Firstly there are budget constraints, secondly aethestic constraints and finally whether it will integrate well with what you have.
Since Im on a uni budget but wanted a better sound I was looking on the second hand market or at affordable power amps such as the Rotel rmb 1085 or rb1070.
The parasound presented itself to me and after several quickly searched reviews discovered more about this brand that emphasise performance above mark-up. (quite a rare thing in the audio world).
Yes the amp was 5 years old. However it was in perfect condition and spent its life in a airconditioned server rack (I know the guy I bought it off had an insane setup with 4 of these amps + controllers + line conditioners+ equalisers the whole works). The amp was purchased within about 3 hours of it on offer for sale to yours truly and was picked up that night.
The setup I am using at present is nothing special. Just a marantz sr4300 and some old speakers of my fathers. However I am about to pull the trigger on some lovely krix neuphonix. Krix in general need a fair bit of juice to sound good and the neuphonix are especially so. (have heard with an onkyo 875, a yammie rxv1800 and marantz 8001 and only the marantz made them sing to my ears). Therefore I was going to buy a power amp before I triggered on the speakers.
In short the parasound is a definate step up from the rotel I was about to purchase. How do i know? One of the wonderful things about working/living close to a stockist of krix and rotel is the ability to play with it. I took the parasound there and tested some of my favourate Cds Firstly with with a rb 1077 and 1069 combo running through a rotel cd 1072 and secondly with a rotel pre1070 and rb 1070 running through the same rotel cd 1072. (I knew the 1077 was out of price range but they diddn't have a rmb1085). Test Cds were including but not limited to jack johnson, imogen heap- speak for yourself, creedance clearwater revival, jim croce, the latest ONE LOVE club mix, above and beyond- goa to rio.
My impressions favoured the rb 1070 power amp as I felt the additional power translated well to the power hungry krix. I am not going to use arty words to describe the sound except both were an upgrade over the marantaz I puchased a few years ago and I enjoyed listening to the music more with the rb1070.
Insert the parasound HCA-1000a into the mix. (this was done by removing the rb1070 and connecting the rc1070 stereo preamp into the parasound.
Since the parasound was already purchased it was time to find out whether this hasty purchase was the right decision.................
The parasound is THX Ultra certerfied pumping out 125 watts @ 8ohms rising to 200w @ 4 ohms a perfect match for the neuphonix. Power consumption was a very healthy 700 watts when the amp is fully loaded.
back on topic........... it was!!!! Bass was tighter and more controlled than the Rotel and females vocals wern't quite as bright and scratchy at the top end when volume courtesy was abandoned. I enjoyed playing my music far more with the parasound and did not realise how loud and clear this amp could push the krix as I did not feel any sort of fatigue. Playing Imogen heaps hide and seek at far lower levels then I normally do I realised I could still hear her vocals even when she was whispering compared with the Rotel 1077. (mind you the 1070 was about the same as the parasound in this test). The krix have the ability to play quite low down to 30hz and this was felt when playing justices electric eel on the ONE LOVE album. Indeed whilst I currently am a bit of a bass whore running 4 12' DIY subs for the main theatre room, I can honestly say for 2-channel the parasound and krix were not lacking in the bass department.
What a pleasant suprise! The amp has performed above and beyond my expectations. It made a good alternative to the rb1070 and I'd say was raround 20% better in SQ for around the same price.
After disconnecting it and taking it home and hooking it up to my oldschool phillips speakers (old and boxy 40 watt speakers but with a diabolical 12 woofer that is not boomy and hits all the right notes but is simply aging (I think It might need a new crossover), I realised that the marantz 80 watt per channel reciever was underpowering them and had been until now. The parasound simply energized them a bit more and everything I could hear with the krix setup i could still hear with the philips with the krix obviously having better off-axis response/ higher power handling before distorting and a different style of sound.
They will take up the loyal dutys of the surround backs when the krix arrive.
The downsides to running this amp??? I really need to invest in a cooling solution as currently in my rack it is running a little to hot for my liking.
Also the power consumption will hurt my power bill a little but oh well.
I have been living with this amp now for about a week and just felt like I should share this with you.
Sometimes brand new equipment is not the best solution if you are on a tight budget like myself. (Been saving for speakers for around a year which is why I was looking at the neupho price bracket)
Anyway I'm glad I got this out of my system! Hope you enjoyed reading it. Plus if you look up an image on google the gold trim and anodised black aluminium is super smexy
Parasound- A brand I had not heard of till now but am damm glad I did.