Detail, features, adjustments.

Gets warm after long period of use

This a really nice sounding pre amp with a lot of detail. You can hear every detail of instruments and differentiate between instruments played at the same pitch. Dont know what the problem is with the previous reviewer. Never have any problems with my unit which I have used daily for over a year. I dont play it so loud that all the circuits start to clip which will damage your tweeters.

Pretty good sound when working properly

Not at all reliable, I feel for those who paid even 1/4 the full retail price. A 200 dollar radio shack reciever is better buy than this trash heap.

Just want to update my previous review. This damn thing keeps locking up..at loud volumes, yeah I can reset it by unplugging it for a while, but I am waiting for one of my speakers to blow during one of its "lock ups". Still think the sound is good when working, but not worth the reliability issues. I am going to go with the Outlaw 950 processor, this thing simply isn't worth it.

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Can't afford anything else, but almost saved enough for the Outlaw 950, I hope its as good as the reviews.

suppose THX certification, but it is comming to mean nothing. Does have decent amount of inputs.

Almost everything, its weaknesses more then destroy any strenghts sadly.

I build cinemas (35mm film), and home cinemas. Anyway, the sales guys decided on one of these Parasound's, or as we have come to know them, paralyzed-sound, So far 3 units have been returned due to locking up (2 units) and one went up in smoke. All 3 from the same site. The menu's are a complete joke, very basic, nothing more then level setting and delay, not even a 3 band equalizer. The manual's are wrong, late manual additions are everywhere. It is imcompatable with pal when using the on screen display, has some rather odd artifacts. I'd strongly suggest staying away from this, and all Parasound products. I have a pile of dead parasound gear from mates who have wanted me to fix it. They love using capacitors rated at 52 volts at 60 volts. Rule of thumb for capacitors is never go past 80% of their voltage rating, especially when running at an elevated temperature. BAD engineering/production.

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Meridian, sony, Lexicon

A very nice pre-amp. I've had mine for about 4 months now with no complaints.Some strong points: *no* crosstalk between channels, easy to set up/use,
great stereo direct mode (eliminates the DSP circuitry in stereo mode), and
good build quality.

-alan

After reading all of the reviews on here I was amazed by all the lock ups that just a simple "unplugging and re-plugging" solved. This has never happened to me. I guess I should consider myself lucky. However, I have had to ship it back to Parasound numorous times because of an overload problem. Each time they said the unit had an open resister in it. The last time it was repaired they told me that I should not have to send it back anymore because they found that two pieces in the unit (a resister and something else, I can't recall what) were switched since the day it was built. I have not had a problem yet, but it has not been too long since the repair either. Another weakness, as mentioned by others, is that darn remote volume control. It is very annoying trying to get the sensor in the unit to pick up the signal that the remote is sending. As with the other reviewer, I was given the same response from Parasound on this issue-it is just how it is. Also I would have liked to see the unit with a volume knob (like the Parasound AVC-2500) instead of those two buttons. The humming noise that the unit produces (mentioned by other reviewers) is easily fixed with an inexpensive part which is placed in your cable/TV line. The fix is explained in the unit's manual. Other than those weaknesses it is a fine unit.

Looks great and is built like a tank, Stereo and DD processing are excellent, minimalist on-screen display

No learning remote

I purchased the PSP-1500 and PDD-1550 1 year used in excellent shape, and have been nothing but happy with them since the purchase. These were of fairly recent vintage, so I have not experienced any lock-up issues.

The stereo imaging is fabulous. I thought that my Carver receiver was doing a great job, but this unit really opened my eyes. Dolby pro logic and DD processing from the PDD-1500 are excellent with lots of detail.

Because these two units have to work in concert to process Dolby Digital sources, it can get confusing as to what the Input source needs to be, but Parasound provides a memory function so that the unit will automatically select the right input depending upon the playback selection -- good idea. So if I select Video 2, I can program that to select the Dolby Digital input source on Coax-2, for example. The only weakness that I have noticed is that if I don't point the remote directly at the units, or I press the selection too quickly, the PSP-1500 sometimes doesn't have time to make the change on the PDD-1500. Small quirk.

The remote is well laid out and straight-forward. One remote controls both the PSP-1500 and PDD-1500. All connectors on the rear are gold-plated, and the power is via an IEC connector with audio-grade power cables. A 12 volt trigger is on the rear of the PSP-1500 for activating various items. Both units are connected via a DB-25 cable, so no confusing 5.1 RCA cables. The on-screen display gives you just the info you need placed over the TV image, or in the case of audio, on a blue screen -- No nested menus. Buttons on the units give a very solid click and remote control selections produce a small audible click through the speakers so you can confirm that selections are made.

Overall, a great purchase if you can find them! 5 stars for value.

Ease of use, preamp direct mode, clean sound. Upgraded power cord and use dedicated outlet and have never experienced lockups of any sort

IR strength or lack of.

Very happy with this unit. Great sound.

I purchased the P/SP 1500 around 5 months ago and I am very pleased. I found the prologic and ac3 seperation to be excellent.(compared to my high end pioneer receiver) I have had no problems with this unit. I run it about 6 hours per day and have had lock ups or other problems.
I use it with the Parasound P/DD-1500 digital decoder. That unit does have some problems with lock ups and cutting the first 1 second out CD track while it figures out the digital bit stream. I returned the unit and got the lastest "prodution run" of the P/DD-1500s. Depending on your serial number you may or may not have the three latest fixes. All problems were solved and it works great along side of my P/SP-1500.

parasound 1500 w/ digital decodera definite improvemnet on my old onkyo 919. excellent sound but annoying hum fro m ground loop. Have tried all factory suggested tweeks but no improvement. Their amps are great but I am not too happy with the buzz/humm.

All I have to say about the Parasound PSP-1500 Pre-Amp is that pieceof gear was junk. I bought that piece about 15 to 16 months ago and all
it did was cause me problems. First it had a ground loop problem with
the s-video connections,and then it started to lock up on the volume.
I suggest to any one who has bought one in the past 30 days to take it
back and get your money back. I went through 4 different pre-amps during
that time,and the store suggested to me to return it and get a refund!
I've known to other people with the same problem's and they've all returned
their's to.