® 200 Pre Stereo Preamplifier & DAC Owner’s Manual
Important Safety Instructions The lightning flash with the arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of “dangerous voltage” inside the product that may constitute a risk of electric shock. The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance instructions in the literature accompanying the product. TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE COVER.
INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of this precision audio product and thank you for selecting Parasound. We are proud to offer you this versatile preamplifier, knowing that it will bring you many years of enjoyment and dependable operation. Please take a few moments to read the following instructions so you can enjoy all the benefits of your new 200 Pre’s advanced performance capabilities. You can find details of the 200 Pre’s specifications and advanced technology at www.parasound.com. Enjoy.
Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Placement and Ventilation Guidelines . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Front and Rear Panel Illustrations . Audio Input Connections Inputs 1-3 Front Panel Aux Input .
Unpacking your 200 Pre & Placement Guidelines Unpacking Your 200 Pre Carefully remove your 200 Pre from its shipping carton and locate its AC power cord and these included accessories: A 12V trigger cable with mono 3.5mm mini plugs at both ends. Remote control and two AA batteries. 18 AWG power cord While you are unpacking your 200 Pre, inspect it thoroughly for evidence of possible shipping damage and tell your Parasound dealer immediately if you find any.
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Rear Panel Layout and Connections Always disconnect your 200 Pre’s AC cord (or turn off the master AC switch) before connecting or disconnecting cables. Inserting or removing an interconnect cable’s plug while this unit and your power amp are turned on can result in a burst of sound that can damage your loudspeakers. Make sure there is no strain or tension on any input cables, speaker wires, DC trigger wires or the AC cord that could cause them to pull loose.
Bypass Input The Bypass input jacks are used to integrate the 200 Pre with an additional audio source that has its own volume control. The most common example is a music streaming device such as a Sonos ® Connect®. Other sources with their own volume control include a separate AV surround sound receiver or pre-amp, an additional house audio controller or a bluetooth adapter.
Digital Inputs (OPT, COAX, USB) The 200 Pre’s built in DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) uses a high resolution 192kHz Burr-Brown DAC IC. Since the 200 Pre’s DAC is superior to the DAC in most source components, they will sound better if you connect them via their digital output rather than their conventional analog line output.
Audio Output Connections L & R Main Outputs These outputs connect directly to a power amplifier. They are variable because their output level is determined by the volume control setting. Sub <80Hz Output (Subwoofer #1) This is a subwoofer output with 80Hz low pass crossover. When you use this output you must turn off your subwoofer’s built in crossover in order to avoid inadequate output level caused by “double filtering.
High Pass Crossover The 200 Pre High Pass Crossover for the Main Outputs allows you to block low frequencies from going to your main L and R speakers. This can be particularly useful if you are using small speakers (typically with woofers that are 6.5”/165 mm or smaller) and you have a subwoofer. The most common settings are between 50 Hz and 80 Hz. If you are not using a subwoofer you will get better results by turning the 200 Pre High Pass Crossover off or setting it at 40 Hz or lower.
Front Panel Controls Volume Knob Rotate the Volume knob right or left to increase or decrease the volume level. The range is from 0 to 100. A setting of 100 corresponds to a preamp gain of 12dB. A setting of 76 is “unity gain” where the output voltage is the same as the input voltage. Input / Multifunction Select Knob The Input knob on the front panel controls several different functions. The default function of the knob is input selection.
Remote Control Off & On These buttons turn the power on and off. Set The Set button is used in conjunction with other buttons for setting up some features. These features include setting the turn on volume, Mem (favorite) volume, renaming the inputs and adjusting the input level offsets. See page 14 and 15 for instructions on how to use these features. Remote Backlight Button ☼ Pressing this button backlights the buttons with a soft blue glow.
Turn On Volume & Favorite Volume Turn On Volume You may wish your 200 Pre to come on to the same volume setting every time it is turned on. This can be particularly useful if you sometimes listen at high volume levels and you want to avoid a blast of sound the next time you turn it on. Or you may have a preferred listening level.
Renaming Inputs The factory default input names are “Input 1”, “Input 2”, “Input 3/Aux”, USB, Optical, Coax and Bypass. To make it easier to remember which source is connected to what input number you may wish to rename the inputs. Any of the inputs can be renamed to be one of the names in the following list.
Troubleshooting When the unit turns on the volume always jumps to the same setting - The “Turn On Volume” feature has been activated. See page 14 on instructions on how to turn off this feature. This can only be done using the remote control or by doing a factory reset. There is no sound from input 3 - Input 3 is shared with the front panel Aux Input. When a plug is inserted into the front panel Aux jack the rear panel Input 3 is disconnected.
Maintaining Your 200 Pre Your 200 Pre requires no periodic maintenance and has no user serviceable parts inside. To avoid risk of electric shock do not remove the top cover. To keep it clean use only a soft cloth moistened with a few drops of clear water or window cleaner. Never use any solvents or abrasives. Are You Having Difficulty? Warranty Repair Call your Parasound dealer first.
Specifications and Details Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz, +0 / -0.05 dB 10 Hz - 80 kHz, +0 / -3 dB Total Harmonic Distortion (20 Hz - 20 kHz): < 0.03 % Interchannel Crosstalk: 75 dB at 20 kHz Input Sensitivity: 250mv = 1V output Total gain = 12 dB (volume set to 100) Unity Gain = Volume set to 76 Maximum output = 3.
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Parasound Products, Inc. 2250 McKinnon Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124 Customer Service & Tech Support: 415-397-7100 www.parasound.
