Stereo systems include three parts: sources, amplifiers and speakers. Turntables, radio tuners, and CD players are sources of music. The amplifier boosts the signal and makes the amplifier move back and forth to make sound.
    Include the radio tuner, the preamp and power amp in one box and it is called a receiver.
    When the preamp and power amp are in the box, or chassis it is called an integrated amplifier.
    The Parasound Integrated Halo Amp. Parasound has been making top rateded preamps and power amps for 30 years. In fact, almost all Parasound products has been rated Class A by Stereophile magazine.

    Now, for the first time Parasound has decided to include a preamp and power amp together to create the Halo Integrated. This allows those with less space and a smaller budget to experience the outstanding sound quality of Parasound amplifiers.
    New slimmer ends were designed to save space, yet they are milled out of solid alumium to insure a solid chassis.
        John Curl Designer. John Curl was the main designer of the power section and key designer in the A23 and A21 power amps. He started his career at Ampex, designing tape recorders, video recorders and many amps over the years. His attention to detail and every part contributes to the sound quality... and reliability.

        FETs. His design uses balanced push pull complementary circuits. Dual JFETs are used for the input section. FETs are Field Effect Transistors which combines many of the sound characteristics of tubes with the advantages of transistors. Matched MOSFETs are used in the driver stage.
   The output stage uses 12 high voltage, high current bipolar transistors. Amplifier sections in a typical av receives use one pair. Amplifiers do work, and current, not voltage is the real measure of work. All John Curl Parasound amps deliver huge amounts of current to powerfully drive your speakers.
    A dual mono power supply provides to current to left and right channels separately so neither drains the other. An oversized toroidal power transformer with excellent shielding is a key, and expensive part of the power supply. High quality 40,000 uF filter capacitors are utilized.
   Connections. No less than five pairs of analog inputs with RCA connections are provided. One pairof XLR balanced is also included. XLR balanced and RCA preamp outputs allow to connect and even more powerful amp or biamplification.
    CDA. Built-in is a high quality digital to analog converter. With more and more folks listening to music from their computers, the internet, USB drives or NAS drives, Parasound has included DAC to process the digital code into high quality analog music.
    Reference quality ESS Sabre32 digital chips are used. They decode virtually all formats, up to 192k 24 bit digital audio. They also decode the ultra high resolution format from the Super Audio CD, DSD that with sampling rates of 2,822,000 samples

per second (compared to the CD 44,100.) It even does double DSD.
Since home theater is so popular, the Halo Integrated is designed to easily use with a home theater system. There is a built-in electronic crossover with high pass filter and low pass filter for connection a powered subwoofer. It is fully adjustable allowing you to set the crossover frequency. There is also a home theater bypass input.
    Phono Stage.Turntables are back, and audio lovers never abandoned them. There is a phono stage with RIAA equalization. It is switchable to moving magnet and moving coil cartridges.
    Headphone Amp. A dedicated current feedback headphone amp is also built-in. It uses a Texas Instruments IC with high slew rate with low odd-order distortion. It has a low 10 ohm output impedance and high gain to drive 600 ohm headphones. )

Rated power: 160 watt per channel 8 ohms
Rated power: 240 watts per channel 4 ohms
Moving magnet and moving coil phono
Home Theater pass through
Balanced XLR input
Dedicated separate headphone amp
Built-in electronic crossover for subwoofer
Plays virtually all digital audio files including 192k 24 bit including DSD and double DSD
Weight: 33 pounds

Halo Integrated Amp $2500