Surprise entry into CJ world.

[bewatts]

Hi. Wow! I just came into a pair of LM20s and a whole new world I never know existed. So until I make my first million, what are some amplifier suggestions?

[admin]

bewatts,

First, welcome to CJO. Great to have you with us. Congrats on acquiring a set of LM20's. As for suggestions for amplifiers the possibilities are endless. Certainly, an offering from CJ would be a very nice match for your speakers.

I get the sense that the budget is a concern. If you are looking for a new CJ unit but get maximum bang for your buck, you may want to look at their new controller amp, the CAV45. It saves you money by combining both preamp and amp and gives you the sweet CJ tube sound.

If you are looking at the used market, then, of course, you have many choices. Doing a search on audiogon, ebay, craigslist, etc... would be a good start to see what kind of used CJ equipment is available and at what price points.

[bewatts]

Thank you for you prompt response. As it turns out, the surprises have not ended. I am going to post a story that I hope someone can help me find a happy ending to (as if the happy ending hadn't already happened). First, I would like to thank you one more time for welcoming me. This is the sort of world I read about but don't ever imagine joining. Bose and Sennheiser are my idea of high end on my state salary.

My wife was helping a friend clean out her mother's house. It has been a tough chore, this friend's mom having recently passed and there being some tough memories to clean out. Now, until yesterday I had never heard of Conrad-Johnson. My wife brought a dump load home in our truck for me to take on my lunch break, but she had noticed some nice and unusually heavy speakers. She put them aside in the load to bring to my attention. When I first looked at them (blond wood and "synthesis?") my initial reaction was these are crap until I picked one up.

I looked up synthesis online and, of course, decided they were an old model of JBLs (laughs?). They have a current line of the same name but of course nothing called an LM20. That is how I found this chat room and whole new universe.

Well, nice, I thought. These can stay in the shed until I find an amp and some cords and stands and maybe some gift cards for Christmas. My wife told me that there were some cords in the back of the truck and maybe I should be careful and go slowly at the dump. Understatement of the year. Here is where I hope you can help me, because I think the woman who was throwing these away needs to know if there is some value here. Here is my current inventory:

2 LM20s
1 MV-50
1 PV-8
1 Prism II CD player
1 Kimbercable ultraplate cord
1 audioquest cord

All used 80s? I guess the serial numbers would hold that information. Any help you could give me would be appreciated. I am not even sure what the MV-50 is! The tubes are all intact, just need to be cleaned.

[admin]

Sorry to hear about the passing of your friend's mother.

As for the audio system, wow. What a great collection of gear. You basically have a really high-end vintage system. The MV-50 is a really nice tube amp (circa '5). You can find more info about it here:

https://conradjohnson.com/vintage-conra ... -products/ , just scroll down to the "tube amp" section.

https://www.tonepublications.com/old-sc ... son-mv-50/

Again, you basically have a very nice complete system. The PV-8 is a good amp and solid complement to the other components. As it sounds like you are new the hobby, I would recommend you set the system up and spend some time listening to good quality recordings to get a sense of what high-end audio is really about. You may find that you are one of us who appreciate music not just for melody and lyrics, but also for the quality of the reproduction. If this is the case, you can slowly upgrade components and "play" with different interconnects, cords, and hardware. If it ends up not being your cup of tea, you can always sell them for a fair price as there is a market for this gear (you may want to look at audiogon.com).

Again, great to have you with us and if there are any questions, tips, or help we can offer, just let us know.

[roberto]

Hola bewatts,

I will add a little bit more of what Mr. Admin said. You found a good gear. The PV-8 has an internal circuit that takes about 3 minutes once the unit had being powered on, to come alive. Also it is wise to take the amp and the preamp to a technician for just a test that everything is working properly. You just found a golden jackpot. Those preamp and power amp make along with the LS-20 speakers to sound beautiful. I can see and picture your big smile while listening to that system.

Happy listening!

[bbash]

What an entry ... so sorry to hear about the loss of your wife's friend's mother ... but, you got the c-j score of the decade.

Happy listening. My hope is her late husband is looking down and is enjoying the fact that you are enjoying some fine music on what is likely his old equipment.