I've heard the A23 in a Dealers Showroom also, driving a pair of KEF R3's and a pair of LS50's. Both the 3's and the 50's sounded very good. He said that he doesn't usually have the 21xx line in stock, as he prefers the Halo Series. So, go figure I doubt you could go wrong with either model
My speakers are bi-wired as well, so I'm thinking of going with two of the NewClassic 2125 v2 power amps in bridged mono but not really because of how Parasound's manual says to connect these types of speakers. EDIT: So does this mean using all 4 Speaker A connections for each speaker on each amp?
If you have questions about how to choose amongst different Parasound products or how best to use them, I would contact Phil Jackson, their head of US sales at [email protected]. Phil is a no-nonsense straight shooter who will give you an honest answer. I give Parasound highest marks for product quality and they match it with superb customer support and interaction.
So I took your advice and contacted Phil: what an awesome rep! Thanks. I mainly inquired about the difference between the A23 and A23+, which he said was minimal and suggested that A23 owners who were itching for an "upgrade" should put that money in cds and records instead. But he did add that the difference between the P5 and P6 was big and worth the extra cash. They spent a lot of time on revising/upgrading it apparently. I got say that I love my lit up "P" on the P5 which matches my T3 Tuner very nicely. But the DAC in the P6 intrigues me for the dsd capabilities.
Glad you reached out to Phil, people like him make the audio world worth it! BTW, love your Avatar, you can never have too many pictures of Brian Wilson.
I'm the new owner of a A21+ and a P6. I'm coming from the AVR only world to hopefully a better form of music listening. Reading this forum makes me feel better about my purchase. However, I haven't been sold on the sound yet. Have any of you noticed a really high treble with the A21+? It almost sounds like the tweeters are overbearing. I'm using a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 300s and have been mainly streaming Tidal via a Bluesound Node 2. I don't normally listen to things very loud and I find myself listening to things a bit lower now as my ears start to hurt. I've messed with the tone controls on the P6, but don't find that satisfying. I started messing with the gain on the A21 and set it at 12. When maxed out it seems the level is of the speakers is much louder than the sub which causes the bass to be lacking. I'm trying to get the sub level set so that it registers around 75db when I do the HT Bypass and run my Audyssey setup for HT, so I don't want to crank that anymore. Also, I'm finding out with the gain only at 12 o'clock I have to crank the levels on my fronts up in Audyssey to +10. I'm new to this really fancy equipment, so would appreciate anything you all have experience in owning the A21+/P6 or other similar Parasound equipment. BTW -- I really appreciate this post. This is much more civil and a great read compared to most audio forums I stumble upon.
Seems like you are mostly doing digital playback? If you don't use one yet, try a Furman power conditioner. I have foumd that using a power conditioner with digital playback chain helps with the highs.
Thanks for the reply. I’m plugged in to a Panamax conditioner. Anything special about the Furman vs other products, or just a power conditioner in general?
Not familiar with your speakers, although I did own pair of Monitor Audio Gold Bookshelf speakers years ago. They had a metal tweeter that was pretty sharp, but I'm sure the newer line of MA has addressed that. Sometimes a choice of Interconnects can tame a hot treble, or a smoother flavor of Speaker Wires.
When my A21 and P5 were new I also noted extreme brightness in the first week or so which started to smooth out after the second week quite nicely. At one point I thought my tweeters had blown because it was not only shrill, it sounded distorted somewhat. My old speakers probably never were up to something like an A21 Halo amp however. If your amps are new, the next thing you might notice happen is that the separation, left to right gets crazy wide with somewhat of a hole in the middle. Really wide soundstage. It also collapses to a much more lifelike presentation after another week perhaps and then the deep layering of images develops. To me it was the amp waking up and flexing it's muscles at first and then it just settles down and sounds spectacular.
^^^This^^^ I hadn't thought about Run In. I'm accustomed to buying Used Amps and haven't experienced Break In for a while.
I purchased this as an open box item from Safe and Sound, but who knows how long it was actually used before I received it. Glad to hear I can expect some improvement. I keep reading differing thoughts on if break in is real on equipment and cabling. You never know what to believe in the audio industry. I'm just ready to enjoy this thing. I've been messing with cabling to try to solve the issue, but that cabling industry is even more fun than the equipment. I've been using Monoprice speaker cable, but getting some Blue Jeans delivered today. I had a pair of Kimber 8VS, but sent back. It was hard for me to swallow how much that stuff costs and if there is any actual benefit. I'm using some Blue Jeans interconnects currently. As far as gain goes are you all maxing out the gain on the A21+? The wonderful interwebs have all kinds of thoughts on this topic too.
To certain extent, I think the Gain has something to do with the efficiency of the Speakers. On difficult loads, Max setting might be called for. My Speakers are fairly easy to drive. On my previous A21 and current JC5, I have the Gain at about 75-80%. I like to let my Preamp "stretch its legs" a little, letting the Tube Output come through. I like the fact that Parasound has that option of Gain Control, easier to tune the Amp to your System.
Hoping the brightness/fatigue issue you're having is simply due to break-in, cabling, etc. That Parasound gear is really excellent and should elevate most speakers it's paired with. I'm also in the process of upgrading my electronics and had a similar issue. Last month, I took home an integrated amp that has excellent reviews here. Coming from my current AVR, at first it blew me away: dimension, detail, and tonal accuracy. But over the following weeks, I found myself reaching for the volume remote and the tone controls, unable to listen for long sessions. I realized the culprit was not the amp, but how it works with my loudspeakers and listening room. The detailed, airy sound of a metal dome tweeter plus a relatively lively room became liabilities with this amp (which is considered neutral, perhaps a touch warm!). 100+ hours of burn-in didn't change that. Upgraded electronics simply brought the limitations of the rest of the playback chain front and center. So I returned the amp and am going to try a different approach. When I auditioned Monitor Audio floor standers last year (Silver with Yamaha amplification and Gold with Parasound HINT 6), I found them very bright. But I have no idea how these speakers sound in your room and a lot of people love the MA sound, so YMMV. As you can see, I'm trying to make my loudspeakers (whose overall sound I adore) work despite their limitations in my room. If you're unable to solve the brightness problem and don't want to change speakers, you might consider keeping the A21+ and swapping in a tube preamp. There will be no shortage of informed suggestions about brands and models here.
Correct me if I'm wrong but in the manual of A23 they state that gain should be maxed out for best results ?! Only with gain wide open, that volume control is 'out of the way'.
That would be me . I had an in house demo of the 2125 for about 2 weeks. Then my dealer came over and swapped it out for an A23. With 2125 sounding more 'upfront' I am not talking about mids, but more about a 'I'll show you my muscles' kind of sound. That's why the A23 sounded more 'relaxed' to me, I was also under the impression that it was a bit more detailed and also had better soundstage, which is my main dada and why I immediately chose the A23 after only an hour of listening with my dealer present. What it definitely is NOT is anemic in the bass...I don't know where your dealer gets that idea from .
I don't know, you tell me ? Maybe for some people that don't use a preamp and connect a source direct ? Also, there are no clicks or small increment markings on those dials so it would be very hard to match left and right gain setting perfect to eachother.
That's just really unusual for a users manual to say hey ignore whatever adjustments you can do with this dial and just yank it all the way to the right and then break it off.
The Manual for the JC5 doesn't state anything about setting the Gain to Max for the best results, but maybe I missed it somewhere. To obtain the highest output from the Amp, yes. But, some Speakers and Systems don't require that kind of output to sound their best. I've found the "sweet spot" for the Amp via the Gain Control...in my Set up.
