Parasound HCA-3500, Am I Crazy?

Plato,
I have extensive experience setting up gear for comparisons.
I am still borrowing and using my friends Parasound 3500 as we speak. He did say that he had removed the stock Vishay 47K feed-back resistors and replaced them with Holco 47K ones. He said this was the only deviation from the stock units.
I have tried various cables and vibration control devices on both amps, and the results are basically the same. I use dual dedicated lines for the amps. I use a Shunyata Research Hydra 8 power distribution device as well.
I also tried out an Adcom GFP-750 preamp with the HCA-3500, and it matches up really well with it! Actually the 3500 sounds better with the Adcom than it does with my Ayre preamp! Low volume detail, transparency, and openness is remarkable with this combo. It is great at higher levels as well, but really shines at lower volume levels.
While I overall prefer the OVERALL sound of the JC-1's, the 3500 is remarkably clear, transparent, and has extremely extended highs. It also have remarkable image depth. Again, the main drawbacks are a slight etch and some slight grain on certain cd's. LP's sound marvelous on the 3500.

The Adcom sounded better than the Ayre with the Parasound HCA-3500 power amp ONLY.
With the JC-1's, its no contest...the Ayre wins hands down!
I had to let my friend have the Parasound HCA-3500 power amp back. It was just too fatiguing in the long run. Sure it sounded clear, lively, and transparent, but at the same time it was too bright.
I recently purchased a Pass Labs X-2.5 preamp.
It sounds VERY impressive. Make sure you ditch the stock power cord, however. I borrowed a Signal Cable shielded Magic Digital Reference [High Current] power cord with it and was very impressed with it, especially for the price...A REAL STEAL!
The Pass competes very favorably with the Ayre, believe it or not, and actually sounds better to my ears with digital than the Ayre. The Ayre can be too analytical with digital.
On vinyl however, the Ayre sounds alittle better than the Pass, IMHO.

I just read the old January 2000 Stereophile review of the Parasound HCA-3500 the other day.
Bob Crump was right...they did measure pretty high levels of 2nd harmonic distortion, especially into lower impedances. This was also obvious by looking at most of the measurement diagrams.
The reviewer, Robert Deutsch, also commented on a "slightly forward sound, with a bit more upper-midrange/treble grain. These characteristics showed up as a somewhat etched quality on voices, massed strings, and the upper harmonics of trumpets, making the sound ever so slightly fatiguing over time." This was in comparison to the Rotel RB-1090.
Interesting!