PS Audio HCA-2

[Geoffcin]

I've just become the proud owner of a PS Audio HCA-2 amp. This amp takes the place of a Musical Fidelity A3cr in my system. The A3cr a proven giant killer by any standards, and I've been looking for quite a while for another amp to upgrade to with little luck. While both amps have similar power ratings, and are similar in price, they both have distinctive characters and they sound different with my speakers, the Magnepan 3.6r's.

I'll post an in depth review a little later, right now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the music!

[topspeed]

I've just become the proud owner of a PS Audio HCA-2 amp. This amp takes the place of a Musical Fidelity A3cr in my system. The A3cr a proven giant killer by any standards, and I've been looking for quite a while for another amp to upgrade to with little luck. While both amps have similar power ratings, and are similar in price, they both have distinctive characters and they sound different with my speakers, the Magnepan 3.6r's.

I'll post an in depth review a little later, right now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the music!

Congrats on your purchase Geoff! You've been talking about getting a HCA2 for over a year now so I'm glad to see you finally made it happen. Where'd you get it from and did you get any discounts because of the GCA2? It will interesting to read your observations of the Arcam vs. the PSA, lord knows your Maggies have the resolving power to highlight any differences.

BTW, what happened to with Gallo demo? With your new amp purchase, are you putting off replacing the Newtons?

[Geoffcin]

Congrats on your purchase Geoff! You've been talking about getting a HCA2 for over a year now so I'm glad to see you finally made it happen. Where'd you get it from and did you get any discounts because of the GCA2? It will interesting to read your observations of the Arcam vs. the PSA, lord knows your Maggies have the resolving power to highlight any differences.

BTW, what happened to with Gallo demo? With your new amp purchase, are you putting off replacing the Newtons?

Yeah, I've been sitting on the fence for a long time, but I never expected to fall into the Musical Fidelity A3cr when I did. It was clearly better than my old PS Audio 200c, although it had half the power. I'll post my comments on the new PS Audio amp as soon as I have everything settled in, but you can be assured that I'm KEEPING this one for a while for sure. It's working like magic with the Maggies.

I'll post more about my other purchase too;

A brand new set of Gallo Reference III's, the hottest speakers on the planet right now. If I had to sum them up quickly I would call them; "The stealth fighter of speakers" if there ever was one!

[topspeed]

A brand new set of Gallo Reference III's, the hottest speakers on the planet right now. If I had to sum them up quickly I would call them; "The stealth fighter of speakers" if there ever was one!

Somebody had a good weekend!

Brother, you must feel like a 5 year old on Chrismas morning; Look at all my new toys !! Are you moving the MF to power the Gallo's? Did you buy the plate amp too?

[Geoffcin]

Somebody had a good weekend!

Brother, you must feel like a 5 year old on Chrismas morning; Look at all my new toys !! Are you moving the MF to power the Gallo's? Did you buy the plate amp too?

Trying to decide what to keep. I've got three sets of mains now and somethings gotta go.

I didn't get the plate amp for the Gallo's. They have a suprising amount of bass already. An honest mid 30's responce without resorting to jamming them into the corners. I don't want to comment to much about them before I have them broken in properly, but it looks like these speakers are the revolutionary things that the've been reviewed to be. It's amazing to have a product that actually lives up to the hype.

The PS Audio HCA-2 seems to be is really sensitive to RF, and grounding faults. I had a ground problem that the MF didn't seem to care about as I hooked up them both exactly the same. Also, my TV makes it hum at an extremely low level. You have to go right up to the speaker, but it's there. I'm going to have to shield it if I want to use it in my HT setup.

[topspeed]

The PS Audio HCA-2 seems to be is really sensitive to RF, and grounding faults. I had a ground problem that the MF didn't seem to care about as I hooked up them both exactly the same. Also, my TV makes it hum at an extremely low level. You have to go right up to the speaker, but it's there. I'm going to have to shield it if I want to use it in my HT setup.

You're not kidding. I had the same problem but solved it by inserting a cheater plug to remove the ground prong. Paul also mentions the amp is really sensitive to power cords. Mine came with an upgraded Xstream PlusPower cord that is truly a b!tch to work with. Could they make it any less flexible if they tried?? Copper pipe is more malleable. I couldn't tell the diff between it and a $700 Cardas Golden Reference except the Cardas was a lot easier to manipulate. The new Xstreams have removable ground pins so if you've got it, you might want to try removing the pin and see what happens.

Too much gear, huh?

My heart bleeds for you.