Very powerfull, quiet,

Flimzy casing

Just bought this unit second hand, replacing the Sima amp and using it to drive homemade subs in stereo. Very powerfull and deep bass . I just could not believe the change in the bass even thou I'm using the same drivers. For deep bass, you need the power and this amp has lots of it.
Cannot comment on the rest of the audio spectrum. For me a 4.7 for sound and 5 for value.

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Build quality, price/performance ratio, GREAT customer support, loads of clean power, elegant aesthetics

none

I recently purchased this amp to power my mains (Infinity SM155) because while my receiver did a great job (Pioneer VSX-D906S) of driving them, I needed more power for the bottom end being that I am not using a sub. This was especially true when watching Dolby Digital DVD's. All I can say is WOW! The bass was not the only improvement. When listening to plain stereo, I am experiencing my cd's as I never have before. The ability to CRANK this bad boy up with no distortion is absolutely phenominal. Needless to say, DVD is stunning. To the gentleman who says if you don't own Krell you have junk, I have two words for you: diminishing returns. I am a professional musician and passionate music lover. I do not call myself an "audiophile" because of what I feel conveys a self-superiority attitude. Suffice it to say that I have a well rounded opinion about sound and the faithful reproduction of it. As others have stated, it is best to audition pieces for yourself and make the call. I will state that by far this is the single best upgrade I could have implemented to improve the sound of my ENTIRE system. Even at sustained high levels, this baby doesn't even get warm! If you're considering a power amp that gives you great performance, superb customer support AND a TEN YEAR WARRANTY, I think you would be hard pressed to find a better contender-especially for a grand. For more info, check out Brent Butterworth's review at etown.com. Happy listening!

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none

Robust power
Dynamics
Tight control, and transparency

Cheezy 5 way binding posts, which are hard to torque down without fearing that you'll snap one.

For the money ($900) this amp is very good. Yes, I wish I had one of the big-boy 3500's, which has dual mono construction, along with limitless power, but for the money this amp is a great value. Audition one for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
One of the many things I enjoy about Parasound amplifiers is their limitless dynamics. With classical music especially, you don't know when a crescendo or a crash of cymbals will end. They seem to have no ceiling in their ability to give dramatic music a grand, full sound. Compared to the Adcom I once had this unit is smoother and has never run out of steam (I was always able to make the Adcom clip, the Parasound has never clipped) The sound isn't bloated or slow either, it's quick and snappy. Listening to Rock and Roll, where a good drummer is excercising his muscles (try the Police or the New England Band O-Postive- Cloudcookoland), and you'll see what I mean. The amp will show no mercy to bad recordings- it is, in my honest opinion, an excellent example of what audio electronics are meant to convey: a means of amplifying a low-level electrical signal to live listening levels without adding or taking away from the original intent of the recording.
One point of advice to those new to audio buying or critical listening. NEVER buy from any retailer whose isn't willing to let you audition audio components and speakers in the environment of your own home. I've sold audio and been into these toys for quite awhile, and I would be very weary of any establishment or salesperson who would state otherwise. Take the time and listen to a lot of systems with music that you know.

One piece of info that Willie Goh maybe interested in: I recently spoke to Parasound about using an HCA 1000A to power my mids and highs and the gentleman I spoke to recommended against it. He stated that since the 1500 uses MOSFETs it's rendition of mid and high frequencies would be a bit smoother than the 1000A. His honest opinion was to leave well-enough alone in my set-up since the 1500 had more than enough power. He further recommended biwiring off the back of the amp via a combonation of spades and banana plugs to work around the single set of speaker outputs. I tried that and it worked very well. I have dealt with Parasound on a number of occasions and have found their knowledge, service and love for music excellent. It is also nice to see their quality control improved. My first amp, a 2200, went back to Parasound no less than 4 times due to faulty transitors and switches.
Considering I haven't listened to every amp out there, as well as the realization that technology and competition will always give birth to a new "great value, I'll give my amp a 4 for value.
Given Parasound's service and my belief that this is a great piece of electronics, I'll give it a 5 Overall.

OK, that's my two cents...

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Parasound HCA 2200

build, price

Although certainly not weaknesses, the noticeable hum on startup and it's tendancy to heat up quite a bit are the only (very slight) drawbacks to an otherwise excellent amp. Since no one else seemed to comment on this, this may be due to amp-to-amp variation and would not apply to the average. The sound it produces tends to be warm and quite transparent, however I would not rate it that much higher than me previous amps. For the <$1000 price on the other hand, it (like the Magneplanar MMGs they are driving) is certainly a bargain.

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Hafler, Denon

205 Watts of clean power for less than a grand.

None at this price.

Used this amp for the front mains with a Lexicon DC-1 and B&W cdm1nt's before upgrading to a Proceed HPA2. You really can't fault this amp considering the price. It delivers pristine highs with a bit more air than my Proceed which is considered reference quality.

If it has any weakness, its that the mid range seems ever so slightly rolled off which restricts its ability to reproduce sax and brass as well as some higher end amps. But I am talking about a very small reduction of mid range detail and without an A/B comparison you probably wouldn't notice.

Another difference between this amp and those costing several times more is the Parasound has slightly less ability to maintain detail in complex arrangements. In a CD where a 6 or 7 piece band is playing, its a little more difficult to pick out one instrument and follow it as compared to the Proceed HPA2. This should be the case though considering the Proceed costs more than 4 times as much for only slightly more wattage.

All in all, this is a great amp for the money and you'll have to spend a lot more to gain significant improvement.

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Proceed HPA2, Krell 250A, Denon POA 8200/8300

Great Power, Smooth sound, Excellent build quality

None

After purchasing my Dynaudio Audience 70s, I knew I was going to have to upgrade from my HK 620 integrated. While the HK is a nice little amp, 40 watts/ch was not going to do the job with the Dynaudios. Initially I tried a Classe 100 watt / ch integrated (cannot remember model name). While this was a quality fine sounding amp, it did not seem to have enough power to really get the Dynaudios to blossom. I then tried a combination of a NAD 114 preamp and a Carver 500X amp (250/ch). Carver was in bankruptcy so I got a great deal on the amp, unfortunately the sound was inferior to the Classes. So I returned the Carver and tried the Parasound 1500A. What a difference! The Parasound had both tremendous muscle and refined sound. Nearly a year later I remain extremly happy with Parasound. Not only does it sound great, but it also is extremely well built. (Parasound's 10 year warrenty is also reassuring)

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Carver, Classe, Harmon Kardon

Transparent, very tight base response, seemingly bottomless reserve

slight heat disapation

I had been using the Parasound HCA-1000 to power my Paradigm M-7's. Sounded good but not awe-inspiring. I have heard the M-7' sound much, much sweeter. The most noticable improvement was in the base. Tight, tight, tight. Before I really needed a sub, now I don't bother to turn it on (except for DVD action movies). High's actually were less bright than with the HCA-1000. After a few months of listening (I enjoy fairly high volumes), I noticed that I don't experience any listening fatigue. In fact, it's hard to tell how loud the volume is until you try to talk to someone else in the room. If I had to describe this amp in 3 words I would use: clean, transparent, bargain. One bit of advice to newcomers: if you enjoy fairly loud listening levels, buy more power than you think you need (of course your speakers better be good too). The first couple of amps I've bought weren't powerful enough for me, and hence I always upgraded. Buy the best you can afford and then some, you'll never be disappointed that you scratched up the money. The other part is: do your research and listen to a lot of different products.

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If you are looking for a power amp in the 300-400W (@4ohms) range the HCA-1500A should be on your list. Construction is rock solid, quality components thoughout, awesome dynamics, natural sound, 10 year warranty; hard to beat in this price range.

Low level detail, smooth articulate bass and extended highs.

no balanced inputs

This amp is great for the money, sure there are better amps
in the world but, how often do you win the lottery so you
can buy those esoteric amplifiers.

Anyway, im running this amp with the php850 ( parasound preamp ) a technics dvda10n all monster cable z referance
interconnects and speaker wire, and a monster power hts3500
powering a pair of Energy veritas 2.1's.

This combo is awsome, the amp and speakers have a truly transparent image, the soundstage is tall and deep, I just
picked up a copy of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture done in
DSD to SBM wow what a great sound harmonics seemed to just float in mid air transient noises were smooth and clean small details in the recording that would have been lost in most amps seemed to shine with every passage.

The only issue is that this amp has been discontinued, but
the good news is that parasound is coming out with a new line that will be far superior to the previous models.


HALO SERIES


TO BE CONTINUED.....

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na.......

Musical

Speaker cable connectors

As a follow-up:

I still cannot accept that a $500 amp like Parasound can sound as good or better than any solid state or tube amps retailing for $1000 to $3000. I keep looking for something to beat it for the price, muscle, and musicality. Every time I sit down and listen to it, I melt into the musical soundscape it provides. I scratch my head and say "how can it be?".

In my initial review of this amp, my set up was crude compared to what it is now. I upgraded the coupling capacitors of my Anthem Pre-1 with AURICAPS(9 total). The auricaps upgrade reproduces musical signals seamlessly. Before the upgrade the highs, midband, and the bass were disjointed, harsh and crude. Now the presentation is wholesome, fat, airy,musical, and bouncy. ERGO, the Parasound 1500A is a neutral musical amp- you feed it GARBAGE(harsh musical signal) it gives you garbage. You feed it musical signal it is capable of giving you musical ecstacy.

Like someone wrote, the midband is weak. Not so. I also experienced this before tweaking with upgrades. As a matter of fact, I hated the lumpy and thumpy mid and lower bass regions. They were too thick for my taste. It was like playing a tom tom with a lead mallet. I connected 2 Versa Lab duplexes one after the other and this trick allowed the midband to sound bouncier with less lump, super definition in the low end, and airier highs. I tried the New York Jazz Ensemble album and man oh man, the midband definition showcasing the gripping acoustic bass lines was as good as I heard from the Manley 300Bs. Vocals too got wider and taller - Krall, Cole,Laurie Anderson.

A filtered power supply is must for the Parasound to sound its best.

I am afraid I still have to scratch my head and wonder if there is an amp twice or thrice its price that can beat it- $2000-$3000 range. I'll keep looking but I always find myself retiring at the end of the day with the Parasound.

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