Parasound HCA2200II , Yeah or No-Way!

btw, the McCormack Dna1 was also auditioned with the other amps.

Years ago, I was expeimenting with a set up similar to what you are trying to accomplish. I tried the Muse 100, Classe 70, Spectral DMA100, Parasound HCA1200..but the winner was by far a Symphonic Line RG1 Mk2. The Symphonic Line wa the closest amp ive have heard with all the tube quality and the solid state slam. I now run tube monoblocks, but if I ever go back to SS, the RG1 is the only way id go.

I have owned the Parasound HCA 2200II for several years now. It was a big improvement over my Adcom 545 II and my brief encounter with the 555 II. I had a 545II for a long time and wanted a more powerful amp when I moved into a house with a big room. I bought a used 555, but while that transaction was going through, I found the Parasound, and bought that also. The Parasound was much more powerful and much more revealing than the Adcom's. Playing some concert Laserdisc's that I was familiar with revealed a lot of low level sounds that I never heard before, because they were buried by the louder stuff and muddied with the Adcom amps. So I was very satisfied. As I was shopping for $8K-10K speakers, nearly everyone that asked about my amp gave me a disappointed look, so I feel that perhaps I am missing out. After the speakers I will be shopping around for an amp to see how much better it gets. I imagine that there are many amps that would give me the same step up in quality that I noticed by going from Adcom to Parasound. It is a great bargin as a used amp, plenty of power, good quality for the price, although I'm sure there are lots of better sounding amps, but they are probably a decent amount more expensive.

The Parsound HCA2200II is a very good amp, I'm using it now with a Audio Research LS-1 preamp. I've also owned an Aragon 4004, it is a little smoother but lacking the bass slam and detail of the Parasound. It depends on how much power you need, the ARC and Classe are fine amps I've auditioned them both, but won't play at ease at higher volume levels with less sensitive speakers.

For the top end I think the Classe 70 (or a Classe ten) would be the first choice, followed by the ARC D-240. Although I'm sure others might put the ARC at the top of the list--it's really a close call and depends on personal preferences. I have owned ARC in the past, but now own both a Classe 70 and 10. I really like the Classe stuff. It performs flawlessly and reliably day in day out. I also think it is a very good value (particularly used).