Looking for a piece to complement my Parasound Halo A21


Hey y'all.  Looking for some help here.  I've been scouring the reviews, looking for a mid-fi 5 or 7 channel amplifier to match up to the Marantz pre-amp and the Parasound Halo.  I'm considering something in the A/B Class of amps.  I have a Rotel RMB 1565 Class D, but looking for a little more power while keeping it transparent. I need to shop the used market, but looking at Anthem, Emotiva, Parasound, Sunfire, Acurus, maybe even Proceed for the right price.  I would like something the the 200 watt range, as I am driving the 4 ohm Martin Logan Motion 20's with Motion 8 Surrounds.  Thoughts?
128x128wisciman99
I also had an Emotiva  xpa amp and tried out an A21 Parasound.  I ended up getting rid of the Emotiva as with some speakers it’s too harsh or bright sounding with flabby bass, compared with the A21.

as for a new 5 or 7 channel amp, how about the Parasound a52+?  Or the Outlaw Audio amps?   Good luck with your search.
Get the Rotel RMB-1585 class AB five-channel amp. It’s way better than your Rotel RMB-1565 class D amp. Rotel class D amps are total failures. If you want to get Rotel you will have to go with their class AB amps such as the RMB-1585. Night and day better than the RMB-1565 class D amp. Rotel is very well known for their class AB amplifiers, that’s where the Rotel is good at.
I think you purchased the wrong Rotel amplifier (RMB-1565 class D amp).

The RMB-1585 is a beast built like a tank weighs in for about 80 lbs. Equipped with 2 large main toroidal transformer power supplies for all 5 channels. It has unlimited reserve of power very powerful and hugely dynamic with lots of dynamic headroom. Very refined and musical sounding amp especially for the money currently retails for $3k new. Has smooth highs and tonally it’s on the warm side. Very refined, smooth sounding amp. The sound is fulsome with midrange bloom that’s to die for.
For $3k new retail price IMO it’s a bargain. Unlike the Rotel class D amps, this RMB-1585 class AB amp sounded fullsome throughout the audioband with full mid-bass, bass and mid-range. It has a buttom end grunt one expects from much higher priced amps. And the bass is well defined and very controlled.
The RMB-1585 sounding very fluid and liquid whereas the Rotel class D amps sounded somewhat dry and kinda sterile lean thinner sounding.
Highly recommended!
FTR, I went with another Parasound, this time the 5250.  Pouring out 385 watts per channel into the 4 ohm ML centers and surrounds.  All I can say is wow, what I've been missing.  It's like listening to Pink Floyd- Dark Side the first time it came out on CD compared to the cassette.  Added the Tice Signature III Power Block and that also made a huge difference over the Furman PST-10 that I was using.  Thanks y'all.