thinking about changing main amp from rotel to parasound any advise (1 Viewer)

[michael stro]

I currently have a rotel RMB-1075 biamp to a set of Paradigm Reference 60's I was thinking of getting a Parasound Halo A52 Five-Channel Amplifier. Has anyone used these amps, I could use some advise or thoughts on this matter.I have a rotel 1098 pre/pro and another 1075 running the rest of the 7.2 setup (2SUBS)

 

[Drew_W]

I don't know why you'd change...what's prompting the change? Do you find the Rotel lacking in some way?

 

[michael stro]

I was hopeing for a warmer tighter sound, I haven't heard the parasound amps (nobody sells them around here) but i've heard alot of positive stuff about them.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Have you considered just moveing to one of Rotel's more powerful 2 channel amps like the 1080? The 2 channel amps are slightly more musical sounding then their 5 channel cousins and the extra power would help with the tightness you're looking for.

 

[Stephen M]

I'd follow Andrew's advice. Less money spent. He is also about as knowledgable about Rotel as anyone outside of their factory personnel.

 

[Mike Keith]

If your Bi-Amping wont you need 2 amplifiers to replace the old ones?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Yes you would mike but sometimes a single more powerful amp is better then two smaller ones in a bi amp config.

 

[Mike SJ]

...

 

[RichardHOS]

Michael, the performance of Rotel and Parasound amplifiers is practically identical. Close enough to identical that you could never in your lifetime tell the difference if you didn't know which was which.

If you want to spend your time and money in meaningful areas, look at addressing speaker and room problems. Sound treatments and EQ can do wonders for the bass, and any money left after that should be spent upgrading speakers, not amplifiers.

 

[Mike Keith]

I'm sure this is true in some cases, but it's been my experience that two seperate power supplyes (1 for woofers, 1 for tweeters) are superior then one.

 

[michael stro]

I do enjoy the biamp, I do hear a difference,but of course I didn't have the 1080 in the system. you do think it would make a difference, it is better built then the 1075 . what about speakers my 60's are about 4 years old. they say the new studio 60's are much better sounding has anyone upgraded to the new series ?

 

[michael stro]

so if i'm running in biamp with a 1075 to the fronts, your saying that a 1080 in 2 channel would sound better ???

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Its hard to say for sure without knowing how the cross over is built but if I were a bettng man I'd say yes it will sound better then a bi amped 1075. The damping factor in the 1080 is higher then the 1075 so it should have a tighter control on the woofer which is one of the things you're looking for. Will your dealer let you borrow one for a night to try?

 

[Chu Gai]

With all due respect, the difference in DF is neglible and will neither exert nor interact to any meaningful degree with the speakers.

 

[Mike Keith]

I don't think we are talking about true Bi-Amping hear, are we?

True Bi-Amping will give you an incredible increase in dampening (control over the drivers) regardless of what amp you are using, that is compared to running the amp signal through the passive network.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Chu the 1075's damping factor is listed as 180 where as the 1080 is 1000...is that not a significant difference?

Mike no were not talking about true bi amping as the XO's are downstream of the amps instead of before them. I've just heard that some XO designs are better suited to bi amping then others...how true that is I don't really know but it does seem that some speakers improve more then others when bi amped even though they're similar in design (at least from the number and size of drivers etc)

 

[Chu Gai]

Correct Andrew. Consider the following article by Richard Pierce in Audioholics on Damping Factor as it goes into some detail. Pierce, for those that don't know, posts often on USENET and is a noted designer and consultant for many speaker manufacturers as well as being involved in the peer review process for official AES publications. As an aside, he designed the crossovers for the Rockets.

 

[Mike Keith]

I can't imagine that Dampening factor matters that much when you kill the dampening by having even one passive component between the driver and amp output, not to mention what it does to the phase.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

As always an interesting read Chu. I do know the 2 channel amps are engineered to sound slightly warmer then their 5 channel brethren so there may be other factors to consider when compareing the 1080 to the 1075 but I wouldn't commit to buying the 1080 without first listening to it vs your current bi amp situation.

 

[michael stro]

lots of of good advise guys i'm gonna bring home a 1080 soon to test ,I did think that DF made a difference and I did notice 1000 to 180