Conrad Johnson Premier 140 6922 tube swapping

c-j will tell you to only use replacement tubes from them, but I have not heard of anyone having problems because they used tubes from other sources.

The 6922 is a member of the 6DJ8 family of tubes along with the 7308. Many people consider the tubes in this family to be interchangeable but you probably should stick with a 6922 (E88CC in European designation) until you become a little more knowledgeable about tubes and your amp.

If you want to buy current production tubes like the EAT google Jim McShane and give him a call. Many people sing his praises here on Audiogon. He is away until next Friday though (I just checked his website).

If you want to experiment with vintage tubes, I can recommend Upscale Audio, Andy at Vintage Tube Services, Tubemonger or Brent Jessee. Be prepared to tell them what kind of sound you want from your amp and they can fix you up with the right tubes, probably - no guarantee exactly how a given tube will sound in your system.

The prices that these dealers will charge are quite a bit higher than what you can find on Ebay but believe me, in the end it will be cheaper to buy from them.

Agathe79, This is starting to spin out of control. Your original problem was a noisy 6922. If you are happy with the sound of your amp except for the noise, get a new 6922 and see if that takes care of your problems.

If you can talk to the person you bought the amp from, find out how many hours the power tubes have on them. They may have plenty of hours left on them and you can take your time getting familiar with your amp and opinions on tubes before you start replacing them.

Also find out if the amp was left on all the time and how many hours it has on it. When you have that information call or email c-j customer service and find out what they think about replacing any parts before you do something like that. c-j will be glad to help you even though you didn't buy the amp new.

You can also find out if there is someone who works on c-j gear with a good reputation near you. They could check out the amp without having to send it off to c-j.

Take it one step at a time. Get a new 6922. Talk to the former owner then c-j. Take some time to get familiar with the sound of your amp. Your amp may be working just fine and not need anything other than a 6922.

Hifigeek1, that would be a major problem. I hadn't read your post since it went up. I would suggest that anyone who owns the amp or is thinking about buying one check with c-j about it.

There is also a conrad-johnson owners site where you might be able to get information about this problem:
http://www.conradjohnsonowners.com/

I'm not sure what design flaws you're referring to. I think that Johnsonwu meant that since the amp is an older model that the capacitors and resistors might need to be replaced.

I don't know how many years they are good for, but I suggest you find out how old the amp you are looking at is and get an estimate of the hours it has on it and give c-j a call. They could tell you how long you could expect to use the amp before it needs any maintenance.

c-j uses quality parts, especially in its Premier line, so the parts should last as long as those in any other make of amp, except maybe Bryston with their 20 year warranty.

I'm not an expert, but from what I know the amp is a very good one and has no design flaws that need to be corrected. People like to tube roll and try other tweaks to tailor the sound to their own tastes, but that is not necessary. I'm sure many owners like the amp with the stock tubes.

If that doesn't answer your question, give us a little more information about the design flaws you're concerned about.