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Parasound P6 2.1 Channel Preamplifer & DAC

TitaniumTroy said:
http://www.parasound.com/p6.php

Thought I would post this for anyone looking to downsize, or setup a secondary system. I thought the addition of a .1 channel for a subwoofer was a nice touch. It even has bass and treble tone controls, with gold accents to boot.
Click to expand...

Oh cool, thanks for sharing! I heard about their recently announced Halo Integrated 6 (HINT 6), but figured it would take them a while to trickle the features from that to a dedicated preamp. Looks like I was wrong lol.

I really liked the idea of the original P5 preamp, but when Stereopihile performed measurements, they found the DAC chip seemed to have been implemented in a subpar way. I'm not sure if that caused any audible issues, but that was disappointing given the price of the P5 and the good reputation Parasound has.

Ultimately that's why I went with their 2100 preamp, which comes in at a much lower price, made even better by buying it from @Batman. However, my 2100 does have a "noisy" pot, and sometimes crackles/pops when turning up/down the volume (apparently certain units of the P5 had this issue as well). So the new resistor ladder volume control on the HINT 6 and P6 is intriguing.

If someone (like Stereopihile) does measurements on the P6 and finds everything to be in order, then this will definitely be a cool product. Though I'm not too jazzed about the price (Audio Advisor is already advertising it at $1,495). I'm also pretty satisfied with the DAC and 2100 preamp I already own... but the P6 still looks tempting...

@Batman, any luck on becoming a Halo dealer yet lol? (Asking half jokingly but maybe a little serious too :p)
 
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In all honesty, the least expensive and the most sonically transparent (i.e. zero distortion and zero noise) solution is to simply construct a simple passive preamp. Such a device at its most basic consists of only a passive volume control, to which input switching could be easily added. With all sources today already having enough output voltage to drive a power amplifier directly, there is no need for the added gain from active circuitry of an active preamp. If a turntable is used, an outboard pre-preamplifier can be bought from a zillion sources and plugged into one of the inputs of a passive preamp.

The only restriction of a passive preamp is that the output cable to the power amplifier must be no longer than about 6', preferably shorter.
 
rammisframmis said:
In all honesty, the least expensive and the most sonically transparent (i.e. zero distortion and zero noise) solution is to simply construct a simple passive preamp. Such a device at its most basic consists of only a passive volume control, to which input switching could be easily added. With all sources today already having enough output voltage to drive a power amplifier directly, there is no need for the added gain from active circuitry of an active preamp. If a turntable is used, an outboard pre-preamplifier can be bought from a zillion sources and plugged into one of the inputs of a passive preamp.

The only restriction of a passive preamp is that the output cable to the power amplifier must be no longer than about 6', preferably shorter.
Click to expand...

So.... what would be the part list and schematic you would use?
 
TKoP said:
So.... what would be the part list and schematic you would use?
Click to expand...
A dual potentiometer of 10k to 50k (these are made by Alps and Noble), a knob, a box, wire, and jacks for the inputs and outputs. If there is switching desired, a dual section switch, and correspondingly more input jacks.

I'm sure that you can find many, many plans for such a device on the Google machine. Really, building one is simplicity in itself. Here is a schematic of a passive preamp which has one input; the potentiometer is a dual unit with a single shaft.

pre_schematic.png


AlpsBlueRK27-1-800x600.jpg
 
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rammisframmis said:
A dual potentiometer of 10k to 50k (these are made by Alps and Noble), a box, wire, and jacks for the inputs and outputs. If there is switching desired, a dual section switch, and correspondingly more input jacks.

I'm sure that you can find many, many plans for such a device on the Google machine. Really, building one is simplicity in itself.
Click to expand...

Ok, I had a flash back to this - link.

So, connect this (or this?) to some of these and these with some wire and you've got a preamp with the least distortion and noise. Add this (and the appropriate input connections) and you can switch between 6 different inputs.
 
TKoP said:
Ok, I had a flash back to this - link.

So, connect this (or this?) to some of these and these with some wire and you've got a preamp with the least distortion and noise. Add this (and the appropriate input connections) and you can switch between 6 different inputs.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much it although you don't need the banana binding posts. Don't skimp on the volume control because with really cheap ones, the tracking between channels won't be as good as it could be. A $20 Alps pot is very good. Like I mentioned before, the length of the cable from the output of the passive preamp to the input of the power amplifier must be no longer than 6', and preferably shorter like 3' if possible. This is because the output impedance of the potentiometer can interact with the capacitance of the cable, reducing HF response if the cable is too long. That won't be an issue with a 3' cable.

Its not that there is the "least" noise and distortion with a passive preamp; there is absolutely no distortion, noise or any other mechanism to degrade sound quality.
 
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rammisframmis said:
That's pretty much it although you don't need the banana binding posts. Don't skimp on the volume control because with really cheap ones, the tracking between channels won't be as good as it could be. A $20 Alps pot is very good. Like I mentioned before, the length of the cable from the output of the passive preamp to the input of the power amplifier must be no longer than 6', and preferably shorter like 3' if possible. This is because the output impedance of the potentiometer can interact with the capacitance of the cable, reducing HF response if the cable is too long. That won't be an issue with a 3' cable.

Its not that there is the "least" noise and distortion with a passive preamp; there is absolutely no distortion, noise or any other mechanism to degrade sound quality.
Click to expand...

face meet palm
Duh. I jumped ahead in the chain of events a little there...
 
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