2. amps-preamps
  3. 159172-149101

Hopelessly Confused

It is impossible for me to audition every amp I'm researching let alone with my speakers (B&W CM5 w/ SVS SB-1000 subwoofer). Therefore I'm reliant on research, word of mouth and attempting to decipher amplifier speak. Currently I'm using my Yamaha AVR as a preamp to an 80w Adcom GFA-5300. It sounds good, especially when I put the Yamaha in direct mode bypassing circuitry sending the signal to the Adcom. My room is 10x14. I typically listen to music in the 80 dB to 90dB range. My musical tastes are all over the place. Jazz, blues, reggae, Knopfler stuff, classical etc. 

I bought a 150w Parasound 2125 v.2 amp to replace the Adcom thinking more watts will equal more accuracy/detail in musical fidelity. At the last minute I posed a question on Reddit asking if more watts will achieve my goal. The answers were almost a unanimous no. When the UPS guy came to deliver my amp I panicked and refused delivery so I could rethink my next move. Indecisiveness is not my best quality.

For the time being the speakers stay. The Yamaha AVR stays for cinema. I'm using a different pair of B&W's for that purpose. The one subwoofer stays as is. I need my subwoofer to dual purpose with whatever 2 channel listening solution I arrive at. Looking at the 110w Parasound NewClassic 200 Integrated amp w/DAC $1195 it would check off a lot of boxes. 1) a little more power 2) preamp outputs for the Yamaha 3) 4K pass through 4) subwoofer output 5) bass management w/ crossover capability. Lots of bells and whistles but at the end of the day all I really want is to eek out as much sonic bliss from my speakers as possible. 

Am I on the right track or have I missed the boat again?

https://parasound.com/200_Integrated.php
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Showing 1 response by bkeske

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bkeske
5,597 posts
 
@brian_holmes

I was in your exact same situation, looked at the Parasound Classic, but didn’t need the included phono stage or DAC, so purchased the ZPre3 preamp. Am extremely happy with it, and cheaper than the Classic without the above. It does have HT bypass, so the Yammy is only used in 5.1 for TV, and gets passed through the Parasound to my amp (driving my mains) in HT mode. All 2 channel sources goes through the Parasound ZPre3 

My music sounds so much better not using the Yamaha as the pre. You won’t believe the difference, in a good way. I didn’t want to believe it would make the difference it has, but it did.
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