, sadly why it took so long to isolate the issue, blaming age related deterioration.

    I don't like that Parasound amps have those gain knobs.