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Parasound HCA-3500, Am I Crazy?

Hello to all,
I recently borrowed a friends Parasound HCA-3500 power amp just for the heck of it. [I was always curious how this amp sounded].
I unhooked my Parasound Halo JC-1's and hooked up the Parasound HCA-3500 in its place.
Much to my shock, there were some things that the 3500 seemed to do better than the JC-1's in my system:
The HCA-3500 actually sounded more transparent, open, and more extended on top than the JC-1's! This was especially true at lower volume levels.
The HCA-3500 also seemed to have a deeper soundstage, and a blacker background.
The JC-1's seemed superior in most other regards, however.
The JC-1's sounded smoother, cleaner, had slightly more body, more detail, and better bass control than the 3500.
The 3500 did sound a touch etched and slightly grainy, but it sure sounded damn clear, open, and transparent!
How could this be?
Anyone else out there experienced this?
Break-in is not an issue. My JC-1's have close to 1,800 hours on them.
I am just puzzled folks, thats all.
audio_girl
audio_girl

Showing 2 responses by nealhood

nealhood
199 posts
 
"Sean" is correct, address your power line issues with a quality conditioner then use an ordinary power cable of sufficient size. And, a preamp doesn't burn much current. Don't waste money on some long-green high zoot cable because it will never provide the benefits of a good power conditioner such as the MGE Topaz 100.

http://www.mgeups.com/products/pdt120/powerc/tpz100/t100.htm

By the way, Pass is top notch. Their new amps included.
nealhood
199 posts
 
Mr. bill, no the Topaz 100 does not hum or buzz. It is not a true ferroresonant transformer like that employed in the Topaz model 800. So it's efficiency remains high and noise virtually non-existant. It will not degrade dynamics on a power amplifier assuming it is sized properly.

Although the model 800 may exhibit a small bit of hum, make no mistake it's conditioniong performance is second only to a true power converter/inverter and, only if the inverter is of the higher caliber type with a low THD sine wave output. Even then, the inverter is unlikely to ever equal the ferro system performance as far as the available current rating (short circuit impedance). Therefore the inverter solution stands to restrict harmonics much more than the ferro system.

The model 100 is plenty adequate for virtually all home systems and will beat the socks off any high zoot power cords and, probably most any competing power conditioner.
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