CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

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Ray
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Ray »

camusmuse wrote:Might wanna see if you can pickup a tube tester. With the amount spent on the gear, a tester is relatively inexpensive and will generally let you know exactly what condition your tubes are in...including remaining life span. Not to mention it can let you "match" your own sets if need be.

Good idea.. And it did cross my mind a few weeks back, but I got side tracked and never followed through.
At this point I'll probably wait a bit. I'm assuming these incidents are rare and I'll be good going forward.. ultimately I'll get a tube tester. I'm going to wait just to be sure I'm not sitting here with a tube tester and no tubes to test.

I sure miss my Saturday morning music today.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Ray »

rsm wrote:HI Ray
Yes, a stiff drink could help! I hope this is not an indication of things (smelly and burning) to come. Only trouble is I am in South Africa. No agent here, so I am liable for shipping back to US if CJ and a local tech cannot diagnose the problem, To courier to US from here about $2000 with insurance! I have owned several CJ valve products in the past, one failed and had to be returned to the US for replacement. I have the ET5 now which has been fault-free but very noisy (quiescent) compared to the Prem 16 I had previously. CJ claims the ET5 has more inherent noise! Sounds good though.......We are hoping that CJ comes up with a quick solution to the failed ARTsa and that a schematic exists. Good luck to you too. Pls let me know what the verdict is on yours........ All the best
I've always "assumed" the increased noise in the CJ preamps was mostly due to the low feedback design and their generally higher gain.
In my case, using magnepan speakers helps a bit.

I couldn't detect any noise with my own ET5 with volume control set to "typical" (ET5 with JC-1s and Magnepan 3.7s)
with no input, running the volume control all the way up to around 90, there was very audible hum and noise. (and of course this varied with tubes)
I actually think the GAT is a bit noisier than the ET5, not sure why this would be... but in any case, not an issue for me.
I was worried about added hum/noise with the ART Monos, they are thank goodness very quiet electrically with just a bit of "mechanical" transformer type hum, but it's not an issue.

If I would have been faced with a massive shipping cost like that I'd have probably freaked out! good luck with it. 'looks like "my broken art" arrived at CJ on Friday. Hopefully they'll get it fixed up and shipped back to me next week...and that it didn't get damaged on the trip down, or the trip back. Next time (damn I hope their isn't one) I'll likely drive the thing to VA from here (NYC area)
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rsm
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by rsm »

Hi Camusmuse

Thanks for advice. Where can I find ZED? Are they in South Africa? The dealer that sells Audio Research has a guy they use in Cape Town. I will probably use him when CJ have finally responded with some diagnostic advice and then sent parts! No doubt, this will take months.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by camusmuse »

rsm wrote:Hi Camusmuse

Thanks for advice. Where can I find ZED? Are they in South Africa? The dealer that sells Audio Research has a guy they use in Cape Town. I will probably use him when CJ have finally responded with some diagnostic advice and then sent parts! No doubt, this will take months.
No they are in the US in California, I just thought that him being from S.Africa he might have some insight or advice on if anything that outrageous shipping. His website is here....

http://www.zedaudiocorp.com/

Check out the "About" section, interesting read. I have many, many of his car amps from OEM, like Autotek, and HiFonics. I even have a lab quality 100amp 12vdc power supply that I use to repair, and even use car amps in my home system. Yeah, I know...kinda working backwards on the VDC here, but I have had a love affair with their amps since I first bought a 7204 BTS in the early 90's. Only 50wx4, but an honest wattage report, unlike many car audio amps. Anyway, enjoy the site, the owner S. Mantz often will return emails himself, or at least he has in the past. Very nice, and easy to talk to.....
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by rsm »

HI All

Well it is day 16 since the ARTsa broke down........and no advice from CJ as yet! Not that great for something costing USD/GBP 19000! Any advice anyone?
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by jeffreybehr »

rsm wrote:HI All

Well it is day 16 since the ARTsa broke down........and no advice from CJ as yet! Not that great for something costing USD/GBP 19000! Any advice anyone?
E-mail them again. You might try Lew Johnson this time. lj@conradjohnson.com
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Joe Appierto »

Yep, what Jeffrey said. Lew Johnson has reported that since November 8th, he's been personally monitoring all the e-mail sent to their service department. He may not have looked at any dated prior to that so a follow-up e-mail should hopefully garner a response.
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Ray
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Ray »

If you can get a person named Jeff on the phone, he's been helpful to me in the recent issue with my ART.
He even called me right back late in the day when the amp had failed, he called yesterday to inform me that it's fixed.

He went on to say that I'd receive a call or email today confirming shipment of the unit. No call.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Ray »

Update.... ART received back last Friday, all good! In the end all worked out although I was worried a bit.
Jeff and Melissa thanks!

These are the best sounding amps I've ever heard! IMHO

Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here.
Thankfully I'm reasonably close to CJ, as shipping these things to anywhere but the eastern US would be a major issue.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by rsm »

Hi Ray
Happy for you! Keep me updated. Cj finally responed "sending parts and schematic for 400V driver tubes supply"....... that's it. Once it is repaired, I reckon I'll have to sell it and get something available in S Africa. Service from Cj shoddy at best. Pity, was starting to sound good.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by Ray »

I must admit I gave CJ quite an earful relating to what I personally perceived as a sense that they really don't care anymore.
I also made it clear that this sense of mine isn't something from recent weeks and that it's been building for a couple years.
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by rsm »

Hi Ray, well I would love to do that as I feel the (non) service I have received is appalling. If I had bought a car here for the equivqlent sort of amount of money (consider that we are paying about 50% more for the amp than you are in the US), the dealer or manufacturer would be falling over himself putting things right. Unfortunately I cannot shoot my mouth off as the dealer, in Europe, says it will hurt his reputation (he does do me favours, is a friend and apparently cannot speed things up). So about a month now.......and no sign of spare parts.......I will keep you all updated on this........

I will be doing a recording next week and have no system to do the post recording/balancing on..........headphones?????
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by rsm »

Hi Ray
What was jeff's email at CJ again? jeff@conradjohnson.com? Thanks
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Re: CJ ART sa / 8 or 4 ohm

Post by toprepairman »

Greetings to all.
Reviving this thread as I have an ARTsa come in for repair.
The owner said it made an electric crack and went quiet. It still works now but the gain has got very low. I suspect regulated supply problems to either the input tube or the driver tubes, I wonder if anyone else has run into this?
Repaired a few other CJ amps in the past and they do seem to be plagued with reliability issues- not great for such pricey gear. Mixing tubes with silicon and heat seems to be at the root of most of the troubles.
Henry, London England.
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