I gots me new Parasound Zcustom gear!

[Chris D]

So I just got home from a short trip, and this was waiting for me:



I got me some setup and evaluation to do! Standby for more pics and info...

[Chris D]

I think I'll give myself a banana for the new toys... :banana:

(wait, can a man say that in public?)

[Vinny]

Whoa there are 2 Zbreeze and 2Zamp. :E
You have multiple rooms for speakers in mind?

[Chris D]

No, I'm probably going to put some of that in my theater equipment rack, with one Zbreeze. Others I'll be using for an office system, and I figure I can try out the other Zbreeze there. (although it probably won't be needed, and if not, I can put it on the other side of my theater rack for increased airflow) I picked up two Zamps, because it puts out only 45 wpc, but puts out 90 watts when bridged to mono. Again, I probably won't even need the extra power for a mini-system, but I've got it if I do.

[Chris D]

Very first impressions of the Zcustom equipment:

(1) Right off the bat, I noticed that each unit is double-boxed and bagged, just like all other high-end Parasound equipment. Parasound may respond to this comment with a puzzled, "Yes... of course. Why wouldn't it be?" But this just adds a nice touch in addition to being more securely packaged for safety.

(2) Wow, there is nothing cheap or mini-like with these mini-units. Each one is solid with a very well-finished case, as if it was a full-sized A/V equipment. These things are solid equipment, only packaged in a small half-rack case. Even the power cables are the thick, full-sized cords you'd find in Parasound's Halo equipment. All needed accessories are already included too, such as 1/8" plug cables for remote turn-on capability, tuner antennae, and batteries for the remotes. You just add the A/V cables you want to use.

(3) I noticed that the Zpre2 comes packaged with a remote "PTZ1", but the Ztuner v.2 comes with a "PTZ2". Both of them have full functions for both the tuner and pre, but the PTZ2 has just a few extra buttons for the tuner. Since the Ztuner v.2 is the newest piece of equipment in the Zcustom line, this must be the most updated version of the remote, used for both Z units.

(4) I like that the power buttons on all the Zcustom units have a slightly rubberized finish feel to them, but the newest Ztuner v.2 did away from the rubberized finish and went just black gunmetal like the rest of the unit. I actually prefer the rubberized finish, but noticed that the power buttons are just slightly loose and wiggle a bit when you push them. Of course, when I get them all set up, I'll probably just be using the remote anyway, and not using the front panel at all.

(5) On a similar note, the Zpre2's volume knob is very solid. I would have liked to have notched rotation with it, though. It's not loose or anything, but it freely turns without any intermediate stops. The Ztuner v.2 replaced the previous version's rotating tuning knob with up and down tune buttons. Just my personal preference, but it seems more intuitive to tune a radio with a knob than buttons. Again, though, I don't anticipate using the front panel once I set up the units with the remote.

[Brandon B]

You know out of the box threads with pictures of the boxes, but not the equipment, are just A TEASE! Now come on with the pics of the naked units.

BB

[Chris D]

Naked pics? You want naked pics? Ooooookayyyyyyyy... (taking off my clothes)

Cue stripper music... bomp chicka wowww wowwwwww

[kfr01]

lol. Looking forward to seeing more pics and hearing more of your impressions. I am considering a Z-based system for my wife's office room.

I could go with a little Sharp bookshelf unit from Target, and she probably wouldn't notice much difference, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

Oh, and a banana for your new toys.. :dancenana:

[Chris D]

Okay, okay. So here's pics of some of the equipment, but not all. What I'm thinking, is break up my Zcustom equipment into two different "Zetups". One Zetup is for my theater, which would be the Zhd and one Zbreeze. Right now I've got them on top of my equipment rack for testing and evaluation, and will be rack mounting them later tonight.



The next "Zetup" will be a mini-system for use in my office. (at home or work, depending on my ever-changing duties in my job) It will be the Ztuner v.2, Zpre2, two Zamp v.3's, and one Zbreeze. I've been testing out the system with a pair of Klipsch KSB 1.1 bookshelf speakers, and for now only using one Zamp v.3. I'll add the second one later.

Well, well, well! Lookie what showed up from the UPS man today, one day early! :banana: New Cat Cables! I got a set of Coppercat interconnectors and a pair of Cattail speaker cables from Doug. Check out those awesome banana plugs on one end of the cables, and the KICK A$$ spades on the others!



Here you can see the spades hooked up to the backside of my Klipsch bookshelf speakers. I can't believe how beefy those spades are. I had to go with spades, because those dinky little plastic plugs you see in the middle of my Klipsch jacks don't come out. :wtf: Grrrr... Unfortunately, because the spade connectors are so beefy, the only way I could connect them was if I slid them in from the top of the speaker, not the bottom. So you'll see in the other pics that the cables come up by the speaker, then down the back to the jacks, instead of coming up from the bottom. Oh, well.



Here's some of my new Parasound Zcustom equipment, which is what I got the Cat Cables for.



And here's more of a closeup of the equipment stack itself. Dang, I wish I had gotten the focus a little better.



Here's the back of the equipment. All the cables you see are Cat Cables, with the exception of the small 12 volt triggers and the power cables. The top cables I actually bought off of Erik Farstad several years ago... I think they're Doug's early versions of Silvercats. You can see the banana connector ends of the Cattail speaker cables here, I think they're awesome too. I've never seen connectors like that before, where the screw sleeves come down and slide the inner pin into the banana extension, locking the connection as it locks the connector as well. Very nice.