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Is something wrong w/ my pre???

I recently purchased a Conrad Johnson PV10AL and hooked it up to a Yamaha MX-1 amp, Sony DVP7000 (temporarily serving as a CD player) and Paradigm minis. Sounded OK - that's it. Maybe this result was caused by the amp, CD player, &/or even speakers. Well, soon after this discovery I wanted to see if there were noticeable sonic differences between the CJ and a Yamaha A/V receiver I had. I did an A/B test between the CJ and receiver (pre-outs) -- everything else remained constant. Unfortunately, what I discovered after the tests was that no significant improvements could be heard when listening to the CJ preamp. In fact, differences were nearly inaudible. How could this be? Everything in the chain was the same when performing the test between the CJ vs. the Yamaha AV Receiver. How could there be hardly any difference? Could the tubes in the CJ be going bad??? Even with only 400 hrs playing time? Am I missing something here? I'm only seeking answers as to WHY there was hardly any difference.
delmo
5 responses Add your response
bigsur
3 posts
 
The tubes that come with the PV-10 are not that great. Try replacing them with some better ones. (I think they are 12AU7's) Also, what are you using for cables? Some cables like Monster Cable can suck so much detail out of a system it's like going backwards. After doing all this, I would think you should hear a differance??? Good luck!
neurogp
1 posts
 
forget about brutus. this sort of ex-cathedra pronouncements are always wrong. yamaha made: 1. the best tuner ever (ct 7000) 2. an excellent record in everything they make including a speaker that was regarded as the best in England, including the stacked quad esls that i also owned. i own a cj preamp and a mx1. both are very good. feel no shame!
brutus
1 posts
 
I think your problem is that you've connected that great cj pre to the yamaha amp. The yamaha amp is terrible at best. find a nice tube amp and be done with it. Unfortunately,solid-state just cant hang with tube stuff.
strobl0e1d
15 posts
 
I think your problem is that you do not have a good digital front end. A pre-amp cannot "find" digital data that has been thrown away by the digital to analog chip in a low grade processer that is found in most one-box cd players.Good d/a converters can now be purchased used for a fraction of their new cost. (You can also find used cd players with a digital output to use as a transport) This is what happens when you improve one component; it reveals the faults of the other components. This is why the audio hobby is so complex.
fotopresd4b4
48 posts
 
Now you understand! And you're not missing a thing! Actually, you would be doing yourself a favor to hook-up just the DVP7000 directly to your amp, and you will remove a lot of distortion from your electronic chain. The solid state components have about 1/100th the noise and distortion that the CJ preamp has, so why use it? I assume you own a car, do you also own a horse&buggy whip to go with it? The reason you don't hear any difference is because there isn't any. None that you can hear, that is. Until you get massive amounts of THD, YOU WILL HEAR NO DIFFERENCE! However, if the CJ preamp changes the frequency response by as little as 0.1 dB, then it is possible to hear a difference. But then again, sticking in the CJ preamp is just like putting a distortion unit and equalizer in series with the rest of your system. So why bother? If you have any other comments, feel free to email directly.
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