Conrad Johnson--does anyone use this brand anymore?

I've owned an array of CJ, Sonic Frontiers, McIntosh and Audio Research gear. Conrad Johnson eliminated electrolytics in the audio path and power supply of preamps years ago. Their preamps in particular are superb at reproducing low level detail and tight instrument placement when playing live recordings made in a real acoustic space with proper miking such as Jazz and Classical recordings. 

Old thread, but I can’t resist shouting at the top of my lungs how much I love my Conrad Johnson Classic 120. I’ve only had it for about a month, but it is a magical and musical piece of gear. I could listen to music all day. Zero listening fatigue. 

I have to pull myself away… otherwise I end up spending 4-5 hours at a time just listening and enjoying music. 
 

By the way, I own a Luxman class A amp and have demoed Pass Labs xa amps in my home. Neither came remotely close to being as musical, rich and engaging as the Conrad Johnson classic 120! 
 

 

Started with a PV-5 then changed to a PFR (which was a huge improvement) then sidetracked to an Ayre K-5xemp but now looking to go back to CJ with a GAT series 2 which will probably be my last preamp purchase.  CJ service has always been great.  

I have a PV-12L. It’s been the core of my system for a quarter century!  I have the good fortune of living only an hour and a half from Bob Backert an expert modifier of cj preamps. I recently took my line stage to Bob to clean noisy volume and input selector knobs and in the process he mentioned he had developed a much improved circuit to replace a decades old design of his. All of his work are circuits of his design including his patented “Greenforce” power supply.  And yes, you can always contact him at RHB Dezigns if you want to discuss upgrades to CJ gear and send it to him.  

hifiman5

 

Very nice system in Virtual Systems. Thank You for pitching RHB Dezigns.

Good to read that Bob can mod/repair CJ gear, especially, since Bill Thalmann has retired. I am excited to see (hear) the newest version of CAV45 next Spring.

 

Happy Listening!