Parasound's Halo A 23+ offers high-end performance in a slim, rack-mountable chassis. This amplifier delivers 160 watts per channel, and it's stable at low impedance, so it can drive just about any pair of speakers you might wish to hook up. In bridged mode, it brings the hammer, putting out 500 watts into a single channel. All that power comes from a beefy toroidal transformer and a high-bias Class A/AB amplifier design.

This amplifier pairs up nicely with Parasound's P 6 stereo preamp for a sweet-sounding two-channel music system.

Convenient connections

On the back panel are balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs for each channel, and each has its own individual gain control knob and loop output. There are also binding posts for connecting a pair of speakers. The amp can be rack mounted using the included ears.

The legacy of John Curl

The A 23+ features circuitry designed by John Curl, a legend in audio engineering. He started his career in the 1970s, designing tape and video recorders at Ampex, and he had a hand in building the Grateful Dead's famous Wall of Sound. Curl has worked with Parasound since 1989, designing all of their high-power amplifiers and more. The power supply, transistors, capacitors and other parts in the A 23+ were chosen to offer high performance at a reasonable price.

Product highlights:

• 160 watts per channel into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.06% THD with 2 channels driven

• 240 watts x 2 into 4 ohms

• 500 watts x 1 at 8 ohms in bridged mode

• designed by legendary audio engineer John Curl

• high-bias Class A/AB amplifier design

• large toroidal transformer

• frequency response: 5-100,000 Hz (-3dB)

• signal-to-noise ratio: 112 dB

• stable with speaker impedance dips below 2 ohms

• left and right balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs
  
  
  • individual gain control for each channel
  
  
  

• RCA loop outputs for each channel
  
  
  • let you daisy-chain additional amps
  
  
  • in bi-amp configuration, passes input signal from one channel to the other's RCA input
  
  
  

• 5-way binding post speaker connectors
  
  
  • in bridged mode, only the positive binding posts are used
  
  
  

• switchable turn-on options: manual, signal sensing, or 12-volt trigger

• detachable power cord

• rack mounting ears included