Parasound Halo P 7 Multichannel Preamplifier, A 51 Multichannel Amplifier & JC 1

[gadgtfreek]

World-Class Audio
The Parasound Halo P 7 is the perfect choice for those looking for a preamp that won’t be outdated a year later and who want an audiophile-grade preamp for their two-channel and multichannel sources. At $2,000, its value is a testament to Parasound’s ability to deliver world-class audio at prices that are actually realistic and attractive. With the right front-end device (I still emphatically recommend the Oppo BDP-95), you have everything you need for an involving sonic experience that will knock your socks off.

Parasound’s Halo amplifiers get my complete standing ovation. The JC 1s left my jaw on the floor, and the A 51 proved to be a superb complement with multichannel music and soundtracks. They made a true believer out of me. It’s rare that any amp will have such a profound effect on my listening experience, but these provided one I never wanted to let go of, and the JC 1/A 51 combo has now found a permanent home in my reference system. I can’t give a higher recommendation than that.

http://www.hometheater.com/content/p...1-single-chann

[CALIBER]

DROOL!!!! Great company with a rep for offering allot for the money.

[gadgtfreek]

Yepp, someone who I trust told me if I wanted to go a little better than the outlaw amps Im planning, to look at that company.

[CALIBER]

I think you definitely need to be at least checking Parasound out. I don't think they are too much more than what you were initially planning to spend and any one you meet that owns them is just nut's about them!!

[gadgtfreek]

True.

[CALIBER]

Jason I think allot depends on what your feelings on amp's are. If you are some one that believes that amp's do not color sound then there really isn't any point on spending that much on an amp. I mean if that is your stance on amp's then I say you just go for an EMO, I mean they are a quality company with a great rep and as good a warranty as anyone. Plus all of their amps will have plenty of power to drive you super efficient Klipsch speakers and to spend any more money would likely be a waste. (if you don't believe amps color sound)

Now if you think amps color sound then you need to shop around and audition amps paired to some Klipsch so you can determine what amp sounds the best for your speakers.

Please people lets not turn this into a debate on amp coloration, we have a thread for that I am just trying to throw a little advice at Jason and am not telling him that amps do or don't color sound, I will leave that up to him figure out with his ears.

[gadgtfreek]

I can say I better listen to different models, because from my short experience, with the same speakers, I thought Denon sounded better than Onkyo.

[AVJeff]

Jason it is always nice to hear stuff before buying, but with that said there is no way to accurately tell any sound differences from one piece of equipment over another without having the said piece in your own home. Too many variables are involved. Remember that even an increase in 1db can be perceived as something sounding better. Going from store to store listening to one amp or pair of speakers is an even bigger waste of time because now your are introducing different rooms and setups into the equation. As far as amps goes there are so many choices it does get confusing on trying to figure out what to get. After 20+ years in this hobby my advice is this. Unless you hit the lotto, forget about the high-end stuff. Everyone of the amps mentioned Emotiva, Outlaw, Parasound Etc. come very close to so-called high-end stuff in performance that there is no point in spending the extra cash. You will be better served putting the extra into treating the room. I have heard lots of high end amps in my day and I choose to own Emotiva amps now. Outlaw is good stuff and so is Parasound albeit Parasound is more money.

I too don't want to get into an amp sound argument, however, do I think that the Parasound or Outlaw will sound better/different than an Emotiva or Adcom on a given pair of speakers? No and this has been proved over and over ad nauseam. Picking out audio equipment for us enthusiast is a lot like a picking out a car. Also, there is the law of diminishing returns involved. Do I think that a Lexus SUV would have been nicer to drive than the Ford Escape we bought? Sure but is there a real value in getting the Lexus SUV over the Ford? No I don't think so. Poor analogy but you get the idea.

So my final say is do your homework, don't take any one persons word for anything, get the amp that makes you happy and the one you think is the best value in price/vs performance. As far as sound of solid states amps goes I will say only this; You will not be the least bit unhappy with any of the brands like Parasound, Adcom, Emotiva, Outaw, etc. They all deliver truly high-end sound at a fraction of the cost associated with high-end amps. That is a fact some golden eared audio snobs as I like to call them can't come to terms with. They are flat out wrong!

[gadgtfreek]

I was looking hard at Emo, only reason I moved up to Outlaw was the company that builds them and it was in my budget. Just had a feeling the Outlaw was a more reliable long term purchase. No proof of that though, just know they make good amps.

[AVJeff]

I was looking hard at Emo, only reason I moved up to Outlaw was the company that builds them and it was in my budget. Just had a feeling the Outlaw was a more reliable long term purchase. No proof of that though, just know they make good amps.

I have lost a little confidence in Outlaw recently. They seem to be stuck and their pre/pro looks like it will never appear. I am sure their amps are good but I am not so confident the company itself will be around as long as the others. Just a gut feeling.

Consider this. You could buy 4 XPA-2's and have 300x8 for less than the Outlaw 7900 and I think the amp section in the XPA-2 is quite a bit more robust than the 7900 is. It also bothers me that outlaw does not state what that amp does into 4ohms. Not on the site and not in the manual. What are they hiding. The XPA-2 is 500watts into 4ohms with 12 output devices per channel and weighs half of what the 7900 does only being 2cchannels. You would have almost 300lbs of amps with 4 of them

Also consider this; You could buy 3 XPA-1's for the front and two XPA-2's running the rears for the price of the Parasound. I can promise you the XPA-1's would stomp the Parasound. Total overkill but you get the idea. I would love to have the XPA-1's and I believe you have to go to Krell territory to do better than the XPA-1's

Look at this bad boy. I would love to have 3 of these running my fronts. Why? who the hell knows but it would be cool.

[CALIBER]

I have lost a little confidence in Outlaw recently. They seem to be stuck and their pre/pro looks like it will never appear. I am sure their amps are good but I am not so confident the company itself will be around as long as the others. Just a gut feeling.

Consider this. You could buy 4 XPA-2's and have 300x8 for less than the Outlaw 7900 and I think the amp section in the XPA-2 is quite a bit more robust than the 7900 is. It also bothers me that outlaw does not state what that amp does into 4ohms. Not on the site and not in the manual. What are they hiding. The XPA-2 is 500watts into 4ohms with 12 output devices per channel and weighs half of what the 7900 does only being 2cchannels. You would have almost 300lbs of amps with 4 of them

Also consider this; You could buy 3 XPA-1's for the front and two XPA-2's running the rears for the price of the Parasound. I can promise you the XPA-1's would stomp the Parasound. Total overkill but you get the idea. I would love to have the XPA-1's and I believe you have to go to Krell territory to do better than the XPA-1's

I agree with all of this! While me and jeff don't agree on amp coloration I think we are both kinda saying the same thing. What I was trying to get at was go back to considering the EMO, it is allot of amp for the money. While you might like the company that builds Outlaw you just cannot deny that emo's come with a fantastic warranty and top notch customer service. Also the warranties are transferable which helps out with re-sale if you ever end up down that road.

I too would take 3 xpa-1'a and an xpa-2 over a Parasound, do I need it???? NO, but like jeff said it would just be damn cool and boy would you have a ton of headroom! After buying some nice speakers the two most important things to have is allot of power and room treatments IMHO.

[AVJeff]

Lets just say if a solid state amp is coloring the sound then it is a lousy design. It should not be doing anything to change the sound of the signal being fed to it. Can we agree on that?

Actually, the above applies to all amp designs. No amp should color the sound. It should amplify the signal and impart nothing of its own. Tube, solid state, flux capacitor, or charged particle. It should be neutral.

[SpHeRe31459]

With a flux capacitor you could get 1.21 "jigawatts" of power for even the biggest speakers, not to mention your own time machine.

[joerod]

Seriously? You guys would take emo over Parasound? I have had emo and many other AMPs and to this point nothing beats my A51. Not to "sound" to much like a snob but emo doesn't come close.

[CALIBER]

Seriously? You guys would take emo over Parasound? I have had emo and many other AMPs and to this point nothing beats my A51. Not to "sound" to much like a snob but emo doesn't come close.

As a whole I wouldn't take Emo over Parasound,I mean it depends on which models and configurations we are talking about. Don't worry Joe I don't think you are sounding like a snob. You cannot deny that the xpa1 is a bad mofo, and if we are talking running 3 seperate mono blocks up front over a multi channel amp I am going to be very very tempted to go with some mono blocks.

[AVJeff]

Seriously? You guys would take emo over Parasound? I have had emo and many other AMPs and to this point nothing beats my A51. Not to "sound" to much like a snob but emo doesn't come close.

Like Caliber said it depends on configuration. Not to beat a dead horse but I seriously doubt you would hear an audible difference in controlled double blind ABX testing of say and XPA-2 and one of the Parasound comparable models. I would put money on it. People have tried it with various amps and results are always the same. When you say things like the Emo doesn't even come close well just the specs alone say otherwise. I know the Emotiva amps come very, very close to a lot of stuff and beat some of it. In fact the XPA-2 down right stomps several other so-called high end amps. This one review alone lays out the facts pretty well.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/a.../emotiva-xpa-2

ps. Nobody around here strikes me as an audio snob. You know very well the sort I am referring too I hope. They are also called Stereophools Ones who think speaker cables, interconnects, and power cords make audible differences in sound.

Parasound is great stuff I have always admired their amps. I think like a few others though they are priced too high. Quality stuff for sure though.


This is a from a few years back but nothing has really changed in the amp world for quite a few years now. There have been lots of other tests like these too. I think the conclusions speak for themselves. Now build quality is another matter entirely.

http://www.matrixhifi.com/contenedor_ppec_eng.htm

I know what a lot of people are experiencing trying to wrap their head around why their 5k amp could not possibly sound any better than one for 1k. For years I lusted after the high-end stuff, but could only afford the NAD's and Adcom's of the world. Then a funny thing happened one day. I heard a demo of some Adcom 350 watt mono blocks that were not too expensive and another esoteric amp that was about 15k. (Cant remember what it was at the moment) The guy doing the demo was pretty sharp and had everything setup on a switcher and level matched. It was not Blind ABX testing but the results were that my buddy and I could not tell any difference in the two amps; The guy doing the demo couldn't either he and he was the owner of the store and to kick it all off the sales rep for the high-end amp couldn't either and was honest enough to admit it. That was the day I knew something was amis in the audio world and there was a dirty little secret somewhere that somebody was not telling.

Different subject but why do you think the Esoteric cable manufactures refuse to do fair and balanced listening comparisons? They have been challenged by several people but have all refused to date as far as I am aware. I think we all know the answer though. Not that amp manufactures should lumped with those other assholes because most amp companies are making what they feel is a quality product and usually is. However when companies like Lexicon pull that stunt they did with their Oppo that they made over and then over charged for, they should be taken to the woodshed. So should any other company that practices tactics like that.

OK enough of that; what were we talking about again? Oh yeah Parasound. Good company and good stuff just a tad on the expensive side for what you are getting

[joerod]

I love how everyone always breaks out older studies when comparing "cheaper" amps to more expensive ones. I had them all in my theater and my friends and family can tell a difference. I used to have Emo's high end MPS 2 which I thought was bad ass at the time. Using the same Pre pro I switched to a BK 200.7 and the difference was immediate. I wasn't the only one who noticed. My Divorce hit and I lost or sold a lot of components. I ended up with a Sherwood Newcastle A965. Not bad but still not the same. It reminded me more of the MPS 2. Keep in mind that is not a bad thing just not as good as when I started test driving high end AMPs. I "settled" on the Parasound and I could tell immediately the sound was back to my high level before the "war." if not even better!

Don't get me wrong. I do like Emotiva and it is perfect for first AMP purchases or those of us on a budget. I just don't think it is fair to either company to compare them.

[AVJeff]

Don't get me wrong. I do like Emotiva and it is perfect for first AMP purchases or those of us on a budget. I just don't think it is fair to either company to compare them.

Well there Joe you and will have to disagree. You pick out a stereo amp of your choice for say 5k-7k and I will use two EMO XPA-1's. I will put money that the XPA-1's will sound the same as the other and more than likely eat its lunch on power. When you pass a certain point cost is irrelevant to the equation.

[AVJeff]

Don't get me wrong. I do like Emotiva and it is perfect for first AMP purchases or those of us on a budget. I just don't think it is fair to either company to compare them.

Well there Joe you and will have to disagree. You pick out a stereo amp of your choice for say 5k-7k and I will use two EMO XPA-1's. I will put money that the XPA-1's will sound the same as the other and more than likely eat its lunch on power. When you pass a certain point cost is irrelevant to the equation.

I am the farthest thing from a first time amp buyer and I am very impressed with the Emotiva amps. They could charge 3-4x the price and nobody would complain.

Because a test is old does not invalidate it's worth. Amp technology has remained virtually unchanged for quite some time. As someone pointed out to me earlier why do you think the Adcom GFA555II is still so highly sought after? Because it's a damn good amp that's why. So good in fact that Adcom started making a version of it again. The only thing that has changed with amps is the cost of manufacturing one. It has gone down, however, some companies do not reflect that in their prices they charge.

What I can say is that because people of your household heard a difference really means nothing. Too many variables could cause that. Unless you did double blind controlled ABX testing between the components just saying it sounded better after the fact does not hold up to scrutiny. It is basically meaningless really other than to you if you feel better about the purchase. Of course that is all that matters in the end is how you feel It's your stuff and your money and you are happy so end of story. Throwing out absolute statements like product B sounds better than product A without having done controlled testing is really nothing more than opinion and not an unbiased listening test.

Not trying to bust your balls Joe but rather just trying to cut through some of audio BS and hype. Opinions are great and I welcome yours and others but when comes down to making a selection I want hard, cold scientific testing in controlled situations that remove the bias. That is the only way to the truth in audio.

Here is one quote from a review on the XP-1's a while back. I have heard the amps and I concur with the statement.

"A pair of XPA-1s costs $1998. They're currently on sale for $1798 per pair. To equal or exceed their specifications and performance, you will need to spend at least three times this amount (Parasound JC 1). In the value for money department, they are absolutely unmatched. They are some of the best amplifiers I have ever heard, period, and they will have to be be pried out of my cold, dead fingers."

[Jmouse007]

Seriously? You guys would take emo over Parasound? I have had emo and many other AMPs and to this point nothing beats my A51. Not to "sound" to much like a snob but emo doesn't come close.

I am it TOTAL agreement with Joerod. Before purchasing our PARASOUND Halo A51 I auditioned and A/B'd power amps costing upwards of $30k and the Halo was just as good if not better than everything else I auditioned. By the way, PARASOUND Halo power amps and equipment is so good, Lukasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Steven Speilberg, Pixar, SONY Pictures, Skywalker Sound, Universal Pictures, and Warner Brothers Pictures to name a few have all chosen PARASOUND as THE sound equipment they use in their sound studios! =

http://www.parasound.com/about.php

These people and studios have money to burn and they could buy ANYTHING. After examining all of the options available they have all chosen PARASOUND because their equipment is nothing short of outstanding at sound reproduction.