Good 5 Chan Amp

If you're willing to go discountinued or slightly used then the Outlaw 750 or the Sherwood Newcastle AM-9080 get my vote.

--Steve

 

You might want to check out ubid.com. They're an authoized dealer of Parasound(I called and verified). I just saw a bunch of Parasound HCA-855's go for around $300. That's unbelievable! It's 85x5 but it'll blow almost all higher powered receivers away. Still skeptical about the power. Buy two, bi-amp your fronts and center and you have four channels left to power the rest of your surrounds. Get this you'll still be under budget. You just can't go wrong. I tried to pick an extra one up so I can biamp my Klipsch but I was outbid by only $10!

 

Thanks, Joel. I have been watching the Parasound for some time. I put in a bid at 350 + shipping about 1/2 hour before it closes. See what happens. If I get it, my wife will not be happy. If I don't, I wont't be happy. Either way, someone wins.

 

I just put a bid on that same amp.
Kinda high price on shipping though, it's going to be about $52.

 

I have a Denon 4802 wich is 120 wpc at 8 ohms, so the Parasound will be a drop in power. But I wanted to try a separate amp on what I am hearing people on this forum say all the time.
Sometimes I wish I never joined this forum, cuz I would have alot more money, but a worse sounding HT

 

UPS is AWFUL! My Parasound amp was supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning but for some reason it is on its was BACK to where it was delivered from! According to the shipment tracking, now I will get it next week. I guess they left it on the truck.

I wouldn't mind so much but this is the third time something like this has happened to me with UPS.

 

ALLEGEDLY mine is to arrive today. We shall see. The next question I have is what interconnects to use. there is a thread in the tweaks. Looking at the catcables.

 

I went with Catcables from my Lexicon to my parasound amp and was very happy with them. Very nicely built and were very transparent.

 

Damnit, I always find out about these things after they are done with...

Jason

 

I find the Acoustic Research Pro Series an excellent budget alternative.

 

Actually, I spoke too soon. There are three more up. A bit more than what you guys paid, but still a decent deal.

Jason

 

HA. Now UPS says "Package Missed. No Delivery Attempt Made." I am not sure exactly what that means, except it will not be arriving today. Yes, UPS is striking all of us

 

Well, UPS delivered mine today even though the tracking still says it will be delivered next week. Maybe they will deliver another Parasound amp for me
After listening to a bunch of CDs and DVDs I really didn't notice THAT much difference between just using my receiver and using the power amp. I did notice however the hideous ground loop hum from my cable that the amp picked up. I had to unplug my cable tv to get rid of the hum (But that is another issue)
I thought the difference was going to be a "Night and Day" difference like the first time I added a subwoofer to my system or switched from Dolby Prologic to Dolby Digital. I did notice that listening at even low levels the bass was more punchy, like I was listening at higher listening volumes and the acoustic guitars sounded a bit better, but nothing breath taking like alot of people rave on this forum.
Maybe I don't have the "Critical Ear" or I don't have the best equipment to fully bring out the sound you should get with separate power amp. But my equipment is fairly good quality....
Denon 4802 receiver
Paradigm Monitor 9's fronts
SVS 20-39 PCi sub
Sony CD player
MIT Terminator 2 speaker cables for the fronts.
and the Parasound power amp.
Maybe Parasound isn't a good match for the Paradigms, I don't know. I was hoping for a drastic improvement. Not that is sounded that bad before, I think it actually sounded pretty good (Better than any display at my local Hi-Fi store)