Halo C2 Should I Buy??

[Q-Man]

I've been reading the reviews about the C1 & C2 and I was just about ready to buy a C2 untill I came to this Forum. Someone told me to come here and ask you guys some queations before buying. I started reading the post about the lock-up and download problems with this piece. I'm not very computer literate, and this scares me. Now I feel that I sould look into some other brands.

I have 10 channels in my current theater system which are powered my McIntosh amps and controled by a Yamaha RX-V3000 receiver. I use this receiver because Yamaha is the only one that has front effect channels. Finally someone ,(Parasound) has come out with a pre/pro that I think will give me the front effect channels and better sound quality. I believe that I can use the Auxiliary channels 9 & 10 for my front effect channels. You place these front effect speakers behind , above, and to the left and right of your main speakers.
The front effects play a mix of your mains and center channel at a reduced volume and with a little time delay. It really broadens the sound stage. Once you here music and movies this way there is no going back to just mains and a center channel up front.

I wanted to ask it any of you are using these aux. channels. I'm also not clear if the bass management allows you to set your cut off frequency to the sub for every channel? I believe it is user selectable from 40 to 120Hz.
I want to cut off six of my full range speakers at 40 Hz. , and four of them off at 60Hz.

Can some of you help me by answering my questions? Should I look elce where for a pre/pro?

Thanks, Q-Man

[nicholtl]

Give it a little time Q-man, I was serious when I said the guys here are super knowledgable and friendly. I'll bet Chris or Scarp will reply soon...

[Chris D]

Q-Man: Welcome to the Guide! :banana:

I would NOT, repeat NOT, be afraid of anything you read here in Club Parasound. We can really get into the nitty gritty details of Parasound equipment sometimes, far beyond the normal use and applications of the average user. This also means that we discover little quirks and improvements to pass on to Parasound for possible future upgrades. Hopefully, it only means that the products get better and better with time.

Parasound has one of the better service and warranty programs around of ANY product in ANY market. A 10 year warranty on the full unit? Wow...

I'm sure that you'll encounter little, if any, problems with your unit. To date, I would say that there really are NO known recurring problems with Halo equipment that people need to watch out for. People have had isolated incidents here and there that have been fixed, but no problem has popped up in multiple units that is becoming a trend.

I too upgraded to Halo equipment from a Yamaha receiver that used the front effects. (RX-V2095) I really liked my Yamaha, and still use it in my bedroom setup, actually. Although I currently don't plan on implementing front effects in my new setup, you certainly can do that and I think you'll get some benefits. As you said, they are sure to be better than the Yamaha solution as well. For me, I'm going to use the two "set" programmable channels to drive tactile transducers and a second subwoofer. One of the fully programmable channels will be used for even more detailed setup of tactile transducers, leaving the last channel open for future upgrades for me. Maybe a ceiling speaker or something... :+) Who knows.

Bottom line, you are always welcome to look for other pre/pro's, for whatever suits your personal taste and application needs. However, if you look around, I think you'll find that Parasound is going to be one of the BEST choices you can make, with the LEAST amount of troubles. And if you do choose the Halo units, I think you'll be entirely happy with no buyer's remorse.




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

[Scarp]

I wanted to ask it any of you are using these aux. channels. I'm also not clear if the bass management allows you to set your cut off frequency to the sub for every channel? I believe it is user selectable from 40 to 120Hz.
I want to cut off six of my full range speakers at 40 Hz. , and four of them off at 60Hz.

The Aux channels do allow you to select their own cut-off frequency (hipass and/or lowpass). However the normal outputs all use one and the same crossover.

[Q-Man]

Thankyou for the answers guys.

I guess I'll wait another year or so and see if there are any changes in the bass management system. :cry: I'm sure that it will become more flexible in time. I'll live a little longer using the Yamaha as a processor so I can have my front effect channels. The Yamaha goes to an Outlaw ICBM bass manager and then the ICBM goes to the amps, so I have my bass management the way I want it.

I guess I can look at the bright side of it. I just spent too much money buying the required amount of McIntosh two channel power amps for the ten channels, so this will give me time to save up.

Q-Man