Wide open soundstage

Parasound's JC 2 BP is like a perfect canvas which lets you fully experience the color and texture of your music. This all-analog stereo preamp identical in circuitry to its predecessor — the longtime audiophile favorite JC 2 — except for the addition of a home theater bypass function. Part of its beauty is that it doesn't try to do too much. There's no DAC, no Bluetooth®, not even a phono input. Rather, the JC 2 BP is designed to give you the best possible sound with your streaming components, outboard phono preamps, and other sources.

Silence is golden, by design

Every design detail in the JC 2 BP serves to minimize interaction between its component parts. For instance, 3/8"-thick aluminum partitioning isolates the high-current, low-impedance power supply. On the other side of the partition, separate circuit boards for the left and right channels keep interference at bay.

Parasound has also minimized long wire runs by placing master and individual channel switches and level controls as close as possible to the actual input circuitry. Non-audio control circuitry, like LED lights on the display, run on a separate power supply.

All this adds up to almost nothing — an utterly silent background. The low noise floor allows the JC 2 BP to deliver warm and articulate musical nuance.

The legacy of John Curl

The JC 2 BP features circuitry designed by by John Curl, a legend in audio engineering. He started his career in the 1970s, designing tape and video recorders at Ampex, and he had a hand in building the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound. Curl has worked with Parasound since 1989, designing all of their high-power amplifiers and more. The power supply, transistors, capacitors and other parts in the JC 2 BP were chosen to offer high performance at a reasonable price.

Product highlights:

• dual monaural preamplifier with analog inputs to handle a variety of line level music sources

• high-capacity R-core audio power transformer and inductor

• frequency response: 5-100,000 Hz

• signal-to-noise ratio: 116 dB

• total harmonic distortion: 0.003% at 100 Hz

• dual-mono left- and right-channel circuit boards minimize crosstalk

• remote control

• home theater bypass lets you connect the JC 2 BP in line between your home theater receiver or processor and your power amp
  
  
  • lets your main left and right speakers play stereo music as well as home theater sound
  
  
  • can be assigned to any input
  
  
  • easy switching for bypass mode on remote control
  
  
  

Connections:

• 6 pairs unbalanced RCA line-level audio input jacks
  
  
  • 2 input pairs can be switched to XLR balanced connectors
  
  
  • no dedicated phono input
  
  
  • independent balanced/unbalanced select for the left- and right-channel inputs
  
  
  

• 4 output jack pairs with specialized functions:
  
  
  • 1 Main output jack pair is balanced XLR, polarity is switched by remote
  
  
  • 1 Main output jack pair is unbalanced RCA, polarity is switched by remote
  
  
  • 1 output jack pair is unbalanced RCA, inverted polarity only
  
  
  • 1 output pair is unbalanced RCA, normal polarity, fixed level for recorders
  
  
  • switchable polarity allows optimum sound with any amplifier, and better clarity with some recordings
  
  
  

• rear panel 3.5mm IR repeater input and loop out jacks (x2)

• RS-232C port for connection to 3rd-party home automation systems