Parasound Halo A23 Stereo Amplifier Review

Discussion in 'Power Amps' started by purr1n, Jan 18, 2017.

  1. ohhgourami

    ohhgourami Friend

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    I would have told you earlier if you asked me first. If you thought the small integrated Krell I had sounded meh, this is easily a downgrade to that. Pro amps rule the sub 2k market. And why the f**k you pay almost 1k for that? I see those going for $500 used all the time.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I did overpay for this at $815, but not many options at the time I ordered around x-mas. Should have waited. I did ask in the 2chan general advice thread. Nevertheless this needed to be done, a direct comparison with an old standby the Crest CA2 and as another data point to back up what others such as yourself and Ravi already knew.

    Really, I don't see this as money wasted if it even saved one of you or a random person out there from making the same mistake. This amp is not suitable, or more politely put, only marginal, for a quality two channel setup.

    Your old Krell wasn't nearly this bad. It had some excellent qualities, but with difficulty under specific conditions.

    I am holding out hope that there are some good options available under $2000. Of course, I don't believe in hope. I believe in action.
     
  3. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    With your super efficient full rangers? Amptastic Mini-1 + linear power supply. Try it. $160 all in, nothing to lose.
     
  4. Andre Y

    Andre Y Friend

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    You might want to look at this: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15595

    It's basically a rebadged ATI amp, and they're showing the 7-channel version, but the 2-channel is the same thing with 5 of those modules removed and half the power supply I think.

    I've used the ATI6012 for years to power my Linkwitz Orions, and it sounds great, if on the sterile, clean side of things.
     
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    What concerns me with these solid-state amps around $1000 is will they have any sort of magic? Will they be any better than the Crest CA2 which retails at $899, but can be found used for $300?
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Seriously, I am thinking about going back to old-standbys. Stuff that I knew was great in the late 90s or early 00s that used to cost $5000 and now can be obtained for $1100. Audio circuits haven't changed since then.

    You guys tell me. Like @ohhgourami, I figure all the new stuff under $2000 is craptastic and we are better off with the higher line pro amps purchased used.
     
  7. Andre Y

    Andre Y Friend

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    I'm only looking for competence, not magic! Problem with old stuff are the big electrolytic caps in the power supplies can dry up or go bad.
     
  8. slowsound

    slowsound Acquaintance

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    Caps are cheap, it's the discontinued transistors that concern me more.
     
  9. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    While it's a bit of a pain to acquire, being 25+ years old now, and carries the risk/need to re-cap*, for a modest desktop rig things from the era of the original NAD 3020, Creek 4240 and Arcam Alpha stuff is still hard to beat with reasonably efficient speakers. For $200, never mind $1,000 or so, I don't know how to beat those units.

    Schiit can probably pull that off ... but right now that's $700 vs. $200. No doubt Vidar will crucify that older stuff, as well as be several times more powerful giving far more options in terms of suitable speakers.

    --

    *Not that this is hard to do, and there aren't that many of them in designs from that era, but it's not for those without soldering skills and/or a friend with same.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Recaps aren't that scary. Local electronics repair places can often do this for cheap. Seriously, I'd rather buy used Linn, Naim, Classe, Arcam, etc. Even their sub $700 entry level amps back in the day sounded good. They didn't pull off crap like "this is for home theater losers" only.
     
  11. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I'd agree ... recaps are more a case of look-up a suitable replacement part (which you can do on spec-alone ... and it's printed right there on the can) and go-to-town. Just have to be willing to do it.

    I'm a long-time "Linnie", and I'd say not to bother with anything prior to their "K" series amps, or the "Intek" (I had one, nice enough but you can do better), but, still, they and NAD, Arcam, Creek, Cyrus (Mission) and NAIM all had good stuff. No experience with earlier Classe stuff (don't care for their current pre-amps ... WAY too noisy, but that has not bearing on their older stuff), but there's a ton of good, old, stuff out there.
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Deals to be had. Never purchased any Classe gear, but after they went with the rounded silver faceplates (is that when they were bought by B&W?) their stuff has sounded glarey to me during some sessions at a couple local dealers. The older gear never struck me as fawesome, tho. Naim amps have always intrigued me. Naim + Magnepan = boogie. Naim + older Sonus Faber = surprisingly fluid mids/midbass with a little rolled off HF.
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I'm allergic to multi-channel. The Classe I am thinking of was circa 1996. I was able to borrow a Classe CA-200 and Linn Klout back in the day. Fantastic amps.
     
  14. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    I actually always wondered about the Yamaha A-S1000. One can buy it refurbished for like $1k.
     
  15. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Klout was a great amp (not heard the CA-200).

    The subsequent K-XXX series stuff was good too, but Klout was a watermark.

    Linn's "aktiv" (active) cross-overs with multiple Klouts into their then-top-of-the-line Isobarik speakers were something to behold. Ugly as sin, but a truly visceral and stirring musical experience. It took a Gyrodec, Halcro mono-blocks and TOTL Wilson's to beat that experience for me.
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The Klout was magical. Acktiv or not, it was just magical. I couldn't afford it back then.
     
  17. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Nor could I.

    But it was highly aspirational stuff.

    And I guess that sort of magic is what happens when half your chassis volume is filled with a fat toroidal transformer, and half the remainder is in capacitance, and you have just a few active components ... and then a metric-fuckton (that's two metric-assloads) of heatsinking ...

    Klout.jpeg
     
  18. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Lovely thing about Halcro is their depreciation curve is similar to a BMW 7 series. $20k amps going for $7-8k used after only a couple years. And folks get fussy about HiFiman...
     
  19. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    Very true!

    When I bought my last 7 series (a 2004, 740 Li) it was loaded, 2 years old, had 24,000 miles on it, and I saved about $70K on it vs. a new 2006. There are some cars I'll buy new (my first Aston being one example), others make no sense at all. Save $60K on a 2-year old sub-20K miles Range Rover with more warranty as a CPO than new? Sign me up!
     
  20. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I've had good experience with Brystons and the old Yamaha P-series of amps. You just have to be willing to toss out your back every once in a while.
     

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