I had a pair of the JC-1's for about 2 months and left them on from day one. I used a pair of 20 amp dedicated lines in a dedicated sound room with Vandersteen 3a Signatures using an Audible Illusions L-2 and a Sony xa777es. I played them long enough to kill my Sony! Seems it didn't like being on 24/7 I used a Rotel until the Sony returned which I must say was good service in a one week turnaround with a complete new laser assembly.
As for the JC-1's, I tried my best to like them. I did think they were neutral to just a hair sterile in the lower mids but the soundstaging depth was at issue. This was my one BIG quival. It was certainly not as good as my Belles 350a nor the Ayre V5x I bought after I sold them. They sure had plenty of power and viceral impact. However, I'm a midrange and soundstaging freak. I could never warm up to them. They never sounded quite as musical as the other two amps.
It sad to see they take such a long time to break-in. I was unaware of this(I did hear it took a few months) and maybe I didn't give them enough time.
The other 2 issues with the amps was one of them had a transformer that hummed a little more than I thought was reasonable. I disconnected everything and turned it back on own and it continued. After calling Parasound about this, they said it was pretty normal and the other amp was just unsually quiet. Well, you know what I thought about that BS. Anyway, the bottom line was if I sent it back at my expense, they would put a new transformer in it. I felt that a little much for a 1 week old amp that I had waited 2 months for!
The same amp also liked to disconnect the speaker relay for no reason. It would be playing very softly and you would hear it click off and within a minute, click back on. I again disconnected everything except the speakers thinking it might be something triggering it from up the line. Not so. Finally, after about a week, it decided to quit it and functioned fine after that(other than the hum which got a little better---still very audible however)
So, that's my story for what its worth.
As for the JC-1's, I tried my best to like them. I did think they were neutral to just a hair sterile in the lower mids but the soundstaging depth was at issue. This was my one BIG quival. It was certainly not as good as my Belles 350a nor the Ayre V5x I bought after I sold them. They sure had plenty of power and viceral impact. However, I'm a midrange and soundstaging freak. I could never warm up to them. They never sounded quite as musical as the other two amps.
It sad to see they take such a long time to break-in. I was unaware of this(I did hear it took a few months) and maybe I didn't give them enough time.
The other 2 issues with the amps was one of them had a transformer that hummed a little more than I thought was reasonable. I disconnected everything and turned it back on own and it continued. After calling Parasound about this, they said it was pretty normal and the other amp was just unsually quiet. Well, you know what I thought about that BS. Anyway, the bottom line was if I sent it back at my expense, they would put a new transformer in it. I felt that a little much for a 1 week old amp that I had waited 2 months for!
The same amp also liked to disconnect the speaker relay for no reason. It would be playing very softly and you would hear it click off and within a minute, click back on. I again disconnected everything except the speakers thinking it might be something triggering it from up the line. Not so. Finally, after about a week, it decided to quit it and functioned fine after that(other than the hum which got a little better---still very audible however)
So, that's my story for what its worth.