PARASOUND JC-2 JC-2 (John Curl Design) PREAMP Recommended Component" 2013 - Stereophile-CLASS A

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Recommended Component" 2013 - Stereophile

"Editors' Choice" Award Winner 2012 - The Absolute Sound Magazine

Listed in The Absolute Sound 2012 High-End Audio Buyer's Guide

"Product of the Year" 2008 - The Absolute Sound Magazine

The Absolute Sound "Best Solid-State Preamp" 2008/2009

The Quietest Preamplifier Ever Built

"Up There with the Best," Says Stereophile

The wait is over. The world is finally ready for a stereo preamplifier that's fully the equal of Parasound's exquisite JC 1 monoblock amplifier. Parasound didn't rush the new JC 2. It waited until world-renowned audiophile designer John Curl was fully satisfied with every detail of his latest masterpiece.

Stereophile magazine honored the Parasound JC 2 by including it in its "Recommended Components" list for 2013. "Perhaps the finest solid-state line stage I have heard," said the magazine. "This is what a great line stage does; lets all the other components perform at their best."

"Extreme Rarityl"

The Parasound Halo JC 2 won an "Editor's Choice Award" for 2012 in The Absolute Sound magazine, which noted, "The JC 2 is the extreme rarity - a near reference-quality product that many of us can actually afford."

"Lives up to Its Legendary Forebear"

The Absolute Sound magazine rated the Halo JC2 as the "Best Solid-State Preamp" in the Winter 08 / Spring 09 issue. "The new JC-2 lives up to its legendary forebear, offering outstanding neutrality, very low noise, high resolution of inner detail, excellent timbre and texture, excellent large-scale and small-scale dynamics, and a surprisingly large taste of the air and bloom that only tube preamps used to own."

"A Product of the Year in Any Year"

When The Absolute Sound magazine honored the Parasound JC2 with a "Product of the Year Award" in its January 2009 issue, the reviewers concluded, "This is a terrific linestage preamp that would be a Product of the Year in any year."

"My guess is that the Parasound Halo JC-2 can compete successfully against preamps, solid-state or tubed, that sell for twice the price -- or more," reports Sam Tellig in the December 2007 issue of Stereophile. "Like the JC-1, the JC-2 is up there with the best of them, but down to earth in price."

"Shockingly Realistic Sound"

"The JC 1 / JC 2 combo produces a remarkably detailed and shockingly realistic sound," marvels Steve Guttenberg in the June 2008 issue of Home Entertainment magazine. "If you are new to high-end audio, Parasound’s JC 1 / JC 2 combination is a great place to start."

The Halo JC 2 is a pure analog preamplifier that is the product of pure genius. John Curl's CTC Builders, creators of the famed JC 1, designed the JC 2 to be Parasound's next legend. The design team achieves an amazing 116 dB signal-to-noise ratio with the JC 2 by isolating its dual-mono audio circuits from the power supply by placing them behind noise-killing 3/8"-thick shields. Balanced inputs and outputs -- featuring Neutrik XLR connectors -- a switchable polarity invert, and a full-function wireless remote control all contribute to the affordable luxury of owning a Halo JC 2.

Absolutely Dead-Quiet Operation

"The JC-2 allows music to emerge intact -- withy body, bloom, and dynamics, with definition and detail -- from an utterly silent background," reports Sam Tellig in Stereophile.

From the beginning, Parasound made quiet operation a priority of the JC 2. In fact, the company wanted this to be the quietest preamp that you can buy – at any price. Instead of relying on a toroidal transformer, which is typically found in quality AV components, the design team opted for a high capacity R-core audio power transformer and inductor with additional filters and special low-ESR capacitors. Unlike a toroidal transformer, this premium technology does not pass noise through to the rest of the circuitry, contributing to the JC 2's dead-quiet operation.

The heavily regulated dual-mono power supply boasts hyper-fast soft recovery audio bridge rectifiers diodes. And there's an independent power supply for controller, relay coils, triggers, and LEDs, an approach with keeps the preamps 'housekeeping' circuits well out of the audio chain.

"I can vouch for the results," says Alan Taffel about the ultra-quiet design in his January 10, 2007 report on the CES show for AVguide.com. "In one of the simplest but most effective demos of the show, I placed my ear directly against the driver of a speaker being fed by a JC-2/JC-1 combo set at maximum volume. I could hear absolutely nothing."

Dual-mono left and right channel circuit boards minimize crosstalk. The direct DC servo-coupled design uses no capacitors in the signal path. The premium four-gang motor-driven analog master volume control uses separate TKD brand analog gain controls for L and R channels. The audio mute is switched by independent L and R relays.

Balanced and Unbalanced Input Switching

The JC 2 includes six pairs of unbalanced RCA line-level audio input jacks. Two input pairs can be switched to XLR balanced connectors. There's an independent balanced/unbalanced select for the left and right channel, and each channel's input is switched by its own gold-on-silver contact relay.

Separate output jacks are provided for simultaneous normal and non-inverting polarity. The four output jack pairs have specialized functions. One main output jack pair is balanced XLR, and the polarity can be switched by the wireless remote. One main output jack pair is unbalanced RCA, and polarity is also switched by remote. Of the two remaining outputs, one pair is unbalanced RCA, inverted polarity only, and the other output pair is unbalanced RCA, normal polarity, featuring a fixed level for recorders. Remote control polarity switching uses gold-on-silver contact relays.

Hand-Picked, No-Compromise Parts and Pieces

Every section of the JC 2 uses premium internal components that were specifically chosen for specific functions in specific areas. These include hand-matched, complementary input-stage and output-stage FETs, Vampire brand 24k gold-plated RCA jacks, Neutrik brand premium XLR connectors, and Canare brand internal wiring.

The rear panel of the JC 2 is made of aluminum, for less magnetic impact on the ground plane and the signal jacks. And speaking of those connections, all grounding for the JC 2's inputs is completely isolated from all grounding for the outputs.

System Integration

The included wireless remote controls all functions using discrete IR codes. A two-way RS-232 serial port connection and 12-volt trigger systems allows for easy system integration. Four 12v trigger output jacks allow for power amp auto turn-on. Two 12v trigger jacks are switched by the remote, and two 12v trigger jacks are live when the JC 2 is turned on.

FROM STEREOPHILE 2013 CLASS A PREAMPLIFIER LISTING:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/2012-recommended-components-preamplifiers:

Parasound Halo JC 2: $4000 ✩ $$$

Styled to match the JC 1 power amplifier and finished in the same brushed, natural aluminum, the JC 2 exhibits a high standard of construction. Each channel of the fully balanced JC 2 is on a separate PCB, with the audio and control power supplies on separate circuits, isolated from each other by 3⁄8"-thick aluminum partitions. ST was impressed by the JC 2’s noiseless operation and excellent reproduction of space, which allowed music “to emerge intact—with body, bloom, and dynamics, with definition and detail—from an utterly silent background.” JA agreed, but decided the JC 2 sounded best with warmer-sounding amplifiers and speakers, when it excelled in the areas of images and dynamics. “Perhaps the finest solid-state line stage I have heard,” sums up ST. “This is what a great line stage does: lets all the other components perform at their best. The Halo JC 2 matched the Ayre KX-R in terms of openness and sparkle, but sounded leaner and could not reach the Ayre’s level of deep musicality, said WP. Compared to the Simaudio Moon Evolution P-7, the JC 2 sacrificed body for leading-edge definition, felt JA. One of Stereophile’s “Joint Amplification Components” for 2008. Configured for home-theater bypass, the BP version of Parasound’s excellent JC 2 preamplifier has a revised circuit board and front-panel control board that make possible the hybridization of a traditional analog two-channel system with a modern digital multichannel system. The Halo JC 2 BP looks almost identical to the Halo JC 2, with only the Bypass LED on the front panel and the letters “BP” added to the labeling front and rear. It offers both balanced RCA and unbalanced XLR inputs and outputs. KR heard no difference between a direct connection from pre-pro to power amp and a connection via the JC 2 BP’s bypass function. Owners of existing JC 2s can have their units upgraded to BP status for $500. (Vol.30 No.12, Vol.31 Nos.3 & 11, Vol.32 No.3, Vol.34 No.6 WWW; ‘BP version Vol.34 No.3 Read Review Online)

HomeTheaterReview.com, February 2010
If you're an audiophile, you almost certainly know of the Parasound company, a manufacturer of high-end audio/video electronics (and other products) that are of extremely high quality, yet are not stratospherically priced. Halo is Parasound's premium line of components. (The JC 2 is not inexpensive at $4,000, but this is a high-end component we're talking about, and for what you get, that can be considered good value.) You might also know of John Curl, a veteran audio designer who is inarguably one of the true greats in the field. Curl has worked for esteemed companies like Mark Levinson, Vendetta Research, Harman Kardon Citation, Wilson Audio and others, and even worked on electronics for the Grateful Dead. Curl has been a consultant to Parasound since the late 1980s.

http://www.parasound.com/halo/jc2.php

Frequency Response
5 Hz - 100 kHz, +0/-3 dB

Distortion
THD: 116 dB, input shorted, IHF A-weighted
> 104 dB, input shorted, unweighted

Crosstalk
> 100 dB at 10 kHz
> 90 dB at 20 kHz

Gain
14 dB, maximum

L, R Gain Control Range
- 10 dB

Input Impedance
Unbalanced: 30k ohms
Balanced: 30k ohms per leg

Output Impedance
Unbalanced: