ConradJohnson--Can their vintage compete with new?

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.

Thanks to those who responded; you have provided good information and sensible alternatives....To Dwr, I had Bob Backert modify my CJ-PV-8 for a lower noise floor, there was some improvement, but not necessarily revelation. Though in retrospect, it did bring something extra to the sound--- tonal color and harmonics were fuller or richer. Bob was working for Danby Stereo in Ardmore, Pa.and that was at least 15 years ago....Dwr, Could you tell me approx. how much those mods and upgrades cost for the PV-14L ??. Some members also mentioned other and "earlier" CJ pieces which are interesting. The question is are the newer vintage pieces qualitatively better than older ones, and therefore a better bet to modify and improve??

I think you know... I hope. Conrad Johnson will upgrade a PV-14L to a PV-14LS2.

Vinkim, your comment makes me wonder whether I heard the CJ integrated with either poorly matched gear or poorly matched tubes. I'm very pleased to hear that piece is working out so well for you.
Art