Parasound vs. Bryston


I am currently looking into acquiring either a Bryston 4B ST amp or a Parasound HCA 3500 amp to power a pair of Paradigm Studio 100's. Any thoughts, preferences, or experiances with either of these two amps? Thanks.
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Showing 3 responses by sean

According to John Curl, the designer of the Parasound amp in question, the HCA-3500 was "cut cornered" by the bean-counters. The parts that he spec'd for them to use were ignored and cheaper, more easily available pieces were substituted. Even with that being done, supposedly just changing two resistors will produce a completely new level of performance in these amps. I've been thinking of picking up one of these myself to play with, but i've got to get some other stuff straightened out first. As to the Bryston stuff, the 20 year warranty is AWESOME to say the least. After that, all that i can tell you is that you better listen first before buying. Sean
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Rx, i beg to differ. Mr Curl flatly stated that changing two resistors in the amp would take it several steps higher in performance. I have also been told this first-hand from his business partner, Bob Crump of CTC. Bob takes the standard Parasound 3500 and basically rebuilds / re-voices it to CTC spec. Once the 3500 has been built the way that John wanted it built in the first place, it is then called a CTC "BBQ" amp. They retail at about $5000 and are said to be quite awesome performing. I know that Bob sold a set to a gentleman in England that used these to replace a set of $40,000+ monoblocks. Sean
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You can contact Bob at the following email address:

rcrump@houston.rr.com

Hope this helps. Sean
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