I have spent the past 2 years getting my previous Sony ES (TA-E9000ES/2 TAN-9000ES) system fine tuned to sound it’s best, and just a few weeks ago I felt I had finally had achieved this goal. I was thoroughly convinced that there would be little if no difference in just switching out Processors, especially in the short run, as it took so long to get the Sony tweaked (software updates. Power cord ect..) for optimum performance, so I was reserved to spend a lot of time making the Halo integrate to the best of it’s ability.
What I wasn’t prepared for is the immediate change in dynamics, separation and clarity. Without even setting up the levels and distance, I noticed these attributes, and there were not at all subtle. I now have the settings done right thanks to the excellent Auto-Level and Auto-Distance calibration modes, everything is jelling perfectly. Man was I blown away last night while watching Master and Commander. The cannon fire had such impact and repercussion that it was downright hard to breath during these battle scenes, the shockwave from the blast compressed my chest cavity to an uncomfortable feeling. This thing makes action movies scary, and I can play my system at above reference levels without bottoming out my drivers, the Sony would not play nearly as loud and the drivers would clip right at ref levels, I truly didn’t know what I was missing. . I haven’t even hooked up my tactile transducers yet and the presentation already has more impact then it did with 4 Aura Bass Shakers in my couch fed by a 400 watt amp.
Music sounds much better as well, and had me going through all of my old favorites that I had given up on because of recording quality. Even with sub par recording quality I have found many of my discs sound so much better then I ever remember them sounding thanks to “DPLII” and “Natural Mode” these are great for music and adds ambiance for much better off-axis listening
The only drawback I have found is the lack of movie and music DSP modes (I like to experiment) but with such good sound I doubt I will miss that much, in truth I only used “live House” and “VM Rear” on the Sony with an occasional “6.1 matrix”.
What surprises me even more is how far DSP engines and Power Supplies have evolved, the Halo is a only about half the weight of the Sony, and the PS (switching) is tiny in comparison to the Sony. It used to be a tell tell sign of a HQ component to be heavy and hot, but this lightweight and relatively cool running Halo just stomps the crap out of my old Sony brute. Now im so happy with this new upgrade I can’t help but think of replacing my Sony ES amps with the Halo A-52’s, the only problem is I will have some very expensive paperweights laying around as the going used price for these units (Sony ES 9K) are shamefully low and hardly worth the trouble of selling.
BTW I read a professional review about the “Level Auto-Cal” where the author explains that the distance and level settings were very close to his manual settings except for the subwoofer distance which was way off. After reading the manual is has became clear that the author didn’t know what he was talking about, he should have just tried leaving these auto settings alone, it sounds better, even though it said my subs were 17 feet away and they are actually 7 feet away from the mic position. The manual explains that the auto cal does not go by physical distance but Acoustic distance, which accounts for the better delay settings that you cannot achieve with a tape measure. Anyway, the cannon balls bouncing through the ships hull were so believable I was jaw-dropped and riveted as I have never been before in an action scene. I would have never believed such an improvement in sound by just cleaning up the input signal, and better logic steering.
Bravo Parasound, great product, and thanks to Brent Huskins of Media Design in Fort Worth I was able to try in home without any obligation and got a great price on a b-stock unit with all the latest software, thanks Brent!
What I wasn’t prepared for is the immediate change in dynamics, separation and clarity. Without even setting up the levels and distance, I noticed these attributes, and there were not at all subtle. I now have the settings done right thanks to the excellent Auto-Level and Auto-Distance calibration modes, everything is jelling perfectly. Man was I blown away last night while watching Master and Commander. The cannon fire had such impact and repercussion that it was downright hard to breath during these battle scenes, the shockwave from the blast compressed my chest cavity to an uncomfortable feeling. This thing makes action movies scary, and I can play my system at above reference levels without bottoming out my drivers, the Sony would not play nearly as loud and the drivers would clip right at ref levels, I truly didn’t know what I was missing. . I haven’t even hooked up my tactile transducers yet and the presentation already has more impact then it did with 4 Aura Bass Shakers in my couch fed by a 400 watt amp.
Music sounds much better as well, and had me going through all of my old favorites that I had given up on because of recording quality. Even with sub par recording quality I have found many of my discs sound so much better then I ever remember them sounding thanks to “DPLII” and “Natural Mode” these are great for music and adds ambiance for much better off-axis listening
The only drawback I have found is the lack of movie and music DSP modes (I like to experiment) but with such good sound I doubt I will miss that much, in truth I only used “live House” and “VM Rear” on the Sony with an occasional “6.1 matrix”.
What surprises me even more is how far DSP engines and Power Supplies have evolved, the Halo is a only about half the weight of the Sony, and the PS (switching) is tiny in comparison to the Sony. It used to be a tell tell sign of a HQ component to be heavy and hot, but this lightweight and relatively cool running Halo just stomps the crap out of my old Sony brute. Now im so happy with this new upgrade I can’t help but think of replacing my Sony ES amps with the Halo A-52’s, the only problem is I will have some very expensive paperweights laying around as the going used price for these units (Sony ES 9K) are shamefully low and hardly worth the trouble of selling.
BTW I read a professional review about the “Level Auto-Cal” where the author explains that the distance and level settings were very close to his manual settings except for the subwoofer distance which was way off. After reading the manual is has became clear that the author didn’t know what he was talking about, he should have just tried leaving these auto settings alone, it sounds better, even though it said my subs were 17 feet away and they are actually 7 feet away from the mic position. The manual explains that the auto cal does not go by physical distance but Acoustic distance, which accounts for the better delay settings that you cannot achieve with a tape measure. Anyway, the cannon balls bouncing through the ships hull were so believable I was jaw-dropped and riveted as I have never been before in an action scene. I would have never believed such an improvement in sound by just cleaning up the input signal, and better logic steering.
Bravo Parasound, great product, and thanks to Brent Huskins of Media Design in Fort Worth I was able to try in home without any obligation and got a great price on a b-stock unit with all the latest software, thanks Brent!
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