I have spoken with Tony about a JC3+ I had purchased new through a dealer. The balanced XLR outs were producing an electrical type grating distortion in time with the music. In consultation with Tony at Parasound and Mike at Bryston (who makes my 17B3 Preamp) we agreed that the JC3+ was overdriving my 17B3 Preamp! My cartridge is an Ortofon 2M Black. By the way the JC3+ single ended outs were fine. But the XLR outs have 6dB more gain. So rather than having Tony put in resisters in my JC3+ to bring down the gain, change the specs on the unit and make it not stock, I returned it and got a Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl phono preamp and all is good. Bottom line is that Tony at Parasound is helpful. But you have to pay attention to your gain going to your preamp from your phono preamp. It’s an issue, as I learned.
Parasound service problems
I bought a used Parasound JC3+ phono preamplifier online from HiFi Buys, which is an official Parasound dealer, for over $ 2,200. Within 6 months one channel quit working. Since there is no warranty with it, I contacted Parasound service through the website email asking for the information to send it to them for repair at whatever price they charge, rather than sending it to the seller. I thought that Parasound would be more reliable. I have literally 20 messages with someone by the name of Phil Jackson at the service department and he still has not been able to provide me with that information. I am really concerned with the quality of service of this company.
In the interim I have noticed that the sound on my other Parasound device, a 10 month old $2,900 Halo Integrated Amplifier purchased new has interferences when 2 input sources are on at the same time even though only one can be selected. I also mentioned this to the service person, but he has not even addressed it on his reply. Is this normal?
I am certainly done with Parasound.
In the interim I have noticed that the sound on my other Parasound device, a 10 month old $2,900 Halo Integrated Amplifier purchased new has interferences when 2 input sources are on at the same time even though only one can be selected. I also mentioned this to the service person, but he has not even addressed it on his reply. Is this normal?
I am certainly done with Parasound.