Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This Amp kicks ass! I traded my ATI 1505 for this monster and let me tell you I couldnt be happier! The BASSS this amp PUMPS out is .uckin tremendous! Dont get me wrong I love the dynamics of my ATI ,but the bass is just not there .With the 2505A, you get the same dynamic sound but you also get deeep bass .Also the ATI can get overly bright and a little edgy on certain dvds and music.so if your looking for deep bass,multi-bit dynamics without the shrill sound of the ATI ,get this amp.

Strengths:
price,bass,smooth detailed highs

Weaknesses:
heavy, 21" deep

Similar Products Used:
ATI,Krell ,proceed,HK,Marantz,B&K,Tag Mclaren,denon

Price Paid:  $1750.00 from Smart Home Theatre

Summary:
Last summer I sold speakers at the curcuit city store near my house, and became very interested in home audio. I saved my cash and bought the M&K 750 Thx system with the mx 105 sub. I used very hevy duity monster cables to connect everything to my onkyo txds777 reciever. At the time I was thrilled and amazed at the quality of sound that my system could produce, but after a few months, being the type of person who scrutenizes soundquality, I noticed that the mid-bass was rather reserved in my system. The Small M&K sattelites are remarkable at prducing awesome mids and highs, and the the mx105 is great at dishing out tons of accurate low bass, but the sub didn't produce midbass, and the sattelites were too small to really pick up the slack. I heard that this amp greatly improved bass reproduction, so I decided that it should be the perfect amp to stiffen up my midbass, while improving the overall sound.
Using my reciever now as the pre-amp, I finally got everything hooked up. To my delight, the amp did exactly what I hoped it would do. Mid bass vibrated my couch just as much as low bass. As my listening continued, I noticed a slightly more harsh extreme high end to the sound. It really stood out whenever a signer said the letter "s." While overall sound quality was greatly improved, the amp brought out more imperfections in the music its self. The scratchy "s" problem was not evident in really well recorded music, but in my older recordings, it was more pronounced. Because the amp in my reciever is not as accurate, it tends to smooth out the harsh "s." I have listened to many amps and I will admit that this amp kicks the teeth out of any amp under $3000. Don't get me wrong, I am a very satisfied customer. The amp improved every aspect of my system so much that it makes the imperfections in the music itself more annoying.

Strengths:
Wide soundstage, Powerful bass

Weaknesses:
I felt that extreme highs were a bit harsh

Similar Products Used:
Amp within Onkyo txds777 reciever

Price Paid:  $1795.00 from Reference Audio Video

Summary:
I have had this amp for little under a year and I can say the sound is very much like all the great reviews listed on this site. I won't restate what others have mentioned so articulately. The sound is warm rich and pure when you have the right source components, interconnects, and of course most importantly the right speakers cables and speakers. I have had no trouble with 2205A except for a very slight and almost inaudible (unless your ear is smack up against the speaker grill) hum in the left channel. To get rid of it all I had to do turn the unit off, disconnect the power cord and reinsert, then turn it back on. From there the sound is as warm and sweet as my good woman and she listens to it with great affection along with me! What better things in life is there? Okay don't answer that. Well Parasound has a great amp and I fully enjoy it and for me it was money well spent! Aloha!

System: Denon AVP8000, DH Labs and Audio Magic Interconnects, Denon DVD2500, Sherwood Newcastle CD980, Millenium 2-4-6 DTS decoder, Kef 104.2 (front), Kef 200C (center), Kef Coda 7 (rears), Infinity HPS 500 Subwoofer and one loving wife!

Strengths:
Power Soundstage Warmth Air Depth

Weaknesses:
Hmmm? I guess it would have to be it's size and weight for installation? If that is a problem for such a wonderful amp?

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo Hafler SAE

Summary:

A decent and powerful 5-ch amp, however the customer and
tech support leave much to be desired.

Amp began to make sizzling noise when in standby mode.
Problem verified by dealer who sent it back to CA for
repair. Amp returns from CA with new transformer. Schlep
it home, plug it in and guess what? Sizzle in the standby mode. Schlep the beast back to dealer. Dealer calls CA for
RMA to return for proper repair, Parasound refuses to
authorize until the local rep can have a listen. Evidently
the owner and dealer testimony does not suffice.
More time goes by and local rep finally confirms what
the dealer and I already know. Amp is sent back again
at the dealers expense.

Evidently, Parasound does not respect their customers or
their dealers. What were they thinking, that both the
dealer and I were imagining the same noise? My dealer
tells me this is typical of them e.g. mis-diagnoses,
quality control issues. I understand from other postings
that quality control issues have tainted their A/V pre-amps
although mine has been ok for a year.

Bottom line: I refuse to tolerate this sort of treatment
at these prices. I'll not spend another dime on their
equipment.

Strengths:
Power, bass response

Weaknesses:
Quality Control, Customer service, noisy

Similar Products Used:
EAD, Yamaha, VAC

Price Paid:  $1699.00 from World-Exchange.com

Summary:
After looking at a lot of amps to power my Magnepan MG1.6QR and MMG speakers (4 Ohms loads), I decided on the Parasound HCA-2205AT after reading all the positive reviews on the web.

The Parasound is a rather large amp and can deliver all the power I need to my relatively inefficient Magnepan electrostatic speakers.

The sound is fabulous and the bass is incredible. I was using a subwoofer before, but now my speakers sound like they do not need the subwoofer at all.

The only other amp that I really liked was the Bryston 9B-ST but at twice the price ($3499) of the Parasound. I wish the Parasound had balanced inputs (like the Bryston).

When I initially got the amp, the gain controls omn all the channels were twisted all the way counter-clockwise (off), so I was not getting any output. I called Parasound Tech support and they immediately asked me to check the gain settings. After I turned the gains clockwise, everything sounded great.

Strengths:
Power, sound quality, price/performance, tech support

Weaknesses:
Large footprint (very deep).
Does not have balanced inputs (XLR)