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After about 10 hours all I can say is WOW!!!!!I listen to classical music. So of all my reference will be from - you got it - classical music. And the NAD C275BEE is great. Because it's like a chameleon. It has no actual sound of it's own. Or very little that I've ever noticed.
I can sum up my opinion in two simple quick words, SMOOTH and REFINED. I won't bother with the typical adverbs but go more to the heart of its sound.
It has an interesting "presentation" of detail. I don't mean the artificial detail you can mimic with just boosting up the top end. I mean you can clearly hear the second and third chair instruments backing up and filling in the background lines. Incredible detail and clarity while maintaining tonal and dynamic balance. It has the sound of actually being there either in the concert hall or the studio. A pleasant effect of "this" detail is the music has "layers" to it. Wonderful.
The balance in tone and dynamics is just perfect. I've had plenty of midfi pieces so I feel I am an expert on this point. The audio spectrum has no hot spots, nothing is "noticeably forward, no incredible bottom end to brag about, no coloration, no over the top dynamics (I had a Pioneer that did that), it's just sounds like music.
It reminds me of my Sherwood S-5000 amp that I had restored by Mike Samra. When you use high quality parts on a good design you elevate your musical listening experience far beyond even the most hyped$$ audio gear. As I suspected - quality counts!
Thanks CJ - now I have a new obsession!!!!
charles
Edits: 02/19/15 02/19/15Follow Ups:
Yes,I DID read the manual. And it discusses phase reversal. So I left the usual +/- speaker connections on for about 20 or so hours. My wife, who BTW has NO interest in stereos said, "it sounds fuzzy".
Reversed the speaker terminals and Bazinga - I bought myself MORE detail and dynamics.
If this thing can do my taxes and laundry I'll really be set!
charles
I've gone from ancient Marantz 3600(at the time a top model), to a C-J PFR (solid state) and that was a giant leap up. About 16 years later I sold it to a guy in Australia and talked to Ed at C-J who told me that he fielded calls often from people looking for the PFR. Its neutrality, clarity and reach from top to bottom led me to replace it with a CT 5 which, mated to my Quicksilver 88 monos is a little bit of Heaven.
I had many of the Marantz preamps. Nice for the time but, preamp design did move forward quite a bit since the 70's. I even had their Esotec SC-9, aka the TOTL 3650, the best ever produced by Marantz. An infuriating preamp with it's CONSTANT intermittent channel drop outs.
That was because back then preamps had a ton of functions. If you ever looked in side of the SC-9 youu would see it's just a spaghetti jumble of wires waiting to cause trouble. Simplicity in design was a better way to go.
I am glad to hear you are happy with your amp/preamp combo. I have a tube preamp SS amp and I am happy with mine also. What speakers are you using with this combo?
In addition to having a great midrange it has very good extension on the upper end and deep powerful bass without being boomy or bloated. There's been a number of tracks that have blown me away like I was listening to them for the first time... I don't miss the lack of remote, my dac has remote volume if I need it. It's low parts count and fact that it only has a source selector and volume knob should make it one of the most reliable tube preamps that you're likely to find.
My last preamp was a McCormack RLD 1 (built by conrad-johnson) and it was very nice. It had all the features you could ever want but was no match in terms of sound quality.
McCormack does make excellent gear.
My current main system is a CJ PV-10 and a CJ MV-55 into Soliloquy 6.3's. CJ makes great audio equipment and it's perfect for classical music and jazz. Listening to the 1956 Westminster Classical Sampler and the music is exquisite. Great choice on your part IMHO.
Sim
CJ is not bad for Rock music either.
CJ continues to impress me, Charles. It would be interesting to know how those guys came up w/ there "it just sounds right" slogan. Indeed Conrad Johnson does sounds right. Continue to post your thoughts/impressions as you massage this pre-amp into your system.
I have a CJ PV 4 vintage tubed preamp, running a couple of different SS amplifiers. It's probably my favorite component. Slightly warm but with excellent resolution and balance. Even the phono input is very good.
It has transformed my system into a much more resolved, musical stereo.
CT-5 currently and 17LS II was my first...
I do enjoy what they deliver...OK...I will be cliché..."it just sounds right"...
Congrats on the piece...enjoy
thanks
Mark
Congrats on your new CJ preamp. I think CJ makes some of the best tube preamps.
In took me awhile into my Hifi journey to discover them. I think a great tube preamp is a very important piece to have in your system if you're a music lover. Enjoy.
Good on ya! I had a pair of NAD amps back in the day - 3150 and 2150 - running bridged. I really enjoyed those amps, very dynamic, excellent, firm control of the bass and a very smooth and detailed sound.
Continue to enjoy your gear, sounds like you've found Audio Nirvana - I'm somewhat jealous! [g]
-RW-
I'm compulsive in the sense that I need to have two "A" level setups. I think it's from years of having stereos in some sort of constant state of disrepair.
So now I have two setups that I change in and out every few months.
My fully restored Sherwood S-5000 is just wonderful. A gem of a stereo. And now the CJ/NAD. A nice change up to enjoy even more.
Lucky me!
charles
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