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Conrad Johnson Solid State Amps.

mandryka said:
You can have it if you want - I mean, I’m sure we can agree a fair price, the only problem will be getting it to you.
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Indeed. No idea where you are (I'm Norwich), but courier is the only game in town pro tem, and I've had bad experiences. Anyway, boxes and gubbins should be retained. :). Long thought of CJ (but the valved varieties) and am please that their s/s stuff is that good. You've given me another line of enquiry, as it were, to research if I'm reverting to s/s power.
 
Anyone with experience of the MF200?

Emporium has one and I'm thinking of trying to do a part exchange deal with Nick for it.

I love my MF80. Its quality became clear recently when I swapped it for other amps -- Audio Innovations and Quad. I'm wondering whether to get the MF200 to go with my ESL63s.
 
I had an MF200 for a few years, sold it to fund a house move
Lovely sounding amp, powerful, only gripe was some transformer hum, not bad but there when no music was playing it was an export 220 volt model.

The UK agent is a difficult person not someone I can recommend, extortionate prices for any service.

Conrad Johnson did communicate with me directly but copied him, into the communication which he didn't like.
 
Deal done. If all goes to plan I'll have the MF200 on Sunday.

The plan is to put it with the ESL63s. Will it be as satisfying as a Krell KSA50?
 
mandryka said:
Deal done. If all goes to plan I'll have the MF200 on Sunday.

The plan is to put it with the ESL63s. Will it be as satisfying as a Krell KSA50?
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No.

If you want to match and to my ears better the KSA50 with CJ then you’ll want the CJ 350 Premier SA.
 
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My American gentleman’s big brother has arrived. So far they seem to sound exactly the same!
 
. . . but much more grip, slam with these JR 149 Mk 2s compared with the MF80 - the attacks of piano music sounds more like a piano. The plan is to keep it here for a couple of days before seeing how it sounds with the ESL 63s - but I’m liking what I’m hearing here a lot, so it may be more than a couple of days.
 
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The physical hum on the MF200 has now been very much tamed by a transformer to feed it with American voltage and frequency - there still is some quiet hum, but the level is not a problem for me any more even in quiet music - I would strongly advise anyone in the UK who is thinking of buying this amp to plan to do the same.


It’s now with ESL 63s. Is it worth all the trouble and expense? Well, all I can say is that I feel now what I felt immediately, the first time I heard it - it does piano better than any other amp I’ve heard. All the energy of piano attacks and all the nuance of piano timbre.
 
crimsondonkey said:
If you want to match and to my ears better the KSA50 with CJ then you’ll want the CJ 350 Premier SA
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.

If you are familiar with the CJ Premier 350, I would appreciate your thoughts. My current system is a bit too much for my ears at the top end. Would you have any idea if this amp might be less fatiguing than my Naim NAP250 Olive? (fed by Naim 282 pre to Dynaudio Sapphire speakers).
 
@artoly Naim 135's would be less fatiguing at the top if you really like that era of Naim sound. Having just Googled Dynaudio Sapphires I would guess the CJ amp would be a great match for your speakers. There are plenty more powerful amps out there, maybe you should try and get a home demo of one or two and compare to your Naim amps.
 
There’s a 350SA for sale now on eBay. I’m not in the market for it, but I wrote to the vendor to ask if there was any mains hum with UK voltages. He replied that it is completely silent. At some time in the future I may well replace my MF80 with one: these CJ amps clearly touch the spot for me! But now’s not the time, it’s been such a palaver getting the MF200 working without unacceptable mechanical hum, I need a rest from hifi.
 
Believe it or not, their appears to be a new one for sale on Audiogon (US), meaning in original box, never opened. I can't imagine leaving something like that wrapped up for 20ish years.
 
I just won an auction for a CJ 350SA. Not the new-unused one, but still pretty exciting for me nonetheless, and all going to plan I am looking forward to trying it out tomorrow night (NZ time). Thanks for your thoughts @Salamander . Auditioning was not on the cards, but I weighed up the risks and thought it was worth it. It has 220V stamped on the back, so I hope I don't have any humming (I think we are 230V here too)...otherwise I will know who to ask @mandryka.
 
Several hours of listening later (Conrad Johnson Premier 350SA, mostly in comparison to a Naim NAP250 Olive in my system)... I was asked to give my impressions, so here goes:

Pros:
It sounds awesome.
It just sounds more real. (I'm not much for words to describe sounds.....ok I'll try a little bit harder).
It seems more open, bigger, vocals sound much more real (Youn Sun Nah is practically in the room right now), as do instruments.
They have also helped me see what my speakers are capable of, for realism, openness and wallop (Limit to your Love by James Blake up loud felt like the most well controlled earthquake I have experienced).
Lots of detail and dynamics, great midrange, and not as fatiguing at the top end (compared to the NAP250 in my system to my ears).
My nervousness/uncertainties of mixing it with a Naim 282 pre don't seem to have been warranted (although I will of course remain curious as to how a CJ or other pre's would sound/compare).
It has loads of power, but is class A-B, so won't drain the bank account to much or make the house too hot (although 180W at idle is still a fair bit for an A-B).

Cons:
Audible hum from listening position when it's not playing music, or in any very silent moments in the music. This is more through the speakers. (Hiss in tweeters, hum in other drivers). I have to be within 1 foot of the amp to hear anything out of the CJ directly, so that's not an issue.
Is that similar to your experiences @mandryka ?
It's not black and everyone knows black sounds best :) (but that was accepted before I bought it and some would prefer that anyway).
I can still feel the experience of setting it up in my back (about 40kg)....but that can also be considered a good thing, and I knew about this beforehand too.

Overall I think the CJ is great. Hopefully a few tweaks can help me quieten it down when idle, but right now I'm just enjoying it too much to deal with it.
 
@artoly Thanks for the update, very pleased you like your new (old) CJ. Reminds me I haven't listened to Youn Sun Nah in quite a while, will have to do so later today.
 
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