Help with selecting a C/J preamp

[corvette355]

Hi, looking for some used preamp options max 2000.00. I recently purchased a C/J mf2275 and I have lascala speakers. Mostly listen to classic rock. Thx Al

[roberto]

Hola Corvette355 and welcome,

I just found at Ebay, these ET3s. It is highly recommended and the price is about what you want to pay. It has remote control and it has almost the latest circuit design topology. You can't to wrong with this unit. Also each step with the volume control has only .7dB of intensity change up or down, so you can precisely adjust the wanted level.

You can buy from Conrad Johnson the phono preamp for it. This unit is only line stage, and a turntable can not be use, only if you have a phono preamp. Also there are good sounding preamps a very good price, and you just connected it to any input of the preamp.

The last one has phone stage and the price is about the same as the other two.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Conrad-Johnson ... Swuildv2Od

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Conrad-Johnson ... Sw3T5b7ULa

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Conrad-Johnson ... SwSKJdokIS

Happy listening

[Timo62]

Welcome Corvette,


You could also consider as a vintage option a Premier 14 tube line stage preamp . It is a very well built musical preamp . I own one myself and use it with my Classic 120 amp.I am very pleased with this combination. A blend of the classic with the modern CJ sound. There is one on Audiogon now for sale in your price range. No affiliation with seller.

[goldminer60]

Good things come to those who wait. I had the good fortune today to find my sought after Classic 120 SE. I'm thrilled and can't think of anything but preamps. My Premier 17LS2 will be called to service and my priority might shift to speakers. Need to shift some things around, speakers are my wifes pet peeve, and it's hard to hide them. Changing tube amp for another tube amp is far less conspicuous. Life is good!

[Timo62]

goldminer60,
Congratulations on your newly acquired Classic 120. It is a very nice amp. I own one myself and bought it because I changed my speakers and need a more powerful amp.

[goldminer60]

What do you think of the ET3Se? I've read and heard that they like to eat tubes, not sure if these are isolated incidents or not. Have you heard of this? Lots of good choices.

[roberto]

Hola Chicos,

I love gossip. This is my answer to that question. How could that be? If you were a company with only a little time on the market, that could be a possibility. I assure you that Conrad Johnson knows how to bias a tube. It is the only way to be a tube eater, over bias. There are many people who like to talk about certain models that erase, wipe off the market with quality sound and price. And this is only gossip. You can be safe with any CJ model. We all know that tubes are very uncertain. They can fail any time, with only minutes of use or perhaps can last many hours. I worked (my first job when came out from College) as engineering assistant at Teletica Canal 7, a broadcast TV station here in Costa Rica, and my job was to service all the repeaters that the station had. That was in the 70s, and solid state was just coming out. So, all the repeaters were tube made. I worked four year or so, and I never changed a single tube. All what I did was, with a generator marker with 4MHz of bandwidth, for the carrier of the sound and the carrier of the video. With the help of an oscilloscope, I had to adjust the best curve for both. So I ended knowing a little bit more about tubes. All our transmitters were made out of tubes. Then circa the 1975 the microwave came out, so me could interconnect live from many points from the city to the studio...that was fun. This was my very first time with solid state devices...

Oh well, I do not want to bored you more with my stories, but again, I assure you that the ET-3 is a jewel to use. I it is the little CJ...standing the magic quality sound of CJ.

Happy listening!

[goldminer60]

Thanks Roberto. Sometimes too much information is a bad thing. My experience with tubes has been drama free, of course tubes are a maintenance item. Some folks expectations aren't realistic when it comes to tube life. A passion for the sound makes it all worthwhile. Thanks again.

[roberto]

Hola Chicos,

This is what I do. My car needs oil change every 4000 miles, and also filter oil change. Tires every three years, and twice a month fuelling the gasoline tank. In other words, it needs a lot of maintenance. This is not the case of our tube gear, but we do have to do the same thing. I have a shoes carton box under my bed. I put there every time I use my system $ 2.00. Also I have there my non smoking money, I did smoke cigarettes twenty or more years ago, and one thing that I did, is to save for me, and only for my, the money spent on my bad habit!. So every day I put $ 7.00 for my cigarettes.

I have now spare money for all my system tubes and sometimes to do a little changes, like upgrade my digital gear. Right now I feel or hear that I need to do a change, but it is good to be updated.

Happy listening!

[goldminer60]

I am currently watching the Et3s mentioned earlier by Roberto to pair with the Classic 120SE. You have plenty of power on hand with a very efficient speaker so I would concentrate on a tubed pre. Not sure if you have a turntable but if so the addition of a phono stage might break the budget. Don't shy away from older pieces like the Premier 14 unless remote control is a must. I'm currently running the 17 LS2 paired to the Classic 120SE but am watching the ET3s also. If tubes aren't your cup of tea the solid state PFR has served another system quite well. I would've never believed a SS unit could be as smooth and am glad that a friend forced a listening session. I am not familiar with your amp but from my experience I have never been disappointed with any CJ gear that I've purchased, tubed or solid state. The sound of course is different but easy to listen to. In closing go for the tubes, they will make your hard rock collection more listenable. Keep it fun and good luck to you.

[AnotherJohnson]

What do you think of the ET3Se? I've read and heard that they like to eat tubes, not sure if these are isolated incidents or not. Have you heard of this? Lots of good choices.

There is only one tube. It's a 6922 if I remember correctly. My ET3SE needed one once a year. That's not an excessive maintenance expense. It is user replaceable.

How did I know it needed one? When I became aware of the noise floor, I changed it.

The ET3 is a nice unit, but the shortcoming from my perspective was that it had no second main out jacks, and If I remember right, it had no balance control. Why do I care? Well, sometimes I like to run a subwoofer, so having a second main out jack allows you to avoid a Y connector to the amps. This isn't too big a deal. Also, as for the balance control ... I never use it, but when it's missing, I feel like there ought to be one. It's just my own psychological baggage. I still miss all the control options that were on the PV5, PV8, and PV11.

[goldminer60]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to stick with my 17LS2 for now and have shifted my efforts back to my speaker search.