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B&K or Parasound?

I'm considering upgrading, the research is always the best part upgrading. I currently have an Outlaw 1050 doing my surround work for me, which does a wonderfull job as far as I'm concerned.
However my primary interest lies in listening to music and I would like to upgrade, and separate, the power source for my mains which are JMLab Cobalt 816's.
I think I have narrowed the search to B&K and Parasound. My problem is that there are no dealers within hours of me that sell either one of these lines, makes actually listening to them a bit difficult never mind comparing them side by side. So I come to you for advice! I'm soliciting advice, oppinion, rant's etc. on these companies. How do they rate? build quality, customer service, strengths, weaknesses and MOST importantly what do you think of the sound?
Any input is greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Dave
gazho
danielk141
489 posts
 
I recently upgraded my video from a B&K AVP3090 processor & Parasound 1206 amp, to a B&K Ref 30 & a Sherbourn 5 channel amp.
The REF 30 is an excellent piece for the money. It has a sophisticated bass management system that really works well, especially in rooms needing multiple bass point tweaking.
The Sherbourn 5 channel amp has 5 discrete mono-blocs in a common chassis. I had my Parasound 1206 for years, it never clipped or gave me any problems. I became sold on the mono-amp philosophy after borrowing a friends Bryston 9BST THX amp. What a detail champ! The Sherbourn 5/1500 is not in the same league for build & finish, but it retails for 1/2 as much and sounds close, with more power to boot,,,
tunes4me
98 posts
 
Having owned several of both, B&K hands down.
gazho OP
4 posts
 
Interesting Point Sean. Hadn't really thought about this being a "lateral" move. I suppose it's the same with HiFi as it is with my other hobby, astronomy, why do I have all the expensive hobbies?. Ain't no point in getting a different scope if you aren't going to get something with significantly better optics than what you have :) Perhaps I'll slow down and broaden my search a bit. Getting something that sounds "different" isn't my goal, getting something that sounds significantly better is. Just not sure I can afford it ;)
So lets open this up to new thinking! Any suggestions on amp, 2 or 3 channel, that are a step up from the B&k's, Parasound's, Rotel's etc.?

Thanks again for the input

Dave
robertr
5 posts
 
Howdy,
I have a Parasound 2500u. I have enjoyed it thoroughly and use it for music & HT. The unit's remote is OK, a little hard to use and the backlight is a little sparse. You can get one of these units very reasonable on this site used. It does not appear warm for music but neither does it appear bright. I have heard that the Anthem avm v.2 is spectacular and have heard many recommend it. Check out web at audioreview.com for evaluations under Community Highlights. A lot of course depends on your speakers. I have Merlins bought used off of this site. Prior I had Martin Logans sl3's. Both while different in soundstage, still re-iterate the non-warm but not too bright comments.
The new parasound is Halo. I don't know much about it.
Here is a dealer I have used for Parasound who also sells B&K and is very reasonble. VERY. Tell him I Robert from San Antonio sent you. Although one should always support their local dealer when possible.
Steve @ Soundvideo.com
Good luck
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