A shot in the dark -- any chance you dropped your effective input impedance to the A21 in half by using 2 parallel sets of interconnects? This shouldn't tell the tale, since the SF output impedance is pretty low (~ 150 ohms) and the A21 input impedance is suitably high (33 kOhm & 66 kOhm, depending on which inputs you use), but you never know. Is the amp seeing the preamp "halved"?
Cable conundrum: Parasound A21 with RCA AND XLR
Ok, hope someone can give me a lesson. I recently aquired a Sonic Frontiers Line 2 preamp with both unbalanced and balanced outputs. First I hooked up my Audio Metallurgy GA-0 XLR's to my A21 amp, and I was not pleased with the sound. No depth, soundstage was choked. (gain was adjusted) I then connected my Synergistic Res RCA's to the outputs after disconnecting the XLR's. still not that pleased with what I thought was an upgrade.
In an accidental discovery, I reconnected the XLR's to the preamp WITHOUT ever disconnecting the RCA's. BLAMMO!! What sound I got! almost 5.1-like wide soundstage, reach-in depth, and the detail...let's just say i heard things from my CD's I never heard before.
So...how can this be? Both outputs from the preamp go to both inputs at the amp (balanced and unbalanced). Parasound tells me this is not a detriment to the amp. But I thought you could only use one or the other. Not both at the same time.
Any explanation?
In an accidental discovery, I reconnected the XLR's to the preamp WITHOUT ever disconnecting the RCA's. BLAMMO!! What sound I got! almost 5.1-like wide soundstage, reach-in depth, and the detail...let's just say i heard things from my CD's I never heard before.
So...how can this be? Both outputs from the preamp go to both inputs at the amp (balanced and unbalanced). Parasound tells me this is not a detriment to the amp. But I thought you could only use one or the other. Not both at the same time.
Any explanation?