My Quest to Highend heaven with my first CJ AMP.

[Maze]

Glad to hear you like the sound. As for CJ preamp recommendations it really depends on your budget. Are you looking to buy new or preowned?

Always preowned! With the pace I change gear I would be broke if I went for new . Lol

I think something like 5k ish EURO .. Preferably with phono section.

[Maze]

The Premier 10 and Premier 14 were its contemporaries.

The PV14 fits too ... that was the first PV with remote control.

I would choose something from the current century.

The ET7S1 or S2 are nice. GAT S1 or S2 better.

TEA2MAX or TEA1 S1 S2 or S3 for phono section.

Thanks for the reply. I wil check into them. Need to find a 230v.

[roberto]

The Premier 10 and Premier 14 were its contemporaries.

The PV14 fits too ... that was the first PV with remote control.

I would choose something from the current century.

The ET7S1 or S2 are nice. GAT S1 or S2 better.

TEA2MAX or TEA1 S1 S2 or S3 for phono section.

Thanks for the reply. I wil check into them. Need to find a 230v.

Hola Maze,
All CJ gear are possible to use in both voltages, 117.5 AC Voltage and 230 AC Voltage. Inside the components, are shown how to convert them. Remember for 230 to use the half fuse protection value. If you have, as an example, 2 Amps fuse in 120V, them for 230V 1 Amp fuse should be use.

Also, you can download their manual from the website and there you can find how to do this conversion.

Happy listening!

[Maze]

The Premier 10 and Premier 14 were its contemporaries.

The PV14 fits too ... that was the first PV with remote control.

I would choose something from the current century.

The ET7S1 or S2 are nice. GAT S1 or S2 better.

TEA2MAX or TEA1 S1 S2 or S3 for phono section.

Thanks for the reply. I wil check into them. Need to find a 230v.

Hola Maze,
All CJ gear are possible to use in both voltages, 117.5 AC Voltage and 230 AC Voltage. Inside the components, are shown how to convert them. Remember for 230 to use the half fuse protection value. If you have, as an example, 2 Amps fuse in 120V, them for 230V 1 Amp fuse should be use.

Also, you can download their manual from the website and there you can find how to do this conversion.

Happy listening!

Thanks Roberto

That's verry usefull info. I'm don't know much about CJ. Somehow it stayed out of my path for a while til I got thw Cj12 and must say it's a verry easy listening amp. The Treble extention is could be a bit more , but I guess CJ leans more to the Tuby, round, and warm side of the spectrum than trying to be more "sparcley" like Arc.

Maybe this wil change when paired with the right pre- but for know my Sp11 and Cj12 are doing wel.

Have to see how a CJ pre amp wil change the tonal balance of the set when implemented in my system.

Time to search!

[AnotherJohnson]

I’ve always enjoyed both ARC and CJ amps and preamps, including mixing and matching them.

But in the end the CJ pairings “just sound right.”

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to live music of most types. CJ just comes closer more often for me.

I love the conveniences, features, and user friendliness of modern ARC gear. I especially like some of the concepts they embrace, like “on the fly phono loading” from the listening position via the remote.

But in the end, I’ve sold all of my ARC gear, and am pretty much no longer interested in stuff outside CJ’s recent range.

Of course YMMV.

[roberto]

AJ,

My first tube gear was a PV-5 with a MV-50, then got another MV-50 and made both bridged as a mono blocks. They were driving my CLS and about 30 years ago...then, did change for many brands, I do not why, but I never was happy. I ended with ARC, a Reference 5 with the 130 power amps...also did have a VT100 MKIII with kt-120s tubes.

I went to a customer's house and did listen again some CJ gear...then I got the cupid arrow again direct to me heart. I don't know why I spent so many hours listening to other stuff. Conrad Johnson is very far ahead of the other brands for good. The harmonic texture of the musical instruments and the size of them...the stage, the vocals projected to where we are...I really regret all the time that I spent with other goods...

Now, I am just enjoying the best sound that I ever could possible have.


Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

Yes, I agree. My first piece was a PV5 too.

I have no interest in wandering from flower to flower anymore.

I’m too busy enjoying the music.

I’m sure there are marginal improvements available. But for what purpose?

Real live performances have real life. CJ captures that so well.

You can be happy with any system if you love music ... but CJ highlights the reality better than others.

[roberto]

AJ,
Thanks for the reply. I couldn’t say it better! That’s exactly what is all about!

Happy listening

[Big Dog RJ]

Without a doubt! Big woofty woof'n!!!

Not only does it "just sound right," It's pretty amazing when you've gotten used to something else, thinking that was good, and then you compare it side by side with any CJ gear and the improvements are quite apparent! It's just a totally different dimension, like a paradigm shift in all sides of highend audio.

The other remarkable thing is with CJ gear, partner it with higher quality gear, such as speakers, source gear and cable accessories, the performance shifts several notches further up, it's mind boggling how they get that type of performance right up there. Then you realise three important factors, very simple circuits, using very high quality parts, yields better sound! Both in the short term and long term, the overall performance improves every time. There are no bad days as such... compared to many other brands & audio gear I've owned.

Even back in 99 to around 2001, I ventured off CJ for a few years due to several component failures in severe tropical climates. So went after Arc, Manley Labs, Cary, Melos, Golden Tube, Carver, VTL, BAT, Classe, Quad, Krell, Plinius, Bryston, Parasound, Threshold, Forte, Musical Fidelity, Arcam, Nad, Sumo, Adcom, McIntosh and a miraid of others some of which I can't even remember. None of them made me happy or would I say, "I get no satisfaction!"...

However, there was one very special brand and design that I absolutely loved but could not afford as a single item to offer through our dealerships, simply because it was quite expensive even at cost price, so in order to make decent profit, the final pricing of out of reach for many. That brand was none other than Lamm Audio. They're products are in a different league, very pricey and beautiful and equally engaging and involving as cj gear. At the end I chose CJ, that's why we're all here I guess.

Cheers to cj!
Best, RJ

Oh! And enjoy those fine tunes!

[Maze]

Thamk you for the input gentlemen.

For me this is my first ever CJ and must say looking at the build quality and components used , they are simple schematics with high quality parts. For me that's verry interesting because I like simple. The more complicated and more parts a circuit gets the more it alters the sound.

Some of the best sounding equipment I had were pretty simple.

Best sound I had was from Lamm. The Ref pre and Lamm ml2.
Also loved the Lamm M1 I had. Paired with nagra pre. Actually love all Lamm equipment , but as mentioned above they are quite pricey. AUDION quattro pre and 945 amps were also one of my all time favorite gear.

It's been a few years now that I'm gear hoping and it seems like I'm pretty done! Lol.

I knew CJ and Arc are old rivals and somehow didn't have the opportunity to do some CJ swapping because here in Europe CJ is not that popular as Arc is and you don't fond that much Cj Equipment.

Listening to the CJ12 amp it looks like I like the tonal balance of the Cj. It's not wauw to begin with but it's easy listening and harmonic. I love the mids alot.

So now I'm curious whats best to pair with the 12 and where to find one. Lol.

[AnotherJohnson]

It is hard for me to get excited over Lamm Industries. They remind me of Julius Futterman and NYAL. I suppose I should cut him some slack. He is on the right track to have studied human hearing for so long, and to have live music as his reference. His idea that he can look at graphs and judge the sound reminds me of Bob Carver (who shares many of Lamm’s ideas in my opinion). Note that Lamm, like CJ, puts a lot of emphasis on high quality parts, linear behavior, and simple circuitry.

Spectral is another crazy expensive esoteric brand that those who’ve heard it like.

And D’Agostino led Krell. It’s hard not to love the monstrous solid state amps of original Krell.

But in the end, even against pure class A, the 275+ watt monoblocks from CJ have been special in every generation.

No one ever tries to copy McIntosh, or even ARC. The one worth copying is conradjohnson.

[Big Dog RJ]

Nice one AJ.

Agreed 110%, very valid points and some great info there. This is something you don't come across in the short term, rather it takes years of experience to learn and realise this.

I think JF is definitely on the right path, especially now having achieved high standing awards for the GAT/S2, ART amplifiers and the ART27A. Although their other gear hasn't earned similar recognition, whatever said they're right up there in terms of top quality gear.

It's certainly fortunate for each one of us to be able to afford such great systems from CJ, given the economic and world circumstances most people are faced with...

I'm extremely pleased with what I've owned so far and look forward to hearing the latest additions from CJ. Until then, I reckon we should all just sit back and enjoy those fine tunes!
Cheers mate, RJ