Parasound Owners Thread - Page 44

I believe for a lot of people you will not hear the difference. The room, room treatments, speakers do make the difference. If they are unable to play the nuances, why would you expect any real improvements? I was at a friend’s home; he has his speakers behind his screen. They are muffled and very hard to understand the center speaker. I would not recommend any upgrade to his amps. Why bother. Another friend of mine purchased a $3k receiver and spent a whopping $500 on his 7.1 speaker system. The largest speaker is 4x5x8 inches. He asked me about adding amps to support his audiophile speakers. I recommended he not.
The system has to be at a level that updating supporting electronics, etc., are discernible.

The statements in bold print; Oxymorons!

4DHD, 25 months I can't wait to join you. Probably headed to Cuenca, great music & scotch

You are not the only one on this thread thinking of heading the same direction...Cuenca.

Only the JC1's and A21 for amps are directly designed by john Curl;)

Wait a minute - you saying that A51 was not designed by John Curl?

Circuitry designed by legendary John Curl

http://www.parasound.com/halo/a51.php

No need for the long face! they merely used what He did with the two and implemented it into the A52,A51 and A23 which are all stellar amps but if you ask John he only takes credit for the A21 and JC1's.

You know this how? As pointed out on their website, stated: John designed them all. And if he did not, then what has he been doing all these years? He did design the JC 3 phono pre-amp. But the P7 was designed in Europe.
But if all the circuitry of the Halo **A series is the same, then he DID design them. If the same design is used more than once does not change the fact of who designed it.

Besides what others have said, you should think about the fact that you'll have two beasts to contend with instead of one. 65 lbs (A31) and 60 lbs (A21) = 125 lbs vs 80 lbs for the A51. Putting both on the same stand is questionable. Then there's the recommended 6" of clearance above each unit. That means you'll need 13 to 14 inches of shelf space for each. You would really be best off with two separate amp stands. Something to think about if your space is limited.

There was a conversation over on Audio Asylum maybe a year or so ago in which the Man himself was a part of ( horses mouth if you will) and that was the topic , it was pretty cool ,even touched on the use of silver fuses and the changes made on some parts that where later changed by Parasound which he didn't choose but do to availability they had no choice from what i understand on models after 2006!

The power supplies are bound to be different for the different power requirements and that is as important as the amplifier stages. So they cannot all be considered the same.

I know I read this somewhere and I can't seem to find it on the amp....but is the parasound halo series all manufactured in the US?

Sorry...might be a dumb question. I even tried to google it...and couldn't find anything.

Thanks,
E4

My Halo P7 pre-amp says, on the outside of the box, made in Taiwan.

That's like JBL, and others in the '80s, had to change the magnets from Alnico to ferrite due to the war in Ziare as I remember.
But you still had the same basic transducer. example, JBL 112A, 112H
A lack of availability of parts is something that can not be foreseen.
Edited by 4DHD - 1/25/13 at 2:16pm

???
can you actually only use the amp section on the AVR-3808CI?

Yep...I did for the last couple of months.

Works ok, until my friend told me to try and real dedicated amp...then I was tainted

Some people feel all amps sound the same as long as they don't clip. I am not one of those people. However, most of the time it is subtle at best at may only show up on certain passages. Whether you go A21, A31 or A51 - I think you will be very pleased. Surrounds can be lesser but fronts need the headroom and those choices are just "most excellent", IMO.

True!

Thought my question was an easy one ...is the Parasoind Halo A51 made/manufactured in the US? Or is it the same as other amps - designed in USA And manufactured in China?

Thanks.

And I gave you an answer about the P7....being the P7 is part of the Halo series then the conclusion is all of the Halo series is made in Taiwan.

The answer is on the outside of the shipping boxes.

So are the New Classsic models. Made in Taiwan like all Parasound products. Don't confuse Taiwan with mainland China. Two different places and companies have been manufacturing in Taiwan long before China became the worlds factory.

To all who have been voicing concerns over which country is manufacturing the Halo amplifiers, I received a new A-31 about two months ago from Audio Advisor. On the box it says "Made in Taiwan".

For the sake of comparison, IIRC, Emotiva amps are sourced from China. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes but I have read numerous posts and reviews that point to the fact that the Emos are not quite up to the build quality of the Halos, especially when it comes to fit and finish.

The Halo A-31 looks so sweet in my rack, matches perfectly with the Halo C-2 controller that sits above it. Eventually it will be joined by it's five channel A-51 brother which will make for one impressive looking AND sounding Halo stack.
Edited by Torqdog - 1/26/13 at 8:45am

I guess for some reason I always thought Parasound Halo series was built in the US, while the new classic line was built in china.

Not sure where I got that from.

Thanks for the clarification.

Hey does anyone leave their A21 on all the time, and does it cost a lot in terms of energy use?

My audio trigger acts up a little bit - I have to crank it up kind of loud to get it to kick on. I bought an adapter to use the 12V trigger and it doesn't work (not sure if it is my wire, my adapter, my receiver, or my amp).

So I'm thinking of just switching it on and leaving it on constantly as I have with many other amps over the years.

Anybody know about what this costs per month in a power bill, and whether it is good for the amp to have it constantly idling?

I use the signal sensing option, and I have the adjustable knob on back set at about the middle of its range. I don't think it would be an issue to leave it turned on, but you shouldn' t have to do this. Perhaps you could describe how your system is set up and what components you have, it sounds like you are using the signal sensing option? the 12 volt trigger should be easy to set up. Did you use the stock 12 volt trigger cable that came with the A21?

I'm not sure if leaving your amp on all the time, over time would have any detrimental effects. There is a solution......... find a 12v power adapter (Radio Shack) and hook that to a power strip and attach the other end to your amplifier. To get your amp up and running, simply switch the power strip button to "on" and your amp should power up as it would with a 12v trigger wire coming from the receiver or pre/pro. Yeah, it requires that you get up and throw the switch every time you power up but at least the amp won't be "on" 24/7/365.

My system requires me to go through a five step process to get it all up and running with proper HDMI handshakes and stuff.

1st), I turn on the TV
2nd), I switch on the power conditioner which supplies power to my C-2 controller, Oppo blu-ray and HSU subwoofer
3rd), I switch on the power strip that supplies power to the array of cabinet fans and also supplies power to my two computer monitors that give me OSD capabilities for my C-2 and Oppo
4th), I power up the Oppo and
5th), I power up the C-2 which also triggers the two amplifiers.

All in all, it takes me about 30 seconds.

^^^^I've never turned off my power strips, to me that seems like a unless step to turn them back on.

Have you considered a Harmony One remote? I have mine programmed to turn on all my equipment in the sequence that I want (including the 12 volt trigger output.) It works very well and costs about $100 for an easy solution.

I can understand why you feel that way. In my situation, I feel it's neccessary due to the fact that my HSU sub amp doesn't have a power switch and unless I disconnect it, it remains on. Also, the cabinet fans don't need to be needlessly running when I'm not running the amps.

Call me paranoid (I've been called worse) but I just sleep better knowing that power is disconnected from my expensive equipment in the event of some sort of unexpected power surge.