Guess what I just bought? Parasound Halo P3.... Wahoooo!!! (1 Viewer)

[Brett DiMichele]

My Birthday is in June and as an early B-Day present
compliments of my mom (big hug) I got my Parasound Halo P3!

I was surfing ebay tonight and just out of curiosity I did
a search for "Parasound Halo P3" and there she be... It's
2 weeks old and was purchased for full retail $800.00 this
means that it will be backed by Parasound (Warranty is
transferable) and I got it for $550.00 and $22.00 Shipping.

Mint, Boxed, Manuals, Remote etc..

I get the deals!

Now all I need is my Delphi Sky Fi XM Tuner, my new audio
rack (DIY) and a good CD Transport and that's it.. I will be
DONE! (for a while) the only other thing I need is to start
working on my DIY speakers as soon as I get the information
from the creator of them.

What a journey this has been and will undoubtedly continue
to be. I started off with a Phillips Bookshelf system and
now I have:

1 Parasound Halo P3 PreAmp
2 Antique Sound Labs Wave AV20-DT 20Watt Class A Tube Monoblocks
1 Onkyo TX-DS787 THX Select 7.1 Receiver 100Wattx6
1 Onkyo M-282 2 Channel W.R.A.T Power Amp 110Wattx2
1 Bob Carver Sunfire TDC Sub Plate Amp (500Watt)
1 Behringer Tube Ultra-Q Linestage Parametric Tube EQ
1 Panasonic CV51 5 Disk Interlaced DVD,CD,MP3 Changer
1 Technics SLBD22-K Turntable
1 Audio Technica AT331-LP Cartridge
1 RCA 61" HomeTheater Series NTSC RPTV (HDTV Plasma in a few years)
1 Phillips Pronto Pro
Full X-10 Control

Etc..

I think I have done well so far.. My movie setup has always
been nothing short of fantastic (The Onkyo excells at movies
and was always "okay" at music.)With the ASL's running off
the Halo I am certain my music will now be on part with the
movies.

I certainly need a reference quality cd player and in time
that is something else I will obtain but I need to think
about what features I need and want and I want an all in one
solution, no external DAC's.

I have been looking at certain CDP's I like the AH! Njoe
Tjoeb 4000 (Reworked Marantz, Burr-Brown DAC's, Tube Output
stage or something like the Sonic Frontiers Reference or
Shanling.. I dunno but whatever I go with I will put my
price cap around a grand (used or new).

All I know is that I NEED to get my new rack built badly.
I am so out of room for components you don't even want to
know where I have my ASL Mono's sitting.. You would bean me
with something large and heavy!

 

[Chu Gai]

what kind of speakers you figuring on making?

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Chu,

Well I was planning on building 7' tall Line Array's that
Jon Marsh was working on (The Modula IV) but I haven't
heard from Jon and I haven't pestered him because I know
his back is Snafu and he's been undergoing treatment for
that.

Basicaly the design uses 8 6.5" Carbon Fiber/Cast Frame
Midrange drivers from MCM mated beside a Boehlender Graebner
RD-50 Planar Ribbom Transducer and the Line Array's sit on
top of sealed dual subwoofers (one per speaker).

Jon's design uses BPD1803's but I am going to use dual
sealed Stryke AV-12's crossed in the 120Hz range in a
.5 Q box

If that doesn't go through then I will be looking at
maybe the GR Research Alpha LS or some other DIY Line
Array.. I want something super efficient on the top end
so my AV20's can pooosh em. The sub side is no problemo
since I have a Carver Sunfire TDC plate amp that pushes
500 watts mono at 4 ohm and is 2 ohm stable (1KW) I can
run the pair of AV-12's parallel off that amp with no
problem.

Ohh I am ordering my Delphi SkyFi XM Satelite Radio Tuner
and install kit this week too.. Gotta have that CD quality
sound with no commecials for the new music setup

 

[Brett DiMichele]

I should also say DAYUM I need a new rack... I am working
on that project also.. I have it planned out and it should
cost me less than $250.00 to build my own rack that is very
similar to the $1600.00 Finite Elemente` "Spider" (See my
rendering below) the only thing I am waiting on is material
to machine the center rings to support the beech wood arms.

 

[Michael R Price]

Brett, congratulations on the preamp and uh, nice rack. I don't yet have a rack.

Before you go ahead and buy a CD player, I'll suggest trying this DAC (or some variant of it): http://home.triad.rr.com/scottnixon/dac.htm . That one uses a cheap old DAC chip and it's a simple design, so it's not in the same class as the $5000+ oversampling DACs. But, apparently it sounds really good. Less is more, right?

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Mike,

Thanks for the link but i'll pass.. I want a one box
solution (no external Dac) whatever cd player I go with
I will make certain the internal DAC is up to snuf..

One stupid question from me.. What is "Redbook" I heard
it reffered to on that site and many others. Is this some
CD Format I am not familiar with? I thought RedBook was
stories on CD?

 

[DomB]

Redbook is the CD audio format, the original specification of how to store information on a CD. It is an audio only format. Later, yellowbook was invented to store data on CDs (as a computer would read them). There are other formats as well. All CD players should be able to read the Redbook standard.

CD format information

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Dom,

Thanks man! I always wondered about that.. I don't keep
up with all the formats I just buy stuff and listen to it.

 

[Chu Gai]

that's a sharp looking rack...not as nice as pam anderson's and certainly not as much damping, but sharp nonetheless. I hope you take pictures and post plans for others.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Chu,

I will definatly post pictures and information (I have a
thread about it over in the DIY section). The hardest part
is finiding material to make the center rings out of and
then having someone machine it. The legs can be purchased
in 8' lengths and cut down to whatever size you need and
the wood is simple.

 

[John H]

It's 2 weeks old and was purchased for full retail $800.00 this means that it will be backed by Parasound (Warranty is transferable)

I was surprised to read that Parasounds warranty was transferable. I was hoping they had changed their policy on the HALO line. I reviewed my C2's warranty information card and it reads the same as for their classic line of products.

Unfortunately it is not transferable.

Parasounds Warranty Information

John

 

[Brett DiMichele]

John,

Hurm I could have swore I read it was transferable at thier
website.. No big deal though if I have to send it back I
guess I will just have to pay.. Or pitch a royal fit and
stuff..

 

[Brett DiMichele]

I just wanted to update this post rather than start something
new.

I recieved my Parasound Halo P3 today as the ebay seller
stated it was in pristine condition with all original packing
and manuals. He even gave me the batteries for the remote

I don't have much listening time with it yet so I can't tell
you much on the sound other than my initial impression is
that the sound stage feels about 10' wider now

The craftsmanship of the unit is first rate. The Pre Amp is
very heavy for what all that it is, this reflects the use of
a serious torodial transformer and good chasis. The design
of the unit is simply beautiful and elegant. The feel of the
aluminum front pannel and the wonderfuly machined metal volume
knob which rotates smoothly with nice detents to lock it in
place.

The rear pannel is a plethora of nice gold in's and out RCA's
and XLR's. The XLR's fit nice and tight into the chasis and
work very well. When you use direct output there is no tone
shaping control (a very good feature)I am using an outboard
parametric EQ so if I need to adjust anything that's where
it will be done.

The Halo effect of the lighting is beautiful and the vacuum
flourescent display is very easy to read.

I will post more on the sound as time permits..

One thing worth mentioning.. Parasound is proud of thier
products and let me tell you.. They READ this forum! When I
learned about the warranty being void on purchase of used
gear I wasn't very happy (it still bugs me about the warranty
not being transferable) but the people at Parasound are very
polite and helpful. I recieved an email from Parasound and
it was very nice to hear from them. I feel alot more comfortable
now even though I don't have a warranty, knowing that they
will be there to help if I have a question or if I do need
to send it in for service that I will be treated well.

Thumbs up to Parasound and all it's employee's!

Ohh and here is a picture from AudioAdvisor showing the P3's
guts for those of you who like to look inside!