Conrad Johnson dedicated fansite

08-22-12: Steveaudio
"There is a "troubleshooting" topic area on conradjohnsonowners.com so that may be a good place to post your issue. Maybe somebody can give some advise about repairing it."

Well, I'd do that if I could find out from C-J repair what exactly is wrong with it. It's been there since June 14. Other than a couple of conversations with Ed a few weeks ago that it was "fried" (he couldn't tell me why, or a specific diagnosis), that's all I know.

Oh, & he promised to call me back, but never did, & now doesn't respond to phone messages. I know he's there, b/c sometimes a secretary answers, & says she'll put me thru, but then he's always "on another call, & will call me back", (but doesn't).

Only way to get thru to him now is if he happens to P/U the phone himself, but he can't or won't tell me anything, promises to call me back, but never does.....

this does not sound good at all & very un-becoming of C-J. this could mean 2 things: (1) that C-J themselves do not understand what the issue is & (2) they understand the issue very well & are embarrassed to share that info w/ you as it might be a very basic error that they did not catch during their own QC.

I bought an ET3-SE +phono and took delivery two days before Christmas, 2011. Every light on the front panel lit up like my christmas tree. Nothing worked right. I spoke with Ed personally 1/3/12 and it took irate phone calls to the salesman to get any kind of response, 7/12. Six months. During this time, I would consistently lose volume. It finally shamed cj enough to respond to my concerns. Here is one of Eds replies: " There are a couple of causes for odd behavior by a remote controllable preamp. One is a voltage fluctuation
of the AC coming out of the wall socket. This is most likely after a power interruption. Another is static electricity, especially in cold weather.
The cure for both is to unplug the unit from the AC for 90 seconds or so, which will let the affected microprocessor to reset. To prevent the problems, for the AC fluctuation, if at all possible, unplug the preamp from the wall socket when there is a power outage. For the static, the best way is to discharge yourself on something not connected to your system. One thing to try is running a piece of generic speaker wire to the screw holding the wall plate on the AC outlet (make sure that the screw is not painted over, as then it would not conduct). If you have wool or synthetic carpet in your listening room, spritz the carpet with Sta-Puff laundry treatment (this actually works). Or, if it is visually acceptable, put bamboo mats over the carpet near your equipment stand. What we find more and more to be a cause of erratic preamp behavior these days is having a Wi-Fi device or a laptop with a remote port on the same room as the preamp. These can "talk" to the preamp and make it do odd things. If you have either or both, remove it/them from the room (if possible) and note if the preamp still has a problem. If that is not practical, move the preamp to another room, and observe it there. The problems you describe are almost certainly caused by one of the above factors."
I sent the preamp back to cj, they've had it two weeks and not a word. CJ is certainly aware of this problem so buyer beware!

08-22-12: Bogeybuster49: "Every light on the front panel lit up like my christmas tree."..."a voltage fluctuation
of the AC coming out of the wall socket. This is most likely after a power interruption."

The "Every light on the front panel lit up like my christmas tree" is what happened to my PF-R. During a sudden rainstorm. I didn't see any lightening, but there could have been a brownout, or who knows. (I was rushing around the house unplugging electronics as fast as I could).

I suspect certain C-J components are easily damaged by any kind of power interruption. (I have a couple of other examples, but I'd rather not go into it).

I've kind of just "written off" the PF-R. Whether they ever send it back to me after 9 weeks & counting, I don't know. Whether it's really "fried" like Ed said during one of the rare times I could speak to him, I could totally believe, if they actually told me a specific diagnosis.

Bogeybuster49

I've owned ET3, ET5 and GAT preamps. They all use the identical front panel logic/control board. (I've changed firmware in them, so I can confirm this first hand)

The units are susceptible to static electricity, but no more than any other device, and as far as voltage fluctuations, well again, they are no more susceptible than any other device micro-controller controlled device. There's nothing special in there. They are also susceptible to remote codes from other devices causing the CJ to get a bit flaky

I've never experienced the Christmas-Tree on any of the 3 preamps.I have zapped them or one way or the other caused them to stop functioning properly. Worst case took a power removal to cure and all was fine after.

The control board takes about 2 minutes to change out, so, it could be confirmed instantly if it's at fault. It would not be impossible in any way for there to be an intermittent solder connection or such on the control board that could cause an intermittent "Xmas Tree".

Thanks for the site tip, I just signed up!