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A Budget Amp Comparison


Budget Amp Comparison – Crown, Nuprime, Parasound


Everyone who begins their journey to audio nirvana probably begins the same way; with a bunch of research and wondering if they have spent “wisely”.

For those just starting out or just looking to make a change, this is a comparison of three budget amplifiers.  All three seem to have found a pretty good market following which probably means their price/sound performance is acceptable. Hopefully this comparison/thread will be helpful to new people entering the hobby…and hopefully this thread will invite comments from others who might have additional ideas about starter amps around/below $1000.

The three amplifiers are:

Crown XLS 2000/2 Class D ProAudio Amp - $499 new

Nuprime STA9 Class D Home Audio Amp with a Class A input stage - $649 new

Parasound Halo A23  high bias Class A/B Home Audio Amp - $995 new

(The most obvious amp missing from the group is the Schiit Vidar at $700 which also has a pretty good reputation and deserves consideration)

The other equipment these amps were paired up with during the comparisons include an Oppo 103, Parasound 2100 preamp, Tekton Lore loudspeakers, Blue Jeans RCA Cables and homemade OFC stranded, twisted, shielded speaker cables.


Crown XLS 2000/2002

The entry end for a new amplifier is probably $4-500 and the Crown is a pretty interesting amplifier at this price level. Designed by Harman International for pro audio applications but with consumer audio connections included as well (RCA inputs & banana/spade/bare wire speaker connections). This is a class D amplifier which Harman engineered to be powerful, reliable, clear, stable with tough loads and stable with crappy AC line voltages that might be found at a music venue.

The XLS 2000/2 has a surprisingly powerful low end, very wide soundstage extending 3’ beyond the speakers (but not very deep), decent midrange and top end. The Crown is silent with a black background and relatively musical overall.

A couple of great and really appreciated features include “no speaker thump” turn on and gain controls located on the front of the amp. The gain controls are fantastic when you have 98db efficiency speakers like the Lores. With no gain controls, you often only have the preamp/DAC at the 8-9 o’clock position and the loudspeakers are screaming…but if you also have a subwoofer that is connected to the preamp, you likely have to turn the sub gain controls all the way up which can sometimes compromise the sound. With the Crown XLS2000 you set the amp gain down allowing you to set the preamp volume up and your sub will sound its best. (You can also use the gain controls to equalize the left right volume if need be without the degradation you can sometimes get from balance controls).

This amp is insanely powerful…1050 watts into 2ohms per channel, 375 watts into 8 ohms and 650 watts into 4 ohms…bridgeable to mono with over 2000 watts. The input voltage required to drive to full output is 1.4 volts so it can pretty easily be driven directly by most CD players and DACs without a preamp.

On several occasions I emailed Crown with questions and always received a prompt reply that was helpful.

My overall feeling is that this is a really good starter amp for someone on a budget, for a second system, for a college kid, etc. Pretty good sound, bullet proof, tons of power, lots of connections, and all the connections needed for double duty use in dj applications and other pro audio type gigs as well as home audio…and less than $500.


Nuprime STA9

The amp is beautifully packaged and this by itself gives you a certain level of confidence as you open the box. In most (but not all) areas, the STA9 is a step up from the Crown. Although the soundstage presented is not as wide, it is deeper and more dimensional. Although the bass is not as powerful, it is more tuneful (better pitch). The midrange and top end have better definition with slightly better instrument separation. Head to head, the Nuprime sounds  more musical.

Both the Crown and the Nuprime are class D and weigh about 10lbs…but the Nuprime is about half the overall size. Nuprime says it designed this amp with a Class A input favoring 2nd order harmonics. This may explain why the Nuprime idled at 103 degrees and ran at 107 degrees while the Crown remained at room temperature and the fan never kicked on.  Like the Crown, the Nuprime is also dead silent and has a very black background.

A couple things I didn’t appreciate so much about the Nuprime: the on/off switch is on the back, it frequently thumped my loudspeakers when turning on and of (as well as when the oppo or the preamp turned on and off) and it didn’t have gain controls which made it much more difficult to integrate with the subwoofer.

The Nuprime is rated at 120 watts into both 4 ohms and 8 ohms and bridgeable to 290 watts mono.

Like with Crown, my email correspondence with Nuprime was always answered in a timely manner.

Based on sound alone, this amp is worth a try. You may not experience some of the things that bothered me…or they may not bother you.   If you don’t need the power of the Crown and you have a little more money to spend, this might be a good choice.

 

Parasound Halo A23

The Halo was also beautifully packaged (double boxed) with a very clearly written manual included. Parasound describes this amp as high bias Class A/AB…meaning that for the first watt or two, it operates as class A and then operates as A/B as more watts are used. (Pass labs has a very nice description of what actually happens http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_leave_classa.pdf    )  I can’t say that I actually noticed any difference or if there was actually a change from Class A to A/B but I can say that in my system in my room, the Halo sound was a pretty big step up from the Nuprime (which was a step up from the Crown). The soundstage can best be described as immersive (deep and wide) with a strong, detailed low end, detailed and silky mids and highs with good instrument separation and very musically engaging.

Like the Crown and Nuprime, the Halo has a black background with no speaker hiss whatsoever. The Halo has a very effective relay that never thumped my loudspeakers. The operating temperature remained under 90 degrees for the first hour and then gradually climbed to 105 degrees by the third hour so ventilation may be needed. The Halo has gain controls on the rear and the on/off switch is on the front.

The Halo is rated at 125 watts into 8 ohms, 225 watts into 4 ohms, is bridgeable and will drive 2 ohm loads but not at full power at 20hz. Email response from Parasound was also quick.

If you can afford $1000 (new) or $700 (preowned), this is the best sounding amp of the group and deserves strong consideration. Another point worth mentioning is resale; Parasound has a good reputation and their products seem to resell pretty quickly on Audigon with prices that hold up pretty well over time.


Final Thoughts

Until you have a chance to try a piece of equipment in your home in your system in your room, you can only speculate as to what it will sound like and what quirks will drive you crazy. No matter how good the reviews and forum comments are its definitely worth the price of return shipping to try equipment for a few weeks before deciding.


snapsc

Showing 6 responses by cj1965

cj1965
124 posts
 
More than a decade after widespread commercial acceptance, Class D amps are still widely considered to exist on the "low fi" end of the "hi fi" scale. Just about every thorough measurement exercise has confirmed that the pulse width modulation technique in amplifiers suffers from rising distortion at the upper end of the audible spectrum. Even some reputable longstanding industry people who manufacturer Class D amps have recommended against their use as "full range" amplifiers in high fidelity systems. When first introduced, they were hailed as near ideal solutions for subwoofer use. That too hasn't changed over time. They are still excellent for that purpose - clean, efficient, and reliable.
As for the Nuprime having a "class A" input stage, that's more advertising "hokus - pokus" than any legitimate feature that sets it apart. The majority of modern amp schematics I've seen for decades have shown a simple differential input that is Class A biased with quiescent current sinking via the emitters. Crossover distortion is and always has been a problem for output stages. Typically, what makes a good Class A/AB amplifier are Class A input and driver stages with an output stage that runs class A for the first 10 watts or so - switching to B when output swings to 10 volts or so.

As for the Halo A23, while it is a nice sounding well made amplifier, prospective owners should be aware that some of John Curl's dc coupled , wide bandwidth designs have suffered reliability problems. High frequency parasitic oscillation can creep in from a variety of sources in any high slewing rate, wide bandwidth amplifier. Undetected, it can result in widespread component damage and failure. The great sound is nice to have - while it lasts. Before one blindly adopts the "zero capacitor" signal path mantra, one should consider just how many excellent sounding amps exist that use feedback capacitors in the voltage amp stage for dominant pole compensation. Capacitance and inductance exist everywhere, whether or not such devices are intentionally placed in a circuit for a desired effect.  Careful management of these sources of energy storage is what separates merely good amplifiers from the truly great ones.
cj1965
124 posts
 


@michaelgreenaudioTuning blocks??? Will tuning bricks work or do they have to be "blocks"? Pine, birch, oak? Sealed and painted or au natural? Just curious what the other "tweaks" are... Isn't there a forum subsection that deals with "tweaks"? Or perhaps "tweaked" audiophiles...

Honestly, I was reading your post with some mild interest until you started talking about "tuning blocks". Seriously, there has to be a forum subsection for all the tweak faithful to go with their noise about magic beads, magic resistors, capacitors, cable, isolators, and every other conceivable "tweak" that provides "obvious" results that no one can ever seem to measure or prove with double blind testing.
cj1965
124 posts
 
@snapsc   

    I don't think this thread should be turned into a Parasound bashing session but I will say that the causes of failure in a variety of equipment - not just amplifiers, are not always laid out in black and white on the internet for all to see. Parasound makes some very good amps - of that there is no doubt. However, their design philosophy hasn't been focused on "elegant simplicity" or reliability. At any given time, you will find a steady supply of Parasound amps for sale on Ebay listed "for parts" or "not working". Try an Ebay search and you'll see. Now do the same search using the words Krell, Threshold, Bryston, Plinius, Perreaux, or Pass Labs. If you find one or more than one, you would be lucky. Parasound circuit designs tend to be significantly more complicated than your typical Adcom, Perreaux, or Byrston design. And wide bandwidth amps have been vulnerable to ultrasonic oscillation since companies like Accuphase, Kenwood, and Harman began promoting the concept in the late 1970s. Whenever current or reduced capacitance feedback is used, the vulnerability increases - regardless of the claims made for thermal and over - current protection. Very few knowledgeable technicians are going to post online technical assessments of what they find. Bad mouthing an aspect of a particular company's products is simply not good for business. And basically, in Parasound's case, it's a design feature in much the same way that higher maintenance and failure rate is expected for a Porsche or Ferrari versus your typical Camry or Lexus LS430. Each design philosophy has its inherent strengths and weaknesses.


cj1965
124 posts
 
Maybe Michael will start a new trend here - all the owners of  " budget high end" electronics will dump their stuff on Craigslist and log on to Ebay to grab the next Sherwood RX 4105 receiver that comes along (to be "upgraded" with Michael's special isolating blocks, of course....) Alas, one more  perfectly acceptable thread gets hopelessly sidetracked with yet another crass commercial sales pitch... ugh .Again, Audiogon should have a forum subsection dedicated to these sales pitches for "tweaks". As always, self restraint is in too short a supply to keep the endless thread sidetracking at bay. We all get it. Everyone has their market niche and stuff to sell. No crime there. But as with anything else, there's a time and place - or at least there should be.
cj1965
124 posts
 
@ snapsc

Back on track.... If used amps are a part of the mix, I would like to offer my recent experience with a Crown K2. I've read about these for years and while they are long since out of production, there are plenty that show up on Ebay (K1 and K2) for less than $500. If reliability is a concern given their age, my experience indicates that they are indeed "a Crown" in every respect. Having owned many Crowns (MA 2400 back to the DC300), I can say this one is clean, quiet, and rugged like the rest. It's "balanced current" design however is very different from anything previous and the resulting bass performance is phenomenal -something you'd expect from an amp with a damping factor of 3000. Other than that, I haven't found anything really remarkable about its sound. It is dead quiet and has a midrange and treble performance that compares favorably to anything else in Crown's current production - for what that is worth. I've also enjoyed using Perreaux amps for years - recently picked up another (PMF 3350) here on Agon at a very reasonable price. Like the Crowns, they are built like brick #### houses  - known for long term reliability. Their sound has always been pleasing to my ears despite the "mosfet mist" others have talked about.
cj1965
124 posts
 
@ loomis

Michael has been cordial and certainly is entitled to express his views. Unfortunately, the nature of his post wasn't to talk about the subject of the thread - budget amps - but a budget receiver that was made for one year back in 2012. Bringing up budget receivers (current production or obsolete) in a budget amp thread is a classic case of sidetracking. It is also a convenient way of introducing Mike's "tweak" products which he didn't wait to talk about - mentioning it in his first post.  Sidetracking is one issue. Mixing discussion about standard (widely accepted "technology") products with "tweak" (considered by a large percentage of people to be sales hyped nothingburger) is a prescription for fireworks. In every thread, you will have skilled, knowledgeable people participating down to complete novice and everything in between. You will also have people who are purely objective down to purely subjective and everything in between with regard to how they evaluate audiophile equipment. "Tweaks", by their very nature, belong squarely in the "subjective" camp. Most of the purveyors of "tweaks" scoff at the notion of any attempt to objectively measure performance to back up or denigrate claims that are made for said products. When tweaks and their purveyors  enter thread discussions where some level of objectivity is expected, they appear to expect that "objectivists"  or those who rely on both subjective and objective criteria, should suspend all judgment or skepticism of the "unproven" claims associated with tweaks. This is an unrealistic and unfair expectation. Similarly, it is unreasonable, inappropriate, and unfair for a pure "objectivist" to barge into a thread within a "tweak sub- forum" and ridicule participants therein for their "unproven" beliefs or "audible experiences".Basically, what I'm suggesting is that there should be some "safe space" allotted for the purveyors of "tweaks" that is free from the ridicule and judgment a lot of us possess. Likewise, the "tweak faithful" should respect the rights of pure or quasi objectivists to be critical of tweak claims when participating in "non tweak" item discussions. In every case, the thread starter should have the final say as to what is appropriate and what's not in terms of relevance to the subject matter originally introduced - aside from the role that site moderation plays. In this particular case, snapsc might not care one way or the other. But I can assure you, a high percentage of people (myself included) who participate here will be turned off if a budget amp discussion sidetracks to the claimed effect of blocks of wood versus plastic feet on an aging budget receiver.  Site moderators, for whatever reason, have not seen fit to draw borders in terms of forum subsections that delineate subjectivist and objectivist subject matter. I'm sure they have their reasons. I will say, however, that if such lines were drawn, threads like the  one long time member Elizabeth recently bemoaned that featured "never ending" debate, would likely cease to exist.
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