Parasound HCA-1500A
- Thread starter highend64
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Jon S
Super Member
Parasound amps are excellent, but you are looking at a 25 yo design with slightly more power. I think the Parasound will have more grunt because of its beefier power supply, as it weights over 40 lbs compared to the B&K 30 lbs. I have the lower end HCA750A with 75 watts and am amazed at how effortlessly it can dry my Magnepans.
Had one, was a big fan.
What made you change your mind?
I doubled my money on it when I sold it.
The HCA-1500A is a nice amp with Lots of current (60 amps). Some of them are affected by the infamous fake capacitor plague that effected all kinds of electronics, so a recap would be a very good idea for long term reliability.
You can also find a much newer Parasound New Classics 2250 (275 watt/45 amp) for a reasonable price and not worry about the caps for 20 years...
Read about the "capacitor plague" here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague#:~:text=The capacitor plague was a,generation, often rupturing the case
You can also find a much newer Parasound New Classics 2250 (275 watt/45 amp) for a reasonable price and not worry about the caps for 20 years...
Read about the "capacitor plague" here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague#:~:text=The capacitor plague was a,generation, often rupturing the case
+1 for @krautmaster comments. The 1500 is from the era where the fake caps are quite common. Early cap failure is pretty common on these. Still good amp designs with lots of power but you may need to go through and recap the amp.
I used to work on these 10 years ago. Even then was finding a few samples with leaking caps. But if you go through with genuine Nichicons or similar, amp should be good for another 30+ years.
