Parasound Halo JC-1 -VS- Bryston 7B-ST?

Rukavina, I don't know what ax you have to grind with Parasound, but judging from your feedback it is obvious you are doing a lot of buying and selling...are you in the business? As for your friend, Parasound honors the warranty for the original purchaser only, as is the case with many audio manufacturers.

Based upon your apparently deliberate effort to slam Parasound without providing substantive information, I'd say there's more to the story than you are giving... Richard Schram is an honorable gentleman and runs a tight ship. Parasound reserves the right to refuse to service products that have been modified or otherwise tampered with, so I suggest you check your facts and present them the next time you choose to post such negative remarks...

Yes, I am a Parasound Halo dealer, in case you wondered, and none of my customers have experienced anything but prompt, courteous service from Parasound. In fact, if I heard of anything other than that, I'd be all over Parasound to clean up their act or I'd be done with them, as I choose to do business with only the best and the most professional and stake my reputation on it. I take my customers and this business very seriously, and I am proud to be associated with Mr. Schram and his staff.

Brian Walsh
Essential Audio
Barrington, Illinois

I owned 7BSTs and a 4BST powering Thiel CS7s. Very fine amps, the 7BST clearly have more current capacity for difficult loads. I also owned a Parasound 1200 amp and then 750A powering Paradigm Studio 100s (1st iteration). Very fine amps.

A close audio friend has the JC1s and I have extensively listened to these powering Vandersteen 5As. Very fine amps.

There is no such thing as best. It is a combination of features and attributes sought by the individual listener in his/her system and room. Both Parasound and Bryston offer high value solid state designs and should be considered. But final application depends on the system, the goals of the listener and a small but significant dose of what "floats one's boat," that intangible sense of ownnership that lets one know, "this is the gear for me."

Walsh. Conveying a friend's experience with customer service is not slamming Parsound technology. I have owned 5 Parasound amplifiers over the last 10 years and have been seriously considering purchasing an amp in the Halo line. Of course as you are a dealer, objectivity and bias are usually confounded. As I understand, Parasound was purchased by another company that is not known for manufacturing high end, quality equipment. Pressures to keep costs down can very easily translate into poor customer service, including warranty repairs or a lack thereof. I weigh many factors before spending $6,000.00 for an amplifier, and I also am very aware that companies that have been leading edge in technology and quality can easily begin a downward spiral in a competitive environment, e.g. Sony. Audiogon is an open forum where one can aquire a wealth of information before embarking on an expensive purchase of any product. For me, customer service rankds third, only to the performance of the product, and the consensus of quality of the product. If all three are not met I do not make a purchase. I would rather learn vicariosly than through experience.

FWIW - I purchased used JC1s from a member here that I will not name. The amps were advertised as having no problems. Unfortunately this was not the case. The lights on both amps would change from red to purple but never blue. One mono started running extra hot. I sent them in to Parasound and I believe they performed the repairs the day they recieved the amps. I was without the amps for a total of 10 days. I dont think the repairs could have been done any faster and Im not even the original owner. It was not cheap but they are perfect now and I have nothing but good things to say about Parasound.

I am a current though not future customer of Parasound (I am choosing to go a different direction with my amps). From my experiences, Parasound offers outstanding customer service. I have dealt directly with Richard S. and Paul B. They went out of their way to first get me an in house demo unit of the A21 amp then did everything they could to give me a new replacement unit after I expressed concern about havin to wait for a repair.

Every company has their share of happy customer and unhappy customers. With forums such as these, news travels pretty fast so companies will not be able to to survive if they continue to offer poor customer service. My feeling is that Parasound is one of the good guys.