Sumptuous, lush, rich, liquid golden midrange amp?

Blindjim, You have certainly elicioted my interest in the Thor. I have reservations about its ability to fill an L shaped very large room and the fact that I would be the 4th owner. Furthermore, I am not sure what is meant by the inability to read the bias meters? However, my tastes veer towards the EL 34, as evidenced by the fact that both my amps that would be replaced, use EL34s. I suppose I am waiting for someone to tell me how much difference I will hear compared to what I have, which may not be possible!

What about the Conrad-Johnson Premier 140? On sale on A'gon. Or the C-J Premier 12? Would appreciate hearing from users of either of these.

BlindJim
The Legacy's are rated at 96db but Stereophile rated them at 94.5 so say plus or minus 1.5 db. Yes they do dip down to about 2 ohms a couple of times in the bass and to 3.3 in the mid treble, again according to Stereophile, specs say 4 ohm nominal.
MY preamp is a Conrad-Johnson Premier16 series II, with a 0-100 for volume have rarely had it above 40 and only for vinyl. Paul set his phono preamp to be equal to the preamp at about .65mVolts. With the Celebration, it needs to be turned up or down depending on vinyl or CD's.
I was very impressed and if they could have biased with their meters they would have stayed. Sigh! Went on to get a Conrad-Johnson Premier 11a, good amp, but after hearing the Wyetech Topaz monoblocks, I was hooked and they're my amp now.

Hi, Denis, hope you are well.

Have you given any consideration to a DA30, DA50S, or DA60? All of which would be under your $5000 pricepoint for a used unit, and obviously give you that Jadis sound, which as we both know from firsthand experience, is superior to most of what is available. The downside for those who insist on remote control, is that until recently (about 2 years ago), it was not available on these models, and so most of the used market does not offer this feature. As for me, sound quality is the number one priority and I don't care much about remote control, so a Jadis suits the bill perfectly.

I'm also a fan of Thor, so would consider you investigate that as well. Different sound than Jadis, though - a bit more full-bodied and lush.

For what it's worth, after spending a lot of time living with the larger SET tubes, such as the 211 and 845, I must say I the two Jadis integrateds I have superior.

I owned the Premier 12, the Premier 140 and had the TPA 30 mkII for an extended visit, while I had the 140. (I own Atma-Sphere gear today, so you are doing my amp history in reverse. ;-)

Both CJ amps are excellent big watt push-pull designs based on the 6550. The 140 uses 2 6H30 as phase splitters and one 6DJ8 type to amplify the input, while the 12 uses two 6FQ7/6CG7 and a 5751. The 12's are a solid representative of the vintage CJ sound - warmer and more rounded than the 140 - while the 140 is quicker with better resolution and image focus and slightly less grain. The TPA 30 mkII is sweeter in the mids than either CJ, tho' the CJs have a bit more low-end heft Among the CJs, if you want lush without a concern for neutrality/accuracy then the Premier 12s might be your choice. There's trade offs here (like everywhere else) - I might tempted by the TPA 30, which is the most refined of the three, at least to my ears. E-mail if you want to chat more on these three.