CJ Premier 10 - still competitive?

I am familiar with Premier 10,14 and 17 and my first choice
is the 14 with an after market ac cord,all those CJ are good candidate for,if you go with the 14 and want a special one just let me know.It is 1 hour job with a Dremmel to replace the captive ac cord with a IEC chassis mount.

i owned a premier 10 by CJ, upgrade to audio research LS 25 and then finish with a reference one...
i feel the CJ 10 is a lot less silent in back ground and i think your premiere eight deserve a lot better pre amp....
LS 25 was a tad less musical but more accurate but it is not in the same league if we talk about money on the used market...
if you ever go for audio research pre amp you could put in NOS tubes like amperex bugle boy to add more music
i like a lot CONRAD JOHNSON product because my amp is an EVOLUTION 2000 and it make a pretty good match with my REF ONE, i share acuracy and musicality
so good luck in your shopping and hope this help....

The PR14 is basically a PR10 with a remote. It uses the same circuit topology, a single triode buffered by a cathode follower and sounds about the same. This is a tried a true design that is still used by numerous manufacturers so I would not worry about the age. If you can live without a remote and the price is good I would try the 10.

The PR17 is a different beast, it has the same composite triode topology as the 16, ART, and ACT.

Thanks all for you comments. The Premier 10 was delivered to my home last night to try it for a whole week. It sounds very good (just 1 hour listening..) with all the virtues of a tube preamp (lush, musical, timbre) and better bass definition than I expected.

I would definitly try to move to an 17 or above later, I will post you my findings and how it compares to the ML No. 26. I need to decide next Friday...

Fernando

Initial Impressions:

Conrad Johnson Premier 10 - great midrange reproduction, lifelike presentation, shines on piano, vocals. A little rolled-off at the extremes and a little grainy compared to the ML.

Mark Levinson No. 26 - Excellent top end resolution, cymbals, claps soundvery realistic and well defined, better low end resolution with more dynamics/impact and free of grain midrange.

As-of-today - The ML looks like a keeper

Do you (all) agree with the above observations based in your experience?

Fernando