Initial CEDIA '08 report, new Parasound gear

[Chris D]

This and a previous post reflect my disappointment with Parasound about the lack of upgrades to the C1 when I consider the amount of money I've spent on it.

Bassman

I'd encourage all of you to keep talking about your opinions and personal preferences here. (the bad as well as the good!) If we don't get each of our own input out there, as far as what we want, and what we have or have not liked in the past, companies won't know how to meet our desires.

[Craig Simon]

This and a previous post reflect my disappointment with Parasound about the lack of upgrades to the C1 when I consider the amount of money I've spent on it.

Bassman

For what it's worth, I completely agree. I have enjoyed all my Parasound equipment over the years (HCA-806A, A51, C1, P3 and about to purchase an A21) but I really believed we were going to be able to up get a few more years out of the C1 with upgrades. I feel a little duped. Maybe that's a bit strong. I guess I'll stick with disappointed.

Craig

[TommyV]

With all the new advancements in technology over the last few years, I think a lot of people including me are looking at replacing some gear they had not intended to so soon. When I bought me Rotel, I thought that because it have HDMI I was covered. Later I realized it was only HDMI switching.

Chris, my only thing is if their will be some way to get a silver version of the processor (and that it works and sounds great). Do you have any contacts there or is there or should I just contact them myself?

[mikepinkerton]

When I bought my Mitsubishi HDTV in 2001, I was "guaranteed" it would be future-proof because they could add a firewire card to it (at my cost, presumably). I'd never have to worry about my set becoming obsolete!! Well, clearly the industry never adopted firewire, so all their promises and upgrades were for naught. I love my TV, but I won't be able to live on component connections forever.

Sometimes we just have to let it go, I guess. It's not like the C1 caught fire after 3 days and burned your house down with it. It gave you years and years of incredible sound. I would buy Mitsubishi again in spite of their failed promise in the past, and it seems like the C3 is being priced aggressively for the performance we expect for it to make it not too bad if we do have to upgrade.

*shrug*
-Mike

[Vince Helm]

Sometimes we just have to let it go, I guess. It's not like the C1 caught fire after 3 days and burned your house down with it. It gave you years and years of incredible sound. I would buy Mitsubishi again in spite of their failed promise in the past, and it seems like the C3 is being priced aggressively for the performance we expect for it to make it not too bad if we do have to upgrade.

*shrug*
-Mike

Yes, you are correct and right, technology should move forward and we need to move on... But, it still hurts because the product did not live up to the expectation implied by the manufacture. FWIW, I bought my C2 in 2003 - 5 years of service, 4,000.00 / 5yrs = $800.00 per year. Those who bought the C1 paid $6,000.00 / 5yrs = $1,200.00 per year.

So many reviewers spoke about how good the C1/C2 were when used in the bi-pass mode, as a 2 channel preamp. Great, I can buy the "pre amp", "power supply" and "beautiful box" once and then spend quality cash on the DSP upgrades later. NO, not so, now I have to buy all of that again and again etc... That is what hurts!

Vince

[Jon SS]

I hope Parasound will have a generous upgrade offer for existing customers to tempt me to stay in the Parasound family (much like what DVDO does), but I won't hold my breath.

An email I got a while back from Parasound said that there would not be any upgrade offers.

[Peter Nielsen]

Yes, you are correct and right, technology should move forward and we need to move on... But, it still hurts because the product did not live up to the expectation implied by the manufacture. FWIW, I bought my C2 in 2003 - 5 years of service, 4,000.00 / 5yrs = $800.00 per year. Those who bought the C1 paid $6,000.00 / 5yrs = $1,200.00 per year.

Hmm... So the unit became worthless and defunct after 5 years? No! You need to figure in 2nd hand value (which still is high) and/or the fact that the unit will still work fine for another 10 years.

My JVC-G15 cost me $15,500 back in 1999 and the Vigatec scaler was another $5k. Today the bulb is at the end of its life (new bulb is $800 and I decided to get a new projector instead that also renders the old scaler obsolete). The G15 is not worth more than $500 (max!) today on eBay and I'm happy if I can get $150 for the Vigatec. Using your logic, I paid more than $20/hour for the projector/scaler combo. I should never have got it, instead I should have bought movie theatre tickets at < $5/hour!!! :W :B :twisted:

Food for thought...

Peter

[Eric Carroll]

instead I should have bought movie theatre tickets at < $5/hour!!!

Ya but what is the economic value per hour of not having to listen to other people's conversations, ring tones, crying children, or have people kick the back of your chair? How about the value proposition of being able to go to the bathroom without missing anything and having a perfect digital image and top quality sound?

Priceless

(And at least my neck of the woods movies are more than $5/hr)

[Peter Nielsen]

Priceless

Agreed! :agree: opcorn:

(And at least my neck of the woods movies are more than $5/hr)

Today, but probably not back in 1999...

Peter

[Blindamood]

Chris, thanks for the Parasound CEDIA info. I've never owned (or even listened to) Parasound before, but I have to say that the upcoming HDP70 processor looks very interesting. I was shopping recently to replace my Rotel RSP-1068, and if this had been available it would have been at the top of my list! Not only will it provide all the latest surround decoding and 5 HDMI inputs, but the (smaller) size of the component and a price under $2500 make it quite a compelling piece.

[teachsac]

I have had Rotel, and still use their amp, but I prefer Parasound's processors.

S~

[TommyV]

Just got off the phone with a guy from Parasound. He told me with 100% certainty that the upcoming New Classic series will not be available in silver. He said many of the people up at Parasound love the silver components but they are not selling enough to justify continuing with them. So sadly, I am probably out on Parasound for my upcoming replacement.