Bryston 7B SST vs. Parasound Halo JC 1 shootout...

Nealhood, we didn't have any trouble other than setting the gain and keeping the CMRR high at the same time as I recall...Doing this from memory as I wasn't directly involved in the acrobatics in this iterative values setting....I recall that folks got all caught up in CMRR and got it right and missed the THX spec by enough that resistor values had to be changed a touch....Now CE was tougher as the amp draws so much at turn-on....A change in surgisters (bypassed by relay after turn-on surge) and an LC filter in the IEC were necessary......

Interesting thread, for all the pseudo-drama. My $.02, as someone who has no plans to audition the JC-1's much less purchase them, is that the design and manufacture concept is promising, and has apparently succeeded with the sonics, but I wonder about the marketing. Not only from the standpoint of the Parasound name, a company which hasn't exactly been steadfast in its pursuit of the quasi-upmarket, but also in the styling. I'm wondering what, if any, input CTC had here, because the amps, while seeming handsome enough in the pictures, do not really look like high end styling. It might be a silly nit to pick, but to me the look is too soft, rounded, demurely tasteful, and well, just plain *fashionable*, in the feminine sense of dream-kitchen design, to make many knees tremble in anticipation of duking it out with the big boys. 'Halo', the name I'm sure was carefully deliberated upon to set apart the new products from the old Parasound connotations, is not featured prominently on the front panel as it ought to be - instead, the familiar old logo from products costing far less remains large and in charge. What's the percentage in creating a new brand that's not given top billing? Indeed, to me 'Parasound' should only have appeared on the rear. The color choice in particular - again, very classy in its own right - seems quite out of step with the intended market as I understand it. Of course sonics should rule, but just from an industrial design perspective, I'm curious as to what the thinking could have been here. High WAF? Doesn't seem like the right hammer with which to crack this nut. Parasound seem to have gone for a decorator approach, something more at home in the HT setup that I imagine greets one inside The Sharper Image, than seriously bold audio-chic combat raiment. The overall effect looks oddly mid-fi for what's supposed to be on the inside, and although I'm sure that in the flesh sheer bulk would counter some of that impression, from here the total statement does appear a bit incongruous...

Janice Raczynski of Control Alt Design, Ltd in Arlington Heights, Illinois designed the front panels for the Halo line......

Strangely enough I find the appearance of the JC-1's both attractive and sophisticated in a European vein. The attention to detail and styling is reminiscent of Goldmund or Lindemann. I guess that I failed to realize that "high end" products were required to be ugly or perhaps merely utilitarian.

Fcrowder, I don't like the appearance of components that are 'ugly' any more than you, but my comments were more directed toward the marketing and brand image angles than they were reflective of my own personal taste (if not my opinions, of course). I'd be curious what other audio products Ms. Raczynski has designed...