Older Parasound! Time to upgrade?

[Trevor Schell]

Hi!

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I also have some Parasound equipment in my system.
I have the HCA 3500 (350w x2) John Curl design
and the HCA 2205 (220w x5)
These amps are an excellent match for my Paradigm Studios and I
couldn't be happier on the Audio end of my HT.
Except for the fact that Paradigm just launched a new line of Reference speakers and of course the new Halo line from Parasound. I am sure this would take the Audio to a new level, however would it be worth the price to upgrade. I don't use my system for listening to music..It's 100% movies.

Thoughts?


HCA-3500
Features/Specifications
Circuitry designed by John Curl
High bias Class A/AB operation; 15 watts of 100% pure Class A power per channel
Direct Coupledþno capacitors or inductors in signal path
Hand matched complementary JFET input stage and MOSFET driver stage
32 beta-matched 15 amp, 35 MHz Sanken TO-3PII bipolar output transistors
Two 1.4 kVA Toroid power transformers, 98,800 µF power supply capacitance per channel
Eight power supplies, independent for each stage
DC servo and relay protection circuits
Tiffany-style RCA input jacks
Vishay resistors in critical circuit paths
Current overload and temperature indicators u XLR balanced inputs
Two sets of gold-plated 5 way speaker binding posts for bi-wiring
Two custom designed removable 14 gauge IEC AC cords
4 rack space height front panel
Continuous Power Output - Stereo: 350 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 ohms, both channels driven; 500 watts RMS x 2, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 ohms, both channels driven
Current Capacity: 120 amperes peak per channel
Slew Rate: > 200 V/µsecond
Power Bandwith: 2 Hz - 150 kHz, +0/-3 dB at 1 watt
Total Harmonic Distortion: 1.5 dB
lnterchannel Crosstalk: > 95 dB at 1 kHz, > 80 dB at 20 kHz
Input Sensitivity: 1 V for 28.28 V; 2 V for full output
Input Impedance: 100 k ohms
S/N Ratio: > 120 dB, full power
Damping Factor: > 1000 at 20 Hz
Power Consumption: 1200 watts
Dimensions: w 19" x h 7" x d 22", h 7 5/8" with feet
Net Weight: 85 lb.

HCA 2205
Features/Specifications
Circuitry designed by John Curl
Lucasfilm Home THX Ultra-certified
Direct Coupledßno capacitors or inductors in signal path u DC Servo and relay protection circuits
High bias Class A/AB operation
2 kVA Toroid power transformer with independent secondary windings for each channel, 150,000 µF power supply filter capacitance
Independent power supplies for each channel
Hand matched complementary JFET input stages and MOSFET driver stages
40 beta-matched 15 amp, 60 MHz bipolar output transistors
AC present, standby/normal, current overload, temperature indicators
Rear mounted gain controls and rear handles
12 volt DC automatic turn-on circuitry
Tiffany-style RCA input jacks
Gold-plated 5 way speaker binding posts
Color coded, gold plated brass banana plugs included
4 rack space height front panel
Continuous Power Output - Each Channel: 220 watts RMS x 5, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 ohms, all channels driven; 300 watts RMS x 5, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 ohms, all channels driven
Current Capacity: 60 amperes peak per channel
Slew Rate: 130 V/µsecond
Power Bandwith: 5 Hz - 100 kHz, +0/-3 dB at 1 watt
Total Harmonic Distortion: 1.5 dB
Interchannel Crosstalk: > 80 dB at 1 kHz; > 60 dB at 20 kHz
Input Sensitivity: 1 V for 28.28 V, THX Reference Level; 1.5 V for full output
Input Impedance: 33 k ohms
S/N Ratio: > 118 dB, full power; > 96 dB, THX Reference
Level Damping Factor: > 1000 at 20 Hz
Power Consumption: 1500 watts
Dimensions: w 19" x h 7" x d 19 1/2", h 7 5/8" with feet
Net Weight: 85 lb.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Lex]

Those that know Trevor, know with him, it's always time to upgrade. :P The upgrade King! ;x(

That's a tough question Trev. I personally think, you could certainly live with these amps. They are brutes for sure and amps really don't change all that much within a particular price catagory. To realize gains in this area, you generally have to make a large jump. Such as mhy Proceed HPA-2 to Levinson 336. Now that was a real gainer. But HCA series amp to Halo? I'll leave that to the folks here. But I doubt it would be an earthshattering change.

I really think the real gain in your system could be achieved through a new pre-pro, ditching the big receiver. If your not using the amps, you should loose them.


1. You'd have a quiter noise floor with separate processing from amps.
2. Reduced heat on your pre-pro.
3. They are waisting electricity.

Speakers are a place always open to gain, of course, matching to a new system is important as well. If you change 1 component, in essense, you do have a new system. The existing speakers may or may not interact properly with the new processor. Halo C2 in this forum.

Lex

[Chris D]

Trev, I don't think you need to upgrade those amps. While the new Halo models are said to be a more refined design than the corresponding older classic models, like Lex said I don't think you're going to see your money's worth of an improvement by buying the whole new Halo amps. (unless, of course, you go with an entire set of JC-1 monoblocks) :twisted: The A51 that I have is the direct model replacement of the HCA 2205 that you have. There is no Halo model of the HCA 3500, though.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Scarp]

I agree with Chris. Upgrading amps to Halo series won't get you a lot further. A bit, but the price will be high. I think speaker, source or pre/pro upgrades will get you further.

The HCA3500 is indeed not really replaced, although its generally thought that the JC1 (well..two of them) are the replacement for it.

[Trevor Schell]

Thanks for the info guys!!

I am very happy with them right now , that I have no regrets not to upgrade.
Unless 7 JC-1's overcome my weekness of upgrading.
As for the Denon as a Pre/Pro. I feel I made a great choice here
as it is upgradable and has been upgraded already through Denon.
I do use some of the channels from the Denon to run EX when I
have that set-up.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[nicholtl]

I don't remember exactly where I heard about this, certainly not the Denon website, but Denon supposedly is coming out with their line of seperates. If I recall correctly, the prepro and the 5 channel amp are gonna run about $10,000 together. Has anyone else heard about this?

[Scarp]

That news was from the CES 2004. Very expensive indeed. Still ... its Denon ... that brand never sounds like its very high end. Maybe just my mind working in weird ways

[nicholtl]

Haha yeah, I agree. Funny though, to about 99% of the populous that is beginner to novice to experienced with regards to home theater, to say Denon is a "low-end' brand would be unheard of. I guess it just goes to show how the things we're lucky enough to own make us a little more, um...snobby...for lack of a better word.