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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 22:38:08 GMT -5
hrm it's been brought to my attention a local second hand audio store has a spiffy Parasound HCA-1200II for sale...kicking this idea around and nuke me if it sounds bad but...
Move my HK 3490 into the bedroom to power the RTi A3s in there...then move my HK 3375 into the living room (now before the panties get in a bunch....thinking I'm gonna power RTi A7s with a 75 wpc receiver) read on...
Use the HK 3375 as a pre-amp and use the beefier HK 3490 to really juice the bookies in the other room. Connect the HCA-1200II to the above's pre-outs nullifying the 3375's internal amp Power up the RTi A7s with the Parasound, retaining my idiotic bi-wire since well...the current speaker cabling (yes REAL cabling) is nicely configured for this.
Do the the comments fly before I post to CP...lol
Ken
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 6, 2013 14:05:02 GMT -5
I see nothing wrong with that theory. Plus it will cost you zip just re-configuring. What have you got to lose ? That Parasound should sound sweet on the 7's too.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2013 22:57:11 GMT -5
Tony, this is what I'm thinkin, plus with adding an extra 85 wpc to the A7s...I can only imagine how they would open up at higher volumes, damn fine towers in any sense. Sure not a LSiM 705 or 707 but hot damn the bang for the buck I got with these babies, I can't complain one bit. Then again, the HCA-1200II should have a buttload more current than the HK 3490 puts out...I like high current amps...lol
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Post by tonyb on Dec 7, 2013 9:23:31 GMT -5
I believe that 1200 puts out 57 amperes peek to peek, definitely a higher current design by John Curl. I think that is the best match with your speakers the guy has at his shop. Did you snag it yet ? Hook it up and let us know your thoughts. Grab some decent IC's while your at it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 15:07:21 GMT -5
Tony...I went and bought it...talked him down to $400! Now to hook this motherfucker up and make the RTi A7's SING !
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Post by trav0810 on Dec 7, 2013 15:08:35 GMT -5
Congrats! That should be a pretty nice amp for those A7's!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 16:04:52 GMT -5
Initial thoughts...HOLY SHIT ! Talk about not not wanting now...tons of power....TONS...clean too...need to do more listening !
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2013 10:27:26 GMT -5
Initial thoughts.
Warm, the brightness is gone, the balance of the whole sound package being delivered is sooooo much better. Smooth is a word I'd use here. Power? HAH! This puppy can go real loud without the slightest hint of falling on it's face, something the HK 3490 would do all on it's own. The system gets louder sooner on the volume dial and really doesn't fall apart as I can hear all the way up to oh...-5 on the display of the HK, an area where I couldn't go before as distortion would start settle in about -17 with some music. Am I happy? I'd have to answer in the short term with this, HELL YES!
This is merely an amplifier, weighs quite a bit more than the HK 3490 that is now just doing pre-amp duties. The power supply as I can see it through the venting is massive, so massive it dwarfs the one in the HK. Hook-up was deadly easy and the holes in the binding posts accepted my cabling with ease. Setup went well, Parasound recommends cranking the gains up to maximum for THX reference so that's where I started, not a good match for the pre-amp, I found a little backed off from max is best for sound quality.
Explaining to my girlfriend why the black box under the HK makes the speakers sound so much better is going to be difficult as it's got nothing more than a switch on the front and a few LEDs but the only ones I've seen light up were the red one during first power up as it stabilizes the internals then went to the Green one and hasn't deviated yet, no matter how hard I've pushed it.
My first dedicated amplifier, this journey is now on!
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 8, 2013 11:41:35 GMT -5
Lol....let the rabbit hole open wide. Now you know why us old farts express the importance of a well built power supply and what that means in relation to speakers and overall sound. Can't beat it with a stick, as you just found out too. Whens the party bro ? I'm sure you can gather enough folks up there who want to listen to this puppy and drink all your booze.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2013 12:20:47 GMT -5
Tony, I saw in the other thread you mention synergy, I can now see that happening with my set up. With the 3490 powering the towers they were bright, almost unbearable without the treble knob backed off of flat (reduce) and not by a little bit... now I find myself fiddling with the bass and treble knobs to just tweak it up a touch, not into bright but balancing things off just a wee bit better. And it's deadly apparent what having headroom in the power stage of a system can do.
I have managed to kinda twist the dial on the bass knob higher than most do but I now have the power to handle that and well...it's kinda nice to flip the sub off and let the towers do their thing. FOr the first time since buying them, last night, they hit me in the chest hard and I LOVED it.
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 8, 2013 13:15:45 GMT -5
Lol....just throw out those soiled tighty whitey's, no use putting that burden on the wife.
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Post by trav0810 on Dec 8, 2013 13:24:23 GMT -5
System synergy is what it's all about. I have had several different pieces of equipment that I had written off as "not good enough" until I heard them with a different piece of equipment.
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Post by tonyb on Dec 9, 2013 8:11:27 GMT -5
Tony, I saw in the other thread you mention synergy, I can now see that happening with my set up. With the 3490 powering the towers they were bright, almost unbearable without the treble knob backed off of flat (reduce) and not by a little bit... now I find myself fiddling with the bass and treble knobs to just tweak it up a touch, not into bright but balancing things off just a wee bit better. And it's deadly apparent what having headroom in the power stage of a system can do. I have managed to kinda twist the dial on the bass knob higher than most do but I now have the power to handle that and well...it's kinda nice to flip the sub off and let the towers do their thing. FOr the first time since buying them, last night, they hit me in the chest hard and I LOVED it. There's another aspect to this I want to bring up with you and hope you realize. Music is about enjoyment, I think we all agree on that. However when we mention the differences between casual listening and critical listening, it's 2 worlds apart. Being able to sit your ass down in the sweet spot with your favorite beverage in hand, being moved....emotionally, so involved with the music you pay no attention to the speakers or gear. That's bliss folks, that's what it's all about. I think you my friend are on that cusp of discovering your bliss, realizing what critical listening is compared to casual. While many over at Polk make fun of us when we throw out those terminologies, I can only assume they have yet to find their bliss. Critical listening by definition means your picking apart the music. Listening for notes here and there, etc. But once that's done to the degree that satisfies you, critical listening turns into pure bliss and it transports you to another space and time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2013 21:02:44 GMT -5
Tony, I saw in the other thread you mention synergy, I can now see that happening with my set up. With the 3490 powering the towers they were bright, almost unbearable without the treble knob backed off of flat (reduce) and not by a little bit... now I find myself fiddling with the bass and treble knobs to just tweak it up a touch, not into bright but balancing things off just a wee bit better. And it's deadly apparent what having headroom in the power stage of a system can do. I have managed to kinda twist the dial on the bass knob higher than most do but I now have the power to handle that and well...it's kinda nice to flip the sub off and let the towers do their thing. FOr the first time since buying them, last night, they hit me in the chest hard and I LOVED it. There's another aspect to this I want to bring up with you and hope you realize. Music is about enjoyment, I think we all agree on that. However when we mention the differences between casual listening and critical listening, it's 2 worlds apart. Being able to sit your ass down in the sweet spot with your favorite beverage in hand, being moved....emotionally, so involved with the music you pay no attention to the speakers or gear. That's bliss folks, that's what it's all about. I think you my friend are on that cusp of discovering your bliss, realizing what critical listening is compared to casual. While many over at Polk make fun of us when we throw out those terminologies, I can only assume they have yet to find their bliss. Critical listening by definition means your picking apart the music. Listening for notes here and there, etc. But once that's done to the degree that satisfies you, critical listening turns into pure bliss and it transports you to another space and time.
Like last night, listening to Warren Zevon's classic Werewolves Of London, hearing for the first time the sounds of fingers moving up and down the bass guitar, getting ready to hit the next note clearly, powerfully, something I have NEVER heard in that song before ? His voice right in front of me like he was standing where my TV should be. Felt like I was in the studio. Foreigner, ...When It's Live album, felt like I was in the crowd, The A7s delivering a wall of sound that I have never experienced before. The hits to the chest of bass (granted I have the bass knob dialed up but I like a little more low end than some do) was wild, and visually, this weekend was the first time since I bought them that I've actually SEEN the dual 7 inch woofers actually MOVE! I don't think I need a sub anymore... Sure the HK 3490 on it's own could drive these towers nicely, but the Parasound just took them to a whole new level. I honestly can say without a shadow of a doubt, this is the BEST audio system I've owned. Not the best I've heard mind you but owned. Tony, just pointing out that this amp was available for sale in a local store although to someone else who just didn't get it as far as I'm concerned, was a good thing cause another Polkie/AM member laid claim to it and for that, I thank you profusely. The difference is night and day. Yes I still have the Canare 4S11 in place in it's bi-wire configuration, I did dig thru my box of wires for the nicest interconnects I have (amp purchase was a little painful on the budget for now) there is a mere 3 foot heavy RCA cable connecting both receiver and amp that is directional and installed correctly with ultra tight gripping connectors, shielded and all that night stuff. There will be an upgrade real quick once I can swing it, the amp's power cord will get changed for something a lot better, I'm a computer guy and the cord that I was supplied, looks dinkier than the heavy duty mofo that is jacked into my main system with a 1.2Kw Corsair power supply. But for now, I'm just gonna listen to the music from this baby, I'm lovin it. and again, thank you so very much for the heads up on this amp and useful advice about how it'll pair up with my towers, it just works with my system and THAT is an important thing.
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 10, 2013 0:19:19 GMT -5
Your welcome my friend. Forgive me if I chuckle a little inside because your thoughts and expressions are what most find out the first time they add a quality component into their system. When people tell you all SS amps are the same, no difference, blah blah...now you can tell them to go pound sand. You've heard what a good quality piece brings to the table.
Now, again I'm chuckling because I know that rabbit hole just opened wide for you. One upgrade always leads to another, and by the time you get back around to the speakers, it starts all over again. Listen, all us old fucks have been down those roads a million times, switching in and out gear, chasing that ever so elusive synergy. You have to learn that once you get to a point of blissful enjoyment, stop and save your coin for something worth it. The small increases in sound quality can actually cost more money than if you just saved for the right piece and took leaps and bounds forward in your sound.
Enjoy your tunes, and for Christ sake....stop pissin' on the couch. lol
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Post by tonyb on Dec 10, 2013 0:30:09 GMT -5
This past couple months looks like I'm 2 for 2.
You on the Parasound and JAHAYMAN on a McCormack gear. Both you guys are crapin' your shorts so I guess that's a good thing.
Now, who wants to be my next victim ?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 0:38:23 GMT -5
LOL well, I'll admit. Honest advice backed up with some knowledge goes a long way, I feel I can trust your advice, my latest acquisition proves just that.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 10:18:21 GMT -5
Just a little correspondence with Parasound regarding the HCA-1200II, xxxx's placed in email addresses to avoid crawlers from spamming any involved parties, and they did email me a PDF manual for the amp to boot, nice they still support the older stuff !
Hi Ken,
I appreciate receiving messages like yours. I hope you put another 500,000 miles on your new/old amp!
Bst rgds,
Richard
From: Ken J [mailto:nbrowser@xxxx] Sent: Monday, December 09, 2013 5:40 PM To: Richard Schram Subject: RE: Information request.
Hi Richard,
Enough current to pull out a tree stump eh ? Well it certainly outclasses my Harman Kardon HK 3490 receiver (which is right now acting as a preamp to the HCA-1200II). Hooked up to a pair of Polk Audio RTi A7 tower speakers, all I can say right now is breathtaking performance. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on either a paper manual or PDF version for my new toy. A few people said it'd pair up quite nicely with my speakers and does it ever, more power than I could dream of and such a balanced powerful sound (they actually make their own bass now)...I'm in love. Granted I got it second hand but my god, it's like it's brand new, just puts out the power and even after 3 solid hours of cranking yesterday with demanding classic and modern rock, it never once skipped a beat or threatened to shutdown. I'm impressed with this unit as it's my first introduction to true audiophile class equipment.
I have a sinking feeling that if I grow tired of this amp (highly doubtful but one never knows) I might just have to step up to an A21! Yes, I'm sold on Parasound. Damn good product even if my new toy is 20ish years old.
Ken James
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2013 23:13:54 -0800 From: xxxx@parasound.com To: nbrowser@xxx; xxxx@parasound.com Subject: Re: Information request.
Hi Ken,
Thank you for your message. No, the 1200II isn't an illegimate child; we've simply been too busy with communicating about current/new models to update our website for vintage models.
The 1200II is a splendid work horse. Its output power is at least 205w/channel and around 300w/ch at 4 ohms. I recall the bridged mono output into 8 ohms was 600w. It has ten pairs of BIG output transistors and enough current capacity to pull out a tree stump.
I hope you get a lot of enjoyment from it!
Kind regards, Richard Schram President Parasound Products, Inc.
On 12/8/2013 8:23 PM, Ken J wrote:
Why can I not find a single shred of information on the HCA-1200 II power amplifier, I just purchased one second hand and do know know that it's rated at 205 watts per channel 8 Ohm. But the website has no information on almost like it's a bastard child or something. Any information would be helpful on this unit as it's really turned my system into a monster....a good monster.
Ken
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Post by Ender on Dec 10, 2013 10:25:33 GMT -5
Both you guys are crapin' your shorts so I guess that's a good thing. Now, who wants to be my next victim ? Tony I crap my shorts daily but normally its not because of you
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 10, 2013 10:59:31 GMT -5
Your wife must be a Saint....Haha
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Ender
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Post by Ender on Dec 10, 2013 11:30:57 GMT -5
Your wife must be a Saint....Haha I do all my own laundry lol...... Lots and lots of bleach
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2013 21:43:21 GMT -5
Let me think about that for a moment...
...
Humming Jeopardy Tune in my head...
...smokes a cigarette...
Has a drink...
ummmmm NO ! lol
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2013 21:55:49 GMT -5
I sense more razor wire going up around the Parasound...lol
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2013 9:51:03 GMT -5
Hrmmmmm why is it the P5 starting to look appealing...has just about every feature I want in a pre...hmmm
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 13, 2013 13:16:56 GMT -5
I would hold off on the P5 until some legitimate reviews come in. Not so sure it's going to be a great match up. Even though it is loaded, hold your panties on for awhile longer.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2013 15:57:54 GMT -5
I'm just researching...no buys for a while !
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2013 14:28:21 GMT -5
Although been toying with the idea of putting Ys on the back of the 3490 and kinda mebbe stacking the A3s on top of the A7s...see what happens...shits n giggles thing...lol
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 15, 2013 14:40:08 GMT -5
Bad idea...shits and giggles or not.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2013 14:42:57 GMT -5
eh not like it'll cost me anything...got everything I need to pull it off, just be nice to maybe have something a little smaller for night time listening attached to the HK....and when day comes, flip the switch on the Parasound for balls to the walls sound...
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tonyb
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Post by tonyb on Dec 15, 2013 14:45:15 GMT -5
Night time listening...that's what a volume control is for. lol
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