Sean -
Your #5 (insufficient available current) is quite possibly a common culprit.
In addition, the JC-1's really do take two months of continuous play to fully break in, and that's probably the equivalent of several years of normal use.
The JC-1's do not work well with passive preamps, in my experience.
And of course there are system synergy issues, as well as individual taste and preference. As a dealer, I get to see that there really are enormous variations in listener preferences. I can't trust that my taste in sonic presentation will match someone else's any more than I can trust my taste in music to match someone else's. Diff'rent strokes, somebody from the 60's once wrote.
Your #5 (insufficient available current) is quite possibly a common culprit.
In addition, the JC-1's really do take two months of continuous play to fully break in, and that's probably the equivalent of several years of normal use.
The JC-1's do not work well with passive preamps, in my experience.
And of course there are system synergy issues, as well as individual taste and preference. As a dealer, I get to see that there really are enormous variations in listener preferences. I can't trust that my taste in sonic presentation will match someone else's any more than I can trust my taste in music to match someone else's. Diff'rent strokes, somebody from the 60's once wrote.