Why all these JC-1's for sale?

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.

It would be interesting to know how many of the folks offering their amps up for sale:

1) actually home auditioned the JC-1s prior to purchase to see how they sounded in their system

2) actually home auditioned the JC-1s prior to purchase to see how they actually looked and fit into their home

I have owned the JC-1s in the past, I can tell you that they are not bad amplifiers. The main reason because I was in favor of the Jeff Rowland Model 12s when I audition them side by side in my system, I know that it's not a fair comparison since the Rowlands are more than twice the price of the JC-1s. The other matter was Parasound's customer service was so bad that even tho they were to make the best amplifier in the world which the JC-1 is not I would not buy from them ever again.

All of my customers interested in the JC-1s audition them in their systems. I'm a firm believer in try before you buy, and most often I take them over to their homes to set them up. I can't say if a lot of other dealers do that.

As for reasons why there are some for sale, I'll speculate on a few possibilities:

1) They didn't try them in their systems, instead relying upon published reviews. While all of the reviews have been very favorable, there's nothing like listening to them for yourself in your system to see what these babies will do.

2) They didn't take the time to break them in. As already mentioned, break-in is a long process. You have to initially force yourself to leave them on (low bias mode is fine) and play music through them at low volume (just above zero) 24/7.

Having dedicated power for them can help.

They like to have a preamp feeding them, not just a passive volume control, as Duke indicated. Put in a preamp with good dynamics and you've got a different animal!

The size can be a consideration, and yes, you need two power cords, although I know of some pretty darn good choices that won't break the bank :-)

And as Sean said, their sound isn't exactly colored. They can reveal problems elsewhere in the chain, though. Don't shoot the messenger :-)

Brian Walsh

I agree with the terrible Parasound customer service.