Parasound P5

Well, W4S did it at that price. Peachtree has a similar unit. Sure if you want to spend more you can get more performance, but everybody has their own budget comfort level I guess. BTW, the JC2 is 24 lbs, it seems kind of unusual that they'd build a P5 to 23 lbs at 1500, almost 1/3 the price.

The 2100 has been regarded as a good entry level preamp, and the P3 was a step up. Since it was replaced with the P5, one would assume the P5 would be tweaked to have superior performance. I'll be giving it a shot to go with my A21.

Ouch!!...just spoke to Joe at Audio Advisor who informed me that the P-5 has been pushed back again for release to late October/early November. Parasound blew it and should have never announced release dates which they have done three times since December. It would've been better if the cow was out of the barn first before announcing the P-5.

Any thoughts on why they would build the P5 to almost the exact same weight as the JC2 for only 1500? Was it another one of your contacts who told you this? Why was he so far off? I doubt Parasound would have started off with such a hefty unit and then basically go back to the drawing board and pop out a unit in well under a year. It just doesn't make logistical sense.

Hi Audiozen: I've been looking at that Onkyo for a while now. It's really that good, huh? Would you say it outperforms the Bryston BP6 that I currently use? Is it a safe buy from say, Amazon? I haven't seen it at a lower price except from accessories 4 less, but those a refurbished units. Let's hope Onkyo doesn't discontinue this unit anytime soon...unless they come out with a better one.

I see the Onkyo also has upsampling and a pure direct button.

Very few preamps have this kind of functionality. The only ones I can think of at the moment are Accuphase and McIntosh, and those are much, much more.

Is the Onkyo a case of don't let the low price fool you?