Parasound 3500 - leave on or switch outlet? (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Levin]

I just bought a Parasound HCA3500 amplifier. It is rated at 2x350 watts @ 8ohms, has 2 power cords and is wired to 2 dedicated 15 amp circuits. It has no remote triggers and I do not have good access to the power switches. My options are:

1) leave the amp on all the time. Idle power consumption is 240watts.

2) Install a solid state relay to each outlet and trigger the relays from my AVM-20. Will this cause too much current inrush? How about noise?

Thanks.

 

[Jeff Baldwin]

Daniel,
I just bought a 3500 today. I haven't hooked it up though and was wondering how yours sounded with the Anthem. I am looking for a new processor and the Anthem and Sunfire are at the top of my list. The 3500 is for my Revel M-20's.
Any advice you could give would be great.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Some Line conditioners are set up to switch on amplifiers. My Adcom ACE-515 will, I think some Panamax units will, too. The Adcoms have a “sensing” AC cord that plugs into a receiver’s switched outlets. When the sensing cord gets power, it turns on the outlets the amps are plugged in to. So you can leave the amp’s power switch on all the time. You can get the 515 on e-bay pretty often for under $150. Adcom has replaced the 515 with a couple of newer models, so you might want to check their web site.

By the way, two 15A circuits for a 650 watt amp is way overkill. A 15A circuit will usually handle a pair of 650 watt amps.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Daniel Levin]

Jeff:
I bought my amp last week, but it has not arrived yet, so I can't comment on it's sonic characteristics yet. I am currently using a Parasound HCA-1500 which I like quite a bit with my Anthem/Paradigm combination. The 3500 should sound similar...only more of it! I researched prepros for over 6 months and spent many hours listening to all the available options. I love my Anthem. It sounds clean, neutral, and has all the features I need. My friend owns the Sunfire which he loves. I don't think you can go wrong with a prepro in this price range/class.

Regarding the Parasound 3500: the spec sheet off of the Parasound website shows the power consumption as 1200watts/channel. The owner's manual shows the power consumption as 1200 watts... Which is right? There is a big difference in the two.

Daniel