August 26, 2008 High-end Californian AV specialists Parasound have introduced their latest preamp, the Halo P7, which is designed to cater to multichannel music and surround sound from Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD-Audio, and SACD players as well as to traditional stereo sources. To achieve this, it incorporates both a 2-channel and a 7.1-channel analog preamp, offering a range of balanced XLR and RCA stereo inputs and outputs.
The Parasound Halo P7 allows left/right and front/back balance of the sound field, input re-naming and gain matching on all 10 inputs. There’s also a 3.5mm input jack on the front panel for iPods and other portable music and MP3 players.
Parasound claim the Halo P7 boasts a noise floor of about 10dB lower than that of the average receiver. This is helped along by a low-noise MM/MC phono input and remote tone controls. The RS-232 socket, discrete IR codes, IR repeater input/loop jacks and three DC triggers also make it ideal for distributed music systems and integrated home/AV systems.
The P7 has a simplified, elegant front panel operation and styling. The extremely high quality controls consist of just two buttons and one knob, and control most of its functions. The front control knob has a solid, smooth operation, which Parasound compares to the "focus ring on a high quality camera."
The Parasound Halo P7 is currently available from Parasound dealers at a suggested retail price of US$2000.