how good is the Parasound halo, & BAT components

Doesn't Wylie with the Speaker and Stereo Store still carry the Halo line?

Another thought, John with Musical Design / Musical Concepts in St. Peters builds some well reviewed amps. He also can mod most amps for better performance.

JK

Doesn't Wylie with the Speaker and Stereo Store still carry the Halo line?
JK

Try picking up a used Krell FPB amp. My system went from good to sounding close to a live (real) listening experience when I went from the JC-1 monoblocks to my present Krell amps. The Krells (I have) are much more liquid, detailed, better bass, and real sounding amps than the Halos were.
I enjoyed the JC-1s for the couple years I used them, and they are good (price/power/quality) buys for the money they cost. But they were outclassed by both the Ayre and Krell amps I have used since them.
The only BAT gear I have owned was the VK-31se preamp, and I liked it alot, although not as much as the Ayre, or Singlepower I have now.

Wayne Donnelly, in his review of Spectron Musician III (standard) made some comparison with Parasound Halo. Today, Musician III Signature Edition is way, way better then standard Musician III and if you want "iron fist" amplifier' control over the speakers AND live music representation of the best tube amplifier - you cannot find better amp then Musician III SE.
BAT600SE is also excellent amp but twice more expensive then Spectron
Good Luck
Rafael

Kforum, I'll say upfront that I have not heard any Krell gear in the past five years. But from what I have owned or heard, I'd call it clean with good control and extension in the bass, but overall it misses the juices of live music.

In my experience, both BAT (tube only, I've not listened to their SS) and Parasound Halo offer the benefits of Krell but with the addition of a greater sense of musicality - better tone and more sense of body and dimensionality to the instruments. Which of them is best may be a matter of system matching and your taste.

I would add that my Duntech speakers utilize Dynaudio tweeters and woofers and after trying many different tube and ss amps, I found sonic happiness with a pair of Halo JC-1s. Since the critical midrange comes from another manufacturer, I can't say for certain how much this applies to your Dynaudio speakers but I would certainly recommend an audition if you could arrange one.

I just bought a BAT VK-D5SE and am looking at upgrading my MA6900 to Halo HC-2 pre & JC-1 monoblocks....

so I'm interested in what others have to say as well!