Good deal on Parasound HCA-1205A?

[jinjuku]

Local guy has a very good condition Parasound HCA 1205A 5 channel amp for $700. Thoughts?

 

[jinjuku]

Starting to do some digging and he seems a bit high on the price...

 

[Lordoftherings]

Mmm... And the Emotiva XPA-5?

 

[jinjuku]

Mmm... And the Emotiva XPA-5?

Nothing wrong with it. Both are fine amps. I believe the Parasound would still have a generous portion of it's 10 year warranty left.

My searching puts that amp around the $500 mark. Not to shabby it the seller would come down.

 

[agarwalro]

FWIW, about a year ago I bought my Parasound HCA 2205A on CL for $400. (originally seller was asking for $500)

The seller claimed it was 5 years old but had no way to substanciate the statement and the amp has a minor scratches on the casing here and there, but none on the faceplate. Also he did not have any receipt of purchase or original manual and packaging.

I asked for an in home test guarantee (paid full money and got "scouts honor promise" to get full refund if anything was not working, plus I knew where the guy lived). When testing at home using the AVR as pre-pro, the amp sounded perfect, zero noize, trigger worked, channel trims worked and no clipping even when I pushed it to ear bleeding SPL, so it made my sig.

PS. I am using it only to drive my Frontstage, AVR still powers side surrounds.

 

[jinjuku]

FWIW, about a year ago I bought my Parasound HCA 2205A on CL for $400. (originally seller was asking for $500)

The seller claimed it was 5 years old but had no way to substanciate the statement and the amp has a minor scratches on the casing here and there, but none on the faceplate. Also he did not have any receipt of purchase or original manual and packaging.

I asked for an in home test guarantee (paid full money and got "scouts honor promise" to get full refund if anything was not working, plus I knew where the guy lived). When testing at home using the AVR as pre-pro, the amp sounded perfect, zero noize, trigger worked, channel trims worked and no clipping even when I pushed it to ear bleeding SPL, so it made my sig.

PS. I am using it only to drive my Frontstage, AVR still powers side surrounds.

Thanks for the anecdotal accounting there. I will let some poor unawares shlup pay what that guy is asking...

 

[agarwalro]

I will let some poor unawares shlup pay what that guy is asking...

I find CL (in context with AV stuff) best for situations when someone is selling something at a very low price because they dont know the true value or if it has more value to me than the asking price.

The only drawbacks with CL are, availability (you never get what you want, when you want it) and time (it takes a while to hunt though all the junk before you find something of interest).

 

[oppman99]

Local guy has a very good condition Parasound HCA 1205A 5 channel amp for $700. Thoughts?

I second LOTR's recommendation of the Emotiva XPA-5. I went from the two channel version of the Parasound to the XPA-2 and was much happier with the Emotiva. I know amps are supposed to sound the same, but I found the Parasound to be too "laid back" for my tastes. Whether it's measureable or just in my head, I thought the Emotiva has better bass response and a larger sound stage as well. Just my opinion though. $700 for the Parasound is definately high though.

 

[Lordoftherings]

I second LOTR's recommendation of the Emotiva XPA-5. I went from the two channel version of the Parasound to the XPA-2 and was much happier with the Emotiva. I know amps are supposed to sound the same, but I found the Parasound to be too "laid back" for my tastes. Whether it's measureable or just in my head, I thought the Emotiva has better bass response and a larger sound stage as well. Just my opinion though. $700 for the Parasound is definately high though.

Well, the XPA-2 is in a totally another league of it's own now.

* By the way, does Parasound and Emotiva have anything in common?

** And Thanks for seconding me.