New Member Introduction

[abwilson]

Hello all,

I just registered, actually have been reading forum messages for about a year. I live in the southwest Ohio area. I own, have owned an MV50 amp for more than 20 years; still works. I had been using it with a Counterpoint SA5.1 preamp, but it is not working well and I am looking forward to buying a previously owned cj preamp; maybe a PV10b or a PV12. Waiting on my company pay bonus to find out if I can only afford to buy more albums, a preamp or a preamp and a pair of old Quad ESL speakers. I also have a Well Tempered Turntable with a Benz Glider (medium output) and Nordost cabling.

A couple of questions:

1) Do the onboard phono amps in the preamps have enough gain for a 0.7 - 0.8 millivolt cartridge?
2) Can anyone speak to the difference in performance between the MV50 and Premier 11? I have considered selling my MV50 to buy a Premier 11 and using that as a base for an upgrade.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards,

Alton

[admin]

Hi Alton,
Welcome to CJO (officially)! Unfortunately, I can't give an honest opinion on your two questions as I don't own those amps and my CJ preamps have not had phono stages. I can however say that if you go with the PV12 you will be very happy. It's a simple and efficient machine and I have never read a bad review. The line stage only has two tubes so replacements and tube rolling are relatively inexpensive. It's obviously a "no-frills" device,... ie no remote control, etc. I have been using mine for a few years now (previously had a PF2) and no plans to upgrade for now.

You mention the ESL's. I am a big planar speaker fan and have used CJ equipment with both Martin Logan's and Magnepan. I'm sure the Quad's would sound wonderful as well.

[ronenash]

The onboard phono stages in the PV10 and PV12 are designed for MM cartridges and will not have enough gain for a 0.7mv cartridge. It can work but you will have a high noise floor while working at the top end of the volume control. Not recommended.

As for the power amps, the MV50 is an entry level amp from CJ using standard parts and output transformers. The Premier 11 is from CJ's Premier live build with much higher quality parts and is a considerably better amp than the MV50. the Pr11A uses CJ's top output transformers and better power supply regulation along with better parts overall.

Hope this helps.