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Parasound JC-1 power amplifier

According to John Curl the Parasound JC-1 power amplifier cannot be improved, because it is already at the pinnacle of solid state circuit design. Of course I could not disagree with John, afterall he is the solid state guru...
But I would address the following (and I hope I will not offend anyone): Parasound is not an ultra high end brand like Mark Levinson, Krell, Accuphase or Boulder. It is rather a mid-fi to lower high end company where cost restrictions are very strong (because otherwise they wouldn't sell their products to the consumers). Because of this cost restrictions they simply could not build the world's best amplifier, even if John is designing some nice circuit for them. For example the parts quality is not very good, because they use cheap off the shelf parts. So in fact is the JC-1 IMHO a very compromised product. John could say that it is the best amplifier money can buy, but because of this cost restrictions it is only part of the truth.

Chris
dazzdax
rydenfan
67 posts
 
May I ask the point of this? Have you auditioned the amp in a double blind test against some of the other amps you mention, and have audibly heard a difference? Or is this just pure speculation?
sonofnorway
62 posts
 
Chris,

Where is John Curl quoted as saying "the Parasound JC-1 power amplifier cannot be improved, because it is already at the pinnacle of solid state circuit design"?
dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
Rydenfan: I'm only saying that an amp (in general) could not be the best sounding if the manufacturer is skimping severely on parts costs even if the circuitry design is SOTA. This is a fact whether you like it or not. I'm NOT trying to say the JC-1's are bad!

Sonofnorway: somewhere in the DIY forum someone asked if the JC-1 could be improved and John mentioned that in fact the JC-1 is already a "finished" product. He even mentioned that replacing this of that part inside the amp would not yield further improvements. Go ahead and read the discussion yourself. I'm not lying.

Chris
tms0425
72 posts
 
Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio found a way to improve his personal pair. Modding doesn't always make things better, but he has about a dozen changes in his "Turbomad", some of which John Curl seems to have suggested.
pryso
1,933 posts
 
Dazzdax, don't know if you've read much about the design of the JC-1 but I don't believe you'd say "parts quality is not very good, because they use cheap off the shelf parts" if you did. Part of the reason for the quality of the sound from the JC-1 is the careful selection of parts. Perhaps not the most expensive in every case, but none selected that would compromise sonics.

And part of the cost equation is realized by Far East assembly. So far as I know, Krell, Levinson, and Boulder are still built in the US. Does that give them better sonics?

An example is the comparison of the new JC-2 line stage against the CTC Blowtorch line stage. Same design team, similar circuit, less than one-third the cost, yet I believe Mr. Curl himself suggested 90% of the performance.

So since no one claims the JC-1 is better than all other amps (so far as I know), what is the point of your post? It is what it is, ONE of the best amps available and at a reasonable price.
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