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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
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.
rademaker
88 posts
 
Mark Levinson, Krell, Accuphase, Boulder or Parasound is definetely not SOTA.
According to my opinion the only true SOTA are: FM acoustics and Rey audio, forget about all other brands.
likecoiledsteel
33 posts
 
Sounds like Kool Aide. So you are basically saying that no Parasound amp can ever best a Krell, Boulder amp, because of their marketing and pricing? As ssaid, the exact same amp would be 4x the price with a Krell stamp on it. There is also a ponit of diminshing returns. If all of the components in the Krell were "better" what does that mean? Would it sound better? Would they last longer? My Krell amp has been back to the factory twice in 5 years, while my cheapo Adcom remains strong after 14 years of use. Go figure.
Steel
daltonlanny
301 posts
 
No offense, but:
The parts that are inside the JC-1's are not "cheap off the shelf parts" by any stretch of the imagination.
They were carefully choosen, and carefully matched together to sound their best.
slowhand
610 posts
 
I have a friend that has the JC-1. It is a excellent sounding pair of power amps. Who can say what is best? This is totally subjective. I hate when someone says this is the best power amp, preamp, etc in the world. Even if you have heard every other power amp in the world, it is still just the opinion of the person saying it. Personally, I am much more interested in equipment that gives great sound for the dollar than I am in the "best in the world". The JC-1's are a great value.
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