Wim M

I haven't heard any of the Parasound amps yet. Just read very nice comments on reviews and forums. But I already found a dealer who has the Parasound P3 pré, A21 and A23 power amps on demo. The only problem is that he has no Klipsch speakers. He mailed that he can do a demo on Kef Reference 205. Though, I hope it can give a good impression of the capabilities of the amps. I won't have time to get to the Parsasound dealer for at least 3 weeks, cause I'm rather busy at work (poor me...)

I already thought about tube amps. I mentioned it to the NAD-guy and he said that tubes have also serious disadvantages. He said that tubes fade out like conventional light bulbs and that they should be replaced every 300 hrs. If this is correct they should be replaced at least once a year!

Perhaps one more item... damping factor. The damping factor is the ability of an amp to drive and control a speaker, especially difficult loads. A decent explanation can be found here: http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/damping_factor.pdf A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had a demo at our place with 2 mono bridged NAD C275BEE's. The NAD site states a damping factor for their C275BEE of >180 Parasound states a damping factor for their A21 and A23 of 1100 and 800. Perhaps the low damping factor of the NAD (compared to the Parasound) can explain why bass performance was so poor on the Rf7 II's? Do you consider the damping factor as an important issue, as far as 'choosing an amp' is concerned?

1) Entirely sufficient (unless your room is HUGE) 2) Even more sufficient, enough for a huge room. Do you really need that much power? Ok, too much is just enough when it comes to ss power, but on the other hand, a single A21 should reach ear blistering volumes before running out of steam. 3) Doesn't make sense; you're giving the highs way more power than needed. Due to the high crossover of the RF-7's, the amp driving the bottom inputs is doing all the work, and the money spent on the amp for the highs is an extravagance. I'm cheap, and given the marginal, perhaps imperceptible benefits of passive bi-amping, this one just seems like a stupid idea. If you need more output, get a more powerful amp, or follow suggestion number two. When a 2-channel power amp is mono bridged, the amp sees the speaker at half of its nominal impedance. The parasound site states that a single A23 can deliver a 45A peak current. Is it correct that when you bridge the A23, it can deliver 90A peak current to a single speaker? I'm just looking for an amp which can deliver warm, rich, powerful and dynamic sound at low levels. If it can reach ear blistering levels, that's OK but that's certainly NOT my primary concern.

For now it's just a two channel system. Now I'm looking for a 2 channel power amp, or 2 monoblocks. So it can be easily integrated in a future multichannel system. What is meant by the term: SS? I don't think B&K and Emotiva products are available in Belgium (Europe) I recently heard a Mcintosh amp (MA 7000 - integrated amp) which sounded really nice, great definition and soundstage, the only problem was the price label. In our country I think Mcintosh products are fairly expensive. The MA 7000 costs in Belgium 10.000 euro which is 14.400 US D. ...

Indeed my vintage amp never let me down in 22 years, so it must be a quality amp. But now I think he lacks overall definition, especially on the RF 7II's. It might also be a cable problem, I'll try to fine tune this. This doesn't mean the Kenwood can retire []

I heard from a friend very nice things about Parasound Halo amps combined with Klipsch. I already contacted a dealer to have a demo. From what I've read on the Parasound site, are these my options: 1) one A 21 2) two A23's: mono bridged 3) two A23's: one A23 for each speaker but bi-amped. Can somebody give me some advice?

I was looking to Ken Kaczmarz system (on page 1 of this thread)

Is that a Rotel RB1090 driving your RF7 II's?

Where are you located?

Last week we had the demo at our place of the Rega/NAD amps. Source was an Olive O3HD. It wasn't really a succes. Mids and Highs were allright, it sounded like he placed a center speaker, voices seem to come from somewhere in between the RF7's. Bass performance was poor, I must say. I had the impression that the NAD's ran out of power way too soon, and although we had been listening for only an hour I found that they ran very hot. I hooked up my powered sub, and I never heard such tight bass before (coming from the sub). So I think the Rega pre amp was alright. Does anyone have suggestions? Someone suggested a second hand Rotel RB 1090, or the new series of Rotel Class D amps.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the NAD website states a THD of 0.02%, mono bridge, full power, which I think is still 'very acceptable'. Compared to, for example, a Rotel RB 1582 which states a THD of 0.03% (all channels driven, not bridged) the NAD outperforms the Rotel with 50% even in mono bridge mode. But actually I'm not a firm believer in specs and figures, I 'll just wait for the demo at my place, on the RF7 MKII's and with my room accoustics.

I have my RF7 MKII's for 3 months, and I have to say they didn't sound at all in the beginning, I really was disappointed in them. But only after a few hours 'break-in' they really came to life! I drive the RF7 MKII's with a vintage Kenwood KA 1100-D (160W/ch @ 8 Ohm , 450W/ch @ 2 Ohm). Last week, I thought it was time to turn up the volume, now they have about 50 working hours. As the volume knob reached the 9 o'clock position, my wife came running in from the kitchen, shouting (have you gone mad or what?) she also was fearing for her chinaware :-) Still, I want to replace the amp. Please keep me posted!

Bill, I checked out the specs from the suggested NAD's and they really look fine pieces of 'machinery', but I'd rather go for seperate amps just in case I decide to go for a multichannel setup. Next week or so, our dealer promised to come over at our place to demonstrate the Rega/Nad's, on our RF7 MK2's. In fact, can hardly wait. I also heard some good things about Rotel (RC 1580 + RB 1582) I'm going to try to find a Rotel dealer nearby to check them out. Rotel also has so called Class D amps, much power in a small, lightweight box. Have you heard about them? Joop

Biil, Thanks for your answer, but have you already heard about Rega? He says Rega is more 'musical' than NAD as far as pre-amps concerned. Joop

Hi, I am new on this forum and I wanted to ask some help. My system is about 22 years old. So I thougt it was time to upgrade some things. First I switched my JBL speakers for a brand new pair of RF7 MKII's. Now I want to replace the amp. The dealer suggested me the following setup: a Rega Cursa 3 as a pre amp combined with 2 mono bridged NAD C275BEE's. Does anyone have experience with these amps?