Parasound launches a flagship stereo power amplifier-- the Halo JC5, designed by respected audio expert John Curl and promising to boil down "the essence of the two top-of-the-line Halo JC1 monoblock power amps into a single chassis."
The design features a high power and ultra-high bias Class A/B topography able to deliver 400W per channel. High bias A/AB provides 12W per channel pure class A power and class AB to the 400W per channel 8 ohms rating. It delivers 600W per channel into 4 ohms, and can be bridged to mono for 1200W into 8 ohms. The output stage features 24 beta-matched, 15 ampere, 60MHz bipolar transistors to deliver peak current of 90 amperes. Meanwhile the power supply employs a 1.7kVA shielded toroid power transformer with a H18 grade steel core. It has independent secondary windings for the dual-mono power supply.
As with the JC1, input stage B+/B- rails are 10V above the output stage rails to eliminate distortion caused by voltage sagging when the amp is under load. Independent power supplies for left and right channel input stages employ filter capacitors totaling 8880µF. Driver and output stages employ massive Rubicon filter capacitors totaling 132000µF.
The JC5 is direct-coupled, protected by DC servo circuits to eliminate coupling capacitors, to extend bass response down to 5Hz. The balanced inputs use discrete circuits with Neutrik locking XLR connectors, and the connecting hardware includes Vampire 24k gold-plated RCA input and loop output jacks. The five-way "propeller" speaker binding posts are custom-built by CHK Infinium, and are 24k plated and accept 7-gauge bare wire.
The amplifier is available in silver or black, and ships complete with slim, hand-milled solid aluminium endcaps with solid gold highlights and rack mount hardware for the 4 rack space chassis.
