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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

Showing 2 responses by dazzdax

dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
No, no, this thread is not meant to be a negative criticism towards John (Curl) or Parasound, not at all! I'm not a grim nitpicking and doomladen audio-moron (to use Romy the Cat's expression). I just want to address to some straightforward thoughts that might be not entirely true. I realize that what I said about the parts quality thing is also a bit narrow minded and therefore my apologize.

Chris
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
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