Praise for current CJ management

[Big Dog RJ]

Hah! Good one AJ,

Protecting our precious hearing is most definitely the one and only greatest asset we have as audiophiles, without our hearing, forget it!

On another note, I remember coming across a few musicians and asking them what sort/type of audio systems they own or listen to... The common answer was nothing! They actually prefer to play live either in the studios or live events, that's their greatest joy not recorded music.
The most significant thing that makes them happy is when people buy their records, go figure!

Yes, the LP275M's were top of the line at one point but perhaps a smaller version of what I'm currently using, the LP125m's, in a newer iteration would be nice, for a slightly lower cost.

Anyway, I guess JF has his reasons backed by solid thinking and sustainable factors. One thing for sure is CJ is definitely in good hands, no doubt about that!

More and more high end brands are being bought out by groups of companies, as you rightly pointed out. This is sadly where it all ends, they tend to lose focus and have no clue about what the brand represents nor stands for. A very good example, Infinity systems, bought out by Harman Int'l and now their stuff is very low end. I wonder whatever happened to that brand, never heard anything about after 2000/01.

Arnie Nudell went onto to join Genesis Advanced Technologies and then later on passed away. He was a legend with his Infinity designs. Also remember bumping into Bob Carver few decades ago. He was always interesting to talk to, and learn so much on tube amplifiers. A few of his monoblocks made good progress at audio shows but I'm not sure how he's fairing now, especially in this marketwith big corporations buying out everything...

QUAD is another good example, bought out by IAG group, and the quality went down so bad, I had several disasters with mine from 2010 to 2015. That's about when I decided to head towards Martin Logan, great move and far better service!

For now, I'll just enjoy those fine tunes with this fine gear for as long as finances permit... until I retire towards a CAV45 or whatever model they may have in that time, if there's one available.

Cheers and enjoy the music!
RJ

[roberto]

RJ,

I am not a professional musician, and all the old wolves where we get together for the fun of playing, three of use, are audiophiles. Our recording engineer Alejandro Lopez, he is a user of a pair of Martin Logan Montis. His power amps are the mono blocks Sonic Frontiers model 3. Huge sound comes from them.

Being said that, I do know what it is happening with the music. My background is classical, but I enjoy popular music a lot, specially jazz. There are a lot of good recordings and wonderful musicians playing their music of us, the user. There is no doubt that Conrad Johnson excels the quality sound over many other companies that are seeking the same. But the truth is, there is no way how to make good sounding gear cheap. The research never ends, and also, the commercial audio has come forward with giant steps, sometimes so good, that they challenge our audiophile world.

I am very happy with my comeback to CJ. I had learned that quality has no regret!

Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

I should have been clearer.

There are guys with deep enough pockets to enjoy CJ who also play music.

I play myself.

But I live in the Nashville area and have many friends who are in the business as their life’s work. Most of these guys who tour or play sessions do not have deep pockets. And most have arthritis and tinnitus.

There is an old joke here. How do you get the guitar player off your porch? Pay him for the pizza.

If music is your passion, it is good to have a primary alternate source of income.

The percentage like Vince Gill or Paul McCartney is very small. Less than 1% for sure.

One of the most gifted session players I know and I were discussing careers for our boys 30 years ago. His son is a chemical engineer with an MBA. He told me he hoped that people would say about his son “Wow, that doctor plays the guitar well.”

[roberto]

Chicos,

I think that this crazy-ness for high end audio is loosing the goal. The futurist designs on speakers that looks from an alien system, thinking that with it looks, everybody is going to buy that horrible device, and when you have a listen, you also confirm the bad and ugly presentation of how a natural musical instrument sounds next to you, and then you see tons of guys expressing a wow and admiration for that...I find myself getting lost.

Having my Spanish guitar since I was starting to study it since I was 12 years, the wood sound is stuck into my brain, and of course I use it as my guide. When I have a listen to it, my expectation is to have the same or close to it. There are crystal clear sound of a guitar, but when the 5th or 6th string is played, the size of that guitar is like having it the same size of a Steinway Grand Piano...I do not want that!. I demand to have the size of the piano and the size of the guitar here in my place. Here, if you play your music too loud, you can spoil the real size of the musical instruments. I am talking this to listen the music at moderate level, like having a Spanish guitar playing next to you.

Other speakers make a great stage, but some musical notes, specially when there are dynamics, the instrument comes next to me, and the next musical note is right there, at the stage presentation. Also happens with the cymbals and drums. All the drums are back at the stage, but the cymbals are at the front (I call this the plastic man playing drums) or, there are two drummers, one playing the cymbals and the other playing the drums.

And the bass? Do you have one note bass in your room? This is usually what the user like most. Having big bass energy coming from a guitar?

Room treatment is a must. We also know that. We can't take away the stationary waves...resonance is a true. But room resonance can be treated, right? Well, do it! It does not costs a fortune and really makes your room to sound much better...more natural.

And what about the dB vs Sabin? The Decibel (dB) is what we use to measure the intensity of the sound, and a sabin is the absorption unit of the sound. The problem is that the sound is logarithmic and also it is its absorption. This is an example and this is a supposition: there is a mic and we apply 1 KHz to it and we adjust the level to read 70dB of SPL. Then we put a cushion in front of the mic without touching the volume. We check the reading and the measure is 65dB. We increase the level up to 75 dB without the cushion, and then put the cushion in front of the mic, and the reading is 60 dB. Only 5 dB in level, and the reading is totally different!, why? Because the sound is logarithmic!.

This is the reason why acoustics is so complicated. We have learned many tricks and tweaks, and the way that the musical instruments and voices. Each day we have better devices that make out system to get closer to the real thing. All I can say is: you can fool your ears with the immediate or short term memory, but you can not fool your long term memory. When you do comparisons, A device and B device, try to spend time with the device some time, play your favorite tracks, have on had a piece of paper and write down your findings. Do the same thing with the B device and write down your findings. Once you have finished. Do Be again, and write down your findings, then A and write down your findings. Now it is time to read your notes and choose the one that you liked most.

Stay home, stay safe! Listen to the wonderful music and great musicians, enjoy your system!

Happy listening!

[Timo62]

Jeff Fischel is a great guy and is doing a really fantasitic job with the company and the current CJ line up.

I agree also that it would be nice if they had more affordable gear for folks who cannot afford the current line up , but would like to enjoy The Conrad Johnson brand. The current price for admission into the CJ world is rather steep for the average music lover.

[Big Dog RJ]

Correct Timo! Absolutely spot on, and that's the point I was trying to make... Thanks for understanding.

Not only is the "average music lover" average... In terms of financial measure but they are far from average when it comes to their music and understanding the quality of good recordings. Oh! Don't get me wrong, they are well aware of high quality recordings and they aspire to owning great systems but simply don't have the financial capacity to just dump 20 grand on a single component.

Disposable income is a must in the world of the high-end and if anyone had thought about audio systems first putting family and other priorities second, then sadly they're on the path to disaster.

I happen to know quite a few who have done just that! At the end of the day they ended up with nothing! Their partners walked out, hardly any family left and the only thing remaining- a kickass HiFi system ...so what?

In all my ups and downs in this total madness, a very wise person told me to always cut the coat according to the cloth otherwise you will run short... That person was my good wife, without her I would probably have the ART300's, GATS2, Relentless monoblocks, Momentum preamp and the Neoliths, apart from the CLX's and the Alsyvox ribbons of course... That would be just about everything I would ever want in terms of high-end audio until something else comes along and everyone claims that's great. And the vicious cycle continues... she's probably the only one that keeps me calm and focused, puts things in perspective and slaps more sense into me than a thunderous transient!

Cheers to our better halves, you just gotta luv em.
Enjoy those fine tunes Timo,
Big woof RJ

[Timo62]

RJ,

Your wife does seem like she is very wise and also very supportive of you. That is fantastic. She seems like a very special person based on your description of her.
Cheers to out better halves indeed!