Why all these JC-1's for sale?

Easy to explain; Great product,big new amp(was),hot hot reviews and lots of all kinds of I want to be a audiophile, well maybe buy a Harley insted after amp just does'nt thrill anymore. Fickel restless americans we lot !! It's great to pick up on this great hardly used gear thou is'nt it ? Save big bucks so you can have some cash left over for an RV and a deep sea diving bell.

Interesting points, Sean.

Just some observations...

I noticed as of today, there is only 1 Pair of JC-1's for sale here @ 'Gon.

So, what about the hundreds and hundreds of completely satisfied owners such as myself? (Maybe we're just too busy enjoying them to read these posts, and respond... ;)

Anyone even contemplating a purchase of the JC-1's, would be doing themself a great injustice if they didn't at least audition a "completely broken-in" pair, in his or her own system.

I conducted an extensive (over 4 mos.), side-by-side audition, comparison, shoot-out with the highly lauded Antique Sound Labs "Hurricanes". Well, I guess you know which mono blocks won in MY system. Don't get me wrong the 'Canes are also fantastic amps, but the JC-1's continued to consistanty sound more "musical", relaxed, and refined. And this was confirmed by a parade of audiophile and non-audiophile friends, alike, who graced my sound room over that time.

Also auditioned within a few weeks (but not simultaneously with the JC-1's) was a Spectron Musician II and a LLano Trinity 300.

I suspect anyone disappointed with the sound simply didn't let them break in long enough. Yes, the break-in time borders on the absurd (over 400 freakin' hrs. in my system!) but once they are fully "settled", they are easily one of the great amps currenlty available in the market, and yes, at any price.

I think that many people confuse "leaving the amps turned on but with little to no signal passing through them" with actual "break-in" time. While the idle current consumed and heat generated will help somewhat, there's nothing like throttling the amp to move things along. This has to do with the dynamic stress that components undergo when amplifying a signal, varying amplitude output levels and switching specific circuitry off & on, etc...

On top of that, and while i'm a big proponent of leaving high bias amps turned on, i do recommend turning these off after being on for a few days and letting them heat-down. This increases the thermal swing that the components under-go not to mention the increased "stress" caused by the massive in-rush current drawn when firing them back up.

As a side note, if a component is going to fail, it is most likely that it will fail when firing it up from being stone cold. This is due to the aforementioned problems with in-rush current and rapid thermal changes. As such, turning the amps off every now and then, letting them discharge fully overnight and then firing them back up in the morning is a good way to find out if you've got a unit with a potential problem.

If you're going to do this, do it early in the week so that when you turn it back on, the amp will be back up to a stabiized temperature for week-end listening sessions. As i've stated before, high bias amps sound best to me after being powered up for an uninterupted 48 - 72 hours or so. Just make sure that they have more than adequate ventilation. Sean
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Denf, would you be kind enough to post your impressions of the Musician II compared to the JC 1's. And did the Spectron have 400 hours on it. I know from personal experience my digital amp took at least that long to really open up.

One of the attractive aspects of digtial amps for me is the lack of heat. Should I need more power with a speaker change, the Spectron would be a consideration.

I am sure the JC-1's are great, but not in Hawaii !