Parasound Halo P3 opinions ???

[SEAWOLF97]

Out on a long ride today and stopped in at a gear retailer that has to move...he is a Parasound dealer and I asked what he had in preamps.....showed me the Halo P3 and went to check pricing sheets....he will sell at wholesale ( abt 40% of retail ) new, with box and all accessories....
I've been researching that model for the last half hour....lots of good reviews , but some sour ones too....I dont know the reviewers, but kinda do know you guys.....

anybody have FIRST HAND experience with it ???

http://www.parasound.com/pdfs/P3EBrochure.pdf

Oh yeah, he will take trades, so I can mebbe whittle down the cash outlay a little more

[SEAWOLF97]

29 looks and no reply's ???

for you Aussies..Mc Cleans has it for AUD 1595 or 1435.43 USD

http://www.mcleans.info/shop/product...oductId=173153

[richluvsound]

Seems to be the buzz around here at the moment .... I had parasound pre as a loner for a while .

Good features , solid build and a nice warmth that didn't smother . These guys and moon are best value for the money at this price point .

good luck ,

Rich

[Mr. Widget]

29 looks and no reply's ???

Probably like me, none of the regulars have ever heard one.

I just dragged home a Halo A21 amp I am going to break in and give a whirl... the P3 is their more affordable preamp. I have never seen or heard one. I expect it is good... it might be very good to great, only one way to find out.

I don't suppose the dealer has an open box unit you could audition?

Widget

[scott fitlin]

Probably like me, none of the regulars have ever heard one.

I just dragged home a Halo A21 amp I am going to break in and give a whirl... the P3 is their more affordable preamp. I have never seen or heard one. I expect it is good... it might be very good to great, only one way to find out.

I don't suppose the dealer has an open box unit you could audition?

Widget

And I DO so want to hear what your opinion of the AC-21 is. There's alot of REAL amplifier under the hood of this thing!

Seawolf, I have had a few conversations with Parasounds president, Richard Shram, and the Parasound gear is designed to be accurate and neutral, yet pleasing sounding, RELIABLE, and HIGH QUALITY circuits and parts at a reasonable cost. Parasounds gear is NOT cheap, yet it is priced reasonably well considering that their gear will stand with, and even better brands that cost considerably more.

I wouldn't expect a super colored sound from Parasound gear, but I think you can expect a really clean, well balanced and accurate sound. I also think that Parasound gear will offer you freedom from distortions of lesser components because their stuff has REALLY BIG, STURDY and HEALTHY POWER SUPPLIES! And, just like an amplifier, a preamps power supply is crucial to getting big beefy deluxe sound. You say you can get the P3 at wholesale cost, for that price I don't think you could go wrong.

Also, if you want to hear Parasounds Richard Shram speak about his gear, and their design philosophies, go to Youtube, and search Parasound, Richard has a few videos for Audio Advisor on YouTube, and speaks about the companies design philosophy, construction and circuitry, parts selection , etc.

[timc]

I have listened alot to the P3.

IMO it is not very good. Sounds dull, and compressed. This together with both the A21 and the JC1's.

Their new JC2 is a whole other ballgame, but still not top notch in my book.

Parasound knows poweramps, but not preamps IMO.


-Tim

[timc]

RELIABLE, and HIGH QUALITY circuits and parts at a reasonable cost.

I think this was the case many years ago, but not anymore. Have had so much trouble with Parasound gear, it is ridiculous.

Both Halo and NC series. They fail,,,,fail,,,,and fail some more. Think we reached over 100% failure rate in the shop where i worked. The replacement/repaired units failed both 2nd and 3rd time around.


-Tim

[scott fitlin]

I think this was the case many years ago, but not anymore. Have had so much trouble with Parasound gear, it is ridiculous.

Both Halo and NC series. They fail,,,,fail,,,,and fail some more. Think we reached over 100% failure rate in the shop where i worked. The replacement/repaired units failed both 2nd and 3rd time around.


-Tim

Preamps, or amps? Wow, I hope I don't have the same experiences with the three amps I bought, so far.

I am in for three amps at this point, I would hate to see a 100% failure rate.

[SEAWOLF97]

I expect it is good... it might be very good to great, only one way to find out.

RELIABLE, and HIGH QUALITY circuits and parts at a reasonable cost. Parasounds gear is NOT cheap, yet it is priced reasonably well considering that their gear will stand with, and even better brands that cost considerably more.

I think this was the case many years ago, but not anymore. Have had so much trouble with Parasound gear, it is ridiculous.

Both Halo and NC series. They fail,,,,fail,,,,and fail some more. Think we reached over 100% failure rate in the shop where i worked. The replacement/repaired units failed both 2nd and 3rd time around.

-Tim

WOW !!!! speak of divergent opinions...

Tim ...is Norway on 110/60 or 220V/50hz ? I've never seen this question addressed, but here goes...


Q: ?? Is it a possible that a product designed for a 110V market can suffer when reconfiged for the 220/240V market ?


OKAY ...I asked for opinions and Tim has raised valid points...since reading his posts, I've done a lot of Googling and cant find anything abt high failure rate...did check their site and they do have a 5 year warranty IF purchased from an authorized dealer...so I shot them an email to see if this guy has been blessed by the company.

[scott fitlin]

WOW !!!! speak of divergent opinions...

Tim ...is Norway on 110/60 or 220V/50hz ? I've never seen this question addressed, but here goes...


Q: ?? Is it a possible that a product designed for a 110V market can suffer when reconfiged for the 220/240V market ?


OKAY ...I asked for opinions and Tim has raised valid points...since reading his posts, I've done a lot of Googling and cant find anything abt high failure rate...did check their site and they do have a 5 year warranty IF purchased from an authorized dealer...so I shot them an email to see if this guy has been blessed by the company.

I'm with you Seadude, I have been ALL over the net and everything about HALO by Parasound is GOOD! But I take Tim's words into consideration too.

[SEAWOLF97]

I'm with you Seadude, I have been ALL over the net and everything about HALO by Parasound is GOOD! But I take Tim's words into consideration too.

The P3 appears to be an '03 model .....if there were problems..there would seem to be enough time elapsed to have logged the massive failures as reported in Norway.

to answer W's question...yes, the unit in question is a demo (who's power cord has never been uncoiled....)

If the answers here were encouraging...plan to go back for a demo (and even uncoil the cord) ....PROVIDED that he is an authorized dealer and therefore will have a factory warranty.

2 minutes after I posted the above....the following email came in:

Hello Tom,

Thanks for your inquiry and your interest in Parasound. You’re smart to make sure you buy from an Authorized Dealer.

I am happy to advise that Joe Dodd is an Authorized Dealer for Parasound and for our Halo line.

I believe you will be very pleasantly surprised with the sound quality of your new Parasound preamplifier.

Kind regards,
Richard Schram
President
Parasound Products, Inc.

[scott fitlin]

Tom, I think you hit it, they have had enough time to fix whatever problems they may have had in the past. and according to everything recent I have read about the HALO gear suggests they not only sound good, but haven't had any problems either.


I have good expectations, though!

[timc]

Q: ?? Is it a possible that a product designed for a 110V market can suffer when reconfiged for the 220/240V market ?

This is very possible. I know of a few chinese tubeamps that suffers from this, and have to be modified.

To be clear, I have not had a P3 fail.

Have had trouble with A21, Both disc players. NC 2100, NC5250.

The NC5250 was just in for 3rd time!

They fixed it, but same problem keeps comming back.

I know it is not common to have Parasounds fail. I'm just sharing my concerns, since our shop obviously have had very bad luck.

Of the disc players 3 out of 3 failed within a week. The NC2100 suffered from bad soldering a few places.

To be CLEAR. This is not general criticism about the sound. That only applies for the P3.

[scott fitlin]

This is very possible. I know of a few chinese tubeamps that suffers from this, and have to be modified.

To be clear, I have not had a P3 fail.

Have had trouble with A21, Both disc players. NC 2100, NC5250.

The NC5250 was just in for 3rd time!

They fixed it, but same problem keeps comming back.

I know it is not common to have Parasounds fail. I'm just sharing my concerns, since our shop obviously have had very bad luck.

Of the disc players 3 out of 3 failed within a week. The NC2100 suffered from bad soldering a few places.

To be CLEAR. This is not general criticism about the sound. That only applies for the P3.

Tim, you speak what your experiences have been, I'll never ask you do anything other than that. I thank you for telling us of what has happened and what you have been through. I, of course, do hope I don't go through the same thing. And, coincidentally, I have an AC-21 on the way, for my 2in JBL horns! As well as two AC-23 for my tweeters. So, yeah, Tim, I want to be aware of things, too. EVEN if they are not positive things.

You know what? Cold solder joints, this has been the plague, or so it seems, of American brands, assembled elsewhere. And, I also remember a different set of problems in the mid 90,s, around 1996, Crest had a major problem on their hands. And Crest had just REALLY gotten that super strong foothold in the pro amp market, EVERYONE was loving their amps because they had HUGE power supplies and a BEEFY sound, and then, they got a bad run of the capacitors they used in their famous 8001, and 9001, and the amps were crapping out on turn on. I had a 7001 go up in smoke upon turn on at this time, and I didn't hesitate to go right back to my Crowns! AND that cost Crest their foothold in the market. They never did get it back quite the same way. EVERYONE went back to Crown, or QSC, which by this time, QSC had a really strong hold on the semi pro and pro markets. LAB GRUPPEN was becoming extremely popular, too.

What had caught my attention with the HALO series of amps, was their discrete JFET input, MOSFET driver stage, and high biased Class A+AB circuit topologies, their big filter storage capacitance, lots of bi polar outputs, and big power transformer. These things all make for great sound, especially in the upper frequencies, so, I said, YEAH, I want this.

As long as you mention the HALO AC-21, aside from whatever issues your unit had, how did or does it sound? I am going to use this amp to power six JBL 2395/2441J horns.

And, if you still have thew AC-21, did you get your problem corrected in a satisfactory fashion, and do you still have and use the amp?

[timc]

As long as you mention the HALO AC-21, aside from whatever issues your unit had, how did or does it sound?

And, if you still have thew AC-21, did you get your problem corrected in a satisfactory fashion, and do you still have and use the amp?

If you take price out of the equation, i think the A21 sound just about average. It finishes in the middle of the bunch.

If you take price into consideration, it gives great bang for the bucks. It has huge power reserves, and you need to really push it, to make it sound strained.

In summary I would say that it is a little down on refinement, but makes up for it with huge power reserves. It's all about compromises.

I actually considered buying a set of JC1 monoblocks when the national distributor gave me a good offer on a demo set. After comparing it with a Mcintosh MC-402, i choose the Mc. I found it better in all respects, except controll of large woofers. This was before i caught the JBL bug, so it was no problem. I was still dabbling with tiny 6.5" woofers.

I have never owned an A21 personally, but have had a sample in the shop for extended periods of time. The faulty one got fixed. I don't think the buyer hav had any problem since. Not 100% sure about that since I don't work there anymore.