Parasound halo JC2 what a joke

Parasound makes awesome stuff.  I have the JC3+ and have yet to find anything that sounds better.
As for the made in Taiwan thing...  I spent 20 years in the bicycle industry working for a medium sized bicycle manufacturer.  We had our frames manufactured in several countries, including the U.S., but by far the best quality we ever achieved was in Taiwan.  I know that bicycles are not the same as electronics, but the point is that Taiwan has really come a long way in their manufacturing excellence.  China is also making some excellent quality electronics these days, but they constantly get bashed.  Some of the worst products I've ever owned (reliability-wise) have been made in the U.S., U.K. and France.  Probably the best track record for products I have owned have been Japanese made.  

Speaking of Emotiva, Paul Mcgowan of PS Audio was at the Axpona 2018 audio show, and took a video cam around to various booths.  Several audio veterans knew Paul and greeted him and made small talk.

Then Paul wondered over to the Emotiva booth.  Dan Laufman, seeing an opportunity(I guess?) immediately stepped into salesman mode and dragged Paul and his cam to his displayed products, spewing prices and features like a used car salesman.  It was kind of sad.  Dan was also dressed like one with several gaudy gold pieces about his person.  

And for me, that wraps up what Emotiva is about.  Here's a link if anyone wants a laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0BNGtPEmQA

I have the Parasound Hint never a problem great sound and questions always answered timely.
I would not put Parasound in the same category as Emotiva as I had owned Emo monos and pre and the Hint was a definitive move up in sound.

This is the second time it's happened in 4 years so I'm not sure it's bad PR.  They handled it better the second time instead of charging $175, but I'm having trouble picturing "everything I touch just falls off!".  The JC2 has a total of 2 buttons, just what is being touched?!

This is bad PR for Parasound. Thanks! for sharing - raynhis65gtoHope you can get the JC2 repaired. Keep us posted.

So hate to bump an old post but this is real.  Bought a brand new JC2 and the power button fell off.  They sent me a new button and I pulled the face plate off to repair.  Everything is glued to the faceplate! The glue is dryed out and brittle and everything I touch just falls off!  Wish I could post a picture....nobody believes this!

Hah! My FOURTH grader could do it while chewing bubble yum!

Glue on power buttons?? Sooo many ways to fix that error and to visualize when open the faceplate. All you need is scredriver; drill with proper bits; bolts and nuts from your old computer or dies to cut the thread in the faceplate hole and camera to use technology to visualise assembly after dissasembly. That could be done by 6th grader for $25 amazon gift card.

...got pulled over in Omaha, NE on Cornhusker Hgwy....lol. The cop was like wtf!?!?

I had an Alfetta GT back in the late 70's. Cool car! All cars seemed to leak oil back then though....ha ha.

good point Geofkait....I had an Alfa many years ago. I saw the Graduate, and had to have the Duetta. It was wonderful when working, but it hardly saw daylight...in the shop all the time.

The caddy issue would be warranty service I think. I had some engine issues back in the day due to the dealer overfilling the oil. I hope that's not the problem, but either way it shouldn't cost you a cent. Maybe you're redlining it too much!

As Snoop from "The Wire" said about Cadillac, "he means Lexus, but he ain't know it."

Cadillac must be using old Alfa Romeo engine seals.

My new caddy turbo is a piece of junk ass well . I have to tighten the turbo once a month . Oil is leaking out of the engine seals , not dripping . Its fast and cunffy but for 50k you would think they could keep the oil in the engine .

What in the world does the Caddilac mention have anything to do with wealth?...it does reveal class however.

Omg it's not in a cabinet , plenty of ventilation around it . When everything is off for days its still 90 . Sometimes my savannah cat sleeps on it . Lol

I agree with Larryi. The JC2 is specified as consuming 25 watts of AC power in standby, and 30 watts when turned on. For a preamp of its size and weight (24 pounds), a consumption of 25 watts seems to me to be perfectly consistent with a temperature rise on parts of its housing of perhaps 20 degrees or so above room ambient temperature. In other words, to about 90 degrees F.

I don't see that as being of any significance, as long as a modicum of common sense is exercised with respect to placement and ventilation provisions.

Regards,
-- Al

Okay, I just read the JC2 manual and found the Ventilation Requirements section which is included below:

Because the JC 2 is a high current class A design it is always slightly warm to the touch, even when in standby. To reduce the chance of your JC 2 overheating please follow these guidelines:
• Install your JC 2 away from heat sources such as heating ducts, radiators, or heat-producing components.
• Always position the JC 2 horizontally.
• We recommend that you do not place the JC 2 above a power amplifier.
• Do not install the JC 2 in an unventilated equipment cabinet or compartment. Pockets of stagnant hot air can build up even in cabinets with open front and back sides. A ventilation fan such as the Parasound Zbreeze is highly recommended to prevent “hot spots” in confined spaces.

Okay, it says it runs "slightly" warm. my guess is Maggy44 has his directly above his amps or next to a baseboard heater of some kind. Perhaps he measured it before the cabinet interior had cooled down. Whatever.

90 degrees centigrade or farenheit? For equipment that is meant to be on all of the time, 90 degrees farenheit is actually pretty cool running. I am sure that the power supply on my Naim NDS server runs hotter than that, and it is intended to be on all of the time. Back when I ran a Levinson No. 32 preamp, the main box was probably around that temperature and the power supply ran much hotter than 90 degrees farenheit; if the unit was left off, it would take forever to get back to optimal performance.

Don't give them a bad rap.

No pre amp should get that hot. Something is drastically wrong. You should ship it back to the company to have it checked out before you do further damage! It is better to be safe than sorry!

I've owned two different A21s and neither one of them ever got hot. They were on 24 hours a day and they were warm to the touch.

Magnum wrote,

"Over at AA one guy's JC2 power button fell apart 2X."

All I see over at AA is YOUR post that's identical to the one you posted here.

Mr john curl designed it so when it's off certain parts stay powered up / warm so it sounds good when you turn it on !!!! I have a temp gun , so yes 90* at the back of the jc2 . Anymore lame ? Or statements .

You're saying a PRE AMP JC2, with no amp section, heats up to 90 degrees when it's off. You're also saying you have reliably measured this with some device, and it was bang on 90 degrees, and not some number you picked out of the air.

I'd say you should sell everything and start over.

Wow , even stereophile mentioned how the jc1 heated his room . Are you sure it's pluged in .

What are you talking about ?

"Wow , my jc2 is 90* when it's off"

...and there you go.....the sham is now exposed.

Wow , my jc2 is 90* when it's off . My A21 would heat up my listening room playing my martinlogans . Perhaps someone needs to turn up the volume .

Another Parasound owner of both an amp and pre, neither get beyond mildly warm after a couple of hours playing time.

I can afford a brand new Caddy (which means exactly what?) but yet I bitch about a $175 repair to a $4500 product? So if some cheap ass plastic trim falls off your Cadillac and it costs you $500 is that worth a troll thread too?

This whole thing is becoming a joke. The OP is obviously a troll. Dissing the customer service, which those of us that own Parasound and have corresponded with them know is absolute bull, I'm beginning to dis-believe this entire glue story after his further assertion of Parasound components getting too hot, which is also total bull....give me a break. And you have owned exactly how many Parasound components to make this claim? You are the joke and congrats in pulling us all in to your little charade. To add further to the charade is the Cadillac reference....ha ha....what are you 85 yrs old? Like a Caddy is the ultimate ride now days? Yeah,right :^ /

Magnum44,
My A21 does not get hot at all, even if I use them for 3-4 hours continuously. Can you list down your system. Are you sure everything is right in it?
You just have 2 threads here and are not off on a good start. Your thread on AA mentioned that you forgot your password. And your username was "transam" before you lost your password. So you registered as transam9957 there and here you chose to be different? Really?

"I'm surprised with how hot the amps and preamps get that there aren't more failures"

Great....more misinformation introduced to the thread. My A21 doesn't even get warm, even after playing for 10 hours straight, which it does quite often while powering electrostats.

Over at AA one guy's JC2 power button fell apart 2X . I don't know for sure but i'm going to guess that all halo gear power and input are glued on . If i'm wrong please correct me . I'm surprised with how hot the amps and preamps get that there aren't more failures .

Runnin
Aren't you doing the exact same, but, for Emotiva?
What is it,you are annoyed that Parasound (your gear)
is getting bad reputation?
Emotiva and Parasound are in the same league and only priced
different. A quick search will confirm that,and also who has better prices.
George

Besides no real audiophile drives around in a Cadillac.

If it doesn't make sense it's not true. - Judge Judy

I love these guys that spam the net whenever they feel slighted. It hasn't really been established how the button was attached, and whatever it is, it obviously isn't a problem. I've got 2 Parasound components that use the same button, I'm not losing any sleep so far.

This basic rant was also posted over on Audio Asylum. As someone responded there we're only hearing one side of the story. It would be interesting to hear Parasound's side of things.

Do any other manufacturers use glue or cement to attach buttons or knobs? If this glue thing were a problem it's difficult to believe it wouldn't have been addressed and disposed of a long time ago. Do the JC-1s use glue?

This is not Parasound bashing but a $4500 preamp shouldn't have buttons that are glued on. Just saying.

Runnin
Don't get me wrong, I submit that Parasound offers outstanding value

Compared to much more expensive amps, maybe the 3D soundstage is better, perhaps I am underestimating. I remain skeptical, I'm kind of a show me guy. I do know that with good solid conductor cables I was able to improve the sound of my Parasound system and have air and presence with 3D effects. I can't compare it to Pass Labs though. But I'm content, what can I say?

Runnin,
"If one can spend $10-15,000 on amps, more power to you. Recently in another forum a Parasound owner said he's upgrading to some super expensive brand because "after a while, you just want to move on to something better". Good for him, but whatever improvement he'll get over a high bias Class A with MOSFET/JFETs input/output stages design that the Halos offer will be subtle in most cases."
I hear what your saying; however there are some things that Parasound doesn't do well, at least in my system. I had an A21 and recently changed amplifiers. I was told several times that Parasound amps are rather flat and don't produce a "great" three dimensional soundstage(by a Parasound dealer)...I refused to believe it, but hearing is everything and now I understand. The fact is we don't know, what we don't know and until we compared different components in our own systems, we don't know how good or bad our favorite component is.

Thanks Don_c55. AS for the rest of you guys, I stand behind what I said. I'm changing anything or backpedaling because you don't like it or disagree with it, childish or not.

The facts remain that this is a mass produced product made (excuse me *assembled*) in Taiwan built to a price point with clear compromises inherent in the whole enchilada.

I can appreciate affordability, but to me, this stuff ain't the cat's meow like some of you guys and the reviewers say.

And as far as reliability is concerned, of course more expensive stuff has its problems, there are lemons at every price point.

Regarding customer service; I can appreciate that. That is quite commendable and honorable.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for today. Feel free to debate (I know you will, lol)

Sh$t happens all the time, even with more expensive companies. And more often than one might think.

Owners just don't like to report it here, because of the resell value of their pieces. Now, to suggest enthusiastically "not to buy any more Parasound stuff!" is plain childish.

Having said that, it's very interesting to know Parasound's side of the story.

And so what? They come with a five year warranty, they sound amazing(Halo anyway), they look exceptionally good, and the president stands behind the products like no "mass market" brand I've ever seen. The OP was upset because the repair facility put a scratch on his amp mostly, but he seems to get upset easily as he now accuses the president of something too.

If one can spend $10-15,000 on amps, more power to you. Recently in another forum a Parasound owner said he's upgrading to some super expensive brand because "after a while, you just want to move on to something better". Good for him, but whatever improvement he'll get over a high bias Class A with MOSFET/JFETs input/output stages design that the Halos offer will be subtle in most cases.

But it's his money, he can do what he wants with it. Bashing Parasound because one button came off, and is made in Taiwan is silly, however. If there were a rash of buttons falling off, then you'd have something.