Sonic Frontiers to Conrad Johnson .

Well, you could always take a step back to the SFM 160's. They are a classic tube amp design. They are not near as cold sounding as the Power 2. The are very resonsive, tonally to tube selection and powerful. I run mine with SED 6550's and EI 6DJ8's and get a full, detailed sound, which errs off neutrality slighly to the warm side. I saw someone advertise a pair on AGon recently for about 1500. I have used these on Paragons, Quad 63's, and most recently Tylers, all to great effect. But, I haven't heard them with your B&W's.

The Premier 16 is no longer in production, but it is an excellent pre-amp. I am sure you can find one here on the Audiogon. I have a Premier 17 LS, which is still in production, and am amazed on a regular basis with the sound quality. I do not think you can go wrong with either unit, although the 16 will cost you more!
Regards,

Ya know, when I first decided to have a good stereo I decided that I could spend 2000 dollars per year to aquire a good one. I had a Pioneer reciever w/ pre-amp output jacks and a 100 dollar CD player and JBL LX44 8" 3 way (Best Buy) speakers. The first piece was the SF Anthem Amp1 which I was able to hook up to the Pioneer and it made a big difference w/ especially voices. When I went shopping for a Pre-amp, I took home a CJ PV10. When I hooked that all up I was astounded. All of a sudden I had bass..! and thought..thats what a good pre-amp does. But I did'nt buy it because I wanted the remote control and headphone jack and...features which the SF had. Then came the ProAc SC1's and Goldmund CD player. I know that all of this is good equiptment but the sound has never glued me to the couch. Last time I was glued to the couch and late for work the next day was when I hooked up my Fisher tube reciever to my JBLs and my cheap CD playe with cheap interconnects. That sound was to die for! Soloists were spotlit, everything was on a soundstage and there was a complete vivid picture before my eyes. I wanted to listen to the same cd over and over again. I upgraded the Anthem amp to the SF Power II, upgraded the speakers to the big B&Ws and added a REL Stadium! Interconnects are Straightwire Rhapsody. I have hooked it up single endedly and balanced and balanced sounded like the noise floor was lowered. But with everything I've done I still dont have a stereo that makes me even want to wait for the tubes to warm up. 20 grand into this stereo. And I read Stereophile and have come to the conclusion that they aint helping me at all. I really can't tell from reading their reviews if a component is for me or not. In the last issue they reviewed the CJ ACTII. The review reads like every other amplifier that they review. I've heard the B&W's sound warmer at a dealer hooked up to a SF Power1 amp though I can't recall the other equipt in the chain.

FWIW you are not the first person who tried to put together a system based on magazine reviews and ended up with something hard to listen to for more than a few minutes. Magazine reviewers seem to always be impressed with "detail", the wow factor! Mostly what they are hearing is excessive detail, detail that is not in balance with the detail on the source. It starts with the sources and ends with the speakers. I don't know how good you can make those B&W's sound, but you won't make them warmer with the SF Line and Power amps. These were just plain cold, tonally speaking.

You don't ID your sources, but I expect from you other selections, if based on mag reviews, they could also add to the brightness you hear. What are they anyway?

Additionally, you don't discuss at all your room and speaker/listening positions and what you have done in your room to make your system sound its best.

All of these things play an important role in your end result. Unfortunately its not as simple as just plugging in a new pre-amp and amp based on others opinions.

If you want to lay it all out here I'm sure many knowlegable people will be happy to help you, but IMHO as it stands now all you will get is responses which my be of no benefit to you whatsoever, including mine.

Get a CJ Ls 17 2 and forgetaboutit.