[ooheadsoo]

The fan on mine comes on right away as well, but it's not much compared to my computer fans.

[tubeytubeamp]

Ok,

So it sounds like the fan coming on and staying on is normal for this unit. If this is indeed the case, I'm not going to worry about it and let it break in.

Dennis

[TheChairGuy]

ooheadsoo, how do you like it?  Forgot that you've now had it for 5 or so days.

Dennis/TTA, I don't know why my fan never comes on (to my knowledge).  It does get hot on top, but the fan doesn't cut in at any time to my knowledge.  Perhaps JVC installed a higher temperature relay on later production versions...aka, those NOT found in Costco.

Mine sits on top of other equipment with lots of room arond and on top.  Also, I have the JVC on four little rubbery 'puds' (from LAT International) that raise the unit another 1/4 - 1/2" over the stock feet...giving it more breathing room on the bottom.  However, there aren't any vent holes on the bottom, so I'm not sure that is helping any cooling functioning of the unit.

[tubeytubeamp]

Dennis/TTA, I don't know why my fan never comes on (to my knowledge). It does get hot on top, but the fan doesn't cut in at any time to my knowledge. Perhaps JVC installed a higher temperature relay on later production versions...aka, those NOT found in Costco.

Maybe your fan isn't working or the later production model idea is right. I'm not going to drive myself crazy over it now.

BTW, Everything you described about the unit is true. At this point i have  less than 20 hours on it. I plan on buying one on the Panasonic units also.

[TheChairGuy]

Maybe your fan isn't working or the later production model idea is right. I'm not going to drive myself crazy over it now.

BTW, Everything you described about the unit is true. At this point i have  less than 20 hours on it. I plan on buying one on the Panasonic units also.

Great man, I'm thrilled.  It's not that I don't trust my ears, tho I know my hearing is about average for my age(41), it's just that I can't wrap my mind around the fact that $179 can sound this good.  I'm getting used to it, tho.  

I had always assumed plunking down a whole lot more moola' was the only way you I'd happy with music....'tis not true at all with these digital wonders.

You got 280 hours till nirvana sets in...just wait 2 weeks and see.

It's a great year to be an audiophool....

[ooheadsoo]

Hey chair guy.  The fan isn't loud at all, it's barely noticeable.  The sound is very good.  I don't miss my tube pre/150w dual mono poweramp.  Microdynamics are just as good if not better.  I think detail is slightly better than the tubey tube pre, but it's a close call, not a night and day difference.  Treble seems quite etched and a bit tinny but it's not terrible.  It sounds a lot better when sitting far away from the speakers rather than my normal 2 to 3 feet.  I shelved my treble down from 1000hz and up 1.5db which helps when I'm listening up close to my computer.  I am happy with the purchase because the sonics are not bad at all, nothing to really complain about.  I'm not "supposed" to be sitting this close to the speakers anyway.  

I've been burning it in at low volume continuously, so it's got about 100 hours on it so far.

[tubeytubeamp]

It sounds a lot better when sitting far away from the speakers rather than my normal 2 to 3 feet.

I noticed the same thing, the music sounds better sitting farther away than the normal "sweet spot" in my listening area. The sound doesn't gel in the near to midfield.

I'm not pulling the speakers out into the middle of the living room now, which makes the wife happy.

Thats another thing about these digi's. They have a hight WAF.
1) Cheap
2) Small
3) Silver
4) She digs the blue light.

Dennis

[Dmason]

I have also noticed it sounding better from further away. In the kitchen where I often listen, the difference is greatest. I actually prefer it for more complex material.....I have no idea what may be going on there, but it is unique, in my experience.

[tubeytubeamp]

Just food for thought;

How long before Digital/tube hybrids emerge?

I.E. Digital poweramp/Tube output stage amps.

Dennis

[J North]

Good day!

I have had the ES1 for about 5 days now.
I have not heard a fan go off yet.
In fact, I took the cover off and did not see a fan.
Anyone know where it is supposed to be?

I have mixed feelings about the ES1. I would have to say it sounds "digi-tubey-dynamic".

I was at first really impressed with the bass. I am rethinking that a bit now because I don't think it goes that low. It seems to have a lot of clear, dynamic bass presence in the 50 to 80hz region. Wows you at first. I am not getting the rumbling 20 to 45hz bass that I have heard with other amps though. My speakers are good down to the low 30's. Will have to play a bit with speaker placement I guess.

The very highest highs are good with no etch and are on the sweet side which is the way I like them.

The mids are just okay now. They started out fairly poor. They have cleared up a bunch, but still have a bit of murkiness and congestion. The soundstage was flat as a pancake at first as well. It has deepened considerably.

The thing I dislike the most so far is the tonality. Everything has this same overall "digital haze". Most instruments sound like they are being produced by a cheap synthesizer. Vocals have gotten better, but still lack some of the uniqueness they should have.

I am running the ES1 in "4-channel" mode, biamping my 4ohm speakers. This baby sure has balls though, Plays very loud and clean. Had it shutdown on me once at 33 on the volume level or so. Gets hot too.

Overall, so far, it may pass for a 3rd or 4th system stereo amp, or for a party amp for the rec room. I was thinking about sending it off for mods, but it is not close enough to where I think it may be worth it.

I had the H20Audio S250 here a few weeks ago. It was cleary far & way superior to the JVC. I would rank the JVC equal to the Panny, but with different strengths and weaknesses.

I'll give the JVC another 100 hours or so.



 [/img]

[tubeytubeamp]

How much for the H2O and are there any retailers?

Thanks

[ooheadsoo]

I've pumped my bookshelves with the jvc up to 30 on the volume control before but I have all of my music attenuated 7db to avoid clipping, so it's not as loud as it would normally be.  As for deep bass, I don't notice any particular lack.  My bookshelves go down to about 35hz in my terrible room, just like they did with my old NAD integrated.  In fact, I have sub 80hz bass shelved down by about 0.65db just to keep it a bit under control.  Ah, the joys of a pro-audio soundcard...

Vocals don't have that same burnished glow from within sound that my tube pre had, but I expected it.  

One thing I noticed is that it's harder to tell which way a piano is facing.  Left and right imaging in particular is just a tad confused and less clear compared to my old setup.  Or it could just be me.  Things jump out at me differently from my old setup, that could be what's throwing me off.  When a sound originates from one side of the soundstage, there seems to be more reverb coming from the opposite side with this setup than with my old one.  Well, I'm probably just imagining things, don't mind my rambling.

I would be very interested in hearing more about you guys's experiences with having to listen to the speakers from farther away.  It's not significantly worse than my previous extreme nearfield experiences BUT, it just happens that I noticed that it was significantly BETTER at mid to farfield.

[J North]

The one negative to H20 audio is that they are just in startup mode. They have had the typical growing pains as they transtition from designers/engineers to manufacturers and marketers.

They are only selling direct right now and there is a month or so wait for the next batch of amps as they have had to redesign their cases as the orginal case took way too long to manufacture.

A web site is coming soon.

Most info on these amps is from the Apogee user group:
http://audioworld.com/cgi-bin/sw/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Apogee+Acoustics+Users+Group&number=1

Very nice sounding amp for sure.

[TheChairGuy]

Guys, most of the perceived problems iron out by hour 300.  I swear.  At that point, it's a subjective thing, but you will be happier at 300 than 100, I can assure you no matter what.

Fan, in my unit, is on the left side where the vent holes are.

I sit about 4-5' from the speaker on my computer most days and don't notice it better or worse from farther away.  It's nice, either way, tho.

I've got DIY Cable's Exodus amplifier back in my clutches and will evaluate it against the overachieving JVC the next week or so...with both my Dynaco PAS-4 and IRD Purist pre's.

One thing I keep finding is a distortion heard, most often with dynamic passages above '20'.  It may be there with every amp I've ever had, but this little wonder is leagues clearer and I can now hear it all.  I think the JVC may list at 100w, but act more like a very powerful 50 watter.  It could use some new lungs/power supply caps and IEC to reveal itself fully.

It is not there straight into the wall, but I keep vacillating whether it's just cleaner thru the BPT and I hear it, or the BPT is scrubbing the dynamics.  

Dr. DMason will be operating shortly on his, I understand.......

[crbaldwin]

Hi,

I just received this receiver and I'm having problems.  Every time I turn the receiver on and off there is a loud thump in my subwoofer (it is connected via the subwoofer out).  There is also a muffled thumping noise when I switch sources.  Also, there is noticeable humming and hiss coming from my speakers.  I can notice the humming from several feet away.  I had none of these problems with my old analog receiver.  I imagine I have a defective unit but has anyone else experienced anything like this?  Thanks.

[TheChairGuy]

Hi,

I just received this receiver and I'm having problems.  Every time I turn the receiver on and off there is a loud thump in my subwoofer (it is connected via the subwoofer out).  There is also a muffled thumping noise when I switch sources.  Also, there is noticeable humming and hiss coming from my speakers.  I can notice the humming from several feet away.  I had none of these problems with my old analog receiver.  I imagine I have a defective unit but has anyone else experienced anything like this?  Thanks.

CR,

Welcom to AC, whether you've been lurking out there a while or not! And, welcome to the world of little digital wonders.

First off, why turn it off at all, ever?  The power draw is so miniscule, it's not worth it.  They sound great just burning and burning in.

I neither have muffled thumping, hum or hiss with my receiver, but did experience some of these when getting laid as single man awhile back    

I'm not aware of anyone else mentioning these troubles, so yes, you either have a particularly defective unit or you got something odd happening in your system. Tough to diagnose without knowing what you are feeding it in mains power.

For $179, or $300 if you sprung for the F10, you are getting a receiver that is so much more micro-detailed than any analog receiver I can think of, you MAY be hearing stuff that have existed before in your system.  Only a possibility, I know, but consider it.

So, you got power conditioning before your new baby? It's a cost-sensitive device the JVC is, spawned in some lab in Japan and escaped, somehow, with terrific sound quality.  But, and a big BUT, it was made to sell for $300 US. At 30% margin to the retailer, it means it was $200 cost to them....and probably $120.00 to make.  That means parts were seriously compromised...probably none so skimpy as power supply area.  Get the picture?    

So, it makes unmodded units particularly sensitive to power coming in...as there ain't no filtering within.  

What I'm saying is that the JVC is a masterwork of engineering, that still sounds good despite cheap parts...unless yours is defective or you are feeding it low octane power.

[crbaldwin]

Thanks for the reponse.  I'm not using a power conditioner but may give it a try.

[TheChairGuy]

Damn boy, there are all sorts of ideas on the topic of power conditioning...the better the parts quality of the unit, the less you need it.  

This little wonder is made cheap and benefits greatly from some conditioning because of it.  You may end up investing more in conditioning then the receiver, after all, but the efforts should prove worthwhile.

[crbaldwin]

Well, that's what I want to avoid.  I think I might just try a relatively inexpensive surge supressor with some power conditioning to see if it makes any difference (I just have it hooked up to a "normal" surge supressor now).  Spending serious bucks on a power conditioner defeats the purpose for me...

[ooheadsoo]

I would think that the receiver is defective.  That has to be some extraordinarily bad power to be causing all that hiss.  After all, your old equipment didn't hiss like that.  My tube pre that I had previous to this had a hiss that was noticeable from about 2 feet, but this one is quiet unless I put my ear up to it.  My sub, when I was using it in my setup, did not thump at all, nor does it thump when I switch sources.  There is a big click but nothing from the speakers whatsoever.  I'm using a belkin pureav strip which was a refurb on ebay for about $25 or something and a bluecircle parallel filter, both of which do...nothing as far as I can tell.

Wow, I do almost all of my listening over level 20!  Well, it is attenuated 7db, so I guess it doesn't really correspond.  I'm not hearing what you say goes on at dynamic peaks yet, but I do think on things that maintain a constant level of business like rock etc the receiver is nothing outstanding in regards to making me really say WOW.  It's merely nice.  Not worse than anything else I've heard.  Classical, however, hasn't really given me a problem except when I had my subwoofer misconfigured.