Well, I'm sorry it's so long before getting back to this thread... but thanks Cmach, and John..
Following a recent trip to the nearest CJ dealer my thoughts as to buying CJ's newest offerings have sorely diminished. Could wwell have been the setup.. synergy... or the mix. Nothing jump[ed out at me and said, "buy me!". Nothing. I wound up the auditions with the CT5 & 70wpc tube amp, CJ's replacement for their vaunted 60wpc unit. using the Cary hybrid CD player... and some quasi Quadd speakers from Austrailia... real pretty and pretty expensive too... On the whole it just didn't grab me. About as neutral a system as I had experienced. the dealer did say both pre & amp had the recomended 100 hours on them... I think they needed twice that or more... the sound was quick, open, extended, with decent bottom end given the plannar speakers sans sub... Nice enough though for the cost of the items together and their place in CJ's line up, well, lets just say I've a far more involving system. Warmer, richer, better imaging, and far better bottom end resolution, with greater presence in the mids too... not counting wiring for the cost of the CT5 ALONE.
...as John said so aptly,
"...Just one word of precaution, sometimes the best is already in front of you and you don't know it."
That's a big 10/4!
Not having the ability to just pick up and go as most do, finding out by comparison what level of system I have, has been sorely overlooked. Things are quite good at blindjim's house. Not perfect, just very good. I'll take that... for the time being and be satisfied with 'tweeking' things a bit with wiring, stands, another sub and such. I'm even more accepting of the JR's now... as they are finally broken in and sounding much better... but a few more db's of sensitivity would be nice.. say 90?
The dealer was quite nice and helpful, as always.. and we decided the only true way to determine what's what, is take a 'whatever' home and try it there... that's the ticket. ...and I just might, given the above posting to the effect that a single ended pre works good with the balanced BAT amp I have... that was/is a big concern for me.... as wholesale changes can not be made now or in the near future... so now, with a new & different set of NOS tubes and searching for some IC's between BAT & BAT, I'm pretty satisfied with my gear.
That's my problem as I see it... having the notion that the grass is always greener on the other side... it ain't always... and I've found if I'm thinking the grass is greener on the other side, it's time to water my own lawn.
With the thor gear I heard some time back, being the best "That's the ticket!" sound I've heard in over twenty years, I'm going to wait a while longer... My amp, as far as amps go, is near new being just under three years old... my pre is solid and does a great job. the CDP is quite nice and would require me spending mucho bucks to improve upon... so yep... gonna stick with what I've got and just tweak it a mite. ...although another 'door' may well have opened as I've found out that 'V.A.C.' ala Mr. Hayes, is not terribly far away either... and that's a balanced configuration too. Super! What does a VAC pre soundlike? Given their pricing, I'd say it ought to be hot... though given my latest audition of similarly priced units, then again, maybe not quite as hot as I imagine... we'll see. Hopefully.
Thanks, everyone... really. it's a tremendous ehlp to me to have those personal experiences related.
Following a recent trip to the nearest CJ dealer my thoughts as to buying CJ's newest offerings have sorely diminished. Could wwell have been the setup.. synergy... or the mix. Nothing jump[ed out at me and said, "buy me!". Nothing. I wound up the auditions with the CT5 & 70wpc tube amp, CJ's replacement for their vaunted 60wpc unit. using the Cary hybrid CD player... and some quasi Quadd speakers from Austrailia... real pretty and pretty expensive too... On the whole it just didn't grab me. About as neutral a system as I had experienced. the dealer did say both pre & amp had the recomended 100 hours on them... I think they needed twice that or more... the sound was quick, open, extended, with decent bottom end given the plannar speakers sans sub... Nice enough though for the cost of the items together and their place in CJ's line up, well, lets just say I've a far more involving system. Warmer, richer, better imaging, and far better bottom end resolution, with greater presence in the mids too... not counting wiring for the cost of the CT5 ALONE.
...as John said so aptly,
"...Just one word of precaution, sometimes the best is already in front of you and you don't know it."
That's a big 10/4!
Not having the ability to just pick up and go as most do, finding out by comparison what level of system I have, has been sorely overlooked. Things are quite good at blindjim's house. Not perfect, just very good. I'll take that... for the time being and be satisfied with 'tweeking' things a bit with wiring, stands, another sub and such. I'm even more accepting of the JR's now... as they are finally broken in and sounding much better... but a few more db's of sensitivity would be nice.. say 90?
The dealer was quite nice and helpful, as always.. and we decided the only true way to determine what's what, is take a 'whatever' home and try it there... that's the ticket. ...and I just might, given the above posting to the effect that a single ended pre works good with the balanced BAT amp I have... that was/is a big concern for me.... as wholesale changes can not be made now or in the near future... so now, with a new & different set of NOS tubes and searching for some IC's between BAT & BAT, I'm pretty satisfied with my gear.
That's my problem as I see it... having the notion that the grass is always greener on the other side... it ain't always... and I've found if I'm thinking the grass is greener on the other side, it's time to water my own lawn.
With the thor gear I heard some time back, being the best "That's the ticket!" sound I've heard in over twenty years, I'm going to wait a while longer... My amp, as far as amps go, is near new being just under three years old... my pre is solid and does a great job. the CDP is quite nice and would require me spending mucho bucks to improve upon... so yep... gonna stick with what I've got and just tweak it a mite. ...although another 'door' may well have opened as I've found out that 'V.A.C.' ala Mr. Hayes, is not terribly far away either... and that's a balanced configuration too. Super! What does a VAC pre soundlike? Given their pricing, I'd say it ought to be hot... though given my latest audition of similarly priced units, then again, maybe not quite as hot as I imagine... we'll see. Hopefully.
Thanks, everyone... really. it's a tremendous ehlp to me to have those personal experiences related.