Parasound JC-1 and B&W 803d


Any thoughts on this combination, assuming that I already like the B&W sound.

Thanks.
jmpwme

Showing 2 responses by johnax

Having owned the JC-1's and a few other solid state amps, I'll chime in here. I second Braro's view that JC-1's can be bright, they were in my system. I use Avalon Eidolons, and quite frankly I was dissapointed with the JC-1's. I have recently been using the Gilmore Raptor, which is a new Class D mono block amp made by Mark Gilmore. I have found this amp to be far superior to the JC-1s in my system. The Ratpor has plenty of power, 250 watts into 8 ohms per channel. These amps blow the JC-1's away, period. The Raptor overall sound fabulous, and especially excel at soundstaging, with just fabulous width and depth, like the musicians are in my living room! Tonally, the Raptor are also outstanding, with the instruments and music sounding so real. The Raptor have a great high end, in fact I marvel at how clear the highs come through on them, without any grain or glare. Also, you'll get great bass slam with these amps. Basically, they are very well balanced across the frequency specturm. I always found I was getting a lot of grain and glare to the sound with the JC-1's, which meant listening fatigue. I don't get that on the Raptor, which is great. This amp is also very musical, and fun to listen to, I do not ever feel like I am missing anything when listening with them. On balance, the Raptor are by far the best solid state amp I have ever owned, and they offer great value for the $$$. They retail for about $5000. Do a search on Google for Gilmore Raptor, and you'll find them. I encourage you to check them out. I am just very pleased with these amps.
I have heard some earlier Class D amps that I found unnatural and incoherent, and I heard those on the Avalon Eidolons speakers as well. However, I do not hear any of that with the Raptors, they sound very natural and coherent to my ears. I think the implementation of Class D has improved over time. You will note that you are seeing more and more favorable reviews of Class D amps in the audio press.