Parasound Z12

[Heresy80]

I have a parasound Z12 amplifer and a Yamaha RX-A3010, and I can't seem to get any sound to come out of the speakers, 4 klipsch Fortes, sounds good without the amplifer, I was thinking it would be a nice upgrade but, I'm hoping it's something simple. I hope I haven't wasted my money on this amp, any help would be greatly appreciated.

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[mazersteven]

JMO yes you did Waste Your Money

 

[Truthslayer]

I have a parasound Z12 amplifer and a Yamaha RX-A3010, and I can't seem to get any sound to come out of the speakers, 4 klipsch Fortes, sounds good without the amplifer, I was thinking it would be a nice upgrade but, I'm hoping it's something simple. I hope I haven't wasted my money on this amp, any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Not sure how many people are going to be able to know how to help you without more details. How you have it hooked up, speaker wired, bridged etc. Pictures will be the best way to see what you have going on and to provide you with appropriate answers.
As far as wasting your money goes, i guess that all depends on your goals.

 

[Heresy80]

Most of the people I have talked with on various forms, say an external amplifier is the way to go, they said that my avr devides the watts per channel so when my avr says 110 wpc, it's actually only about 30, I was looking to get more headroom and better sound quality but apparently I don't know what I'm doing.

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[Heresy80]

I downloaded the owners manual and I think I've got it hooked up right but there's no sound, this is my first time dealing with an external amplifier I'm hoping I've just missed something

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[mazersteven]

Most of the people I have talked with on various forms, say an external amplifier is the way to go, they said that my avr devides the watts per channel so when my avr says 110 wpc, it's actually only about 30, I was looking to get more headroom and better sound quality but apparently I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't know who you talk to on the various forums but those speakers are 8 ohms at a high sensitivity of just under 100 depending on which version of the Forte's you have. Your receiver the RX-A3010 is rated at 150wpc. Now that receiver may not be 150 watts all channels driven but it's definitely not 30.

Maybe I just haven't figured this out after all these years. Based on my calculations the various people on the various forums you spoke to gave you bad advice

Maybe again I'm wrong but the parasound z12 amplifier is a 12 channel amp rated at 50 watts per Channel a hundred Watts if you bridge it which is used from multi-room audio

 

[highfigh]

Most of the people I have talked with on various forms, say an external amplifier is the way to go, they said that my avr devides the watts per channel so when my avr says 110 wpc, it's actually only about 30, I was looking to get more headroom and better sound quality but apparently I don't know what I'm doing.

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Your AVR makes absolutely no decisions.

You need to configure the AVR to send the signal to the preamp output jacks. I suspect this is at the root of the problem.

The Z12 is a good amplifier, but it's really made for distributed audio. That doesn't mean it can't or won't work for home theater, but it's not the best choice unless you have decided to use active crossovers in your speakers or are powering all of the speakers with it and even then, the front speakers will be underpowered when compared with the output of the Yamaha.

 

[Heresy80]

You need to configure the AVR to send the signal to the preamp output jacks. I suspect this is at the root of the problem.

This seems like a good place to start, I'm going to have to go deeper into the owners manual of my avr, thanks for the advice, sounds like a good plan.

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[lovinthehd]

Your avr's amp section is pretty decent in that unit, it's got a cleaner and more powerful amp section than that Parasound does. I'd forget using the Parasound except maybe for zone use or something. An ACD rating is only so useful as that is not reflective of real world use. Power amps with your Klipsch speakers are likely overkill, even with Klipsch's overstated sensitivity spec. In any case you'd need a much more powerful external amp to better the performance of your avr, something at least 200wpc if not 300wpc since your avr is capable of 150wpc.

 

[mazersteven]

The OP seems to be Picking and Choosing what he wants to Hear and Believe.

Enjoy that ride

 

[highfigh]

Your avr's amp section is pretty decent in that unit, it's got a cleaner and more powerful amp section than that Parasound does. I'd forget using the Parasound except maybe for zone use or something. An ACD rating is only so useful as that is not reflective of real world use. Power amps with your Klipsch speakers are likely overkill, even with Klipsch's overstated sensitivity spec. In any case you'd need a much more powerful external amp to better the performance of your avr, something at least 200wpc if not 300wpc since your avr is capable of 150wpc.

This amp is called 'Zonemaster' for a reason. It's not intended to be used in a surround system.

 

[lovinthehd]

This amp is called 'Zonemaster' for a reason. It's not intended to be used in a surround system.

LOL made me think of "thighmaster"

 

[Heresy80]

This amp is called 'Zonemaster' for a reason. It's not intended to be used in a surround system.

This is where I got the idea,

AUDIO VIDEO NEWS

Parasound 12-Channel Amp Solves Multi-Room Problems

HT Staff | Mar 6, 2001

Parasound doesn't make a huge distinction between "Home Theater" and "Custom Installation." In most cases, if you have one, you have the other.

Recognition of the fact that most folks with home theaters also have whole house sound systems led to the design of the recently-introduced ZoneMaster Z-12, the latest in a long series of quality amplifiers from the 20-year-old San Francisco company. Retailing at $2000, the new amp features twelve channels capable of fifty watts each---more than enough to power a dozen loudspeakers distributed throughout a home or business. The ZoneMaster can also be configured as six channels of 100 watts each, ( ideal for home theater systems with 6.1 surround sound.) The amp has a huge power supply (1.2 kVA toroidal transformer and 120,000 µF of capacitance) at its core, and each direct-coupled channel is capable of a 10-ampere peak current.



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[TankTop5]

This is where I got the idea,

AUDIO VIDEO NEWS

Parasound 12-Channel Amp Solves Multi-Room Problems

HT Staff | Mar 6, 2001

Parasound doesn't make a huge distinction between "Home Theater" and "Custom Installation." In most cases, if you have one, you have the other.

Recognition of the fact that most folks with home theaters also have whole house sound systems led to the design of the recently-introduced ZoneMaster Z-12, the latest in a long series of quality amplifiers from the 20-year-old San Francisco company. Retailing at $2000, the new amp features twelve channels capable of fifty watts each---more than enough to power a dozen loudspeakers distributed throughout a home or business. The ZoneMaster can also be configured as six channels of 100 watts each, ( ideal for home theater systems with 6.1 surround sound.) The amp has a huge power supply (1.2 kVA toroidal transformer and 120,000 µF of capacitance) at its core, and each direct-coupled channel is capable of a 10-ampere peak current.



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That amplifier is fantastic when used properly, for instance your dentist office or perhaps all of your surround and height speakers while using a separate amplifier for your mains with an AVP. Also a great choice for a Linkwitz LX521 where you have an active crossover and an individual amplifier for each driver.

That said you should tell us a little more about your system setup, perhaps with photos and as important a description of your room.

 

[highfigh]

That amplifier is fantastic when used properly, for instance your dentist office or perhaps all of your surround and height speakers while using a separate amplifier for your mains with an AVP. Also a great choice for a Linkwitz LX521 where you have an active crossover and an individual amplifier for each driver.

That said you should tell us a little more about your system setup, perhaps with photos and as important a description of your room.

I'm not sure they designed it to be used in a dentist's office, but there's nothing that says it can't be. The 12V trigger and ability to configure the channels in zones makes it best for Distributed Audio although it could be used for HT, just that it's not intended for that application.

 

[highfigh]

I downloaded the owners manual and I think I've got it hooked up right but there's no sound, this is my first time dealing with an external amplifier I'm hoping I've just missed something

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Having been in the audio business for over 40 years, I would recommend avoiding most magazines and reviewers for the info needed to make decisions about this stuff. Their experience usually involves setting up their own equipment, but even that isn't certain- journalists and hobbyists don't necessarily know how to do this and it ALWAYS involves reading the owner's manuals for ALL equipment.

If you still have no sound, it means that you need to think about how to troubleshoot this- use a different source and connect it to the amplifier- your smart phone would be a great thing to use, but it needs an ear plug/headphone jack.

 

[TankTop5]

I'm not sure they designed it to be used in a dentist's office, but there's nothing that says it can't be. The 12V trigger and ability to configure the channels in zones makes it best for Distributed Audio although it could be used for HT, just that it's not intended for that application.

Funny, I was specifically thinking of distributed audio when I mentioned the dentist office, I haven’t been to your dentist but mine has multiple rooms.

 

[highfigh]

Funny, I was specifically thinking of distributed audio when I mentioned the dentist office, I haven’t been to your dentist but mine has multiple rooms.

I'm sure many do, but how many people go to a specific dentist because their DA sounds better than the others?

 

[TankTop5]

I'm sure many do, but how many people go to a specific dentist because their DA sounds better than the others?

It was just an example of how the amplifier can be used, don’t hurt your brain overthinking it. I’m sure there are a lot of dentists and to hi-fi Audio.

 

[highfigh]

It was just an example of how the amplifier can be used, don’t hurt your brain overthinking it. I’m sure there are a lot of dentists and to hi-fi Audio.

Not hurting my head but I have to wonder how well a better amp sounds when someone is having holes drilled into their head.