conrad johnson CT6 with solid state amp

The Premier 3 had all the fabled tube richness anyone would want. Don't get me wrong -- the newer CJs are plenty musical, but I associate "tube richness" with a degree of coloration I no longer admire. Yes, I had a Premier 14, and the Premier 17LS2 was a giant step ahead. Lost my CJ allegiance, though, having gone to an Aesthetix Calypso. Everything the Prem 17 did, the Calypso does better, IMHO, but the main reason I bought it was its polarity switch, on the front panel AND on the remote.

A used CJ Premier 17LS2 will give you much better sound than the CT6, IMHO. The CT6 is actually very much like the original Premier 17LS ( the "2" version boasts a bunch of teflon caps that make a LOT of difference).

As for "tube-like richness," the newer CJs don't have anywhere near as much of it as the older CJs. Which, to me, is not necessarily a bad thing. Dave

Tom, I would never own a solid state preamp OR amp, so I guess I'm into this "tube richness" thing, like it or not. We're obviously talking semantics here -- your "richness" becoming my "coloration," when we probably mean much the same thing about why we like listening to tube gear. Well, some tube gear in my case -- maybe midway between the older tube stuff and SS.

Bottom line: I had the CT6 in my system for a day and was monumentally underwhelmed, compared to my then-preamp, the Prem 17LS2. The CT6 listed for exactly the same amount -- $4500 -- as the original Premier 17LS, while the Premier 17LS2 upped the ante to $6000, the difference being mostly the teflon caps. Sonically, as the reviews indicated, they were in different leagues.