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CONRAD JOHNSON TUBE LOVERS HEAVEN

NOT long ago someone mentioned the cj PREMIER 5's tube monoblocs, out of curiosity i made a few phone calls regarding these amps. TO make the long story short,I FOUND a pair,talk about tube magic, the amps where last made in 1989,uses EL34's for output stage 8 each. 200 watts in ultra linear mode.I have since sold my PREMIER 12's. preamp source is a cj 17LS,digital is a RESOLUTION AUDIO CD 50, SPEAKERS are JM LAB MEZZOS.if you love cj tube amps,don't spend a dollar until you hear these.ANY PREMIER 5's owners comments.
gts87
sawyer81a6
8 posts
 
I have some aerius i's and a chance to audition some of these amps (CJ 5s). worth a try do you think? the Martin Logan's are a tough load to drive from what I hear. thanks, -Ed
fonsy66
83 posts
 
sawyer,these amps are incredible i had my pair updated with cardas rca and speaker connector's,my speakers are not the most efficient but these handle them with no problem.the cj premier 5's are consider by many to be collecters item. the designer of these amps,bill thalsman retired last year from conrad johnson,he's the person who did the upgrades on my premier 5's.he provides full service for these amp's.if you decide to get them,you won't be looking for amp's for a long time.good luck.if you need more info here's my pager 732-343-9427.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
For all you Premier 5 owners, Harry Pearson used them on his IRS Reference system prior to the fire. I heard the amps once in an unfamiliar Maggie set-up. The sound was simply stunning. For 3k used, if you need the power, I doubt a better 200 tube watts can be had.
jim
418 posts
 
Sawyer, your ML aerius i's are not really difficult to drive, but I would still suggest trying the Premier 5's. Logans love tubes -- no, they "need" tubes to open up. I'm the odd one in this group as I don't own the Premier 5's. I did audition them but at the end of the day the Mesa Baron (EL34's) was a better match with my full range electrostatics (ML CLS's). The CJ's should be a great match with your speakers and really are one the the best buys in audio.
sawyer81a6
8 posts
 
Thanks guys. I will give them a shot. The place that has them for sale (on consignment) is getting the 3 small signal tubes for one of them (for some reason they were missing), so I couldn't borrow the amps the other day. They should have the signal tubes this week so hopefully I can bring them home for a home trial. They weren't mint (eg. some appearance of use, but then again I think they date from the mid 80s), but hopefully will sound good. If I end up getting them can probably get them for a good deal. (under 2k perhaps for the pair). Will keep everyone posted, thanks for the info on updates and improvements too. (eg. RCA connectors, etc.) -Ed
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