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After all the research, decision making, and finance preparation I did, I've finally received my Halo equipment!
Please excuse the bad photos, as they are just preliminary! You have to look a little hard to see the lighting on the MX-700 remote in the dark picture. I had to light up the remote, then take the picture real quick before the remote lighting timed out and went off.
I chose to go with the C1 controller, (top) A21 amplifer, (middle) and A51 amp. (bottom) I really wanted the T3 tuner to match and complete the set, but my wife pointed out that we really never listen to the radio at home, and "suggested" we leave that out of the purchase. I have very efficient speakers, so originally I was considering going with the smaller, lower powered, and cheaper A23 and A52 amplifiers. But thanks to the somewhat strong recommendations of Parasound reps and people on this forum, I chose to go with the larger, more robust A21 and A51. (250W RMS at 8 Ohms vs. 125) I'm thinking I'll be grateful for this in the future.
I think what I'll do is just keep a running commentary here in Club Parasound of my experience with the equipment as time goes by, and then you'll also be able to see my comments and installation in my article series in Home Theater Builder Magazine when I get to that step in the writing.
First, I've noticed that many Halo reviewers I've read start off by commenting about the equipment packaging. I feel compelled to do the same. I've never seen equipment as well packaged, which I'm rather thankful for given the inept UPS delivery service here in my area. The C1 controller came tucked smartly in a purple velvet drawstring bag, (think Crown Royal liquor here) inside a plastic protective baggie, held in formed styrofoam, inside a cardboard box, held by MORE styrofoam inserts, inside a SECOND box, slipped into an outer cardboard sheath, and secured by a thick plastic retaining strap. Whew! The amplifiers were the same except for the nice velvet bag. Very impressive!
Two things I noticed immediately about the equipment--it is BIG, and it is HEAVY! Although the C1 is roughly the same depth as normal A/V equipment, the amps are much deeper, maxing out the A51 with rear cooling fins at just under 21"!!! Each of the three components are 7" to 8" tall with feet. With the massive equipment weight, up to the hefty A51 amplifier tipping the scale at 80 lbs, these babies will not be going anywhere once they're installed in my equipment bay! I had to use the rear carry handles at times just to move them around.
Halo equipment comes with just about everything you could initially need for setup, including the award winning MX-700 remote control, (I can't wait to fully set this baby up and use it's capabilities!) second sidekick mini remote control, good quality setup microphone with connecting cable, RS-232 cable to connect remotes to a computer for customization, BNC to RCA connectors for the video jacks on the C1, stout detachable power cords, mini-plug cables for interconnecting the power trigger functions of the Halo equipment, (i.e. programming the C1 to automatically turn on an amplifier when it outputs an audio signal) banana plug connectors for ends of speaker cables, and multiple sets of batteries for everything. Both amplifiers came with brackets and hardware to rack mount the equipment, but for some reason the same hardware is not included with the C1, available for purchase from Parasound separately instead.
After powering up the equipment and taking pictures, I was very entranced with the classy lighting of the equipment. Buttons have a soft blue "halo" light behind and around them, and each unit has a red Parasound logo at the top which lights up as well.
Strangely enough, the 5" TFT screen on my C1 didn't work, so I called and talked to Tim with Parasound tech support. He had me try to output On-Screen Display video (OSD) from the C1 to a nearby television, which worked fine, making the C1 screen likely defective, not the controller itself. (incidentally, I was rather impressed by the multitude of options and screens in the controller menu, even changing the display colors into various Windows-type hues!) He immediately gave me return authorization, and for my particular case even arranged for pre-paid shipping. The UPS guy came right to my door to pick up the bad unit. He also shipped a replacement unit right away, and even let me hold on to the defective C1 while the replacement showed up. Now that's service!
Sadly, since my theater isn't fully done yet, these won't go directly into use for me to comment on ALL operations. But I'll keep my thoughts running, and I'd like to hear feedback as I go!
CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
Please excuse the bad photos, as they are just preliminary! You have to look a little hard to see the lighting on the MX-700 remote in the dark picture. I had to light up the remote, then take the picture real quick before the remote lighting timed out and went off.
I chose to go with the C1 controller, (top) A21 amplifer, (middle) and A51 amp. (bottom) I really wanted the T3 tuner to match and complete the set, but my wife pointed out that we really never listen to the radio at home, and "suggested" we leave that out of the purchase. I have very efficient speakers, so originally I was considering going with the smaller, lower powered, and cheaper A23 and A52 amplifiers. But thanks to the somewhat strong recommendations of Parasound reps and people on this forum, I chose to go with the larger, more robust A21 and A51. (250W RMS at 8 Ohms vs. 125) I'm thinking I'll be grateful for this in the future.
I think what I'll do is just keep a running commentary here in Club Parasound of my experience with the equipment as time goes by, and then you'll also be able to see my comments and installation in my article series in Home Theater Builder Magazine when I get to that step in the writing.
First, I've noticed that many Halo reviewers I've read start off by commenting about the equipment packaging. I feel compelled to do the same. I've never seen equipment as well packaged, which I'm rather thankful for given the inept UPS delivery service here in my area. The C1 controller came tucked smartly in a purple velvet drawstring bag, (think Crown Royal liquor here) inside a plastic protective baggie, held in formed styrofoam, inside a cardboard box, held by MORE styrofoam inserts, inside a SECOND box, slipped into an outer cardboard sheath, and secured by a thick plastic retaining strap. Whew! The amplifiers were the same except for the nice velvet bag. Very impressive!
Two things I noticed immediately about the equipment--it is BIG, and it is HEAVY! Although the C1 is roughly the same depth as normal A/V equipment, the amps are much deeper, maxing out the A51 with rear cooling fins at just under 21"!!! Each of the three components are 7" to 8" tall with feet. With the massive equipment weight, up to the hefty A51 amplifier tipping the scale at 80 lbs, these babies will not be going anywhere once they're installed in my equipment bay! I had to use the rear carry handles at times just to move them around.
Halo equipment comes with just about everything you could initially need for setup, including the award winning MX-700 remote control, (I can't wait to fully set this baby up and use it's capabilities!) second sidekick mini remote control, good quality setup microphone with connecting cable, RS-232 cable to connect remotes to a computer for customization, BNC to RCA connectors for the video jacks on the C1, stout detachable power cords, mini-plug cables for interconnecting the power trigger functions of the Halo equipment, (i.e. programming the C1 to automatically turn on an amplifier when it outputs an audio signal) banana plug connectors for ends of speaker cables, and multiple sets of batteries for everything. Both amplifiers came with brackets and hardware to rack mount the equipment, but for some reason the same hardware is not included with the C1, available for purchase from Parasound separately instead.
After powering up the equipment and taking pictures, I was very entranced with the classy lighting of the equipment. Buttons have a soft blue "halo" light behind and around them, and each unit has a red Parasound logo at the top which lights up as well.
Strangely enough, the 5" TFT screen on my C1 didn't work, so I called and talked to Tim with Parasound tech support. He had me try to output On-Screen Display video (OSD) from the C1 to a nearby television, which worked fine, making the C1 screen likely defective, not the controller itself. (incidentally, I was rather impressed by the multitude of options and screens in the controller menu, even changing the display colors into various Windows-type hues!) He immediately gave me return authorization, and for my particular case even arranged for pre-paid shipping. The UPS guy came right to my door to pick up the bad unit. He also shipped a replacement unit right away, and even let me hold on to the defective C1 while the replacement showed up. Now that's service!
Sadly, since my theater isn't fully done yet, these won't go directly into use for me to comment on ALL operations. But I'll keep my thoughts running, and I'd like to hear feedback as I go!
CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
ops: Yeah, I've got two issues of HTB and several other mags just waiting on me to find time to catch up. That's also the one drawback to my upgrading to JC-1 monoblocks - two 20-amp dedicated circuits just for the amplification? 8O 
But this great? Questionable. But I am glad it worked out so well for you!
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