I don’t listen to vinyl nearly as much as I’d like to, but I’m confident that how the JC 3+ breathes life and energy into music is exceptional. The two products are very similar as far as passive equalisation is concerned, but not only. Even though I don’t have many mono records, I was curious about that button on the JC 3+, so I grabbed The Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks [Sanctuary NPL-18233]. Ataulfo Argenta/London Symphony Orchestra – Espana! Phono preamplifiers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Vol.13 January 2021, A COLLECTION OF NEW VINYL FOR THE AUDIOPHILE: January 2021, What We Are Watching Vol. "Parasound’s JC 3+ Phono Amplifier is a masterpiece and its creators John Curl and Carl Thompson spared no expense to achieve sound quality and performance that is impeccable." Parasound maintains a relatively long history in Hi-Fi. The JC 5 will please even if you never explore the limits of its performance." by Neil Gader. In terms of dynamics, this album is not a fireworks show, but it does give the JC 3+ to shine in a different way, by showing you how dead silent background noise can be on a clean record. While I fear this record is digitally sourced, what the JC 3+ provides in the nether regions is very impressive. Hi Fi Review … At the rear panel, you will find that each channel has a three-position switch for cartridge loading. The front panel sports a power button and a mono button, which will thrill those with more than a few mono records in their collection. I don’t ever remember thinking this album was anything special, but that’s probably because I never actually heard much of it before. I didn’t start serious listening tests until about 100 hours of signal had passed through the unit. Print Article. Aug 11th, 2014. 10-23-2017 | By Robert H. Levi | Issue 94 ... both tube and solid-state, with the Parasound Halo JC 3 Jr. Phono Preamplifier, costing just $1495! The variable MC loading range is 50-550 Ohms. The Parasound JC 3 Jr. Phono Preamplifier is a real-world bargain!" A quick comparison to two slightly more expensive phono preamplifiers with vacuum tubes under the hood proceeded as I expected, with the ARC PH6 and Red Wine Audio Ginevra (both reviewed in Issue 37) claiming a bit more image depth and palpability. There was shielding here and isolation there while large power-supply filter capacitors were added to reduce strain on the amplifier. The JC 3 takes a similar approach. We can’t remember the last time we reviewed a product such as this with bass and treble controls. Most strikingly, the left and right gain modules reside in their own aluminum housings. There is some moog synthesizer, odd combinations of acoustic and electric guitar, bells, ocean waves, banjo, and probably much more. In 1988, Schram enlisted the services of circuit designer John Curl, and he brought along designers Carl Thompson and the late Bob Crump, forming a team whose work resulted in the development of Parasound… You also have the choice between single-ended or balanced output. The e-journal of analog and digital sound, The Sensitive Sound Art-Majestic MC Cartridge, A $2,995 Marvel – The EAT E-Glo S Hybrid/Tube Phonostage, Origin Live’s Calypso Turntable and Encounter Tonearm, The Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0 Turntable, Audiophile Pressing: The Rolling Stones in Mono, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, NWA – Straight Outta Compton, 20th Anniversary Edition, Grateful Dead – The Warner Brothers Studio Albums, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington – Ella and Duke at the Cote D’Azur, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Indestructible, Tears For Fears – The Seeds of Love & Songs From the Big Chair, Meshell Ndegeocello – Pour Une Ame Souveraine: A Tribute to Nina Simone, Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, Sly and the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Going On, Art Pepper – The Complete Art Pepper At Ronnie Scott’s Club: London 1980, Gladiator: Music from the Original Soundtrack, Falla – The Three Cornered Hat Ballet; La Vida Breve: Interlude and Dance Teresa Berganza, mezzo/Suisse Romande Orchestra/Ernst Ansermet. But if you are willing to first invest in the JC 3 and then find a 100 ohm cartridge that you love, the JC 3 could be the last phono preamplifier that you need—unless you are buying a megabucks analog front end. The options are 47k MC, variable MC, and 47k MM. While very well received, the JC 3 did not offer much in the way of loading adjustments. Another product at this level that comes to mind is the excellent Ayre QB-9 DAC—hardly all things to all people but, for those requiring only a USB input, a superlative DAC for the price. For my Dynavector 20X2L, I selected variable MC and used 100 ohm. HomeTheaterReview.com - Best of 2018 - December 2018. At $2,350, the JC 3 is by no means an entry-level phonostage. As you can see, the internal layout features three zones of isolation. This Parasound JC3 + is actually based on a Vendetta Research SPC2, a legendary phono preamplifier that is sought after but rare on the used market. Conclusions about the Parasound Halo JC 3+ Phono Preamplifier. Vol.12 – December 2020, Setting Up a Bryston BDA-3.14 Streaming DAC and Qobuz Streaming Service – A How-to Series, Part 2, Setting Up an AURALiC ARIES G1 Streamer and Qobuz Streaming Service – A How-to Series, Part 1, DCI-P3 Color – What It Means in Today’s Ultra HD World, AVR-Audio Video Reciever-Build Quality: Part V. Does Your Projector Display Accurate Color, and Why Is That Important? Parasound doesn’t divulge numbers but clearly his hunch proved correct. And while there’s not a lot of nuance to the drum tracks, the important thing is what the JC 3+ manages to dig out: the horn blast samples, the telltale 90s’ scratching, and the overall fun, wild vibe of the album. High build quality with simple but solid casework from a company you can trust and superlative sound make for excellence in our book. Most memorable to me is the final track, “People Take Pictures of Each Other”, in which the Kinks predict (and mercilessly indict) Instagram, 40 years before its creation. Priced under $2,500, the unit is nothing short of a miracle. I never tire of this album, especially side two. Parasound’s JC3 Junior still looks like a quality product, but anyone coming from the JC3+ can tell it’s not quite as luxuriously appointed. Contrary to the size suggested by the photographs, the actual unit is larger than you might expect and takes up a full shelf on an audio rack. 8: January 2021, What We’re Listening To. April 2011 World Premiere! www.newrecordday.com reviews the Parasound JC3 Phono Preamplifier. According to Parasound’s Richard Schram, the original JC3’s design began as a phono preamp retrofit for the JC2 line stage with separate small circuit boards for each channel. © Copyright 2021 Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity /, Show Reports, Film Festivals and Concerts, BLACK ICE FUSION F11 VACUUM TUBE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER REVIEW, JBL HDI-3800 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review, McIntosh C2700 2-Channel Vacuum Tube Preamplifier and MC462 Power Amplifier Review, What We Are Watching Vol. They can be switched out of the signal path when not needed, giving a slightly clearer sound. Please note that all TONE Audio copy and photography is © 2005–2012 TONE Magazine LLC. A. It certainly looks expensive. Miles Davis – Friday and Saturday Nights: In Person At the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia – Friday Night in San Francisco, The Dust and Grooves Project – Live from NYC, DiMeola, McLaughlin, and deLucia – Friday Night in San Francisco. The Parasound Halo JC 3 won an "Editor's Choice Award" for 2012 in The Absolute Sound magazine, which noted, "Sonically, ... "My original JC3 review compared it to far more expensive phono preamps including the Pass XP25, the Ypsilon VPS100 and one from Allnic. I admit: The Denon is one of those rare cartridges that performs way better than its modest $379 price tag suggests, and when good synergy is achieved, makes for a spectacular sonic marriage. If you are not reading this content in your news aggregator, RSS reader, or direct, then the site you are looking at may be guilty of copyright infringement. Some people probably didn’t care about that “limitation”, but others undoubtedly did and stayed away. The effect was palpable, as if going from stock tubes to matched NOS models in a tube preamplifier. Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser and Into the Labyrinth, Grand Funk Railroad – We’re an American Band, KC and the Sunshine Band – KC and the Sunshine Band, Sisters Of Mercy – First And Last And Always, Explosions in the Sky – take care, take care, take care, The Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses, Prince – Controversy, Dirty Mind, and 1999, Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Get Happy, Stan Getz – The 1953-54 Clef/Norgren Studio Sessions, Quicksilver Messenger Service – Quicksilver Messenger Service and Happy Trails, Madeleine Peyroux – Standing on the Rooftop, Jean Michel Jarre – Rarities, Oxygene, Equinoxe, and Magnetic Fields, Rory Gallagher – Notes From San Francisco, Miriam Makeba – The World Of Miriam Makeba. Manufacturer’s info: http://www.parasound.com/halo/jc3.php, Analog source                        AVID Volvere SP turntable w/Triplanar VII arm;  Shelter 501II and Denon 103 cartridges, Preamplifier                          Burmester 011, Power Amplifier                   Burmester 911 mk. B-Stock items are … It invigorates everything it touches. That was perhaps the bad news, the good news is what still exists and what the Halo JC3 Jr offers: high quality resistors and capacitors keep the RIAA tracking to within 0.2dB, 24k gold-plated RCA jacks, balanced and unbalanced outputs, variable MC impedance from 50 – 550 ohms, a switch for three gain settings, 40, 50, and 60dB. Another combination with which I had excellent luck was the Shelter 501II mounted on an SME 309 arm, and fitted to the AVID Diva II SP. The JC 3+ makes its first statement via its generous size and weight. Having logged countless hours with the AVID Volvere SP/Triplanar/Denon DL-103R combination (which just happens to sound its best when loaded at 100 ohms) with numerous phono preamplifiers, I had this combination burned in my head. The JC 3 will make a $1,500 turntable/cartridge combination sound much better than it has a right to, yet will keep pace with your favorite $10,000 turntable package— making it a component with which you can really grow. The drums and plucky acoustic guitars in Dire Straits’ Communiqué literally leapt out of the speakers in a way that I’ve never experienced with a phono preamplifier at this price. In other words, unless you're running full-range, ultradynamic speakers, you won't miss what the JC 3 hasn't got to give—and even then, I can confidently say that the JC 3 … There’s a pair of RCA jacks for a single input and a pair of RCA and XLRs for the output. For this writer, that’s a good thing. If you aren’t old enough to know about John Curl, suffice it to say that he was responsible for more than a handful of legendary designs and one of the world’s greatest phonostages, the Vendetta Research—a product still held in great esteem by many audiophiles. If you locate this anywhere, please contact [email protected] so we can take action immediately. Just when I thought I had my system pretty dialed, the JC 3+ took it to another level. It’s slightly on the warm side of the tonality scale, but possesses great inner detail, a characteristic that perfectly mated with the JC 3’s speed and low noise. Provided you have a cartridge that works well with 100 or 47k loading, the JC3 should check off all of the boxes on your must-have list. Click for English Version Click for Chinese Version. I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one side of a 90s-era hip hop record. For MC cartridges, there were two resistance settings, 100 ohm or 47k ohm. Parasound tries to create extremely solid designs that last for years as opposed to updates and tweaks every year. Hence, I am happy to give the Parasound JC 3 a TONEAudio Exceptional Value Award for 2011. Priced under $2,500, the unit is nothing short of a miracle. So, if you invested in a high-quality power line conditioner, don’t hesitate to plug the JC 3 into it. Our magazine, which began with the publication of the SECRETS Primer, is available exclusively on-line and offers to our readers an extensive information resource about home theater and high-end audio. The alloy fascia is classy and its steel casework is really well finished in a choice of silver or black, and there’s a rack-mount kit available should you wish to use it inside a recording or mastering studio. In their eyes, that’s just a bad and rushed design. Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity has long been a leader in reviews of all categories of home theater and audio gear. www.newrecordday.com reviews the Parasound JC3 Phono Preamplifier. The most striking thing was simply more attack. When I disengaged it, the sound seemed a bit washed out and diffuse, which was especially noticeable on the vocals and keyboards. The design goals were ultra-high performance and low noise, in the spirit of Curl’s legendary Vendetta phono preamp. Neither was as dynamic or quiet, yet the battery-powered Ginevra came very close. ALL B-stock items are all professionally inspected by Parasound technicians and, most importantly, ALL B-Stock products contain the exact same FULL Parasound manufacturer’s warranty. I did so because I felt it was good enough to play on the same field. You get a switchable phono stage, a headphone output and even tone controls. While the JC 3 has “on board power conditioning” that will no doubt aid many users, it nonetheless benefited from an upgraded power cord (a Shunyata Python CX) and being plugged into the Running Springs Dmitri. Michael is a business litigation attorney based in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of UCLA School of Law. Their 35 years of designing and manufacturing class leading products, is testament to this - and it is obvious that they have incredible pedigree at getting things right, and also improving or embellishing a certain theme. His latest attempt, the JC 3, doesn’t cost as much as it might if it were, say, a boutique product. The new Parasound Halo JC 3 Jr. stereo phono preamplifier is about half the price of the company's $2,995 premium dual-mono Halo JC 3+, which is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best phono stage preamplifiers. Stereophile Review Highlights "As with the JC 1 and 2, the construction quality of the Halo JC 3 is first-rate." Through the JC 3+, Ann Wilson’s vocals have an urgency that is almost disorienting, especially on the familiar “Crazy on You.” The first side of the record is so strange and interesting to me. A few years back, I reviewed Parasound’s JC3+ phono amplifier, a dual mono design that was noted for its particular internal layout. Parasound Halo JC 3+ Phono Preamplifier Highlights Summary, Introduction to the Parasound Halo JC 3+ Phono Preamplifier Review. AnalogHaloParasoundParasound Halo JC 3 Phono PreamplifierphonoPreamplifiersRecordsVinyl. And Curl hasn’t stopped to rest on his accolades, instead continuing to work on interesting designs, many of them available as Parasound products. Groove Note’s The Jung Trio, rapidly becoming a warhorse in the TONEstudio, offers exquisite renditions of violin and piano—deeming it essential for critical listening sessions. Try and find a used one. 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