Same here! Also...swapping power cables are as entertaining to me as choosing between a headache or diarrhea.
A friend of mine was kind enough to give me a pair of older MIT Shotgun power cables. On my power and preamp, I couldn’t hear any difference, neither better nor worse. After much swapping and switching between stock and MIT on my cd player and streamer, I decided that the MITs seemed to smooth things out a bit, but the improvement, if any was barely discernible. Assuming they made any difference at all, my theory is that it might be related to clock performance.
Electrons are tricky. I've been planning to install five nines copper romex, cryo'd breakers, new lines run to my panel, and make sure they're using hand selected, audiophile coal at the power plant.... that should make my new $500 power cable sing! OK, back on topic, this thread made me pull the A21 out, I've not spent much (any?) time with it since upgrading my speakers last year.... it'll be fun to try again, it's been stored for a short time, it needs to get exercised!
I use Analysis Plus Power Oval 10 power cord and the Belden 1800F w/Neutrik XLR connectors made by BlueJeans.
There was some talk on here a while back about some of the new +series power amps not needing any warm up time because they had something built in to make that unnecessary. Now that my new JC 5 is broken in, I turn it off when I am not using it. When I am going to listen to music through it, I turn it on for 30 minutes or so before starting my listening session. Two questions: Does anyone know if the JC5 has the built in circuitry that allows you to not have to deal with warm up time? Where the JC5 is older than the + model amps mentioned, I suspect the answer is no. For you JC5 owners: What do you do a for your warm up: Leave it on 24 /7 or have found something else that works for you? TIA
My older A21 had that feature as well and I'm almost certain the Jc5 does as well. I leave mine on 24/7 for the most part but if and when I do shut her down , it really only takes about an hour to start sounding like it's supposed to.
Myself as well have heard about the "instant warm up" ...I vaguely recall it may have been part of an interview of Richard Schram with John Curl...yet couldn't find it..however found a reference to this on the Overture web site Quoting Overture.. ‘Instant Warm-up’ Feature Like all the other amps in the Halo product series, the A21 has Parasound’s exclusive bias circuit, which permits the amplifier to sound perfect from the instant it’s turned on, rather than having to wait for bias to gradually build up as the amp warms up over time. Very high bias allows greater Class operating range than others. Even Halo’s implementation of its automatic turn-on feature is exceptional. Special relays bypass the AC “soft start” circuitry after it’s done its job for the purest AC and the purest sound. Here is the actual link describung the A21+ scroll down some and you will come to the quoted section. Overture must have gotten that bit of info from Richard Schram ...another .0002 Parasound Halo A 21+ As far as warming up my JC5 prior to listening ...ususally 20-30 minutes for me....but when I just want to get into the music right then....no warm before hitting play... As far s the JC5 being older than the new + series amps....my own.002 is that while John Curl was designing the JC5 the A + series was also being worked on... So anyway hopefully this answers to a degree the questions you have asked.. Forgot to say that even after the 30 minute warm up time my JC5 becomes even more dimensional 3D relism and sweeter...all dynamics seem to yield better performance. Happy listening Best wishes
Thanks for the info. That is what I recalled seeing too. I think someone provided a link on this thread but I sure couldn't find it. It make no mention of the JC5 one way or the other unfortunately. I know on some of their gear they leave certain features out the higher up you go in the product line. This is order to get the greatest purity in the sound reproduction. I'd think that shouldn't really be the case here though.
If you re-read thinking it through...it seems to appear then that what the might just be this feature listed in the feature bullet points....similar description • AC turn-on inrush surge protection with relay bypass This feaature is also found on the JC1+ Checkout the brochure link below from Parasound: https://parasound.com/pdfs/jc5-brochure-web.pdf Hope this helps Best wishes
Your retired so time is on your side now..... But I don't think you need to wait 30 min before listening. I can't imagine bias will take more than several minutes in the JC5. I turn on my A21+ , get records ready, brush them on the TT and by that point it's been 10 min at least. Big difference over tube power amps that do need time to reach full bias.
Dan D’Agostino says 35 min for his power amps to warm up, and they are more massive than the rather massive JC5. IIRC, Lew Johnson used to say 20 min for the big SS CJ Premier 350. I really can’t hear the difference on my somewhat smaller CJ MF 2550, but I can’t say I noticed any difference on my deceased 350 either. But they are both guys who tune their gear by ear, like Curl, so I trust their judgment.
Today, I installed balanced cables between my A21+ and Hegel P20 preamp. When I used the RCAs, I thought my system was dead silent. It wasn't. The XLRs blackened up the backgrounds even more, so it sounds like I'm listening to music emerging from a void. Another immediately noticeable improvement seems to be the connection to the vocalists is stronger; more nuanced, more emotional, more immediate. I may also notice a little more detail in the music. I'm listening to a 50+ year old copy of Led Zeppelin II, and I'm hearing AND FEELING things my previous gear could never retrieve/expose. The additional 6db of gain means I'm definitely always in Class A. If you are into solid state, these Hegel P20s are amazing and you can get them used for about $1,500. Anyway, in my system, the difference between connecting the A21+ with XLRs over RCAs is very noticeable and worth doing.
Again, if you are a solid state person, the Hegel P20 and P30 (3x the price) are very, very good preamps at any price. They may appeal to tube people, too. They are very good, bordering on excellent.
For sure if there is a ground issue, balanced ICs are beneficial, but I think it’s better to eliminate the ground issue at the source. Apart from that, and maybe it’s because of my nonexistent tech background, it’s unclear to me how boosting the gain from the preamp keeps the power amp in Class A a greater portion of the time. The amount of power used by the amp would I think depend solely on the amount of work it has to do to move the drivers, not the gain from the preamp, or increase in input sensitivity on the A21+, if that’s what is going on. As I say, however, I’m not a tech guy. I don’t doubt that your system is sounding better.
You are correct. The input signal increases, but not the output. Either way, there was an improvement over RCAs.
I noticed a similar thing with my updated system where a new JC2 -BP feeds my JC 5 via XLRs. I'm sure the new JC3+ helps too. With my prior gear, I thought my old system was dead silent with black backgrounds. But it is exactly as you describe: Now it is like music emerging from a void. I often say it sounds like the air is being sucked out of the room and into the speakers. Everything you say about added detail and realism is what I have found. I am having a ball listening to my records all over again on this new system. It is if I got a new system AND an all new record collection as part of the package.
