The Halo A 23+ includes a number of upgrades from its predecessor, the Halo A 23: The power output in mono has increased from 400W to 500W; in stereo, the increase is from 125 to 160Wpc into 8 ohms, and from 225 to 240Wpc into 4 ohms; the filter capacitors have been upgraded, from 40,000 to 54,400µF; the large, shielded toroidal transformer, formerly 1.0kVA, is now 1.1kVA; the crosstalk has improved, from 63 to 70dB; and the speaker terminals are now the “heavy-duty” ones used in the Halo HINT 6 integrated amplifier. High bias Class A/AB operation. © Parasound Products, Inc. All right reserved. Available in black with gold accents or silver, the HINT 6 is aimed at those who want the simplicity of having one piece of equipment versus two or more separate components, it also eliminates the need for additional power and interconnect … While their focus was clearly on sound and build quality rather than a long list of features, they’ve nonetheless provided enough flexibility to satisfy a variety of users. I haven't heard better sound or seen higher build quality at this price. The Halo A 23+ stereo power amplifier ($1495 USD) measures 17.25”W x 4.2”H x 15.25”D and weighs 27 pounds. Its rectangular metal faceplate has rounded plastic end plates at left and right, a case of folded sheet metal, and most of its top plate is pierced by ventilation slots. 160 watts x 2, 8 Ω both channels driven The A 23+ offers 45A peak current per channel, and has gold-plated terminals and sockets, discrete Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFETs) for inherently high-impedance input, and Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) to reduce odd-order harmonic distortion in the driver stages. In the world of hi-fi amplifiers, lots of features often means a compromised sonic performance. Category: Amplifiers Parasound Halo P-3 Preamplifier and A-23 Power Amplifier Reviewed by David O’Gorman I purchased this unassuming little duo from a reputable seller on Audiogon ($1225 for the pair, N-I-B), without having *ever* heard them in a stereo salon. . The aural images of the instruments on this intimate recording of an acoustic jazz quintet were also more defined through the Halo. There are other lights -- tiny LEDs that glow blue to indicate that each channel is functioning properly, red to warn of overheating. < 0.06 % at full power The A23 was not considered one of the best efforts at Parasound. Frustrated, and for the sake of this review, I was forced to speculate about the nature of accurate and neutral. AC mains voltage is set on rear panel, LowBeats (Germany) November 2020 1 = Ground (Shield) The Parasound managed just fine without it. Sidebar 3: Measurements I tested the Parasound Halo A 21+ with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). "Parasound has chosen to take a staple core product that has remained an exceptional value for over fifteen years, the Halo A21 amplifier, and re-spin it into the Halo A21+," reports Michael Zisserson at positive-feedback.com. "the Parasound P 6 and Parasound A 23+ play together in a pleasingly balanced and precise manner, while still musical with tonality that tends toward warmth. Parasound provides great value in the Halo A 23+ power amplifier. I am also thinking of buying 2 RSL 10" subs. While I’d never thought the NAD lacked for power, the Parasound offered much more, and was able to deliver it with greater control across the audioband. Parasound’s feature-packed high-end amplifier is a knockout. Post a comment. I … Audio. Parasound's power amp is able to bring out the best bass from speakers. Standby: <1 Watt As I mentioned earlier, the first A23 stand-alone was too compromised in components to consequently have lower power rating. The two binding posts support speaker cables up to 10AWG. "Together, the Parasound P 6 and A 23+ are dynamite. Parasound Products was founded in 1981, in San Francisco, by Richard Schram, whose mission was to provide value for the money to his customers. Access (formerly GoodSound!) Different kinds of music made us appreciate the unusual character of this amplification. In “Lester Leaps In,” from Bucky Pizzarelli’s Swing Live (24/96 FLAC, Chesky/HDtracks), Michael Moore’s bass was more intense and driving through the Parasound. Network. The output-stage transistors support high current levels and are extremely fast (60MHz), to tame transient intermodulation distortion. 210 watts x 2, 8 Ω both channels driven There are also A/B speaker terminals with individual on/off functions. I am also thinking of sticking with the Logitechs and forgetting about all this other stuff. But thanks to better technology and improved design, things are changing. This was also particularly true of its reproduction of recordings of double bass. Rapid changes in the ranges of frequency and dynamics, and spatially across the soundstage, were effortlessly accomplished. As Sherman traversed his instrument’s range, I could follow the movements of his mallets across the soundstage with the A 23+. The Emo has less power 50W @ 8ohms VS 125W @ 8 ohms, but Emo is just more musical to me (so is the HCA 3500). > 70 dB at 20 kHz, Input Impedance I haven't heard better sound or seen higher build quality at this price. *All Power measurement are at 120 VAC, "Parasound provides great value in the Halo A 23+. All rights reserved. After 15 years of devoted service, Parasound has retired its beloved Halo A 21 amplifier. At lower levels, Josefowicz’s E-string glissandi had a slight tendency to get lost against the orchestral backdrop in Sarasate’s showpiece Zigeunerweisen. "There is a lot to like in the reasonably-priced Parasound HALO A 23+ stereo amplifier. Description Since 1981, Richard Schram, founder and CEO of Parasound Products, Inc., has built the brand on making audio components that look and sound expensive, but sell for much less than it appears they should. . At far left are some interesting alternatives to turning on the amp with its front-panel On/Off button. This site was designed by JoomlaShack, Karen Fanas, and The SoundStage! (Rack-mounting kits are available for all models in all lines.) Parasound Products was founded in 1981, in San Francisco, by Richard Schram, whose mission was to provide value for the money to his customers. Unbalanced: 1 V I am thinking of pairing the Parasound Halo A23 with the Parasound Halo P-5 preamlifier I am also thinking of buying the Yamaha A-S801. This was fixed in A23+ and the power went back up to 160W for the exact same design. The Halo A 23+ was designed by engineer John Curl, who’s well known in audio circles, and since the 1990s has designed many amplifiers for Parasound. Although the two amps share some specifications, in terms of sound the Parasound consistently bested the NAD. » English Translation PDF, Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity, November 2020 45 amps peak, per channel, Slew Rate Sathyan Sundaramsathyans@soundstagenetwork.com. On the Halo A 23+’s rear panel are balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs; each channel has a toggle switch for choosing between them, as well as its own loop output (RCA) for additional amplification (e.g., a subwoofer), and a Gain knob. It has outputs for a subwoofer and the option to set the crossover frequency. At far right are the fuse bay, the main power switch, and a three-pronged IEC power inlet. There’s a dedicated preamp feed too. When my source was Cambridge’s CXN (V2) network player, what most impressed me about the Halo A 23+ was its clarity in the delicate introductory solo of Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra, performed by soloist Leila Josefowicz with Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, on their Bohemian Rhapsodies (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, Philips). Parasound at Rocky Mountain AudioFest 2017 - Stereophile review by Herb Reichert. > 85 dB at 1 kHz Parasound A23, if your A23 is running HOT it’s either deficient (a defective part, or circuit improperly repaired or altered), or it is extremely confined and without normal free air circulation. Unbalanced: 33 kΩ "One strength is its capability to reproduce a wide sonic palette, with depth and plenty of micro information. Yes, this is how HiFi is fun." I found that the Halo A 23+, given enough breathing space on top, ran cooler than my NAD C 356BEE integrated amplifier. Parasound calls the Halo Integrated a 2.1 channel amplifier. Features include c ircuitry designed by legendary John Curl, upgraded power output, transformer, filter capacitance, internal connections, speaker terminals and cosmetics. > 130 volts per microsecond, Frequency Response Side note - while there's no problem finding reviews on Parasound amps, I looked long and hard and couldn't find even a hint of a real review on one of the Emotiva DR models - and they've been out for a while now. The company's new NewClassic 200 Integrated is, as you might well guess, an integrated amplifier, with a high-quality onboard digital-to-analog converter section. It is a one-box solution that contains both the Halo P6 preamp ($1,499) and the Halo A23+ amplifier($1,499). Parasound Halo, ZoneMaster, Z Custom, and NewClassic are four distinct product families. The low end felt precise, controlled, and natural, as evidenced in this symphony’s many passages for timpani. (14.4 kg), Power Requirement The strata of instruments -- piano, strings, woodwinds -- remained distinct, producing an exciting feel. I connected the Halo A 23+’s 12V trigger using the mono interconnect included with Parasound’s NewClassic 200 Pre preamplifier, also in for review, and set the A 23+ to turn itself on when the 200 Pre sent a trigger signal. < 0.03 % at typical listening levels, Inter-channel Crosstalk Reviews of Attainable Hi-Fi & Home-Theater Equipment. The A23… System: - Parasound A23 amp - Parasound P3 preamp - Paradigm Studio 100 / v2 This is a response to the previous, rather negative, review. Balanced: 1 V per leg, S/N Ratio I preconditioned the amplifier by operating it at one-third the specified power into 8 ohms for an hour. These attributes of the Parasound’s sound were much more pronounced with well-recorded, high-resolution recordings than with run-of-the-mill CDs. 2 mV - 10 mV, XLR Pin Identification Their four current product lines are: ZoneMaster, for stable power amplification into impedances of 2 ohms, and outboard crossovers for multi-speaker custom installations; the Z models, half-rack-space components also intended for the custom market; NewClassic, their budget line; and the Halo line, which comprises their most extensive, expensive, and highest-performing models. Toward the end of this review, I received the new Parasound Halo P6 preamp that will solve this woe. ", Stereo+ (Norway) January 2019 Parasound 2125v2 150 Watt Stereo Power Amplifier The Parasound 2125v2 is a two-channel THX Ultra2 Certified power amplifier. The only control on the faceplate, an On/Off button in the lower-left corner, is set into a flute, or rounded groove, that runs the entire width of the thick faceplate -- when the A 23+ is turned on, this button is illuminated in a soft blue that makes it seem to float above the groove, and nicely complements the two vertical pinstripes of gold at far left and right. Yes I know the Fortes have quite good bass extension. It is stylish, packs sufficient amplification power, and delivers solid high-fidelity sonic performance. We put Parasound’s HINT 6, a powerful and seriously versatile stereo amplifier, through its paces. > 107 dB, input shorted, unweighted, DC Trigger Requirements > 112 dB, input shorted, IHF A-weighted During my time with the Halo A 23+, these never reddened. The A23's innards are almost entirely discretes and most of the traces run on the underside of the board, making it hard to probe around to reverse engineer the amp's schematic, but presumably Parasound does this so they can deliver balanced and unbalanced signals to a balanced input stage and save a bit of cost. I'm curious about the overwhelming silence on the DRs. 110-125 VAC 60 Hz or 220-250 VAC 50 Hz So you can justifiable say the original Hint was closer to the current A23+. 3 = Negative (Return), Dimensions Parasound was founded in 1981 by Richard Schram, and the company has been offering audio products under their own name as well as for OEM sales since then. In “Venture Within” from Interplay, a duo album by Kenny Barron and Mark Sherman (24/192 AIFF, Chesky), Sherman’s vibraphone strokes were definitive and reverberant. I was impressed by its quietness, the amount of power it could swiftly deliver, and its tremendous dynamic range. As Parasound defines it, value begins to decline when additional cost provides only marginal and diminishing returns, and increases when a product is reliably functional over decades. Some audio products impose their own signature on the sound of any recording played through them, but the Halo A 23+ consistently let the music itself shine through, reproducing it with a sound that was always detailed, accurate, and balanced. The power was clean and clear. based on most comments i've read the amp/pre-amp … Nonetheless, it is still very much a Curl design, with his customary J-FET input stage, MOSFET driver stage, and beta-matched bipolar-transistor output stage—each arrayed in a complementary configuration, making for a more linear and lower distortion circuit. https://www.techradar.com/.../amplifiers/parasound-p3-a23-704161/review 240 watts x 2, 4 Ω both channels driven, Power Output – Stereo Mode (0.9% THD) Both channels are driven, with 150 watts-per-channel into 8 ohms. The Parasound reproduced the extremes of low-frequency percussive punch and finessed the emotive flutes, excelling at highlighting microdynamics and timbral characteristics; the NAD provided less in the way of such contrasts. 34 lb. (With a class-AB output stage, one-third power results in the maximum dissipation in the output devices.) Moreover, this reasonably priced amp is musically quite involving. A fully "in spec" A23 won’t ever get more than mildly warm, even when pushed fairly hard into a nominal 4 Ohm load (air circulation normal). As the amp was placed atop the preamp, this configuration made sense, and the Halo’s auto-sensing worked reliably. Gold-plated RCA input jacks ensure quality sound playback. They apparently compromised way too much on the components to meet the price target. 500 watts x 1, 8 Ω Back to Emotiva TA-100 VS Parasound A23, it is a conundrum. The second amp I have never had a problem with. Parasound emphasizes that their products are supported from their San Francisco headquarters, and at dozens of authorized service centers across the US. I found that the Parasound didn’t suffer from power-line inconsistencies, as my NAD C 356BEE integrated amp ($900) does when plugged directly into the wall -- which is why I plug the NAD into an APC Line-R LE1200 power conditioner. In the Halo A 23+, Parasound has delivered an impressive power amplifier. Depth: 15"-1/4" (388 mm) For the same amp that was used in the Hint. Bridged 4 Ω operation is not recommended, Power Output – Bridged Mode (0.9% THD) One incredibly appealing preamp-amplifier package from Parasound.". The A 23+ can be switched between its Stereo and Bridged Mono modes with a single toggle switch between the sets of left- and right-channel inputs -- in bridged mode, the Halo A 23+ delivers an astounding 500W into 8 ohms throughout the entire audioband (20Hz-20kHz). An impressive power amplifier." Through the NAD, it had less energy and verve. The first amp started making hideous noises within an hour of listening but getting another one from my dealer calling Parasound was not a problem at all. Via unbalanced (RCA) interconnects, I fed the A 23+ audio signals from my primary sources, a Music Hall MMF CD-25 CD player and a Cambridge Audio CXN (V2) network player. hi - i'd like your input with regard to a possible purchase. The Halo HINT 6, retailing for $2,995, is Parasound’s flagship integrated amplifier. Parasound serves both the consumer and professional markets; their products have been used by multiple Oscar-winning sound designers, from such studios as Lucasfilm, Pixar, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Parasound currently makes preamplifiers and phono preamplifiers; mono, stereo, and multichannel power amplifiers; and integrated amplifiers; in the past they’ve offered AM/FM tuners, loudspeakers, preamplifier-processors, CD players, and DACs. Width: 17-1/4" (437 mm) The component under review, the $2000 Halo A 21 stereo amp, is slotted in further down the Parasound line. The rambunctious second movement of Bruckner’s large-scale Symphony No.9 delivers deliberate punch in energetically throbbing unison ostinato in the recording with Gustavo Dudamel leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (24/48 AIFF, Deutsche Grammophon/HDtracks), and the Parasound delivered room-filling sound, the timpani extending deep into the low bass without congestion. And Barron ’ s sound were much more pronounced with well-recorded, high-resolution recordings than run-of-the-mill! 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