Comparison question - AVA and Parasound HALO

G E · « **on:** 30 Jan 2007, 12:54 am »

To make a long story a bit shorter, while I had my speakers out of commission for a woofer re-foaming, I took my electronics upstairs and replaced my wife's vintage Kenwood Receiver and Pioneer CD juke box with Omega !!! poweramp, Fet-Valve Preamp and modified Pioneer dvd 563 SACD player. Her speakers are PSB Image 5, floor standers with two 6 or 7 inch woofers. Needless to say she was thrilled but now is really moping around because my woofers are refoamed and re-installed and I am saying it is time for the AVA stuff to go back on the rack in its rightful place.

So, here is the situation now. She decides she is going to spend $money$ and get a system with 'SLAM'. She spoke with Frank over the weekend and *frankly* I thought she was going to go for the new Ultra SL hybrid and Omegastar 260EX and maybe go for the EXH.

Wife really likes the sound of the AVA gear but also found out about Parasound gear and of course is smitten by silver faceplates, blue Halo's and glowing power buttons. And her research on the net turns up glowing review after another. She does not go for the AVA looks.

So here is where I ask your help. I have used AVA equipment for many years and I am very impressed with it, as is she. If it were my decision, the order would have been placed on Saturday. However, it isn't my decision,nor my money, so I am looking for observations from people on this forum who have heard both Parasound HALO equipment and current or at least recent rev's of Frank's gear.

If the empirical evidence puts the AVA sound over Parasound, she will get the AVA gear.

Her music pref is dance, pop 80's, traditional ROCK (TOMMY on sacd blew her away) and some accoustic stuff. Of course, I also want holographic imaging, detail without grain & etch and heck, who doesn't appreciate SLAM once in a while

Thanks for your observations in advance.

Greg

kfr01 · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 01:15 am »

Greg:

You're not going to find any empirical evidence showing that AVA bests Parasound.

Frankly, they likely measure and sound very similar.

I own a Parasound P3 preamp and a Parasound HCA-3500 amplifier. I am not motivated to upgrade.

Personally, I think "slam" is more dictated by your speakers, room, and source components.... but, for what its worth, I don't think you can go wrong with AVA or Parasound.

Cheers,

Karl

OldCoder · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 01:15 am »

I haven't heard the Parasound gear, but I have compared the AVA to
McIntosh and other gear considered "higher end" than Parasound.

AVA was *far* better period. Not Better for the Price, Better than 10x the price.

There is another possibility for your consideration. Donate your current rig to your bride
as an act of kindness, and order the Ultra preamp and Ultra 550 poweramp for your own rig.

She gets the sound she loves, and so will you....

BrianM · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 12:17 pm »

Sorry, the idea of my WIFE asking ME which audio gear SHE should buy for HER listening room causes this neural synaptic disconnect which nullifies any advice-giving ability. Good luck...

crossroadazn · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 02:37 pm »

Go with the Halo very nice looking and sounding good too.

avahifi · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 07:14 pm »

I would prefer if people who have never heard AVA equipment who want to make recommendations of other brands, start a new thread outside of the AVA circle.

I will accept comparisons from people who have actually experienced current AVA equipment (stuff made in the last year or so) and want to recommend something else. I would like them to report the models of AVA equipment they have owned or heard. There are a very few of those out there with axes to grind unfortunately.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

avahifi · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 07:32 pm »

Just to confuse you a bit, I will have a SILVER FACEPLATE small chassis Transcendence Eight vacuum tube preamp coming back in trade from a regular poster herein, just as soon as we can build him a new big chassis T8 with phone and remote control. These cannot be cost effectively done in the small chassis unit.

The faceplate was a very nice looking "one-off" done by our anodizer just to see how it would look. The unit has black knobs and switches, but looks very nice overall I think. (Current owner please comment).

It is significantly nicer sounding than the old Fet Valve preamp you now own. It has the same functions as your Fet Valve preamp.

Price: $699 (same as trade in allowance).

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

TjMV3 · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Jan 2007, 10:17 pm »

I have previously owned the Parasound Halo A21.

I have had only one brief experience in hearing the Fet Valve 550 and that was quite a while after buying my current amp, the Butler TDB 2250.

It's difficult to determine or compare the differences between the Halo A21 and the AVA amp, because of the different gear upstream, the different speakers and different rooms.

But I can tell you what little I did hear and why I sold my Halo A21.

The Halo A21 is powerful, dynamic and packs good impact/punch. It is relatively smooth in most frequencies and on good recordings. But I had problems with harsh, edgie high frequencies. Try as I might, I couldn't tame down the high frequencies with the A21; even on the better recordings. I tried different sources, pre amps and speakers; along with room treatments. The room treatments helped a little, but not enough to satisfy me.

So I sold the Halo A21 and bought the Butler TDB 2250. No more problems with annoying high frequencies. Only on the worst of the worst of recordings do I find some harshness and even then, it's much more tolerable than the A21. But take note that I also improved my Pre Amp and CD Players.

What I heard of the Fet Valve 550 was in many ways similar to the TDB 2250, but with a slightly different sound. Both are smooth, extremely musical and powerful. Both put the boogie in my booty.

I found the harmonics.....tunefullness and smoothness very similar. And to tell you the honest truth, I could never decide which amps I love best between the Butler TDB 2250 and the AVA Fet Valve 550.

Both simply present a wonderful, beautiful, musical presentation of music.....I mean MUSIC that gets me on the emotional level.

So I decided to put the Butler TDB 2250 and TDB 5150 in the living room HT/2-channel system, and I'm currently saving for the Transcendence Eight Pre Amp and Fet Valve Ultra 550, for my home office. And since I work from home the AVA gear will get a major work out. I listen to music all day as I work

Don't get me wrong here, I think the Halo A21 is a nice amp. And I enjoyed much of what it did, but when it comes to comparing it to the sound/performance of these other two amps and what you get for the price; in my opinion, the Halo comes no where near the AVA Fet Valve Ultra 550 or the Butler TDB 2250.

BrianM · « **Reply #8 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 02:25 am »

Quote from: avahifi on 30 Jan 2007, 07:32 pm

Just to confuse you a bit, I will have a SILVER FACEPLATE small chassis Transcendence Eight vacuum tube preamp coming back in trade from a regular poster herein, just as soon as we can build him a new big chassis T8 with phone and remote control. These cannot be cost effectively done in the small chassis unit.

The faceplate was a very nice looking "one-off" done by our anodizer just to see how it would look. The unit has black knobs and switches, but looks very nice overall I think. (Current owner please comment).

It is significantly nicer sounding than the old Fet Valve preamp you now own. It has the same functions as your Fet Valve preamp.

Price: $699 (same as trade in allowance).

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Here it is:

Nice looking. Nicer sounding than my Classe DR-6 ($3500) was, too. Hooked to a FetValve amp it frankly sounds good enough to have made me seriously consider not spending for the upgrade. But of course I could not help myself...

For 700 bucks I'd be surprised if you found anything comparable.

CE2 · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 10:49 am »

Hey Frank, I kinda like the "old" silver layout and look maybe more than black current ones, I don't think I ever seen AVA in this motif'. Cool. The customer can be fickle, one year wants silver, then next black, used to be Champagne gold. RED never caught on did it? But basic BLACK is always what lasts. So it just disapears in instalations. Especially pro stuff is black. Isn't ParaSound a Chinese product anyway? Usually Sum Ting Wong? Didn't I read back some time ago, they had a notorius transfomer hum problem? Make mine AVA. Super reliable, super sounding, super stuff.

avahifi · « **Reply #10 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 11:17 am »

Thanks for posting the photo and your klnd comments.

GE are you watching?

Frank Van Alstine

MaxCast · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 12:09 pm »

I like the silver too.

G E · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 03:17 pm »

"GE are you watching?"

I am! I sent an email to you last night with several questions.

Greg

avahifi · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 03:27 pm »

Your e-mail did not get to me GE, please try again.

Frank

rustneversleeps · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 09:34 pm »

It's quite interesting to see you folks discussing about face plate color here.

I think in the golden age of audio, the face plate color were gold (sometime they sprayed a coat of lacquer on it), siver, or brass, like the Marantz, Eico, Fisher as such.

During the Japanese invasion of the 70's, they also made their stuff in silver to capture the American market.

Then in the earlier 80's, the Japanese decided to adapt the high end and techy look of "black", many thought that because the higher end Japan camera were in black color, the cheap ones in silver.

American high end such as Conrad Johnson, and Audio Research didn't really give in to the black, Audio Research did make a few in black years ago.

Personally, I like the gold color like the Dynaco's. I thought it may help AVA sale if they were made in gold color, only if it wouldn't affect the price too much of course. It would be nice if Frank would offer it as an option.

BradJudy · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 10:02 pm »

Since the faceplates are removable, it might make more sense for Frank to have a Front Panel Express template set up for his products. Then customers could just order a replacement faceplate themselves if they wanted a different color (or maybe Frank could do that himself upon request). It wouldn't be a free option, but it also wouldn't have much for additional costs for Frank.

Frank, if that's an option you'd like to pursue, I could help you out with building the template files. I've used FPE for one of my DIY projects.

It would add a silver option, as well as a few other bright colors.

avahifi · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 10:51 pm »

Hey Brad, tell me about it. But remember that there is more than the faceplates, there is knobs, pushbuttons, switches, and all that other front panel hardware. I have to buy 1000 knobs at a time to get a custom gold stripe on a high quality black knob, I hate to repeat that for silver.

Regards,

Frank

BradJudy · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Jan 2007, 11:54 pm »

True, you'd have to accept the standard knob/switch colors it keep costs down. While that would probably work fine for most colors, the silver crowd probably wants silver knobs.

I could work up a sample template by eye-balling the pictures on your site. If you have a technical drawing of a faceplate, I could make an accurate one. At the very least, it would be helpful to know the thickness of faceplate you use.

Here's the site I'm talking about http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ It's popular with DIY folks who want to do custom one-off faceplates. You can see samples of colors here: http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/material/variety.htm

Since the software automatically generates a quote, I would know right away how much these custom faceplates would cost.

There may be better options out there for batch orders of faceplates, but this is a fairly quick and easy way to build out custom ones. Saavy customers could do this on their own, but providing a template file would ensure they got all of the spacing correct.

BradJudy · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 Feb 2007, 01:30 am »

I did a quick mock up of a Transcendence pre-amp. With everything except the AVA logo (they can do this, but it would take more work to mock it up), it looks like ~$65 for a single unit (discounts at qty of 5, 10, 20, 30+).

avahifi · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 Feb 2007, 01:39 am »

OK, I can send you a full scale drawing of an Ultra SL faceplate, with graphics, just for fun. I run a Mac, is a high res .pdf file OK?

I need your e-mail address.

Panel thickness is .09 inch, the max that will accept our snap-in power switch.

Thanks much,

Frank Van Alstine