Price Paid:  $700.00 from My Internet Dealer

Summary:
I've had this unit for several years as a replacement to my PSP1500 with outboard DVD with built-in surround decoder. It's a solid unit, I've had no problems with it, the sound is very good especially with DTS (a requirement I now have for DVDs).

Strengths:
Build quality is better than just about anyone at this price. The unit is quite reliable, just wish it had a bit more musicality for 2 channel.

Weaknesses:
Digital locking could be faster, like some other Parasounds, this unit sometimes misses the first note of a song while locking on to the signal. For Movies, no impact.

Price Paid:  $450.00 from E-Bay

Summary:
I have had this Pre-Pro for about 6 months now. I started out very disappointed with my purchase. It suffered from a hum in DD and DTS. I tried everything I could think of. New cables, power cords, line conditioner, moving the amp, different circuits in the house, etc. nothing worked. So I E-mailed tech support at Parasound they said it might need an updated E-prom chip. They were nice enough to send it for free even though the unit was no longer under warrantee. No difference, then I was told a defective "DSP" board. Again they were nice enough to sell me one at dealer cost $175.00. Installed it the hum was still there but much improved. Only noticed it when cranked and on the quietest of passages. Finally I decided to buy a new DVD player. Partly because I hoped it would solve the problem and partly because the old one was a POS Samsung DVD-711. Which has skipped and over heated since almost day one but that’s another story. I hooked the new player up and guess what no hum! Gone bye bye I was blown away. Granted the AVC-1800 should have never had a hum with any player but as they say garbage in garbage out. Now I am very happy with the sound quality of 2 channel and DD, DTS very clean. Silky smooth sound, and excellent D/A converters. It also so far doesn't seem to have any problems with DTS/es, DD/ex, DTS 96/24 soundtracks but your mileage may vary. All in all the months of pain and suffering with this unit were worth it, especially for the price I paid. I have champagne tastes on a cheap beer budget. When it has no hum it is a great Pre Pro. My Modest System: Parasound Avc-1800 B&K AV-6.5.4, 6 channel amp Velodyne F-1500, sub Mirage OM-10, BI-Wired, mains Mirage MC-4, center Design Acoustics PS-10, rears Panamax Max-1000 line conditioner Sony CX88ES 200 disc CD, used as transport HK FL-8350, Modified, used as transport Sony DVP-NS755v dvd, SCAD Yamaha KX-230 tape deck Canare 4S11 Speaker cable, Signet banana's Canare GS-6, Neutrik, hand made RCA’s Canare, Heartland Cable, digital coax "Finest Glass Toslink" Hand made power cords, Carol, Marinco, Hubbell

Strengths:
Sound Quality, 5.1 inputs, the 3 24 bit Burr Brown D/A converters, great tuner, Value, great support from Parasound

Weaknesses:
not 6.1, or 7.1, the tuner dispaly is always on. and of course the DD, DTS hum if you have it.

Similar Products Used:
B&K, PS-Audio, Onkyo, Sony ES, Denon, Yamaha

Price Paid:  $550.00 from eBay

Summary:
The AVC-1800 is about the best AV Pre-amp that I have listened to at its price point. It certainly performs all the functions that someone new to separates would need. It doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles to distract you, but is a solid performer on the basics: Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, DTS and Stereo. If you currently use the previous generation pre/pro from Parasound (the PSP-1500 and PDD-1500), then this is a logical upgrade since you get basically a single chasis design, an upgraded chipset, and DTS decoding that the previous generation did not have. I compared this unit to the previous generation in several A/B tests and could not tell the difference. Compared to other AV pre-amps like the AVC-2500, Proceed AVP or ADA Cinema Reference, the AVC-1800 certainly does not rise and challenge them, but does put up a good fight. Overall, this preamp is squarely aimed at the entry-level separates fan, and from my experience should satisfy their needs. I have had no issues with the unit, though it comes with a 10 year warranty.. about the best in the business.

Strengths:
Usability - Easy to setup and use on a daily basis Build - No plastic components here... this is a solid pre-amp Remote - Easy to use Sound - Solid stereo and surround processor Price - I can't think of another pre-amp in this price range that covers all the bases like this one

Weaknesses:
Bass Management - if your setup is not all Large, or all Small, but some mixture, this pre-amp does not handle the variations very well. Tuner Display - it is always on

Similar Products Used:
Parasound PSP-1500 / PDD-1500 Parasound AVC-2500 Proceed PAV & AVP ADA Cinema Reference

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I traded my Parasound PLD 1100 2 channel Pre-amp and Parasound''s 1600 Dac for this unit, and noticed an immediate improvement in detail, resolution, dynamics and soundstage. Yes, that''s right, this unit replaced seperates that once retailed for twice it''s price. It was like a vail was lifted from my speakers. This unit drove a Pass Labs Aleph 3 pure class A amp with Totem Model One Signatures. All cables and interconnects are by Totem as well. All components are properly set up on Golden Sound Jumbo Cones and Pads. I have had no problems with my unit as some people did. No hum or buzz, plenty of volume control etc. As an Audiohpile forced by marriage to return to earth, I feel I have sacificed little and gained a lot by having a nifty hometheater set up now. Two channel is a very anti-social hobby, you know. The only bone I have to pick is the aweful display. I don''t care about video switching, since a direct path is always best, and most modern TV''s have plenty of inputs anyway. Besides, high frequency video noise is what''s probably causing everyone these problems. Why introduce it into your component. Keep it out. That actually goes for tuners as well, and I''d much rather have a seperate unit. Anyway, I therefore rely on the Processor''s display, and wished it was larger and only indicated the current input and mode, instead of displaying the frequency at all times. I would also like to see more coax digital inputs. I feel it is superior to Toslink. The dacs in the 1800 are of excellent quality, and I run my Sony 7700 as a CD transport only, using Monster''s 1000 Silver digital cable. The only other negative side is the bass management. I don''t mind the toggle switches or the fixed crossover, however, if you select small for the mains, and large for the center and/or rears, your mains automatically go to large when switching to stereo. I guess the processor redirects the bass from the center to the mains when the center is not activated. So I am forced to run my whole set up on small, so that all of the bass is redirected to the sub. With the crossover in the signal path, I do loose a certain degree of transparency. With a lesser revealing system this may not pose a problem though.

Strengths:
Clean dynamic sound in stereo and 5.1, good internal dacs, no frills ,solid performance , great value, great remote.

Weaknesses:
Display, bass management, only two coax digital inputs.

Similar Products Used:
Pro logic Receivers of the late 80''s.

Price Paid:  $599.00 from good guys

Summary:
I purchased this unit largely because it had been miss marked. The store in la masa realy didn't want to sell it to me. I took it home and set it up for break-in and a test run. The first thing that got me was that the unit itself would generate alot of rf noise to the system. The cable picture would realy show it. The sound though is very clear. This unit is alot like a dac, what happens is that it takes input and does all it's processing in the digital domain. For those of you who like analog warmth you will mostlikely not like this unit. I did not have any pops crackels or hiss in any form. This unit is fed w/ac line conditioner. Now, about the rf problem, I went to used cables.com and got a audio magic a/c plug for the pre amp and an audio quest power cord for the amp. problem fixed. This set up (the 1800 pre/ 855 amp) is very sonicly sound and has an incredible black background for this price range (basicly 1000 for both. The mids and highs are very distinct and seperate.The bass management is very good. The amount of jitter experienced is extreamly low, I often forget that all sound is digitized. My only real complaint is that it shows the fm station at all times and that the bur-brown dac's are easily overloaded by my cd player's s-n-r (over 116db)so if your cd player does not have any variable out you are s.o.l. It is my opinion that if you use this unit get good cables and a clean power supply to eliviate sonic problems. Over all I am very happy and would purchase Parasound products again.

Strengths:
High quality to price ratio stereo sound very well rounded

Weaknesses:
people who like analog may not like it, also cd input issues, see below

Similar Products Used:
many