HK AVR7000 sounds better than Parasound Amp... (1 Viewer)

[Arthur S]

After having the opportunity to try out 3 different receivers on my speakers in my home at the same time I have to disagree with Jack Briggs on this issue. I found subtle but ultimately compelling differences between the 3 receivers. I ended up with the one that sounded more natural on real instruments (as opposed to electric guitars) than the others.

It is a shame really. I would have preferred to continue to believe that they all sounded the same. That would have saved me some money.

 

[Carl P]

I guess those that say a receiver is "bright" or "warm" must have exceptional hearing. Take an RF-7 Klipsch and mate it with the wrong receiver and "yuck". Power it with a different amp and sonic nervana. I have a H/K and a Kenwood receivers at home. You don't need the hearing ability of a dog to tell the difference.

 

[Sami Kallio]

Kevin, come on over and we'll A/B the Parasound with my AVR7200. I honestly couldn't say the sound was any better coming from external amplifier than the internal H/K amplifier. I tried some amps from the mid-level (like Outlaw) and some low level pro amps (like Samson). Now the Samson was considerably worse than the HK.

It would be nice to test out some others but I won't be spending my money when I'm happy with the way the H/K sounds. It is only driving 5 channels so there should be plenty of power supply left to drive the LSi7's (and I am listening at loud levels).

 

[Ron T]

There are very real and not subtle differences between different amps. I'm a little shocked at the assertion that there isn't.

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

Thanks for the offer sam, but I live on long Island in NY, so it would be a bit of trek to come all the way to texas

I know my Parasound amp ultimately has more juice (it has 205 watts per channel) and has the ability to play louder before distorting or clipping, but the H/K will allow you to play at levels beyond what I could imagine people would listen at anyhow, unless they are putting on a concert or something...

don't get me wrong either, the parasound does not sound bad by any means, again, i just remember the H/K producing a sound a little more pleasing to my ears and i could be wrong, i won't know until i rehook up my H/K if repaired or another one.

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

By the way, what are the gains on the back of my amp supposed to be set at? I have them about half way up. i remember when I tried them all the way up it didn't sound very good...but do most of you guys keep the gains on the amp all the way up?

 

[Jeffrey R]

I'm a little surprised by the comment above about all receivers sounding the same. It kind of casts a doubt on all of the hundreds of thousands of home theater threads about which receiver to buy, and all the positions people put out one way or the other.

But in the real world, I just recently purchased a H/K 635, which replaced a H/K 520 that I moved into my second system. The H/K 520 replaced a Kenwood 509 in the second system. Now, between the H/K 520 and 635, I can hear a difference--not so much a sonic difference since they're both H/K's, but maybe a difference due to the EQ on the 635 or maybe better amps. But the 635 just performs incredibly.

Now, between the H/K 520 and the Kenwood, I don't need to have golden ears to hear the difference. Essentially night and day. The sound from the H/K is so much richer, warmer, etc. Just my $.02.

 

[ScottL]

I believe the parasound manuals say to turn the gain knob for both channels all the way to the max.

-Scott

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

Yeah I checked and the one side was turned all the way up and the other was only up about 3/4 of the way. When i turned that one all the way up the sound was more balanced. i forgot when I first got the amp I was trying to manually level match as it appeared one speaker was putting out more than the other. I think one of my speakers is semi-blown, I don't know, but it sounded great...much better after I turned up the gain on the one that was only 3/4 of the way initially....