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Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 10:37 am
by vinsnobben
Hi!

Winter is coming and I need some heat. So I switched from Premier 11A to Premier 8A. That means I get the heat from 16 output tubes instead of four. :D

Regards

Eirik

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 10:43 am
by admin
Oh wow,... that's amazing. The CJ gear is to die for. Congrats on the setup. BTW, what turntable is that?

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:02 am
by vinsnobben
Thanks!
From left to right: Audiomeca J1 (by Pierre Lurné), Hanss Acoustics T-60 and Thorens TD321.
Arm on Audiomeca is SME IV, I am about to get a new arm for the Hanss, probably an Abis SA 1.2. The arm on the Thorens is a Revolver arm. (equivalent of Jelco). Pick-ups I use are Ortofon Cadenza Black, Audio Technica AT33sa and Clearaudio Maestro Wood.

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 7:01 pm
by adeep42
Stunning!!!!!!!!

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:42 pm
by Big Dog RJ
Another superb classic design by CJ; probably their best ever!
Those Premier 8's are a complete reference standard for all power amplification I must say, and such that even to day they cannot be beaten.

Even CJ's newer amps, such as the ART series is truly superb but for the value and glorious performance the Prem 8's deliver, they are second to none.
The premier 11A is one amplifier that I ever regret selling even to this day, forwarding nearly 20 years... including my ACT2 just recently but that was for a certain reason heading towards simplicity.

Enjoy those amps mate, and don't change a thing! These are legendary amplifiers, nothing really comes close to these any longer.
Cheers, RJ

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:25 am
by ronenash
Beautiful system. The Pr8 are legendary. That's a lot of tube to replace every few years...

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 11:23 am
by vinsnobben
Thanks,
the replacement and cost of the tubes are the reasons why I use the Premier 11a in the summertime. The heat of the Premier 8's makes it to hot inside during summer, so this is a way to extend tube life. The cost of the Premier 8 tube replacement is about $1000, but that includes NOS input tubes.

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:33 pm
by jeffreybehr
vinsnobben wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2017 11:23 am Thanks,
the replacement and cost of the tubes are the reasons why I use the Premier 11a in the summertime.
....
The many different perspectives on tubed amps interest me. I have a tubes-only c-j preamp, a 6-channel MET1, and I LOVE its sounds and features. But I REALLY LOVE the sounds of all-triode tubed poweramps and have settled on 12-tube, 60Watts-into-8 Atma-Sphere M60s.
Image

Image
(Only 11 tubes live in each of mine because I use one of A-S's gain-reduction plugs in one front-end position [per amp]).

I've gone thru a lot of ultra-linear-operated poweramps, by c-j, Antique Sound Labs, Esoteric Audio Research, etc., but I keep coming back to triodes, having bought a pair of Lux MB-3045s decades ago and eventually owning three pairs of them. But not a one sounds as good as all-REAL-triode amps.

I'm happy that you're happy with the sounds of yours, as I'm happy with the sounds of mine. FWIW, I use mine all year in my nicely air-conditioned home in Phoenix. :)

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:19 am
by afonso
hi,

fabulous gear from CJ !. Those CJ PR8 are top notch !. I can even imagine what would be upgrading the PR 8 with teflon Capacitors...

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:04 pm
by afonso
afonso wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:19 am hi,

fabulous gear from CJ !. Those CJ PR8 are top notch !. I can even imagine what would be upgrading the PR 8 with teflon Capacitors...

By the way i sugest you always use the covers of the PR8 because their are heat dissipators.

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:43 am
by vinsnobben
A close-up of the Premier 8A and the ACT2s2

cjp8.JPG
cjp8.JPG (664.99 KiB) Viewed 2540 times

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:42 am
by admin
vinsnobben wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:43 am A close-up of the Premier 8A and the ACT2s2


cjp8.JPG
Very nice! congrats.

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:48 pm
by Big Dog RJ
Outstanding!

Marvelous stuff indeed! Just gotta love tubes no matter what...

Agree on the heat! Over here down unda, we've been having some very torrid weather, ranging from 35C to 44C, that's bloody hot mate! And definitely not good at all when powering up monoblocks. I can feel the heat nearly from the listening position and start to sweat, it gets too ikky. So I just have to wait for the weather to cool, finally after nearly a week of a scorcher, the temp dropped to 20C, averaging around 22C, phew!

I wonder how those tennis players handled our hot days out on the court during the Aus Open...

Enjoy those Prem 8's, absolute gems!
Cheers, RJ

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 3:29 pm
by vinsnobben
A year ago, new speakers came to my listening room. The Sonus Faber Elipsa SE. Wonderful speakers!


Elipsa SE.jpeg
Elipsa SE.jpeg (57.99 KiB) Viewed 3846 times

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 8:56 am
by admin
Wow, that is great. I've said it before and I will say it again. I think Sonus Faber makes the most beautiful looking speakers in the world. They also sound great (and have the price to match)!

The setup looks amazing, congratulations.

Re: Changing of the guards

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 12:52 pm
by Big Dog RJ
Very nice mate, those SF speakers are in a class of its own when it comes to impeccable cabinetry and craftsmanship. I cannot think of any other speaker manufacturer or designer that obtains such attention to detail in cabinet finish perfection, and as Admin rightly pointed out.

Just on a few points to share:
The SF journey for me was a very memorable one. Beginning with a pair of beautiful monitors back in 2000, partnered with a Premier 11A and a PV12, the musicality was stunning, just gorgeous! Sold it off to a very deserving customer, who still retains this system today, and absolutely loves it!

Fast forward to 2010, and I had the pleasure of seriously auditioning both the Elipsa and Stradivari. When I meant serious, I was actually considering the Elipsa's but then ended up with Quad ESL2905's instead.

Nearly all of the listening sessions were conducted with ARC amplifiers, being either the Ref 75, Ref150 & the Ref 250 monoblocks. The sound was quite good, an expansive soundstage and excellent dynamics but that was about it. The musicality was lacking, soundstage depth, resolution and refinement was lacking as well, it did not reproduce music quite the way natural tones are meant to be reproduced.

So the sale did not go through nor was I keen on SF's until... I managed to get the chance of trying out my very own CJ amplifiers on them, and on my! What a huge difference in everything! The soundstage depth, layering, resolution, finesse and most of all the musicality just set into place with such a sense of ease, it was marvelous!

By this time it was very apparent that the amplification is so important in getting the music right, it's not just the speakers. Although I must admit ARC amps are very good in every regard in terms of high-End amplification but they don't quite have that special sense of musicality compared to CJ, and only CJ owners will understand this.

The SF Strads require a much larger room to perform at their best, and with CJ amplification they were absolutely stunning! The Elipsa's on the other hand, given just about adequate space to breathe, perform beautifully, and they were the best fit in about any type of room, without too much hassle. That red finish is also a massive positive in the WAF dept, she absolutely loved it at first sight! 😍
Who wouldn't?

Anyway, time went by and my days with dynamic drivers passed on, as now I'm using the Martin Logan CLX's, as these were always my dream speakers.

However, I will say this, if I was to have it solely my way and be spoilt rotten, to own best of both - dynamic and stat, my first choice would be the Elipsa's without any hesitation! But since I'm a family man with certain priorities other than high end audio, we simply cannot have it all...

I truly understand the type of sound reproduced by your system, and specially with those Premier 8's and the ACT2, it doesn't get any better than this, really!
Enjoy to the fullest, that is another SOTA classic system you've got!

Cheers mate, RJ