HOT HOT HOT! "Live" Q&A Session with Richard, Parasound's President - April 4th 2007

[Chris D]

Wow, here's a great opportunity that just popped up-

Would you like your questions answered about Parasound as a company, their current products, design, history, future products, or industry direction? Richard Schram, the president of Parasound, will take questions and then answer them "live" online for all to read.

The way this works, you'll E-mail in your questions between now and Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. (note that this is tomorrow!) Richard will then answer as many questions as he can in the space of an hour, and post them online. This way you won't even have to be online that specific hour to catch his response. (I'll be out flying, myself)

Great opportunity to get our questions asked that we've been wondering here in Club Parasound - are we going to see hardware upgrades for current Halo A/V processors? Titan platform update? Or are we more likely to see replacement A/V processors with HDMI audio and video capability? What are Parasound's intentions with Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and high-def audio capability? How have unauthorized dealers and "grey market" products affected Parasound? How does John Curl design products for Parasound?

CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE Q&A AND FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION

Neat event, hopefully we get the word out before it happens.

[Chris D]

I've got a huge list of questions myself, so I'll try to pare them down to the more important ones and be specific. You're not going to catch me asking things like "Is Parasound a class A amp, and how many do I need?" :rofl:

[marcus]

Thanks for the heads up on that. . . cool opportunity for everyone that cares about the products we choose to use!!!

[Chris D]

For those who may have missed the Q&A, here's some big picture summaries of indications Richard gave. Fairly telling of what direction Parasound is taking with various new technologies, intents whether to upgrade current products, etc. I try to summarize as best as I can, but the source statements are best to read.

- Asked about Parasound and Class D amps, Richard said he hasn't found Class D performance to yet compare to current Parasound amps.

- Several questions about HDMI. Trying to summarize:
1. Richard still sees HDMI as not yet a stable technology to pursue for audio transmission and decoding. Parasound has always taken the perspective that technologies must be highly reliable and high-performance before they'll allow them to be added to Parasound products.
2. No idea **when** HDMI audio might be added to Parasound processors, but it's more likely to be new models than current model upgrades.
3. Richard gives a good, long statement on HDMI issues that give problems to integration with A/V products in the thread. Very good read.

- Room EQ technologies might be added to processors when Richard is convinced they have real benefit and perform well.

- "New audio formats" will likely never be decoded in the C1 and C2. Richard doesn't know whether an outboard decoding box for these formats would be possible/likely.

- FUTURE Parasound pre/pros are planned to have new HD audio capability, HDMI 1.3, etc.

- There are no plans to change Halo amplifiers

- Before Parasound joins the camps for BD or HD-DVD, Richard needs to see that one, the other, or both, are going to be around long enough to make it worth it.

- Parasound **IS** working on new products, in various stages of becoming reality, but Richard wouldn't say what they are.

- Parasound products and components are manufactured and assembled in various places around the world, not just one. Read the thread for details.

- Parasound DOES intend to continue both the New Classic and Halo lines. (sweet!)

- Very good information about the JC2, how it's being received by the public, and what performance it's demonstrating. This thing sounds like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

- Parasound is very interested in the U.K. market, and it sounds like they're working to improve Parasound product compatability for U.K. needs.

- The next A/V processor will NOT be based on the latest Titan platform. (I found this quite interesting)

- Interesting discussion about sales of Parasound DVD players.

- Richard likes the idea of a global trade-in/upgrade plan for when new products are released. (again, sweet...)