Next move from Parasound HINT?

Hi avanti1960.  Have you heard the Audionet stuff?  Have you heard what you are missing? (said in fun!) Ken

i switched from a parasound a21+ to a pass labs xa25 and the sound is so much more alive, clear and dynamic.  

look for a pass integrated.  

also a rogue audio pharaoh ii is worth a look.  

Hi OP, 

Funny.  I wanted to add a bsmt system about three years ago. and I started with a Parasound Hint 6.  I have experience with Parasound and liked them.  I own two of the big 5 channel amps A51 and they are tanks.  They are each in a movie setup one in my ex wife's home and one in a vacation home.  So a logical choice was the Hint 6.  Then I started to listen to nicer stuff.  Oh my.  First ps audio BHK pre and BHK amp.  Not that great for all the hype.  Anyway, sold that and in a roundabout way ended up with Audionet Max amps and Pre G2.  Night and Day.  Parasound, as someone said, dark and veiled.  Audionet dynamic and resolving but NOT fatiguing. Over your budget?  sure.  Over mine too but I am so happy with it. My friend listened to mine and then bought the Audionet Watt integrated.  Much of the same sound.  Bill at GTT would help you out there.  Anyway...worth it by a mile!

I also even got in the JC1+ amps...nowhere close to the audionet stuff.  Sometimes you have to spend a bit more to get amazing.  The Max amps are very comparable in price to the JC1+'s but not comparable otherwise.

Thanks, Ken

The Hegel H390 has great clarity, separation and punch. 

I haven't heard the Coda but it has a terrific reputation and if it matters, is US made.  

I liked the CSiB V1 a lot but preferred the KRELL K-300i integrated more (I owned both last year). I sold both and now have the CODA #8 and the KRELL 175XD amps with the CODA 07x preamp. I liked the 2 integrated so much that I wanted to step up a bit higher with the separates.

If you want to try something a little more daring, try a Benchmark LA4 ($2500) with a CODA #8 or with a new KRELL XD amp. I love that combo. If I ever get the CODA #16 amp, I am using it with the LA4 preamp, not the 07x which I also like a lot.

+1 Coda CSiB based on actually hearing it.

We sell the hegel,coda naim and parasoud used to selll luxman

The coda csib beats them all it is also unique in that the output power and bias is selectable 

DAVE AND Troy

AUDIO INTELLECT NJ

@tgterm the Hegel was great sounding, but it picked up a buzz at a certain time of day and I could look down inside of it and hear it coming from the transformer. It may have been a faulty unit, but I was looking for perfection when I was about to drop that kind of cash. It was probably some sort of interference coming through the power lines (may not have been the unit at all). All the units you are considering are awesome and you can’t go wrong with any of them. 

FWIW, I heard Hegel H390, Naim Supernait 3, and Luxman 590AXII a couple of years ago. I ended up buying the Luxman (bought a used one, new was too expensive for my pocketbook), which was amazing! Had I not bought the Luxman, Hegel would have been next on my list. For some reason, I could not warm up to Naim S3. It definitely had a preppy (I think they call it PRAT) presentation that I found to be a little too much for my taste. Of course this is a very subjective opinion, but I feel that B&W voices their speakers also on the ’preppy’ side of things, and pairing them with Naim might be too much of a good thing. IMO Hegel 390 with the damping factor is a better choice for your speakers.

@geof3 I love the B&Ws.  I have found that no matter what floor standers I am using, I prefer a little extra oomph from my sub when listening to music.  Sometimes it is necessary to feel the bass…

and, I agree with your comments on not moving to separates…a whole other ball of complexity…and space that I really don’t have, unfortunately.  

Lots of options to process…thanks for taking the time, all!

@alucard19 your suggestion is intriguing, but I am not sure I have the shelf height for that amp.  Is it complicated to move from Home Theater config to 2.1 music with this setup?

@usualsuspectx your setup sounds pretty close to where I was thinking I should go from my Parasound HINT.  Why did you prefer the NAIM over the Hegel?  Are you using a sub when you listen to vinyl?

+1 alucard19--i'd just add an amp.

+1 for the Hegel H390.

All the best.

JD

You’re welcome! 😉

You’re welcome! 😉

CODA CSIB

Why not just use the preouts on your Anthem MRX and go with a power amp like the Anthem P2, that's what I did and you can set it all up with the MRX on screen display for 2 channel with a sub and HT using the MRX for the surround speakers during movies.

With the tech of integrated, at your price point it is difficult to argue separates. More cables, more space, more everything, which means less $$ to got toward the unit itself. Not to mention the issues of preamp matching, cable integration etc. Separates opens a whole new world of crazy. There are SO many excellent integrateds out there at this price point it ALMOST doesn’t make sense to look at separates. The Hegel H390 is superb, you could also step into a couple Pass Labs offerings and many others. Where you begin to limit yourself a bit is on the sub out and HT bypass requirements. The “sub out” is simply a pre-out on some amps, but others have a named sub out.

I would also suggest your speakers may be part of the problem. The B&W’s are great speakers, but not so much with metal/hard rock IMO. Something to consider.

+1 @russ69 

"The next move from an integrated is separate components not a better integrated."

I like my Musical Fidelity A1008 better than my Parasound A21 with tube pre. Musical Fidelity goes for really low prices used. Not sure why since I hardly see a bad word about them. Change models to frequently maybe. 
 

Anyway I did like the Parasound and I think anything you get in the under 5k range will be small differences unless you go full tubes which may be an interesting option. 

I have the Supernait 3. I demo’d the Luxman and the Hegel H390 at my home during my audition period. The Luxman has a beautiful sound, the Hegel is nice but I just didn’t connect with it. My family liked the Naim the best as it’s a bit more lively and ‘fun’ sounding. I ended up getting the SN3 and the ND5XS2 streamer. Paired those with Spendor A7’s and a Rega P6. It’s a nice setup and we enjoy having it. 

How about a Hegel H390?

The next move from an integrated is separate components not a better integrated.  

Does anyone have any experience with this model?

I have a similar setup, but mine is a Musical Fidelity M6si integrated and an Anthem MRX 520.

I run the front channels via HT bypass to the MF. The HT sub and surrounds stay with the Anthem.

Then, to supplement the two channel, I run a distributed bass array of 4 subs via a miniDSP 2x4 from the pre out on the Musical Fidelity.

Works for me.

@arafiq My budget is around $5K, thought I’d prefer to stay under.  

@twoleftears Using my sub when listening to analog is still a very strong preference, though.  I feel much less strongly about onboard phono preamp (love my JC3+).

@stereo5 which McIntosh did you move to?

Thanks!

I went from the Parasound Hint to a McIntosh integrated. It has everything you would want in an integrated. 

What’s your max budget? This will help us narrow down the choices. 

Luxman had already come to mind before I saw the first response.

Thank you!  I will take a look…

Exactly.  May help you to understand by reading this thread.  One point I should have pointed out is that the Luxman's apparent extension in the bass may have contributed to my decisions:

Thanks for the reply.  So, you are using a sub with your Anthem for HT, but not using a sub when you use your Luxman?  Is that accurate?

As a former Parasound P7/A23 owner the Luxman integrateds are a superb upgrade based on the quality of the sound.  By comparison, Parasound sounds dark and slow.

If you look at my system, you'll see that I use an Anthem MRX receiver with a Luxman 507ux.  The one thing that's difficult to do is to use your sub for both the Anthem and the Luxman.  You are going to have to pick one.