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Classe CAM 350 upgrade for Conrad Johnson MF2500A?

Having owned some CJ gear (both tube and SS amps) and very happy with them, my upgrade path is the Premier 350 but it seldom comes up for sale.

Listening mostly to Jazz, Classic and some Rock, I am looking for better resolution and more slam in the bass region whilst keeping the good characteristics (in short, very musical and tubey sound) that my current MF2500A offers. The MF2500A drives a pair of modded Dunlavy SC-IVs and is fed by a CJ CT-5, all NordOst IC & SCs.

Anyone care to share his/her experience comparing these two power amps? In other words, would the CAM350s be a good step up?

Alternatively, which amp would you suggest as an alternative as the next logical step up from the CJ MF2500A?
polyglot
unsound
7,329 posts
 
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't notice a worthwhile difference running bi-amped 2500A's. I had a friend who went from using one pair of B&K M200's to two pairs of B&K M200's (which he had factory matched) with the Dunlavy SC IV's, and the improvement was much greater than either of us expected. It just wasn't about sheer volume either, inner detail, sound-stage width and depth, an overall greater suaveness if you will. I can only guess that it might have been due to more availability of more sustained Class A bias. BTW, I've used ss c-j in the past on Thiels (a not so very different type of speaker) and enjoyed the c-j very much with them.
ejman's avatar
ejman
62 posts
 
It seems that as CJ designs moved forward in time their SS designs "brightness and detail" dial got moved up a notch in each iteration. The MF2300A (which I have) is mellower than the 2500 and going in the opposite direction the amp prior to the 2300, the MF 200 was much mellower and so on. I don't know where I heard it first mentioned but some one said that as a designer gets older their designs get brighter I guess because they can't hear the high frequencies as well...
polyglot OP
77 posts
 
I hope my quest for upgrading my MF2500A has come to an end (for now), just started burning in a pair of LP140m.

To Unsound: it may be partially due to the poor quality of the speaker cables I had then. Upon reading your comment I tried again to (horizontally) bi amp the SC4s, loaning the Krells (KAV 250a and 250a/3) from my HT setup using two pair s of more decent quality SCs: the sound stage opened more up and the highs were more extended. The overall impression of the dual Krells being more airy in general than the single MF2500A.
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