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Parasound A21+ good bad ugly?

Well, the A21+ / Monitor audio set up is all broken in and sounds heavenly... wife made me put on the "All Christmas" FM 99.5 channel...even that sounded good, especially Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin (stuff my parents played when I was a kid!). When she went out to pick up the groceries, I popped my Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" CD into the Cambridge Audio player and cranked it up to earthquake level.. awesome!
 
Pythonman said:
It’s solid. Three years and no sign of strain or buckling. The VPI weighs about 50lbs too plus maybe 30lbs for the preamps.

The Pass labs amp is too wide and deep for the stand and being it runs the first 40watts class A it puts out a lot of heat. It also weighs over 100lbs.
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I just got done building a hybrid Pangea Vulcan rack in Rosenut: I used one of their junbo X brace amplifier stands (24"W x 21" Deep) as the base and stuck one of their four shelf X Brace Stands on top (24"W x 18" Deep). I only had to drill two holes in the base 3" in front of the rear holes. I added a 2" deep drawer, casters, and one set of 10" tall post/braces for clearance for my big Parasound amps. The heights between shelves are now 10" on bottom, 7 1/4" on the second and third shelves and 3 1/4" on the fouth shelf (I used the short posts that normally are the base of the four shelf stand). I made some "L" brackets and attached my old TEAC power filter to the base. I think it came out pretty nice and is rigid as all get out.
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Hybrid Vulcan stand 1
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Hybrid Vulcan stand 2
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Hybrid Vulcan stand 3
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Hybrid Vulcan stand 4
 
I just pulled the trigger on a NewClassic 200 pre to replace my Halo P3 as a headphone amp. I got in on the Morel Hogtalare kickstarter so I really needed a pre that can double as a headphone amp with a decent DAC. We'll see Friday...
 
The NC200 Pre is a decent preamp that uses a Burr-Brown DAC (like the P5). I like that you can control the subwoofer output from the remote (I wish my P6s were designed to do that) I never used it with headphones though, so I don't know how it will sound through them.
 
I purchased a dealer demo Parasound JC3+ phono stage about a year ago. It replaced a PS Audio GCPH that I had been using for about 3 yrs. The Parasound is head and shoulders above the PS Audio unit as it should be considering the price difference.
After owning the Parasound, I wouldn't hesitate to buy other Parasound products. John Curl knows a thing or two about designing a great sounding phono stage at a decent price.
 
gizzyman47 said:
I purchased a dealer demo Parasound JC3+ phono stage about a year ago. It replaced a PS Audio GCPH that I had been using for about 3 yrs. The Parasound is head and shoulders above the PS Audio unit as it should be considering the price difference.
After owning the Parasound, I wouldn't hesitate to buy other Parasound products. John Curl knows a thing or two about designing a great sounding phono stage at a decent price.
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Love my JC3+. I may buy another standard JC3 used to run my second turntable with. The 100ohm loading for MC would be perfect for my needs. 100ohms is a spot on match for my Koetsu Black. I don’t feel like I’m missing any of the Koetsus performance using the JC3+.
 
a21+ shown. with the right preamp the sound is as amazing as I could ever want. adjustable gain is a big plus in preamp matching. the only thing i don't like is how large and heavy it is- which is OK because it is staying right where it is....

pm8vhTSVj
 
According to the fancy do-hickey my work computer is hooked up to, my main A/C power has been cycling between 95-135 volts, usually the worst on windy days. I had the big living room stereo plugged into a Furman PST-8 power strip which was good for suppression, but not filtering (BIG stereo is a Parasound A21+ and P6 preamp running Monitor Audio Silver 500 speakers & sub). Safe & Sound had a brand new Furman Elite 15 DMI on sale last week for a decent price, so I snatched it up and it arrived yesterday while it was crazy windy: 40 mph gusting to 60mph - springtime in NM can get wicked windy because AZ blows and TX sucks (:rflmao::rflmao:). The power was running between 105 to 135 volts, but the new Furman unit held it between 119-121 volts.

I plugged everything in and fired it up: Wow is the best description I can think of: the soundstage was suddenly very wide, and I could pick out minor instruments in the background that I've never heard before, and this was just listening to FM broadcast radio. CDs were likewise enhanced. I had no idea that well regulated power could make this much difference in the sound.
 
I found out the problem with my AC power fluctuating was with the sub-station a few miles away...they had been replacing old transformers and when they would pull one offline the power would drop drastically- it really didn't have much to do with the wind, although the power company said that when the high tension lines get flapping really good in our really high spring winds the power can fluctuate as much as +/- 8 - 10 volts. They are sending me some nice new LED bulbs to replace all the old incandescent & CFL bulbs that blew out because of the power fluctuating (almost all the lights that were turned on when the power was jacked up blew out). Now that the power company is done with their fooling around the APC power unit my work computer is hooked up to has been reading between 118-122 volts. it would start buzzing & beeping then shut down the computer when the voltage dropped below 110 volts (apparently low voltage is worse than high).

I'm glad I only paid 1/2 price for the Furman Elite 15 DMI since it wasn't really needed (it does look way cool though, and I know that my system is well protected from any more power company shenanigans or lightning strikes).
 
I own the A21+ and is a keeper. I work in the hifi Industry and have access to way more expensive amplifiers such as Luxman, Gryphon, Mcintosh and others.
The A21+ is just what I need. Clear, Powerful, well balanced...

My entire system is
Parasound P6
Parasound A21+(somehow mine has the JC signature )
Lumin D2
Marantz SACD
JL Subwoofers
Sonus Faber Sonetto 5 Speakers\
Cables , Nordost Odin, Siltech Annivarsary 550i/550L , Krell and Furutech power cables
Panamax / Adcom Power Conditioners
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A21+ is a great amp - probably all that most people really need. It's very close to the JC5, but the JC5 is a touch better. I have a very small dedicated listening room, so I don't need tons of power. I have almost all Parasound gear now (see my sig below), and I took the A23+ home to audition with my speakers in my room. While I'd like to have an A21+ for the shear power, I don't need it and the A23+ sounds great with my Revels. FWIW - I'm on my third A23+ as the first two lost the LH channel. Parasound has been great and replaced the amps both times without any hesitation. #3 seems to be a charm, I've been running it for 6 months or so now and no problems. Parasound was understandably a bit cryptic, but they did mention that there may have been a run of A23+'s with a "weak" part. The F228Be's do throw a steep phase angle at the amp (and well below 4 ohms) under 260Hz, so they are not a cakewalk to drive - but not terrible. My Revel's did bring the Schitt Aegir's to their knees (in monoblock configuration) as they could not handle the low frequency low impedance/phase angle combination. Aegir as a stereo amp ran them fine, but 20 watts sounded a bit thin with that speaker. As monobloks the Aegier's sounded great, but loud bass transients made their shutdown circuitry trigger, so .... Anyway, the Parasound A23+ has plenty of power and sounds great.
 
I like my A21+ so much that I just bought another one! (so that I can Bi-amp my living room set up). Since I retired last month and don't have much to do except lay wood floors in the spare bedrooms, I've caught the "upgrade bug" and thought that maybe a JC5 would be better. I went to both location in town that sell Halo stuff - one of them had two of the older A21's being used to demo speakers. One was driving a set of Dynoaudio Excite X44s and the other a set of Paradigm Prestige 95Fs, both sounded excellent, but the Paradigms sounded closer to my Monitor Audio Silver 500s. I persuaded them to bi-amp the Paradigms and the difference was a noticeable "sweetness" for lack of a better word, especially at low to normal volumes (and head banging nuts at loud volumes). I was sold -- especially since an A21+ is $3K while a JC5 will set you back $6K . Hopefully they will be able to get it to me by the end of the month (the computer chip shortage that has shut down a lot of auto production has tricked down to audio equipment too).
 
The Parasound A21+ manual says to Bi Amp them this way (one amp drives each speaker) which is a bit different than what the "internets" suggest, but I'm doing it the way they say:
A21+ Bi - Amp Diagram

A21+ Bi - Amp Diagram

How to Bi-Amp a Parasound A21+ - per Owners Manual
 
I've got the P5 and A23, bought lightly used locally for a good price. It was a noticible upgrade from my Kenwood Basic C1 and M2 and I enjoy the combo very much. I imagine an A21 or A21+ would be even better...maybe someday.
 
soundmig said:
I have a very small dedicated listening room, so I don't need tons of power.... My Revel's did bring the Schitt Aegir's to their knees (in monoblock configuration) as they could not handle the low frequency low impedance/phase angle combination. Aegir as a stereo amp ran them fine, but 20 watts sounded a bit thin with that speaker. As monobloks the Aegier's sounded great, but loud bass transients made their shutdown circuitry trigger, so ....
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I am curious about the disconnect between 'small' listening room and somehow taxing the Aegir's, either stereo or monoblock. Are you listening to concert-level sound (90-100 dB+) in that small space?! I run a pair of Aegir's for my JBL L100t's, mostly at moderate sound levels, 80-86 dB max (which is already very loud). Even pushing things hard, uncomfortably high level hard (concert levels where I'd start to wear musician hearing protection at a concert... sounds like you should too), I've never been able to shut off the Aegir's. The JBLs are measured at ~92 dB sensitivity and their low freq impedance dips to ~5 ohms, so perhaps not too different from your Revel's. The Aegir-JBL combo can produce ridiculously high intensity and clean sound, and I have a good-sized 18x38x9' room, for a super-affordable $$.
 
hornbostel said:
I am curious about the disconnect between 'small' listening room and somehow taxing the Aegir's, either stereo or monoblock. Are you listening to concert-level sound (90-100 dB+) in that small space?! I run a pair of Aegir's for my JBL L100t's, mostly at moderate sound levels, 80-86 dB max (which is already very loud). Even pushing things hard, uncomfortably high level hard (concert levels where I'd start to wear musician hearing protection at a concert... sounds like you should too), I've never been able to shut off the Aegir's. The JBLs are measured at ~92 dB sensitivity and their low freq impedance dips to ~5 ohms, so perhaps not too different from your Revel's. The Aegir-JBL combo can produce ridiculously high intensity and clean sound, and I have a good-sized 18x38x9' room, for a super-affordable $$.
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It's not the room or the SPL levels. Schiit knew it was iffy when I ordered the second one to run as monoblocks, because of the impedance characteristics of my speakers. Aegir drives an 8 ohm load as a monoblock (2 internal amps run in parallel) and "maybe" can swing a 4 ohm load. The Revel's I own drop to roughly 3.4Ohm's at about 93 Hz and they present a very steep phase angle at around 390Hz. Schitt encouraged me to try it - as they were curious as well. It sounded great, but if you put something like a big Concert Bass Drum hit through it - the protection circuit would shut it down for a few seconds. Aegir sounded great, and I was seriously bummed to have to send them back - but as monoblocks they don't like the F228Be's.
 
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