Halo A51 or A52?

**Chris D** · 26 August 2008, 04:03 Tuesday

Heya, Michel, welcome to the Guide and Club Parasound! :banana:

Yes, this question has come up multiple times here in the club. It may give you more info if you do a search here, or scroll back through threads. Several years ago, when the Halo line came out, I wondered about the same thing, whether I should buy the A21 and A51, or the A23 and A52. At the time, my theater was smallish/medium-sized, and I used highly efficient Klipsch speakers. The A23 and A52 would have been more than enough for me.

For many reasons, though, I decided on the A21 and A51, the higher powered amps, and I'm very, very glad that I did. A couple of the reasons-

- I've had some high-powered, all-out performance sessions with my system, and have never had power problems with the higher amps

- I've moved, and now have a noticeably larger theater, requiring more power

- (perhaps most important) I no longer use my Klipsch speakers in my theater, and have moved on to less efficient speakers requiring more power. (and am considering even higher speakers that require MUCH more power) If I had bought the A23 and A52 years ago, I would have to sell them and spend the money all over again for the A21 and A51, losing a lot of $$$ in the process. But I'm covered, because I bought the more powerful stuff to begin with, which has made me much more future proof.

**msasseville** · 26 August 2008, 09:00 Tuesday

Dear Chris!

Thank you so much for your reply. If I understand you correctly, Halo A52 will be more than enough for the type of speakers I have right now but might be not enough if I change them in the future for something that need more power. Well, have you get a chance to try the A52 with speakers B&W serie Nautilus? If so, do you think the A52 will make it?

I agree that it is always better to try to see in advance what could be the needs in the future. Is there any way i could figure out at what point the A52 will not be enough? For example, concerning the speakers, what do you mean by «less efficient speakers»? If I buy in the future B&W serie nautilus, would you say that they are less efficient thant the series 700. How do we know that a speaker is more or less efficient than an other). Concerning the size of the room, would you say that a 10X20 feet room is adequate to th A52 or it would be better with the A51 already?

Thanks again, when you have time (os someone else) to continue to give me some advices.
All the best!
Michel

**Vince Helm** · 26 August 2008, 09:56 Tuesday

Hey Michel,

I have an Halo A21 on the fronts and A52 on the surrounds in a room that is about 18 x 20 with 10ft ceiling. Speakers are all 85-87db. Works well but I can run out of dynamic headroom. I wish that I could have purchased the A51. If I could, I would upgrade to the A51. You'll really appreciate the extra power reserves on your center channel!!! Do what you can afford and if that allows for the A52 then it will work very well as mine does for me; if that alows for the A51 then you're set for a very long time with no "what if".
Kind regards
Vince

**msasseville** · 26 August 2008, 14:03 Tuesday

Hello Vince,

You wrote:

I have an Halo A21 on the fronts and A52 on the surrounds in a room that is about 18 x 20 with 10ft ceiling. Speakers are all 85-87db. Works well but I can run out of dynamic headroom. I wish that I could have purchased the A51. If I could, I would upgrade to the A51. You'll really appreciate the extra power reserves on your center channel!!! Do what you can afford and if that allows for the A52 then it will work very well as mine does for me; if that alows for the A51 then you're set for a very long time with no "what if".
Kind regards
Vince

Thanks a lot for your comments. The more I think, the more I read, the more I am tempted by the A51. Of course it is more expansive than the A52, but from what I understand, I might buy this amplifier for a long time... So... I'll take an other day to think about it (and maybe read some other advices)

Thanks again!
Yours.
michel

**yellowbalt** · 24 September 2008, 12:24 Wednesday

Anyone has compared A51 with any ICEPower Amps like Wyred4Sound or D-Sonic? I was reading their forums but there was not direct answer to it at all. I was so interested with A51 vs 500ASP/1000AS

**Peter Nielsen** · 24 September 2008, 16:32 Wednesday

Originally posted by yellowbalt

Anyone has compared A51 with any ICEPower Amps like Wyred4Sound or D-Sonic? I was reading their forums but there was not direct answer to it at all. I was so interested with A51 vs 500ASP/1000AS

That's two very different technologies. The ICEPower amps are cheaper to own (electricity bill) and hardly output any heat at all. The A51 runs warm and requires proper ventilation. If you live in a warmer climate and have noisy airconditioning, you will probably like the ICEPower better as they let you listen to the music/watch the movie without interference of the AC rumbling away to keep you cool...

Peter

**yellowbalt** · 24 September 2008, 20:37 Wednesday

I understand and have read those kind of attribute between the two but can you give any idea regarding SQ between the two just for comparison? I understand its not easy since very rare people will own both at the same time.

Originally posted by Peter Nielsen

That's two very different technologies. The ICEPower amps are cheaper to own (electricity bill) and hardly output any heat at all. The A51 runs warm and requires proper ventilation. If you live in a warmer climate and have noisy airconditioning, you will probably like the ICEPower better as they let you listen to the music/watch the movie without interference of the AC rumbling away to keep you cool...

Peter

**Peter Nielsen** · 25 September 2008, 09:11 Thursday

Originally posted by yellowbalt

I understand and have read those kind of attribute between the two but can you give any idea regarding SQ between the two just for comparison? I understand its not easy since very rare people will own both at the same time.

They both sound good. To get a meaningful result you have to audition both amps with the speaker you intend to use. (Amps may behave differently depending on what speaker is used).

The 1000W ICE amp drops a bit above 16kHz. The 500W is better in this respect.

If you have highly efficient speakers, idle noise may be an issue. Again, it's best to audition both amps to see which one works better with your speakers...

If you don't have the luxury of trying both, the Halo is a better bet. It is guaranteed to sound good with almost any speaker. However, you get a heavy amp that is difficult to install because of ventilation and size requirements. Pay attention to the fact that the A51 is too deep for many regular racks - often a rack with open back is required.

The ICEPower is lightweight and not so deep and you can often stack equipment directly on top of it (contrary to the Halo that requires 6" of space for ventilation).

Peter

**yellowbalt** · 25 September 2008, 11:32 Thursday

Thank you for your very honest comment. Though not too much information I'm looking for but at least I have found another honest person who can give a fair comment.
Have a nice day.
Danny

**Chris D** · 26 September 2008, 00:06 Friday

That's Peter--quite a standup guy. :T

**yellowbalt** · 26 September 2008, 13:04 Friday

I'm actually in the process of ordering a wyred4sound too but trying to get more detail interview with the owner of having both, I still can't get a direct answer of why the owner thought that ICE amp will "destroy parasound A21"
see post #291 here.

Official Wyred 4 Sound Amp Thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1005943&page=10

**Peter Nielsen** · 28 September 2008, 15:50 Sunday

Originally posted by yellowbalt

I'm actually in the process of ordering a wyred4sound too but trying to get more detail interview with the owner of having both, I still can't get a direct answer of why the owner thought that ICE amp will "destroy parasound A21"

Could it simply be a power issue? The ICEpower 1000 can deliver 2.5 times the power compared to the A21. That's quite a difference...

Those wyred4sound amps are priced very agressively. Seems like a very good buy!

Peter

**mattburk** · 29 September 2008, 01:23 Monday

Any one try the axiom amp or know how it compares to other amps?

Halo A51 or A52?

Halo A51 or A52?

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