I'm in a preamp pickle: ARC Ref 1 VS CJ 17LS

I would go with the CJ. The ARC has the drier house sound that is part of the ARC legacy. The warmer sound of the CJ will complement your system nicely.

Hello Bill-

nice system you have there, Thiel speakers are my reference as well -models CS 2.4 or CS 2.7- I also like CJ electronics. Until I can demo an ART3, my CJ reference would be the ACT2 Series2 model.

Regarding ARC pre-amps, the last 2 years I have spent much time w/ the REF3, REF5 and REF5SE. While I have not auditioned the REF1 model, I can suggest the REF3.
I can very strongly suggest the REF5 SE, I know that it is more money, this is a long-term keeper and money well spent, IMO. Keep me posted, share your thoughts and Happy Listening!

Wow! You could hardly pick two more opposite end of the spectrum candidates to choose from. The yin or the yang, chocolate or vanilla?

ARC is very fast, articulate and transparent, but can sound thin, brittle and hard in the wrong system. CJ is very sweet, warm, and musical, but can sound slow and lifeless with the wrong gear. Looking at your list of equipment, I would go with the CJ, as it may help to tame the Thiel's.

Cheers,
John

Good call John, I have always had CJ preamps in my system, until recently, with my Thiels. I never went higher up the food chain that a premier 14, I beleive the 17 started CJ into the more "revealing" sound.

I owned a 17LS2- if you can find the "2" I would say go with that. It was hands down the best preamp I ever owned. Before buying it I compated it to a very highly touted $16,000 preamp. It wasn't even close- the 17LS2 trounced the other preamp.

ARC stuff tends to be drier, but the 17LS and 17LS2 were CJ moving away from the quintessential CJ golden sound.

Like I said, a terrific preamp.