Audio Research or Conrad Johnson Phono Pre

"...The newest stuff is absolutely neutral, gone are the days of tubey warm, mushy bass etc..."

It's been a while since I owned any C-J gear. Even back a decade as you moved up the line the gear seemed to get more neutral.   

The build quality of ARC equipment was superior to Conrad Johnson years back. I do not know how they run today. I have an older ARC phono stage and am extremely happy with it, so much so that I have had it for 20 years an am not yet ready to give it up. I did own a Conrad Johnson preamp back in 1979. I modified the heck out of it. It was a lower cost item than any ARC equipment and was built as such. I switched to a Van Alstine unit after a year or so. But, that was when CJ was just starting they have made significant headway since then. 

Today's c-j top line products are built like tanks, really as good as anything on the market and better than most.  We all have war stories.  I had trouble with ARC back in the day, but like I said these are two very good companies today.  My advice is to pick on the basis of your dealer preference.

they compare very well... both arc and cj gear are top of heap (among others of course)

Thank you for the responses.

I think I need to rephrase my question.

I have a CJ ARTsa amplifier, A CJ ET7s2 preamp and an Audio Research  Ref 2se phono preamp.

My question is would it be beneficial to switch the Ref 2 phono pre to a CJ Tea 1 if I could make the move for minimal additional cost? Would there be more synergy having all CJ components? Would I get better sound or simply a lateral move?
The set up sounds great but always looking for improvements.
 Thank you