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In Reply to: RE: The EAR is fine.. posted by jeagle on July 20, 2014 at 09:59:36
Jeagle, my Conrad-Johnson CT 5 jumps, boogies and slams with the best solid state preamps. It's no longer in production but has successors just as good or better. The CT 5 was justly known for its slam. I havent heard its successors but the reviews are very complimentary. Prior to the CT 5 C-J was known for being a bit soft and romantic. Used newer models are reasonably priced when available. The C-J people are good to deal with.
Edits: 07/20/14Follow Ups:
This is not your Father's CJ...my musical tastes are all over the board, but includes rock music...this CJ IMHO rocks just fine...If I covered up this preamp and had Audiophile come listen, I would guess 9 out of 10 would think it was a really good solid state preamp...it has just a hint of tube warmth...
Just my $.02...
thanks
Mark
OK, ok. In the past I've been pretty dismissive of the CJ gear. But it sounds like I really need to check out the CT-5.
When CJ was using 6N30P super tube, (I do not like that term), the Act1 and 2, CT-5 and CT-3 are very different sounding than all the models that use the 6922.
I did a side by side with CT-5 verses the CJ 16LS2,(6922 tube), both these preamps are one step down from the references for those lines.
The CT-5 was faster, with more detail, more forward and very neutral top to bottom...
The 16LS2 was warmer, more midrange tube bloom, (which I like), very smooth sounding and rounder rolled off presentation...really nice on acoustic instruments and female vocals...
My friend like the 16LS, I preferred the CT-5; they are cut from the same cloth, but are quite different...
Don't just take my word for it, many reviews echo what I have described...CJ's website has links to these reviews...
Good luck, allot of good choices out there...
thanks
Mark
Every CJ tube piece I ever heard was 'polite' or 'soft', very nice for vocals, sleepy time lullabies, smooth jazz and such, but they couldn't rock. But I admit that I haven't heard a recent CJ.
The 'sleeper' CJ IMHO was the solid-state PF-R linestage. That one really boogied! I liked it's liveliness better than the 'higher-end' solid-state Premier 18LS.
Abe, I think you are exactly right about the PFR (I also had the EF1 phono preamp). I had one for about 10-15 years and constantly listened to higher end gear that wasnt as clean, clear, absolutely neutral and nearly as quick as that PFR. C-J tells me that people are still looking for that unit.
The only reason I sold my PF-R was because the remote control for the volume knob was a bit too twitchy for me. I would always overshoot or undershoot my desired volume level when using the remote. It was otherwise a fantastic linestage.
So, it seems that I have to stop being lazy and listen to more vinyl. Easier said than done.
I'm also going to explore a more powerful amp. Several friends have some nice top-of-the-foodchain ss amps that they'd likely let me borrow.
I'm also quite intrigued by the active speaker recommendation. I had some ATCs in the past (their pro monitors), but I think I didn't have them configured properly with my upstream components. The Barefoot actives seems to get unambiguous praise in the pro circles. For a bit, I had almost all pro gear. Metric Halo LIO-8 AD/DA into some ATC actives. Stunning clarity, but lacking in some other areas.
I also likely need to check out some JBLs.
Many thanks for all the suggestions and helping me to reduce the search space.
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