A profile of Parasound SAN FRANCISCO -- Parasound is a privately owned U.S. company that was founded in 1981 and specializes in providing affordable audio components for high-end audiophiles, home theater enthusiasts, and for custom audio/video systems designers. The company's motto clearly identifies its focus and the reason for its success ... "obsessed with sound." "We take listening very seriously," says Richard Schram, the president and founder of Parasound. "If I didn't listen to the products we sold, or if John Curl, our legendary chief circuit designer, didn't listen to the products he designed, then we would have never won the respect of hundreds of dealers, the praise of most of the world's audio reviewers, and the earned loyalty of many thousands of critical listeners who have chosen Parasound products for their own." Sound quality is the key element for John Curl. As one of the most respected circuit designers of our time and Parasound's curmudgeonly curator of sound quality, he insists on using the finest components and a rugged chassis design for his conservative, but ideally balanced circuits. As a designer, Curl has left a trail of landmark hardware across the audio industry ... the classic Mark Levinson JC-2, the SOTA head amplifier, and the amazing Vendetta preamplifier. He has also written definitive articles on circuit design and the influence of capacitor design on sound quality. One of Parasound's best known critical listeners is Michael Tilson Thomas, the acclaimed conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Thomas, who has the unique perspective of listening to live music from the "best seat in the house," uses Parasound equipment at home. "I find it amazing to listen to a recording of one of our performances on my home system," says Thomas, "and to hear details I never heard at the podium ... it is remarkable." Parasound's products have earned hundreds of rave reviews from audio critics from New York to Singapore. The company's trophy case is filled with awards, including more than a dozen Hi-Fi Grand Prix Awards, numerous EIA Design & Engineering Awards, and many others. Parasound's core business is providing high performance, high quality audio components for value conscious audiophiles. Recently, the company added to its long list of award-winning amplifiers, preamplifiers and CD players, by introducing a remarkable belt-drive CD transport and a top-performance digital-to-analog converter that uses the highly-regarded UltraAnalog chip set. In addition, Parasound is also the exclusive US distributor for CEC, a highly respected manufacture of precision CD transports. In the rapidly-growing home theater marketplace, Parasound has, quite naturally, turned its amplifier expertise to producing a line of remarkable multichannel home theater amplifiers with full THX certification from LucasFilm. The company has also developed several surround sound processors/preamplifiers for Dolby Pro Logic, Home THX, and the new Dolby Digital formats. Recently, Parasound saw a new opportunity in developing quality products for custom audio/video systems designers and architects. In an industry that made elevator music famous, the company has found a growing core of sound-conscious designers and provided them with in-wall speakers, subwoofers and components that can sound remarkably close to a good dedicated audio system. Richard Schram is a life-long audiophile and a regular concert and operagoer. He started Parasound when he saw a clear need for high-end sound quality at much more reasonable prices than typical high-end products. "The high-end were offering gold plated quality at solid gold prices," says Schram. "I thought we could do it better, and we did." Parasound products are currently sold in more than 40 countries across five continents. # # # Parasound Products are Sold in More Than 40 Countries Japan / United Kingdom / Switzerland / Germany / Holland / France / Russia / Belarus / Norway / Sweden / Finland / Denmark / Austria / Spain / Portugal / Luxembourg / Belgium / Italy / Greece / Canada / Mexico / Trinidad / Brazil / Argentina / Chile / Peru / UAE / Kuwait / Israel / India / Thailand / Indonesia / Malaysia / Singapore / Philippines / Hong Kong / Taiwan / China / Australia / New Zealand / Tahiti / Fiji / South Africa