conrad-johnson Website

[MylesBAstor]

Finally, after all these years, Lew and Bill have finally updated and redesigned their website. So much better looking and organized and with far more information. Go to the vintage products page, click on the product, and instantly the product's picture pops up along with a summary and a picture showing which tubes went where and another button that takes you to the product manual. One can see a lot of work went into revamping the site. Same thing goes for current products that come with an informational summary and online product manual.

One page that really struck me was the history page listing Conrad and Johnson's breakthrough products. As I scrolled through the list, I kept nodding my head up and down, yes know that product, yes owned that one, etc. Then reality dawned on me and I thought about all the money I've spent with them over their many years. FYI, the intro paragraphs and picture were taken from an very old review done by Tom Miiller for Audio Adventure back in the '90s.

I actually thought these sentences taken from that page also nicely summarizes what high-end audio companies are about:

"This pursuit demands dedication and a genuine love of music that is impossible to hire, which explains the fact that in those few companies which succeed in producing musically satisfying components, product development is inevitably dominated by one or two individual personalities who are inextricably identified with the company."

Interestingly, next year marks conrad-johnson's 40th anniversary and one wonders what new product (s) they might have in store to commemerate that occasion?

[cpp]

About time. Looks a whole lot better. More inviting.

[Guest]

Indeed. Well done CJ! What a trip down memory lane. All my old friends were there: PV-5, PV-8 (still have), Premier 12, Premier 16, Premier 140, ACT 2.

[MylesBAstor]

Indeed. Well done CJ! What a trip down memory lane. All my old friends were there: PV-5, PV-8 (still have), Premier 12, Premier 16, Premier 140, ACT 2.

The PV-5 preamp was my first conrad-johnson product too.

How it came into my life is an interesting story too. My system at that time (early '80s) was DQ-10s, Musical Concepts modded Hafler DH-200, van Alstine modded Hafler DH-101, Rega 3/JVC 7045 arm/Grace F9E cartridge. For a year or more, I had been trying to get one of my audiobuddies to bring over his fully POOGED out Dynaco PAS-3 preamp. You know, the two chassic, huge outboard power supply version. Finally one day, my audiobuddy calls me up and say if I'm willing to come down and pick him up, he'll bring the preamp over. Done! So we hook it up and in literally five notes I'm going where is all that music coming from. Next day, I go down to Stereo Exchange and trade my DH-101 in toward a cj PV-5. Never looked back since. The PV-5 was soon followed by a MV-75A1 amplifier soon followed by another MV75A1 so I could use them horizontally biamped to drive my then newly arrived Maggie MG3As. (left channel bass, right channel mid and top in each amp.)

Among the other cj products included:

Premier 3 preamp
Pair of Premier 4s
Premier 140 amplifier
Premier 12 amplifiers
MV125 amplifier
LP140M amplifiers
Premier 14 preamplifier
ART preamp
Never did the ACT because I didn't think it better than the ART preamp.
Evolution 20 preamp
Premier 15 phono
TEA1bc

Sure there's one or two that missed. Maybe a PV9?

Nice. I have nothing but fondness for CJ.

The ACT 2 was The Big Experiment that CJ did when they switched to the 6H30 (4) from the 6922 (10?) in the ART. The change in sonic character wrought dissension among the CJ faithful and the company struggled for a while, eventually switching back - which turned out to be the right move. Having the 16LS (the baby art) I woulda loved loved to have an ART preamp. Wish I'd kept my 16. Still, the ACT 2 was a nice unit. It was from there I went to Atma-Sphere, a whole 'nother world of 6SN7-based transparent beauty.

[MylesBAstor]

I compared the ART Series 3 vs. the ACT Series 1 here and kept the ART series 3. Here, the ACT was too dark, slow and especially undynamic. It wasn't until the GAT, some 12 years after the ART's inception and arrival, that I found something better.

[Ritmo]

Myles,

I've never owned a CJ component but I must confess that back in the 1980's I almost bought a PV-5. I saw and listened to it at Excalibur Audio (awesome store but went out of business). At the time, I had a Linn LP-12, NAD 1020, Hafler amp, and Spendor SP-1s.

There was a sweetness and very musical character to that pre that I really liked.

Mike

[L3AND3R]

For me a realistic end-of-the-road preamp would be the ART 3. I can't say I'd ever fall in love again with the current crop of 6H30 based designs especially the ones employing chipset based attenuation and FET buffers, unless by some miracle...

Do you still have your ART3, Myles? In the mean time my recently acquired Premiere 16LS turned out to be the greatest asset and most spectacular find of my career. With a few selected mods this thing is simply breathtaking and made my Premiere 12 mono blocks come alive like nothing before it.

[jfrech]

Anyone heard the TEA1 series 2 phono?

[Marcus]

Interestingly, next year marks conrad-johnson's 40th anniversary and one wonders what new product (s) they might have in store to commemerate that occasion?

I bet it will be something with lots of KT150...

[MylesBAstor]

Anyone heard the TEA1 series 2 phono?

No I had the TEA1bc. It was a very nice unit, my major complaint being it didn't have enough gain (53 dB) when I switched to the ART amplifier that is relatively insensitive vs the LP140M (2 vs. 0.5 V). In the old unit, there were three tubes, two of which were in critical positions in the circuit and you really needed to use the specially selected low noise tubes that cj supplies. The third position wasn't so critical and you could play with your choice of tubes. But it was never as quiet as my Doshi and over the last couple of years, quietness is something I treasure. On the other hand, it had the wonderful sense of instrumental body and resolved the sense of space like few other phono section (not unlike other cj tube electronics). Of course, you could try a little higher output cartridge but I did run the Titan with 0.5 mV output. I ended up having to switch when I switched to the ZYX with 0.25 mV output and ART (2 V input) and just lost dynamics. Turning it up made it louder but not necessarily more dynamic. But with the proper choice of cartridge and amp, a good all tube phono section or you can add in the SUT for more gain.

I did notice however they did change something. You could either get the unit with 12AX7s and have the same gain in both channel or the higher gain with 6922s (?) plus SUT. Not it appears you can get the low gain or the high gain with one input with a SUT and the other without.

[MylesBAstor]

For me a realistic end-of-the-road preamp would be the ART 3. I can't say I'd ever fall in love again with the current crop of 6H30 based designs especially the ones employing chipset based attenuation and FET buffers, unless by some miracle...

Do you still have your ART3, Myles? In the mean time my recently acquired Premiere 16LS turned out to be the greatest asset and most spectacular find of my career. With a few selected mods this thing is simply breathtaking and made my Premiere 12 mono blocks come alive like nothing before it.

No I think I sold my ART 7 years (?) or so years ago. I just had my GAT upgraded to the series 2 version.

But I still have a warm spot in my heart for the ART preamplifier. Now I think the issue now with the ART is the inability to get good, long lasting 6922s, hence the mod to the GAT. And you have I think 10 6922s in the ART? I knew someone a while back who installed 10 Telefunken CCA tubes in his ART. That had to run a pretty penny (or whatever your currency is! ).

What mods did you do to your 16 LS?

[L3AND3R]

No I think I sold my ART 7 years (?) or so years ago. I just had my GAT upgraded to the series 2 version.

But I still have a warm spot in my heart for the ART preamplifier. Now I think the issue now with the ART is the inability to get good, long lasting 6922s, hence the mod to the GAT. And you have I think 10 6922s in the ART? I knew someone a while back who installed 10 Telefunken CCA tubes in his ART. That had to run a pretty penny (or whatever your currency is! ).

What mods did you do to your 16 LS?

A friend of mine in the UK has been into selective improvements on his CJ gear for years. I caught on from him. It is him who urged me to get the P16 on the basis of better affordability in maintenance of tubes. The P16 is the single chassis version of the ART with the same single parallel triode gain stage.

We started by changing out the two series resistors in the ladder volume control for Vishay Z-foil. These seemingly insignificant two little resistors presented the gateway to incredible advances. We subsequently changed out the grid resistors to the six tubes for Z-foils also. The sound just popped wide open with delicacy, beauty and refinement. I also soldered AudioQuest Sky between the I/O of the main board and the volume control board. The last upgrade were the Rohm Schottky rectifier diodes to both PSU stages. These are magical 13ns switchers from the gods. Oh yes, and I also installed a fresh electrolytic (Elna Audiophile) to the heater circuit. The humanness in the sound from this preamp as it is now, is something to behold.

Next up will be some Teflon caps. I'll more than likely be going for V-Cap CuTF.