If I can't afford a new Conrad Johnson pre amp...


Hej

I'm planning to buy a Audion Sterling Plus (KT88 SET) power amp and a tube pre amp. A friend of mine told me that I should look for a used Conrad Johnson. He said Conrad Johnson has the sound he thinks I will like; warm, musical and liquid.
Anyway, a used Conrad Johnson pre amp is not something you easyily find in Sweden. So...what should I look for instead? (and if I had the money to buy a new, it has to be from abroad)
I've been told that E.A.R pre amps are more analytic and SS sounding and Rogue somewhere between E.A.R and Conrad Johnson.

Any thoughts?
simna

Showing 1 response by tomcy6

I think that conrad-johnson had a reputation of a warm, golden sound in years past.   Their more recent preamps have a more neutral sound as many other tube preamps have also become more neutral.  The warm, colored sound has gone out of favor for tube preamps.  

For c-j this move started with their Premier 16 and Premier 17 preamps.  Those are considered good preamps and may still have some of the old c-j sound.  So their preamps became progressively more neutral after those and are more colored before those.

I don't know if c-j made gear to work with European voltages.  I'd guess that you can find European tube gear with the warm sound you're looking for.  If you really want to try c-j gear, you can find descriptions and specs on their website, and you can find the gear for sale using the Hifi Shark search site that monitors many audio market websites.