Conrad Johnson or PrimaLuna

Good to read my suspicions are false.

Doesn't matter to me where something is made. Only my 2 most used sources are domestic-table and tuner. The rest is international-China,Italy and England.  

Hopefully, this thread doesn't fall off a cliff. The earlier post unintentionally sidetracked from the topic, which is CJ or PL. Apologies.

Ive had great pleasure with my Primaluna Dialogue Premium separates which includes the HP Amplifier. I prefer it with the NOS Mullard El34's and NOS Mullard 12au7 long plates that I got from Andy at VTS.
I havent had any issues with it so far.
However, now knowing that Ravens have their boards soldered at Texas A&M where they've built things for mars and the moon, I might just have to put the Primaluna up for sale now.
Who knew.

it is time when a lot of china bashing is well deserved

but let’s separate politics and authoritarianism from hifi gear and its fair evaluation

china makes a lot crap, but also plenty of extremely high quality items - like design and manufacturing of anything anywhere, it is what is your objective function, what is your management and technical skill, and your ability to quality control your output

thinking clearly and being intellectually honest requires good care and judgement in parsing and delineating important distinctions, compartmentalizing where it is deserved

I have listened to most of the PrimaLuna line and have always liked them. They sound good, are musical & engaging, built well, and offer good service. I can say the same for CJ ( disclaimer - I provide concierge service for CJ and few other manufactures).

Allow me to share my recent experience. I purchased a CAV45S2 (which is a current production amp) because I wanted EL34 tubes and wanted to see if I could build a simple system that I could live with for a long time. Out of the box the CAV sounded lovely. After 200 hours I knew that it had settled in and I could begin to tube roll (self-inflicted addictions). With the stock tubes and my speakers (87db @ 4ohms) the sound stage was wide, the mids smooth and warm, and the top was open but on some music it sounded a little rolled off. So, it was nicely playing back what it was fed. However, I did not hear the same detail as with my CJ Classic 120SE, CJ MF2550SE, or Resolution M100s. Nor did I fully expect to. Regardless, the CAV45S2 was really musical and engaging. I liked what I was hearing and found myself listen to the CAV more and more. I changed the three small tubes ( V1 to a Mazda 7308 and V 2 & 3 to Telefunken 5965s. The sound was smoother with a new degree of clarity. I then tried Groove EL34s and the sound (mainly mids) became a hair richer and warmer. Then, at the recommendation of one of my customers with CJ Classic 62, I installed Sophia Electric EL34s. The amp/sound was transformed. The soundstage was wider and deeper. There was new purity and detail. It was buttery smooth and life-like. Wow! I was captivated and found myself listening to CD after CD, especially disks I had not listened to in a long time.

I may not have fully answered your question. But, the reality is that it comes down to your goals, budget, ears, speakers, room, patience to try different tweak, and whether you want to listen to music or build a system you can live with for a long time. There is no one or right answer. For me, I had an experiment that turned out beyond expectations. I look forward to turning the CAV on and just listening to music. I knew that the CJ Classic 62 and 120 were very good amps. I now think that the CAV is a sleeper because of its sound, build quality, and price. I got much more than just simple and EL 34s. I hope this helped.

@cellorover 

Thank you very, very much for your post. I’ve been interested in the CAV-45S2 for a long time. Your post confirms that it’s an awesome amp.