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Parasound vs. Bryston

I am currently looking into acquiring either a Bryston 4B ST amp or a Parasound HCA 3500 amp to power a pair of Paradigm Studio 100's. Any thoughts, preferences, or experiances with either of these two amps? Thanks.
dsweeney33
pcc
150 posts
 
Never listened to Parasound. But I owned the 3bst for
1 1/2 yrs and it powered my martin logans pretty good. Good bass control, speed, good highs and a little laid back in the mids. 20 yr warranty to boot. thats hard to beat. true test will be as treyhoss has said audition with your equip........
tml2
234 posts
 
20 YR warranty has to make this a no brainer.
sean
6,231 posts
 
According to John Curl, the designer of the Parasound amp in question, the HCA-3500 was "cut cornered" by the bean-counters. The parts that he spec'd for them to use were ignored and cheaper, more easily available pieces were substituted. Even with that being done, supposedly just changing two resistors will produce a completely new level of performance in these amps. I've been thinking of picking up one of these myself to play with, but i've got to get some other stuff straightened out first. As to the Bryston stuff, the 20 year warranty is AWESOME to say the least. After that, all that i can tell you is that you better listen first before buying. Sean
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miked
41 posts
 
I am currently using a 4B-ST with Paradigm Studio 100s, highly recommended and tough to beat that warranty to boot.
val_comsa
8 posts
 
I had the Parasound 3500 in my setup for about a year with the same speakers, then decided to upgrade from Paradigms to B&W's, and after the speakers (CDM 9NT's) were burned in, there was a huge difference in the sound, with better, less sterile mids and much silkier highs, less grain in the top end. I agree with Treyhoss about the sterility, but IMHO it is due to the pairing of the amp with the Paradigms and not to the amp itself. It could also have to do with the speaker wire?
Anyway, in my current setup I find the Parasound to be very transparent with no sound of its own, very accurate.
Just my 0.02.
Good listening
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