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noise and cj premier 15

I have a Conrad-Johnson Premier 15 phono stage. I bought it used here on the 'Gon. I think it's more than two but less than three years old, although I don't have the precise manufactuering date. I find this phono stage to be fairly noisy - when I turn up the volume to moderate levels, there is a lot of background hiss. I am sure it's in the phono stage as no other source component does this in my system, and I replaced it temporarily with a Phonomena. The Phonomena and the P15 don't have the same gain, but they're fairly close-- I think one is set for 50dB gain, the other for 48dB.

Although the music is still quite fine, the extra noise really bugs me. What's wrong with it? I've never owned tubes before. Could I need to rebias the tubes? Is it just something that's going?
blw
blw OP
147 posts
 
thanks for the discussion. coupla points:

- the p15 gain is 53dB, the phonomena is actually set to 54dB. (obviously I wrote the message without checking, which now have done.)

- i had never even asked about noise before, this is new to me :)

- i'll call c-j today.

- the Odysseys are not especially sensitive either - they are spec'ed at 90dB, but i don't believe that figure. they are less sensitive than my previous proac tablette 50s, which were spec'ed at 86dB.

- i don't think the counterpoint amp is a major contributor, as i can put the p15 through the ssp-75 and have pretty much the same problem.

i'll have to think carefully about what you say about gain structure matching - that's a whole new set of things to think about!
twl
3,251 posts
 
I agree that a 10db step up device would be beneficial in this case.
cjlundgren43ed
3 posts
 
Hello Blw:
I purchased a used c-j premier 15 from my dealer about two years aso (at that time my unit was one year old). I experienced exactly the same noise issues that you describe. I finally replaced the stock tubes with NOS tubes from Upscale Audio (ask for Kevin). Once I installed these NOS tubes, problem solved - the noise was GONE. My unit is now very very quiet - still some residual very low level noise, but MUCH MUCH MUCH less noise than with the stock tubes installed.
Good luck with this unit.
Regards
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
Just call Knut at CJ.

Chuck
blw OP
147 posts
 
Wow, bingo! Thanks cjlundgren!

I'll still call CJ, although I guess it'll have to be next week now... tube rollling...
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