Hi Robert, thank you for sharing. You have a nice setup. The A21 is a powerhouse! We're so happy to hear from satisfied Parasound owners. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the T3 once you have an opportunity to connect it up.
@@GoQAV Update: I don’t have much to compare the t3 to, as I came from a 30 year old Sony AV receiver and then for several months used a 40 year old Fisher tuner. The t3 is a definite step up in sound quality - the music is so much more clear and prominent. It is like the sound was veiled before and now can come through. I also get more distant stations (50-60 miles away) and more clearly, but a strong local station has considerable interference (did not have this problem with prior tuners). This station is typically the easiest to receive. Someone on an audiophile forum suggested that the sensitivity of the t3 is causing the signal to be overpowering and he suggested installing an RF attenuator on my attic-mounted antenna. I bought a 10 dB attenuator and it helped but there is still a lot of noise. I don’t know if higher attenuation would help in receiving this local station, while still receiving the distant stations? Funny thing is that I don’t have any difficulty with reception on other local channels, including those less powerful. Btw, I enjoy mellow music mostly, with the occasional rock-out hard rock listening sessions. Overall, the move to the approximately 20 yo t3 has been a good one.
It's really much smarter to simply use an input coupling cap while having the output and intermediate stage be direct coupled. By smarter, it means that you end up using less parts and end up having a simpler input and VAS stage, which, in turn, means better sound, IMO. When you consider that your input is only 2V rms and that you will not lose any low frequency (due to phase shift from creating a pole in the lowest octaves) by using a capacitor that's larger than what you'd typically use to cover your given frequency spectrum, then it makes it kind of stupid NOT to use an input coupling cap which, in turn, leaves very little issue in direct coupling everything else. I mentioned 2V rms- in order for any film capacitor (or even high quality smooth/plain foil NP electrolytics) to degrade a signal at all, they must exhibit high dielectric absorption and dissipation factor, two things that are primarily affected by either having voltage run closer to their stated tolerance or by pulse current- neither of which exist at an input, given that most film caps are 100V +. I hate DC coupled amps at an input and every real engineer knows doing so is entirely an audio myth regurgitated to the point of now being accepted as true, but only to audio circuit handlers.
My Parasound HCA-2205A amplifier has been in the shop two times for bad capacitors that took out some resistors and a few power transistors. When it works, it sounds fantastic. Maybe I got a lemon. It's currently sitting in my living room with two dead channels and hasn't been powered up in 5 years, ever since the 'magic smoke' came out. I'm afraid to plug it in and have more channels go up in smoke. I have to find a local Parasound repair shop and drop it off since shipping a 90 pound amp is cost prohibitive.
Hello, Please advise what are the differences between Parasound's JC2BP and P6 preamplifiers? I am putting a system together with either a pair of Revel F328Be or Dali Rubicon 8 speakers and in two minds if I should get the JC2BP or P6 preamplifier. Thanks.
There’s a significant difference in performance. They each have a home theater bypass if you want to integrate as a higher quality 2-channel system into a home theater setup. The P6 is a Swiss Army knife preamp that does everything pretty well. It has a Built-in DAC, including USB and phone stage. These are great features for the money and will work really well for non-reference quality speakers. The JC 2 BP is another animal altogether. It’s a proper dual-mono design with every design element catering to sound quality. No DAC, no phono stage, just analog inputs, and gain. This piece transformed our system from being high-performance speakers into pure music reproduction. There’s a price difference for sure, and it’s noticeable with reference-quality speakers. Not 100% sure on the Dali’s as we’re not familiar with them, but if you go with the Revels, you will notice a significant improvement with this preamp. The JC 2 BP is one of the best AV components we own, without question.
OK, so who has compared them with Stewart World? Back in the early 90s, Stewart World had by far the best sounding amplifiers made. We did A-B comparisons with Halfer, Mcintash, Bryston, and Carver. Hands down the Stewart was the tightest, cleanest amplifier we ever used.
"Parasound uses really good capacitors." Who doesn't? There is no "really good" specification column for capacitors. ANYONE would switch capacitors if they could find ones that would change their amp from very good to great.
If you want to see a useless, down-sampled, compressed sound/video showing the amplifier make noise, look at another video. If you want to learn something, watch this video and listen to one of the world's greatest audio engineers explaining some things about amplifier design.
@@NeverTalkToCops1 How many amplifiers have you made? Go listen to the whole discussion ua-cam.com/video/RVWO3XofZOU/v-deo.html , perhaps you might learn something, or at least appreciate you elder for what he has done.
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
I have the Parasound HCA 1500A by John Curl and love it.
The HCA stuff is truly underrated.
During the past year, I bought a Parasound A21 amp and P5 preamp. They sound good to me. I just bought a t3 tuner and look forward to hooking it up.
Hi Robert, thank you for sharing. You have a nice setup. The A21 is a powerhouse! We're so happy to hear from satisfied Parasound owners. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the T3 once you have an opportunity to connect it up.
@@GoQAV Update: I don’t have much to compare the t3 to, as I came from a 30 year old Sony AV receiver and then for several months used a 40 year old Fisher tuner. The t3 is a definite step up in sound quality - the music is so much more clear and prominent. It is like the sound was veiled before and now can come through. I also get more distant stations (50-60 miles away) and more clearly, but a strong local station has considerable interference (did not have this problem with prior tuners). This station is typically the easiest to receive. Someone on an audiophile forum suggested that the sensitivity of the t3 is causing the signal to be overpowering and he suggested installing an RF attenuator on my attic-mounted antenna. I bought a 10 dB attenuator and it helped but there is still a lot of noise. I don’t know if higher attenuation would help in receiving this local station, while still receiving the distant stations? Funny thing is that I don’t have any difficulty with reception on other local channels, including those less powerful. Btw, I enjoy mellow music mostly, with the occasional rock-out hard rock listening sessions. Overall, the move to the approximately 20 yo t3 has been a good one.
@@roberttroxell4006 thanks for sharing! We appreciate the detailed update :)
Also, no coupling caps in the signal path. Makes a HUGE difference.
That's not rocket science, anyone can do that.
@@NeverTalkToCops1 but who does? Way cheaper to pop a cap in there, so to speak, than dealing with trimming out DC at every stage.
It's really much smarter to simply use an input coupling cap while having the output and intermediate stage be direct coupled.
By smarter, it means that you end up using less parts and end up having a simpler input and VAS stage, which, in turn, means better sound, IMO.
When you consider that your input is only 2V rms and that you will not lose any low frequency (due to phase shift from creating a pole in the lowest octaves) by using a capacitor that's larger than what you'd typically use to cover your given frequency spectrum, then it makes it kind of stupid NOT to use an input coupling cap which, in turn, leaves very little issue in direct coupling everything else.
I mentioned 2V rms- in order for any film capacitor (or even high quality smooth/plain foil NP electrolytics) to degrade a signal at all, they must exhibit high dielectric absorption and dissipation factor, two things that are primarily affected by either having voltage run closer to their stated tolerance or by pulse current- neither of which exist at an input, given that most film caps are 100V +. I hate DC coupled amps at an input and every real engineer knows doing so is entirely an audio myth regurgitated to the point of now being accepted as true, but only to audio circuit handlers.
Thx John! 3:59
My Parasound HCA-2205A amplifier has been in the shop two times for bad capacitors that took out some resistors and a few power transistors. When it works, it sounds fantastic. Maybe I got a lemon. It's currently sitting in my living room with two dead channels and hasn't been powered up in 5 years, ever since the 'magic smoke' came out. I'm afraid to plug it in and have more channels go up in smoke. I have to find a local Parasound repair shop and drop it off since shipping a 90 pound amp is cost prohibitive.
I had no idea George Clooney was head of Parasound
LOL
Love my 2100 and 2250 amp
Mark, that's a nice setup!
Hello, Please advise what are the differences between Parasound's JC2BP and P6 preamplifiers? I am putting a system together with either a pair of Revel F328Be or Dali Rubicon 8 speakers and in two minds if I should get the JC2BP or P6 preamplifier. Thanks.
There’s a significant difference in performance. They each have a home theater bypass if you want to integrate as a higher quality 2-channel system into a home theater setup.
The P6 is a Swiss Army knife preamp that does everything pretty well. It has a Built-in DAC, including USB and phone stage. These are great features for the money and will work really well for non-reference quality speakers.
The JC 2 BP is another animal altogether. It’s a proper dual-mono design with every design element catering to sound quality. No DAC, no phono stage, just analog inputs, and gain. This piece transformed our system from being high-performance speakers into pure music reproduction. There’s a price difference for sure, and it’s noticeable with reference-quality speakers.
Not 100% sure on the Dali’s as we’re not familiar with them, but if you go with the Revels, you will notice a significant improvement with this preamp.
The JC 2 BP is one of the best AV components we own, without question.
@@GoQAV Thanks for reaching out. Much Appreciated.
OK, so who has compared them with Stewart World? Back in the early 90s, Stewart World had by far the best sounding amplifiers made. We did A-B comparisons with Halfer, Mcintash, Bryston, and Carver. Hands down the Stewart was the tightest, cleanest amplifier we ever used.
What I’d think about the video? Where in the hell is the rest of it?
The full video is here: ua-cam.com/video/RVWO3XofZOU/v-deo.html
I have the P5, JC5 and I am saving up for a JC3+
Freddie, that's an amazing stack! Keep us posted on your Parasound journey.
@@GoQAV OK I will. I am not rich so I save up to buy each component one at a time.
@@hitechburg please do! Being rich is not a prerequisite to taking the journey of listening to music on purpose ;)
❤ my Parasound Halo A52+ ❤
But how is the 2250 v2? Nobody talks about it like its the red headed stepchild. It's $1600!!
Have a. Han e to buy one used at a local hi fi store used for 800 don't no would be replacing an adcom 5400
@@marktardiff8030 eh, im getting an a23+, I gave up. Same money, more sophisticated, im near field anyway right now.
$50k speakers, $0.25 smile
"Parasound uses really good capacitors." Who doesn't? There is no "really good" specification column for capacitors. ANYONE would switch capacitors if they could find ones that would change their amp from very good to great.
Who doesn't? Almost every manufacture that makes consumer products. Look inside of an Emotiva and then a Parasound. HUGE difference.
BS video steel!
parasound are not made to last : (
@killmore75, why do you say?
@@GoQAV I have a 1205a and it's not working : ( Sorry I'm just mad a little : )
@@killmore75 that's understandable! Feel free to email us a hello@goqav.com if you'd like some assistant getting it serviced
@@GoQAV your grey NP caps was not really good caps! Only lasted 12years but the amp was an easy serviceable design! Cheers!
My 20 year old HCA 800ii is doing quite well, thanks
WHO NEEDS THAT PROPAGANDA?
WHERE IS THE SOUNDING TRACKS>?
If you want to see a useless, down-sampled, compressed sound/video showing the amplifier make noise, look at another video. If you want to learn something, watch this video and listen to one of the world's greatest audio engineers explaining some things about amplifier design.
DUMMY
@@markwagner5181 He said nothing new, nothing any hobbyist already knows. The "we use very good capacitors" is wholly pathetic.
@@NeverTalkToCops1 How many amplifiers have you made? Go listen to the whole discussion ua-cam.com/video/RVWO3XofZOU/v-deo.html , perhaps you might learn something, or at least appreciate you elder for what he has done.