New Halo Reviews on Secrets Hi-Fi

[Chris D]

I found some new equipment reviews today on the Secrets of Home Theater Site. Interesting stuff. Overall positive, as always. Jason overloaded his power conditioners with the mighty, mighty JC1 amplifiers, which I found funny. Here's what he had to say when he reconnected one to the power source.

It seemed kind of crazy to listen with only one channel benefiting from the Power Plant. But when I tried it, the transformation I heard was huge. A remarkable clarity emerged, an additional silence, generous helping of air, and a natural shininess that in many respects reminded me of the real thing heard up close. All of a sudden, when listening to the Rachmaninoff, I could hear the air conditioning in the Minnesota Orchestra’s hall.

That's a good one. Here's the links:

JC1 Equipment Review
C2 Equipment Review

[nicholtl]

Thanks for the links Chris! It's always good, clean fun to read more good stuff on products we already own haha.

Now on a serious note. I've always thought and regarded Secrets as a credible authority on home theater components. They seem to really know their stuff, and seem like true audiophiles. And don't get me wrong, I still do greatly respect them. However, after reading the review on the JC-1, a little red flag went up in my head. Was it just me, or was the reviewer shamelessly advertising ridiculously priced pieces of gear? Most notably, the Nordost Valhalla power cables which go for something like 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the JC-1 itself!

And then he goes on to talk about how huge a difference the PS Audio P300 made. Granted, PS Audio makes some fine stuff, and I myself own 3 of their Xstream power cables, but they made it sound like the difference between plugging the JC-1's into the wall and into the P300 was night and day. And I HIGHLY doubt that, even if I don't have golden ears.

He continues to state how anxious he became when the JC-1's didn't have sufficient time to "warm up" before his audiophile buds came over for a listen. If I'm not mistaken, one of the beauties of the Halo amps are that they need NO warm up time. If a 23 year-old knows this, surely a professional reviewer should too?

It then became almost unbearable when he continued to tout how important a difference the Shunyata Hydra power conditioner made on the dynamic impact and overall soundstage. And so, when the reviewer mentioned how remarkable "lifting" the Shunyata Hydra off the ground made to his ears, for the purposes of vibration dampening (as if the sucker wasn't heavy enough on its own!), that did it for me. I just thought to myself, "ok, this reviewer is either full of sh!t, being paid off by these companies (which also sponsor the site, mind you...fishy), or both.

Am I being a wacko, or does anyone else share my sentiment?

PS - does anybody actually have any experience with this Shunyata Hydra? Is it really the end all be all power conditioner of the ages?

[Chris D]

Hmmm... nope, never heard of the Shunyata Hydra. Is the Nordost Valhalla really THAT expensive, in the 4-figure range?

As for the JC-1 "warm-up", I noticed that, too. Although I don't think the Halo units need a lot of warm-up, I think just a FEW minutes is nice. More likely, I think what Jason was running into was the necessary Halo break-in period that has been documented here at the Club several times. Several people, including myself, have noticed that the Halo units do need several hours of break-in before they reach their full sonic capabilities.

[nicholtl]

True, but if I remember correctly, he stated that he was assured the JC-1's were broken in already from past use. And yeah, Nordost Valhalla cables don't just run in the 4-digit range, but in the 5-digit range as well! How'd you like a 5m pair of speaker cables? It'll only set you back, what...oh, just a mere $11,800!!!

Although this link doesn't show their power cable prices, it has their speaker cable prices (which are usually less than their power cable counterparts):

http://www.stereotimes.com/cables062301.shtm