Parasound vs B&K vs Acurus

I don't know about the other brands, but I bought a used B&K 200.2 a few months ago and I love it. I switched from Carver and the B&K is a much more nuetral sound. I'm driving Paradigm Studio 40's which tend to be bright and this helped calm them down. I got it for $650.00 and have seen them going for less than that on here.

If a person wanted to step up from B&K/Acurus etc, what is the next best thing for the money? Classe?

Are classe amps neutral/warm?

I'm using PSB Silver speakers with a B&K ref 70 preamp with a sony ES sacd player.

Classe will have a smoother sound. Other option is to add some bypass caps to your current amp, to tame down the harshness you are hearing fro mthe filter caps.

Having a Acurus amp for some years, I find it quite good and on more neutral than anything. It lets your music come through as it came in. I also have a small zamp 3 amp from parasound. Connected to my VSA jr4's. they reveal perhaps a little more clarity in the details of some recordings. Just to try something different a would consider a more powerful Parasound amp. I am just as impressed with it as the Acurus. Would check out the Odyssey as Reff suggested if it would be in your price range. Overall, I feel you would get more bang from your buck by changing source gear or speakers. Good hunting, it is half the fun.

I have directly compared Parasound (HCA2205at - which I still have), and the B&K Reference 200 and MCA (I think) versions. I am driving NHT 2.9's which are very current hungry, and the Parasound was a better match. Better bass extension and control, but also a bit boomier, if you are not carefull with your speaker placement. I also agree the B&K had a very neutral sound, but it was just too laid back for my taste. After living with both for over a month, I kept the Parasound.

Hope this helps!