Parasound JC-1 with B&W Nautilus speakers?

Hey Ritten, yep the JC-1s are thin and in your face for the first thirty days of 24/7 music and calm down after that....You might want to take another listen to them with more time on the clock....I'm at five weeks of 24/7 music on my current pair and they are just starting to become dimensional after sweetening up at thirty days.....I found the stock HCA-3500 unlistenable and Curl made me get after it and we used it as the prototype for the JC-1 and actually sold a few of these as CTC BBQs.....I voiced the JC-1 for complete break-in and sounds like the dealers units didn't have the hours on them as fully broken in they are slightly sweet and very dimensional.........

Ive heard em well broken in(running straight at the dealership for over 2 months 24/7 and at my place for another week on demo), they are still forward and in your face like all Halo/Parasound amps with a warmer sounding midrange and top end basically.

Ritteri, that is interesting as sure hasn't been my take on them at all and have lived with various versions of prototypes and production units now for about four years.....CTC had nothing to do with the rest of the amps in Parasound's Halo line BTW.....

One mans "up front and in your face" is another mans laid back and dull sound, it's all relative. I thought the JC-1 where just right myself, front row seat but not at the expense of loss of dimensionality, soundstage depth, ease or transparency. My neighbor owns a pair of JC-1's, I've heard them many times and in a couple of showrooms and they have become a personal reference, favoring them over $20K+ spectral and Krell amps I heard as well in many ways, not to mention anything I've heard anywhere near or below their price. They are special amps. I heard the JC-1's with the ~$5K tower B&W's (can't recall the model number, not a big B&W fan) and the sound was phenomenal, best I've ever heard B&W's sound....

People need to realize that just because an amp has a $20k sticker tag doesnt mean its going to sound any better. Completely the farthest thing from the truth. When I demo'd the JC-1's I also had on hand a pair of Bryston 7B ST's, Aragon Palladium's, A ML No. 334 on hand. Its quality was right in line with the rest of the auditioned pieces. It just wasnt the sound Im looking for. I think JC-1's would be a good match for speakers like SOnus Faber or VIenna Accoustic speakers, but it wasnt right for my setup. I personally dont/didnt want front row seating for a "presentation". Im already setup for nearfield listening to begin with, plus I found that a few other monoblocks in the same general pricerange category had better dynamics and soundstage presentation for my speakers. The JC-1's to me sounded like a more forward sounding Rotel RB-1090 with better bottom end punch, which I had a few years back. They resembled this amp in SQ very closely which isnt a bad thing at all, just not what I was looking for.