Can anyone help?


Hi,all
I have a pair of JC1 Parasound monoblocks that I bought last january.They sound fantastic, until three months ago one of them start clicking.I mean shutting off for a second or two. Some days it will do it only once but some other times it will do it so many times I will shut everything off.
I called Parasound I was told they never heard such a thing with their amps.Since it only does it sometime if I send it to them it does not do it while in their hands it will be sent back to me without "fixing" it, plus the charges to have it checked.
I forgot to mention the amp clicks almost every time I turn any light on in the room.I do have two dedicated line with a 20A circuit breaker for each amp. It will do it even if I switch it to a different outlet. Only one amp does it.Does any JC1 owner experiencing this problem or something similar?
Help!!!!
willjw49
Well, it sounds like it could be one of several issues. First, make sure that you have the Auto turn on/off system defeated by moving the 'Select' switch to the center position 'Manual' in the Auto Turn On section in the rear of the amp. If this fixes the problem great, you know there is an issue with the Auto on/off circuit, but you just fixed it by placing it in manual mode. You simply have to turn the amp on and off manually.

The other issue could be the protection circuits are kicking in. Your amp will shut down if it senses a high current draw in the output stage (usually from speakers which dip to below 1 ohm at some point). Protection circuits will also shut down the amp if too much heat is sensed (improper ventilation) or DC is sensed at the speaker terminals. You could have either speakers that are too difficult for these amps to drive (unlikely), the amps stuffed in a cabinet with inadequate ventilation, or DC leaking from somewhere (could even be from a preamp or CDP). Of course you also could have none of the above issues and just problems with the detection circuits in the Parasound (false positives).

I would look into my first paragraph first, as this is the easiest and cheapest possible fix. Good luck.

John
I have never owned the JC-1's and therefore know nothing about them specifically, but I have an interesting suggestion for you. If you have the facility, take some video of the problem occurring either with a camcorder or a digital camera, but not a cell phone, the quality is too poor. This at least will give Parasound,or whatever tech is attempting to repair the amp, a visual reference starting point at least, in case the amp does not malfunction while they have it on the bench. This of course should be done after eliminating any possibility other than the amp itself as the culprit. Is there anybody you know who has a system who would allow you to go to their house and hook the JC-1's up in their system. If the one amp misbehaves in this situation than you can be pretty sure it's the amp that has the problem.
Try switching the power cords, look for the simple things first... a bad or loose connection at the outlet or IEC inlet. I owned JC-1s and had trouble at the IEC inlets with the stock power cables becoming loose. I bought new tighter fitting PCs and the problem was gone.
good luck
I own JC-1s and experienced the same thing until I put them on dedicated lines. Since you have already done that I suggest checking the connections and current capacity on your lines. The other suggestions offered are good too, especially regarding the auto-on. I switched mine to manual.

Good luck!
I personally know 2 owners of JC1 amps, or I should say ex owners..Both had similar problems and very little customer service support fixing the problems..When I was in the process of buying a new amp Parasound wasnt on my list because of build issues they seem to have.I think its rather common..Fix and sell,IMO

Thank you all for your suggestions.I think one of the amps has an issue with one particular line . I replaced the outlets (psa audio) but it still does it.I discovered when turned on the stove this amp clicks continually. So i just switched them outlets or sides to make it simple. so far no clicking for about a week now.
Is it electrical??? Since only one amp does it and when I plugged the other amp it does not do it;then it's not electrical.
So what could it be?
Again thanks for your inputs.