I owned a cj 17ls and liked it very much it certainly was not dark and laid back at least not im my system. If anything it is very detailed with lots of timbre around the instruments and exhibited very good sound staging. I sold it to my friend and moved up to the 16lsII which is simply more of the 17ls. I used EH 6922 gold pin tubes in both units and found them to be a very well rounded tube. Good Luck