Parasound P7 Preamp

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Lance7489

Well-known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
125
Location
lancaster, ny
Does anyone have or used the Parasound P7 preamp ? It's both a stereo & multichannel surround preamp that's totally analog. I have 2 of them but have 1 major complaint: Bass & treble controls only work in the front right & left channels. Not the rears or center. In other words you can adjust the "tone" in the front channels but the others stay "flat". Don't understand why it was designed this way & when I contacted Parasounds' service dept, they were very arrogant & condescending in their response !!
 
Does anyone have or used the Parasound P7 preamp ? It's both a stereo & multichannel surround preamp that's totally analog. I have 2 of them but have 1 major complaint: Bass & treble controls only work in the front right & left channels. Not the rears or center. In other words you can adjust the "tone" in the front channels but the others stay "flat". Don't understand why it was designed this way & when I contacted Parasounds' service dept, they were very arrogant & condescending in their response !!
Just my guess but I would assume that is was made with the mentality that only the front channels are important, the rears being for ambience and sound effects only. The idea of immersive surround audio might of been lost to the designers. Pity that they are so arrogant & condescending!
 
I have a P7,and I'm very satisfied with it.See no problem with the tone controls only working on the fronts.If I want more bass I use it to turn up my subs,it affects all channels. :cool:
 
Does anyone have or used the Parasound P7 preamp ? It's both a stereo & multichannel surround preamp that's totally analog. I have 2 of them but have 1 major complaint: Bass & treble controls only work in the front right & left channels. Not the rears or center. In other words you can adjust the "tone" in the front channels but the others stay "flat". Don't understand why it was designed this way & when I contacted Parasounds' service dept, they were very arrogant & condescending in their response !!
I had one for years but I never noticed that it had any tone controls. Never looked for them.
 
I have a P7,and I'm very satisfied with it.See no problem with the tone controls only working on the fronts.If I want more bass I use it to turn up my subs,it affects all channels. :cool:
The problem isn't bass. I leave the bass settings at or close to flat. The problem is treble. I'm 62 years old & due to all these years of listening to loud music & also playing in a band, my ears don't quite function like they did 30 years ago, especially with high end, so I often have to boost the treble settings a bit so it's more satisfactory to my old ears.

My thing is, if you're not going to have it functional for all channels, why include it at all ?? Just eliminate the tone controls all together instead of just having them control the front right & left. To me, that's like designing a stereo preamp & having only tone controls for the left channel.

I've had equipment where I ran things "flat" but everyone's ears are different & everyone uses different speakers, so I rather have tone controls than not have them so you have some choice if you need to tweak things a little. That being said, if you're designing a piece of equipment & you include some form of EQ, it must be functional for all the channels, not just 2 of them.

It doesn't even address this issue in the manual. When I called Parasound, the first person I spoke to was actually pleasant & helpful. He didn't know the P7's tone controls worked only in the front 2 channels ! He told me he would have to look into it further by speaking to someone higher up in the food chain & that person would email me back. ........ That's where the arrogance & condescension started !!
 
Just my guess but I would assume that is was made with the mentality that only the front channels are important, the rears being for ambience and sound effects only. The idea of immersive surround audio might of been lost to the designers. Pity that they are so arrogant & condescending!
Yea, that's kind of what they were getting at in their replies to me. I'm an old quad guy from the 70's & feel the rear channels are very important. That's how most quad stuff was done back then, with different instruments & vocals coming out of each of the 4 channels at equal volume levels. In fact back then, it was recommended that you have the exact same speakers in each of the 4 channels I've noticed a lot of the 5.1 surround mixes now have almost everything coming out of the front & very little sound coming from the rear channels. To me, those are such a waste & are poor mixes.
 
I had one for years but I never noticed that it had any tone controls. Never looked for them.
To each his own, some like to listen to their music "flat" while others like to tweak things a bit. My point is, if you're going to have EQ, it should be in all the channels, not just 2 of them. If you think including EQ "poisons " what would otherwise be a pure signal, the don't include it at all !
 
As we speak, I'm playing music through my ALL ANALOGUE, HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC Parasound P7 Pre~Amp. Why do I say problematic: well, like poster Lance7489, I likewise have TWO of them and there's an issue with Both of them. They FREEZE.....meaning I'm stuck on one input/output and a SET Volume Control.

Sent both of them back to Parasound a few years ago and their reply: NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM. My answer: BULLSHIT!

If I pull out the power cord and let it sit for awhile and fuss with the on/off switch .... it's fine....All inputs/outputs are active and volume can be adjusted accordingly. But after a week 'n a half it stubbornly reverts to one input/output .... and that fixed volume [I have mine set at 72 which is actually fine for MOST music]!

As for the sound. NO complaints there. It is a superb little pre~amp. I'm running it all analogue into a Parasound A52 THX certified 5.1 Amp into B&W 802 Nautilus speakers. Bass is incredibly DEEP when called for and the treble/mids are airy and sweet as budda!

And like KAL Said and what W C Fields said about [drinking] water regarding the TONE CONTROLS: Never touch 'em. Prefer everything be played FLAT RESPONSE.
 
Last edited:
You might have to do a factory reset to clear out all settings, also tone controls don't work in by-pass mode. The manual is here if you don't have one. https://parasound.com/pdfs/P7Manual.pdf
No, I have a manual. I found out directly from Parasound that the only channels that can be adjusted by bass & treble are the front right & left. The center, rear right & left are not adjustable.
 
As we speak, I'm playing music through my ALL ANALOGUE, HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC Parasound P7 Pre~Amp. Why do I say problematic: well, like poster Lance7489, I likewise have TWO of them and there's an issue with Both of them. They FREEZE.....meaning I'm stuck on one input/output and a SET Volume Control.

Sent both of them back to Parasound a few years ago and their reply: NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM. My answer: BULLSHIT!

If I pull out the power cord and let it sit for awhile and fuss with the on/off switch .... it's fine....All inputs/outputs are active and volume can be adjusted accordingly. But after a week 'n a half it stubbornly reverts to one input/output .... and that fixed volume [I have mine set at 72 which is actually fine for MOST music]!

As for the sound. NO complaints there. It is a superb little pre~amp. I'm running it all analogue into a Parasound A52 THX certified 5.1 Amp into B&W 802 Nautilus speakers. Bass is incredibly DEEP when called for and the treble/mids are airy and sweet as budda!

And like KAL Said and what W C Fields said about [drinking] water regarding the TONE CONTROLS: Never touch 'em. Prefer everything be played FLAT RESPONSE.
To each his own, some like to listen to their music "flat" while others like to tweak things a bit. My point is, if you're going to have EQ, it should be in all the channels, not just 2 of them. If you think including EQ "poisons " what would otherwise be a pure signal, the don't include it at all ! So far, I've had none of the problems you mentioned ......... YET !! They are sweet sounding, I agree. It's just designing a multichannel preamp with only 2 of the channels having EQ, to me, is a real head scratcher !!!
 
To each his own, some like to listen to their music "flat" while others like to tweak things a bit. My point is, if you're going to have EQ, it should be in all the channels, not just 2 of them. If you think including EQ "poisons " what would otherwise be a pure signal, the don't include it at all ! So far, I've had none of the problems you mentioned ......... YET !! They are sweet sounding, I agree. It's just designing a multichannel preamp with only 2 of the channels having EQ, to me, is a real head scratcher !!!

I do agree wholeheartedly that only allowing the EQ to affect the two front channels and not the other three is a BOGUS DESIGN FLAW!!!!!

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
 
Last edited:
I bought one (late 2019) before they were discontinued to go between my Oppo UDP-205 and an Emotiva Gen3 XPA-7 power amp. for a 7.2 system. There was a very limited range of preamps that were all analogue, all XLR, etc., and the killer was that the hi-fi shop hadn't updated its web price, so I got it for AUS$1200 cheaper than it should've been. Never had any issues, works great.
 
Sorry to hear about your Parasound. I was interested to get one myself. I think I'll stick with my Sony TAP9000ES. It works flawlessly...with no tone controls either.
 
Maybe they were thinking, "If they want tone controls on each channels, the need to buy as many of these as they need pairs of tone channels."
 
In case you decide to look for a replacement, I recently searched for an AVR/preamp, and found this one to be the most affordable. It has an EQ for all the speakers, plus ATMOS. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/marant...ight-heos-alexa-black/6431232.p?skuId=6431232
I was thinking about a Marantz to begin with !! The one I was looking at was the model up from the one you show. It has a set of multichannel analog inputs. I was talked out of it by the guy at the hi-fi shop telling me I wouldn't be happy with the sound from any AVR unit because of all the processing. He pushed me toward the P7. ......... I should have followed my own instincts !!! ......... I guess I could always put the P7 up for sale & get most of my $ back. ........ Sometimes a education's expensive, even at the age of 62 ...... LOL
 
I was talked out of it by the guy at the hi-fi shop telling me I wouldn't be happy with the sound from any AVR unit because of all the processing.

1. "All the processing" can be turned off if desired.
2. Most MCH formats require some processing.
3. Modern room EQ systems (which the Marantz does have) can work wonders.
3. I live near you. If its the place I'm thinking of, (there is only one true Hi-Fi shop left in the area), I wouldn't believe anyone in that shop. They constantly try to steer you to high margin products, regardless of what you need or ask for. They also tend to trash talk brands they don't sell, which I despise.
 
1. "All the processing" can be turned off if desired.
2. Most MCH formats require some processing.
3. Modern room EQ systems (which the Marantz does have) can work wonders.
3. I live near you. If its the place I'm thinking of, (there is only one true Hi-Fi shop left in the area), I wouldn't believe anyone in that shop. They constantly try to steer you to high margin products, regardless of what you need or ask for. They also tend to trash talk brands they don't sell, which I despise.
Actually, they do sell Marantz, that's why I was a bit taken a back when he said all AVR units have poor sound quality. Most of what they have is home theatre !
 
Actually, they do sell Marantz, that's why I was a bit taken a back when he said all AVR units have poor sound quality. Most of what they have is home theatre !

I've always been a huge proponent of separate components. Have had many AVRs over the years and IMO, they certainly get the job done .... I call them swiss army knives .... but IMO, sonically, they do NOT compare with separates. Modern AVRs are almost a necessity because they include ALL the latest codecs like ATMOS, etc. but everything is crammed together in one tidy box.

The P7 certainly has many limitations and without HDMI capability certainly stifles its ability as a serious Audio/Video contender but sonically, it is a superb unit. Too bad their service department is anything BUT....but then a lot of the major hardware manufacturers also have similar horror stories regarding service.

IMO, OPPO is A+ with service and has even kept up with firmware updates. A shame they ceased manufacturing their stellar Universal Players!
 
Back
Top