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Need Help Matching Speakers to Amp

Just bought PSB Synchrony 2's powered by Parasound Halo A21, using new Marantz avr as a pre-pro (2 volts preamp output). The sound is very "forward" and "smoothed out" which makes everything sound great but looses some of the nice detail i heard with NAD even though not near enough power...so i bought the Halo. I have since read that these speakers and amp both sound "forward" so it might not be the best match. Can anyone recommend an amp to me that has the power of the Halo with a laid-back detailed sound? Or should i keep the amp and try another speaker instead? My price limit would be 3000$ for any upgrade, (that would include the $ from selling one of the components above). I listen loud to mainly rock and blues. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!! Watson
watsonblues
watsonblues OP
7 posts
 
Thank you for the recommendations, i obviously need them!. Do they make a CD player/am/fm tuner combo? The marantz's tuner sounds terrible. OR could i get a seperate tuner and a seperate CD player?
audiofreak32's avatar
audiofreak32
281 posts
 
Front end is CRITICAL. I recently bought a pair of older PSB towers (Image T-65) for $400 on Craigslist, along with the rest of the speakers to complete the surround setup. I bought them to use in my new house (we are moving in a few weeks). For the time being, I hooked them up to my music system right next to my Sonus Faber Cremona towers. They sound surprisingly good... I was taken back quite a bit. And I realized something that I had always been told by my dealer.... SOURCE IS CRITICAL. Whatever your source is: vinyl, CD, digital files, reel-to-reel, etc., that is where it starts. So as I listened to these speakers, amazed, and I realized that there was about $15,000 in front of them. Just goes to show IMHO, how important the source is.
watsonblues OP
7 posts
 
Thanks for the great info, wish my dealer had told me all this about the source, he said it was not important with the right speakers.

Anyone else have any recommendations on a cd player or tuner, looking to spend around 1-2000$ on both - thanks for your input-
tpreaves's avatar
tpreaves
2,686 posts
 
06-03-12: Watsonblues
Thanks for the great info, wish my dealer had told me all this about the source, he said it was not important with the right speakers.

You, my friend, need to find a new dealer. You have the Parasound amp, how about a Parasound front end? Just a thought.
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