Gregory Scott Bass

opinions on parasound, best amps?

Hi, after being mc-1 less for a while, I made the leap and bought one again. so now I need to pick up some amplification.
my desire is to find a used even possibly scratched high end amp for 5 or 7 channels for under 1000.

is parasound considered high end...also keep in mind I am still driving nht 2.9"s so that means I need neatral to warm amps.

thanks in advance...please feel free to mention specific models...then its off for the hunt

KevinCa

Hi, in regard to your question if Parasound is High-end, well that really depends on what you define as high-end.
To me Parasound offers a lot of bang for the buck, and it can definately hold it's own next to a Classé (for example) but the latter will give you a tad more finesse and musicality (personal taste) but at a cost of 50% extra.
I have a Parasound 2205AT, and it's been really great at driving my Nautilus 804's, HTM2 and 805's.
It's very powerful, has great control over the speakers, very tight bass and is quite neutral sounding.
I'm sure you can find something to your liking for around $1000, either an older (maybe slightly scratched) HCA2205AT (5x220W) or a reasonably new HCA1205AT (5x120W).
The 2205 I believe is still for sale in the US, for around $2000 new, so $1000 should be possible to do if you get one that's a few years old.
They're built like a tank and very heavy, so they usually still be in very good shape.
I bought mine when it was about 2 years old, and there wasn't even the tiniest scratch on it. Ofcourse the previous owner was very careful with his amps.
To give you an idea, they retailed at €4500 and I paid €2400 for mine. (which is still about 30% more than what you pay for a NEW one in the US)
Anyway I can only recommend it, no downsides to this amp what so ever.

Gregory Scott Bass

thanks alot...I am looking hard, I think I am concentrating on parasound because others have said just what you did, when I had my mc-1 before I was using a carver amp, which was good but I think they are getting harder and harder to repair when things go wrong so I feel more comfortable with a company still in business. thanks for your input

Tim Hoover

I bought a Parasound 855A a few years back when they were on closeout for around $400. It's an 85W x 5 amp, and sounds terrific. Before you think it's underpowered, these 85 watts are plenty loud...in fact, more than enough for my listening tastes.

Tim's Essential Music

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