New member with Old question? Upgrades?

[phansson]

Hello Forum,

I currently have a Lexicon MC-1 processor and would really like to upgrade. I have been looking at the Parasound C1 and the MC-12. The MC-12 is really out of my price range at the moment because of the purchase of 2 A21 amps and 2 A23 amps in the past 3 months 8) .

The reason the MC-12 is very interesting is because of the room correction. This is something that I think I really need. I have big troubles with bass clarity and I feel that I have a good setup as in amps/speakers. I also have messed around with placement quite a bit. Can't get it quite dialed in.

The only other option is the C1. Is room correction an option on the upgrade of the C1? I am very pleased with the amp purchase and have read many glorious reviews. Also on my mind would be DVI/hdmi switching. Preferably DVI.

Anyway, Thanks for the input.

[nicholtl]

I'm not sure if the C1's acoustic calibration, similar to Pioneer's MCACC or Yamaha's YPAO, is what you mean by "room correction," but it certainly helps to accuratize your speaker distances and relative levels. Also, the C1 currently doesn't have DVI/HDMI switching, although it's an upgrade many of us (trust me) have been whining for.

In terms of you bass clarity problems, I'm assuming you're getting some boominess within a certain frequency range? Have you tried moving the sub/s around your room? Some bass traps or as a last resort, an LFE EQ might be more ideal, not to mention more cost efficient, than upgrading your pre/pro solely based on that matter.

As for how the C1 compares with the MC-12 (balanced or unbalanced version?), if you read up on most magazines' review sites (stereophile, hometheatermag, secrets, etc.), you'll find that the two products have strikingly similar overall ratings, despite Lexicon's $2-4K price jump. The Lex IS a wonderful sounding unit, as is the C1, but I listened to the Lex in a different room with different equpiment with different speakers, so I can't really comment on how it compares sonically to the C1 because there were just too many influencial factors. Best to give both a demo yourself.

What I CAN SAY, however, is that the C1 has a f_cking cool TFT screen, perfectly matches your 4 HALO AMPS!, and overall just looks a hell of a lot better than the MC-12, which resembles the big Russian dude Colossus from X-Men, who I think Dolph Lundgren should have played!!!

[phansson]

Thanks for the quick reply, but I guess I didn't make my intentions clear on my other post.

What are the rumours on the upgrade for the C1? I have heard the DPL IIx and some kind of new video switching. Is Room correction even a rumour?

[nicholtl]

OHHH...ok. Well yeah, DPL IIx is pretty much gauranteed, from what I hear, but as for DVI/HDMI switching...I'm not too sure on that. Would certainly be nice though. I think the main issue here is real estate on the rear end of the C1 and C2. And if you've noticed, there's a sticky someone up top on this forum where we have the "wish list" on upgrades we want to see. Personally, I want USB support (none of this old school RS-232 stuff) along with Macintosh support.

And forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean exactly by "room correction?"

[phansson]

well, the majority of major players in home theater are coming out with some kind of automatic room correction which uses a parametric eq to "fix" some of the rooms faulty characteristics. Meridian, Lexicon, Denon and yamaha are a few.

With the C1/C2 having a microphone available for auto calibration of dist/level it would be the obvious next step for Parasound.

Just dreaming. I could live without the DVI/HDMI switching but the room correction is a must for my next purchase.

[nicholtl]

I see what you mean. It's like the MCACC I have with my Pioneer Elite 45TX in my bedroom. It EQ's each speaker to match in timbre better, taking into account all room anomalies and factors. Different systems then offer multiple bands of frequencies to tailor to your own liking. My Pioneer has 6, the current Elite models have 9, I believe. Yeah, you're right, I was a little shocked to see that the Halo controllers did not have this function. But I'm sure they will, soon enough.

[Chris D]

Well, add it to the wish list!

[phansson]

I have all timbre matched speakers. Paradigm Studio reference v.3 all the way around. My main concern is I have a slight boomy bass problem. I have messed around with sub placement and can't quite get it dialed in. I think if I had some kind of parametric equalizer built into the processor (lexicon, meridian) It might be able to fix some of those problems by itself.

Does anyone know somewhere I could get a demo of the C2? I don't even live close to a dealer and I would like to set the C2 up in my room to see how it sounds. I don't care how it sounds at the dealers anyway. To many differences.

[Chris D]

Phansson, YGM.

As for equalizing bass, many people here on the Guide, including myself, use a Behringer Feedback Destroyer to equalize subwoofer output in the theater. Just do a search for "Behringer" or "BFD" here on HT Guide. My SVS PC-Ultra subwoofers also have a built-in parametric equalizer, so between the subs and the Halo amps at first I thought (feared) that the BFD might be unneccessary. However, the subs allow for one correction, where the BFD can do multiple to equalize, so I'll be sticking with the BFD (when I finally get it dialed in).