Parasound’s monolithic 83-pound JC 1+ can kick out the jams with absolute authority. It delivers a whopping 450 watts into a single channel at 8 ohms, and it’s stable down to 2 ohms, offering flexibility to drive even the most demanding speakers.
The company’s famed audio guru John Curl spent five years developing this amp as an upgrade to his original JC 1, which has been wowing audiophiles since 2003. He redesigned the input stages with an independent power supply for increased output with minimal distortion.
Internal view of Parasound JC 1+ monoblock power amplifier
Parasound’s audio guru John Curl chose the parts for the JC 1+ and laid out its circuit pathways to ensure high power with minimal distortion.
Class A/AB operation for smoother sound
The JC 1+ uses Class A/AB amplifier technology, which we don’t see every day. So let’s talk about what that means.
Engineers and audiophiles generally agree that Class A designs offer the purest sound, but they tend to run hot and take up a lot of space. As a result, home audio amplifiers often use a compromise known as Class AB, which hands off part of the audio signal to a different set of output transistors at high power levels. AB can sacrifice a bit of signal purity, but it lets the amp run cooler and more efficiently.
So this Class A/AB amp operates in pure Class A mode up to a higher power level than most other amplifiers in its price category, before the second set of transistors kick in. The result is a sound that’s smoother, less fatiguing, and more natural. This amp includes a bias switch that can be set to “low” to reduce heat output and power consumption. When it’s set to “high,” the amplifier delivers up to 25 watts of pure Class A power.
