Thoughts on JC1+s
First of all, in order, I have had the good fortune to have extensive listening with Parasound’s JC1s, followed by a JC5, followed by a pair of JC5s, followed by a pair of the newly released JC1+s.
The headline is that as I moved up the chain, the sound kept getting better, with the 1+s having a delicacy and clarity that surprised me, even over the pair of the JC5s.
The JC1s have been my reference for several years, given the opportunity to spend time with a JC5, I was happy to but quite skeptical. I did not expect it, by itself, to outperform the JC1s, but there is no question that clarity and soundstage were significantly better than with the 1s. There was an ease of use and cohesion to the soundstage that the 1s simply did not match.
A pair of JC5s are a horse of a different color. What was true of one JC5 became even more so with a pair. Since I can bi-wire my speakers, I used the left channel on each for the bass and the right for the treble. What was “ease of use” became much more so, with a much wider and deeper soundstage. The depth of the soundstage was a shock. I was used to good side to side imaging, but had always lacked the depth that I desired. The JC5s delivered that in spades, and I was a very happy camper. There is a delicacy to the image that improves as you move up the Parasound line of Products from the 1 to the 5s, each instrument becomes more detailed and refined, more specific in its placement in space. And when I talk about ease of use, what I mean is the ease with which the amplifier projects the sound, it always seems as though it is not working at all, and that additional volume could be easily accommodated as the amps seemed to be hardly working. Extremely extensive head room might be one way to put it.
The JC5s were so illuminating that I started to reach way back into my record collection to pull out albums that I haven’t listened to in years. I make a distinction between listening to my equipment and listening to music. When I have a new piece of equipment it is natural to spend time listening for the differences that appear due to the change, but the real joy comes when you realize that you have stopped listening to the equipment and now are just enjoying the music. The JC5s got me to that spot very quickly and due to the clarity and specificity of the image I kept asking myself, I wonder what this record would sound like on this system. In all cases, I was hearing detail that surprised me… But…
…Enter the JC1+s.
First of all, let me say that the JC1+s need break in time. I know that this is often pooh-poohed in audiophile circles but these amps needed time to acclimate. Out of the box, they delivered shocking clarity, absolutely precise imaging of instruments, an almost scary articulation of the music. What was missing was the bass, which was acceptable but not a major improvement over the 5s, in fact I was hearing a modest diminution of total bass.
I ran the amps for many hours the first day and on the second day…THE BASS ARRIVED.
Oddles of it, in fact too much of it. If this was the final sound, I was a little worried since the bass was boomy, which was not a problem I had had before the 1+s arrived, in fact I always thought my room was a little bass shy.
By day three, the bass had settled in, or perhaps the mids and highs had rebalanced but the sound was more even top to bottom. At this stage, this was an extremely articulate amplifier. My wife came in, listened for a while and said “it’s a bit clinical”, which is not a term she would have learned from me (unless she has been sneaking into my Absolute Sounds behind my back). But this was a scary clean amp, and for me, at this point, too much so.
By day five, I was starting to hear the gentility, what I describe as an almost “tube like sound” that the best Parasound equipment is capable of. Up to this point, I had been, as described above, just listening to the equipment. My thoughts about this amp have been consistent, a clarity and precision of placement that is superb but now that they are breaking in, what I am hearing is the wonder of the music and for the first time with these amps, I started to get lost in the music, not listening to the equipment.
Just when I was thinking that everything had broken in and I was at the final sound for this amp, I started to notice that my soundstage had broadened. I don’t mean just a little, I mean something approaching CineramaScope-like soundstage. The image didn’t extend beyond the 20 feet between my side walls but it came very close.
At first, it was almost too much, as I was starting to hear real space between different instruments. I don’t mean that each instrument was articulated, I mean that each instrument had a very specific starting and ending physical space in the general soundstage. Live music took on a new meaning as the lead guitar was dead center, the rhythm guitar was three feet to the left and the bass was off to the right, bass drum and snare centered, high hat just to the left. This amp is so precise that I could tell whether the image the mixer was trying to convey was from the audience looking at the stage, or from the stage looking at the audience. As I said, scary good.
Oh! Did I mention the bass. Once the bass settled down a bit, I started to hear much deeper tones from the bass, reaching way down into the depths, something my room had not had before. And as last note (pun intended), I want to mention speed.
I have said that this is a scary clean amp, what that really means is that it is fast, really fast, very, very fast. Hearing thumb picking on a well recorded bass track, listening to acoustic guitar and being able to tell whether the guitarist is using wire or gut strings, hearing the sonic difference of different types of cymbals are all easily done with this amp.
The sum total is an astounding amplifier, it has size, speed, delicacy and power, which when combined make for an extremely illuminating amplifier. Parasound has entered into a new era with this amp.
First of all, in order, I have had the good fortune to have extensive listening with Parasound’s JC1s, followed by a JC5, followed by a pair of JC5s, followed by a pair of the newly released JC1+s.
The headline is that as I moved up the chain, the sound kept getting better, with the 1+s having a delicacy and clarity that surprised me, even over the pair of the JC5s.
The JC1s have been my reference for several years, given the opportunity to spend time with a JC5, I was happy to but quite skeptical. I did not expect it, by itself, to outperform the JC1s, but there is no question that clarity and soundstage were significantly better than with the 1s. There was an ease of use and cohesion to the soundstage that the 1s simply did not match.
A pair of JC5s are a horse of a different color. What was true of one JC5 became even more so with a pair. Since I can bi-wire my speakers, I used the left channel on each for the bass and the right for the treble. What was “ease of use” became much more so, with a much wider and deeper soundstage. The depth of the soundstage was a shock. I was used to good side to side imaging, but had always lacked the depth that I desired. The JC5s delivered that in spades, and I was a very happy camper. There is a delicacy to the image that improves as you move up the Parasound line of Products from the 1 to the 5s, each instrument becomes more detailed and refined, more specific in its placement in space. And when I talk about ease of use, what I mean is the ease with which the amplifier projects the sound, it always seems as though it is not working at all, and that additional volume could be easily accommodated as the amps seemed to be hardly working. Extremely extensive head room might be one way to put it.
The JC5s were so illuminating that I started to reach way back into my record collection to pull out albums that I haven’t listened to in years. I make a distinction between listening to my equipment and listening to music. When I have a new piece of equipment it is natural to spend time listening for the differences that appear due to the change, but the real joy comes when you realize that you have stopped listening to the equipment and now are just enjoying the music. The JC5s got me to that spot very quickly and due to the clarity and specificity of the image I kept asking myself, I wonder what this record would sound like on this system. In all cases, I was hearing detail that surprised me… But…
…Enter the JC1+s.
First of all, let me say that the JC1+s need break in time. I know that this is often pooh-poohed in audiophile circles but these amps needed time to acclimate. Out of the box, they delivered shocking clarity, absolutely precise imaging of instruments, an almost scary articulation of the music. What was missing was the bass, which was acceptable but not a major improvement over the 5s, in fact I was hearing a modest diminution of total bass.
I ran the amps for many hours the first day and on the second day…THE BASS ARRIVED.
Oddles of it, in fact too much of it. If this was the final sound, I was a little worried since the bass was boomy, which was not a problem I had had before the 1+s arrived, in fact I always thought my room was a little bass shy.
By day three, the bass had settled in, or perhaps the mids and highs had rebalanced but the sound was more even top to bottom. At this stage, this was an extremely articulate amplifier. My wife came in, listened for a while and said “it’s a bit clinical”, which is not a term she would have learned from me (unless she has been sneaking into my Absolute Sounds behind my back). But this was a scary clean amp, and for me, at this point, too much so.
By day five, I was starting to hear the gentility, what I describe as an almost “tube like sound” that the best Parasound equipment is capable of. Up to this point, I had been, as described above, just listening to the equipment. My thoughts about this amp have been consistent, a clarity and precision of placement that is superb but now that they are breaking in, what I am hearing is the wonder of the music and for the first time with these amps, I started to get lost in the music, not listening to the equipment.
Just when I was thinking that everything had broken in and I was at the final sound for this amp, I started to notice that my soundstage had broadened. I don’t mean just a little, I mean something approaching CineramaScope-like soundstage. The image didn’t extend beyond the 20 feet between my side walls but it came very close.
At first, it was almost too much, as I was starting to hear real space between different instruments. I don’t mean that each instrument was articulated, I mean that each instrument had a very specific starting and ending physical space in the general soundstage. Live music took on a new meaning as the lead guitar was dead center, the rhythm guitar was three feet to the left and the bass was off to the right, bass drum and snare centered, high hat just to the left. This amp is so precise that I could tell whether the image the mixer was trying to convey was from the audience looking at the stage, or from the stage looking at the audience. As I said, scary good.
Oh! Did I mention the bass. Once the bass settled down a bit, I started to hear much deeper tones from the bass, reaching way down into the depths, something my room had not had before. And as last note (pun intended), I want to mention speed.
I have said that this is a scary clean amp, what that really means is that it is fast, really fast, very, very fast. Hearing thumb picking on a well recorded bass track, listening to acoustic guitar and being able to tell whether the guitarist is using wire or gut strings, hearing the sonic difference of different types of cymbals are all easily done with this amp.
The sum total is an astounding amplifier, it has size, speed, delicacy and power, which when combined make for an extremely illuminating amplifier. Parasound has entered into a new era with this amp.