ConradJohnson--Can their vintage compete with new?

I had a PFR-1 pre when it first came out, sold after a few years for a Hovland, then re-purchased one for my BR system about 5 years ago and have not looked back. It was Stereopjile Class A in its time (FWIW) and still is an excellent performer. I have seen used ones on "Gon for less than $1000, which buys you a top flight SS pre that sounds great and is very versatile.

Neal

It is more than 10 years old but the best vintage C-J in my opinion for a preamp was their PV-11 with phono. A great piece, sorry I let mine go, no other piece elicits that response.

Still use da PV-5 had levinson krell all kine high end preamps but always find myself enjoying da music more with my c-j!! Had all new auricaps put in as one upgrade.Enjoy da mele cuz!!!

It's funny but I owned the PV5 and always wanted a PV8. I sold the PV5 and bought an ARC LS9 w remote. Very good sounding preamp but not enough gain for my system. I took a chance on a VanAlstine Super Pas 3si preamp and when I received it it was a revelation. It had NOS Phillips 12AX7's in it and it was good. Later I sent it to Tom Tutay and had him go over it to see if he could improve it. Well my line stage has 12AU7's and the phono stage has 12AX7's and my gain is only 9db in the line stage and about 40db in the phono stage. It is super quiet, and a bigger sound stage than before and to be honest it matches my Tutay modded Dynaco Stereo 70 very well. It's a great bargin and an improvement in stock over the CJ. But the Tutay mods gets rid of the rolled off highs of the stock VanAlstine and opens the preamp up! In stock form it still is more extended than the PV5 to my ears. Excellent see through quality and very good presentation of the sound spectrum. Give something like the Super PAS 5 a listen if he is close you, you may find it very interesting. Good Luck.

With the right speakers, a PV14 with an MF2250 or MF2250A would make a really nice combination. You could also go with PV10B or PV12. The PV12's are hard to find, though. I use to have an SS PF2.. it sounded similar to my Threshold T3i... very close but not quite there. The price of the T3i was almost 3x the price of a new PF2.