Made the move to separates....long (1 Viewer)

[Jason Co]

Well I finally took the plunge and got into separates. I just bought a Parasound 1500 2 channel amp from a fellow HTFer. I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I got this but it was quite an adventure. Got home from work last night and found a huge box in my living room. IT was very professionally packaged and I believe it set some sort of record for peanuts in that size box. I opened it trying to be overly conscious of not dumping peanuts everywhere. That idea didn't last long once my 10 month old son and 4 year old daughter actually got in the box and went to town. Oh well they were having fun so that was all that mattered. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put the amp in my entertainment center due to the ventilation issue. Well that issue was solved for me seeing it didn't fit anyway. No big deal I just put it on the floor behind one of my mains. Finally got everything hooked up and noticed a nice buzzing noise coming from my mains. Needless to say I was slightly pissed! I went to the old HTF and looked it up and discovered it was my cable outlet. If I unplugged my cable all was good. The only thing that I found that can fix the problem is Link Removed I was wondering if anyone found anything from Rat Shack that I could pick up that would do the same thing.
Anyway, to make a long story longer I started off with The Patriot and the difference wasn't as immediate as I had expected. I did notice the sound field seemed a bit wider and the sounds were more crisp. I figured maybe 2 channel music would give me a little bit better result. I threw in Uncle Kracker and was quite impressed with the liveliness and purity of the acoustics. NOW that was what I was waiting for! I had a mix of Diana Krall that I figured would be the bomb with this new amp. I asked my wife to put the disk in. Once she put it in my Panny 5 dvd changer a horrible noise came from my dvd player. Monsters Inc. was in one of the other slots and somehow came loose as the tray closed. I immediately shut it off and realized the friggin disk had popped out of the tray and was now stuck in my dvd player. Needless to say I was pissed. I spent the next half hour shaking the damn dvd player until it burped up my now ruined disk. I hooked the dvd player back up and thankfully it still worked. The Diana Krall disk almost brought a tear to my eye. It was fantastic.
After cleaning up the peanuts, I decided I would throw in the new LOTR extended version. Talk about audio bliss!!!! I literally thought I was in the forest with Frodo. Birds were chirping, crickets surrounded my...it was unreal. To conclude this diatribe I am absolutely ecstatic with my new purchase.
If anyone know how to cure the buzz problem, please let me know. The last question I have, is it okay to leave my amp on all the time in stand by mode or should I shut it off manually while it's not in use? Thanks again to the HTF for making me spend more money!!!! J/K I thank everyone (especially Yogi) for the guidance in this matter.
Jason

 

[RobertSchaez]

Just curious...What are you using as a pre-amp, and what speakers are you running?

 

[Marc H]

Congrats Jason.
You need to get a 'ground loop interupter' to go in line with your coax feed before it reaches any of your gear. If you have a shop that does custom install in your area, they should have them.
I have them here if you are stuck but the shipping cost would be as much as the ground breaker!

 

[Jason Co]

Robert,
I am using the Denon 3802 as a pre amp and I am running Axiom m50's for my mains. Marc I just went to Radio Shack and bought a ground loop insulator? It's in my car so I don't remember the exact name. This thing is hooked up between the pre amp and the amp. The lady at Rat told me this would work. All the stuff I have seen is applied to your co ax outlet, this is the first thing I have seen that is applied to your gear. any idea if this will work?

Jason

p.s. Marc the bass on the M50's is great now that I am giving it a full 200 watts. Had no idea the M50's were capable of that much bass in 2 channel mode.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

Jason,
Glad you're enjoying the amp! Now you see why I said I wouldn't give up that amp if not for upgrading to a 5-channel one. I seriously contemplated keeping the 1500A and using it in a second system, but my wallet vetoed that idea
So it was cable hum for you too. That Radio Shack doohickey should work just fine.
Diana Krall--good choice

 

[Jason Co]

Yohan,
Actually I believe it was called a doohickey! I sent you an e-mail about it last night. You may have replied, but I can't check that e-mail account from work (stupid comcast). The only question I had about the amp is the binding posts for the speakers. The panel (don't know how to desribe it better) the posts are on is a little loose on one side. I opened the cse and it seems that a small piece of plastic broke that holds one side of the panel. It in no way affects the performance, but I was just wondering if it was like that or may have happened during shipping.
Anyway thanks Yohan, it was a pleasure doing business with you and I will give you props on the good traders list

Jason

 

[Russell _T]

Jason,
Congrats on the setup.
OT, but I have received an email from Comcast about a month ago saying that you could now access Outlook or your email service from a remote computer. I haven't had the opportunity to check it out, but it would sure be nice to have that ability. If you find out, let me know.

 

[Dougie]

Hey Jason,
It's nice to read that your diggin' your new amp. I'm new to HT and am an admitted novice. Why did you go to a two channel amp? Was it to get great two channel stereo sound for music? What kind of speakers are you running? Can one get as much sound with , for example, a 5.1 channel amp if it has enough power?
Thanks, I'm building a house next summer and will build a HT but am most interested in attaining very, very good sound quality.
Dougie

 

[Jason Co]

Russel,
You can get your Comcast mail form another computer. The strange thing is that the account is not the same as your account at home. I have checked my comcast mail from work and later at home and the stuff in the inbox is totally different. Anyway you can check your mail if you go to http://comcast.net/comcast.html
Dougie,
Welcome to the world of spending money Basically the amp allows me to maximize my front speakers (Axiom M50's). The Denon 3802 was pushing 100 watts/ch. Now with the 1500 my fronts are getting 200 watts/ch. It's almost like a permanent shot of adrenaline for the mains. I am not really an authority on amps as this is my first one. You have to think about what is important in your set up. I was completely happy with my surrounds and center prior to the amp purchase. I did feel that my mains weren't as true to 2 ch music as they could be, hence the upgrade. The addition has improved the quality of my other speakers as well. I believe it could be due to the fact that the 3802 runs more efficiently with having to power the mains. If you are interested in learning home systems this is the place to do it. There are a lot of good people here who know a lot more than I do.
Good Luck,
Jason

 

[Yogi]

Jason, I leave my Proceed and B&K amp on all the time. I think the current surges associated with the power on/off in an amp plus the thermal cycling of the components does more harm to the amp than leaving it powered on (except it shows in your elec bill). My Proceed and B&K together consume about 350W at idle and the B&K gets so hot that it could double as my indoor grill. The B&K though pays itself off by keeping the room warm in winters To make a long story short, leave your amp on all the time and forget about it. It does no harm to it in the long run.
Regarding the buzzing issue, you might have to have your cable guys come over and properly ground it. I had the same exact problem wherein there was slight buzz coming from my mains with the cable connected. As soon as I disconnected the cable everything was dead silent. I went out to check my cable grounding. You should be able to find it near the electrical meter with all the other house grounding. The cable ground wire had gotten loose and a bit corroded. So I took it out sanded the leads and cleaned them and reconnected it to the pipe. The buzz was gone. If you are not sure you should call the cable guy (Jim Carrey) and have him look into it.

 

[CollinMorphew]

I see where you could leave your amps on all the time but for those of us that aren't quite as advanced in knowledge or equipment have a question. What about that surge from the receiver to the amp immediately after turning the receiver on. I usually wait a second then turn on all the amps. I also have another question--not meaning to threadnap or anything. Is it normal to hear a little pop right when you hit the power button on the amps? I turn on the receiver, wait a second and then power on all the amps. Each time there is a little power on sound through the speakers when the amp is flicked on. Then, since I go in reverse order shutting down, I turn of all the amps and then the receiver--at the end of the couple of seconds it takes the amps to totally turn off, there is one last little sound--like a little signal left in the lines--is that normal?

 

[Yogi]

Is it normal to hear a little pop right when you hit the power button on the amps?

Yes it is quite normal. Its the DC offset that you hear from the inrush current. you should turn your receiver on. Then turn down the volume on the recv. Then turn on the amps. During shutdown however, you should follow the same order, i.e., you should turn off the recv and then the amp. If you do the reverse the amp will keep playing for a few seconds as its still being fed signal from the source through the recv. As the caps in the amp power supply drain the signal starts clipping as its playing but running out of juice. This could harm your speakers in the long run. So the sequence should always be:

1) Turn on the source.
2) Turn on the recv/preamp.
3) Turn on the Amp.

Follow the same procedure while shut down from steps 1 to 3.

My 2 cents.

 

[Chip E]

I just use the 12v trigger from my Ref50 to my 200.5 amp. Simple. Plug it in once and forget about it.

 

[Jason Co]

What exactly does a 12 volt trigger do? What does a 12 volt trigger look like and where do you find one?
Jason
p.s. 2 lines 3 questions....noob like

 

[Chip E]

It's a simple 1/8" mini plug to 1/8" mini. Goes from the 12v trigger input on the back of my Ref50 to the trigger input on the back of my amp. Some have'm, some don't. Makes it real easy.. I could daisy chain four amps if i want (i think four?).

 

[Yogi]

It's a simple 1/8" mini plug to 1/8" mini. Goes from the 12v trigger input on the back of my Ref50 to the trigger input on the back of my amp. Some have'm, some don't. Makes it real easy.. I could daisy chain four amps if i want (i think four?).

The 3802 doesnt have a trigger (I use it). But what he can do is to get a 12V 1/8 mini jack adapter from radio shack and plug it into the back of his 3802's auxillary power socket and plug in the 1/8 mini jack in the back of your amp, if it has the trigger in. Doing this will turn on your amp every time you turn on your receiver and will save you the trouble of switching on the amp everytime.

But first make sure your amp has a remote trigger in.

 

[Mikey B]

You can also accomplish the same type of thing with a good power center/surge protector. The lowest model from Monster that does this is the 2500 I believe. You just plug the supplied cable from Monster into the switched AC outlet on the receiver. The amp's AC cord goes into the appropriate outlet on the power center. When you turn your receiver on, the amp is triggered on a couple seconds after the receiver. Works great. Nice bonus feature on top of top notch equipment protection.