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Parasound HCA-800II and C/PT-600

S

skrol

Member
Hello
It has been a while since I posted to the forums here.

Recently I picked up a Parasound HCA-800II amp and C/PT-600 pre-amp tuner. There doesn't seem to be much on the web about these units. I did manage to find an owners manual for the HCA-800II and a schematic but it is for a different version of the amp. There seem to have been at least two versions of the HCA-800II and there is the previous HCA-800. I have found nothing on the C/PT-600.

I did email Parasound service. Pretty cool that Richard Schram (President of Parasound Products, Inc) responded to my email. What a company.

They were able to provide the schematic that I mentioned above. That one has 2 large output transistors / ch while mine has 4 smaller output transistors / ch.

Apparently, the HCA-800 was from 1985-ish while the HCA-800II was from 1990-1992. I believe the HCA-800 was before John Curl but I think the HCA-800II would have been around when he started there. I don't know if he had a hand in the later design.

The setup provides a nice warm quality and effortlessly drives my Polk RTA-11TL's with very solid, deep bass.

Anyone have any info or knowledge that they can share on these units?

Thanks
Stan
 
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I don't know about the models you have, but I've seen lots of the 800 series around here, and on CL. I own the 2200II, and love it. The best way to find out more, is to call them. They are a great company. My tech has the same one I do, and has talked with J. Curl himself, about rebuilding it. Talk about costumer support. Anyway, good luck.
 
I had contacted Parasound and Richard Schram (President) got back to me. They were able to provide a schematic for the 800II but it was for a different variant than mine. Couldn't seem to find anything on the C/PT-600. Still it was very cool that the president of the company emailed me.

One question that I have is the pre-amp has two pairs of line-outs. Is there any difference between the two pairs?

Stan
 
Hey Stan,
First, the question about your preamp outputs: If they're just labelled output 1 and output 2 (or similar) then no, there is no difference. 2 sets of outputs is common on preamps as a convenience for people who wish to biamp.

However, some preamps like my Adcom GFP-555 II have a second output labelled "Bypass" that bypasses some of the front panel controls.

As far as the power amps, I didn't realise there were two different versions of the output section. They did offer two different versions of the input section, one with 1/4" and RCAs, and one with just RCAs. I have one of each. However, when I peeked through the top with a flashlight, both of mine had 2 output transistors per side. One had 4 A1386, while the other had 2 A1386 for one channel and 2 C3519 for the other. Strange. I wonder how stable an amp would be running in bridged mode with two different kinds of output transistors? I wonder why they're different?

The plot thickens.

-Jon
 
I have been having lots of fun with the Parasound pair. re-capped the HCA-800II and most of the CPT-600 with Nichicon FG and KZ capacitors in the audio path and they are sweet.

Quite a few (about 1/3) of the electrolytic went out of spec with age. On the CPT-600, I only re-capped the audio section and not the tuner. I would like to work over the tuner section as it is having issues, however, I am reluctant as I can’t find a service manual to go through the realignment. Parasound does not have the service manual or schematics for this unit anymore or for those using similar tuners. They did tell me that the C/PT-600 , C/PT1000R and the R/HD-600 all use the same tuner.

Would anyone happen to have a SM for any of these?

Thanks
Stan
 
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