bear0118

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $12000.00 from private

Summary:
Iv'e had this gem 3 mo's, wont listen to my mac 2120 any more. I'm using philips 12ax7's electro harmonics 6sn7's and big bell 6ca7, philips copy's by electro harmonics. The sound is so sweet, i can't stand myself.Ive had may one better amp, in my humble opinion, and that was a classe'25 watter. I highly recommend this amp. To any one just turning on to tubes this is it., reasonable to pick one up, and fun try new tube combo's BEAR

R390LM

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from gift from dad

Summary:
Beautiful looking and sounding amp. With tube rolling, it can sound just about anyway
you'd like. It can be very revealing, or very forgiving depending on which el34, 12ax7,
and 12au7 tubes you try out. It should suit all but the most demanding speakers very well.

Strengths:
Looks
Sound
Tube rolling should give you the sound you're looking for.

Similar Products Used:
C-J PF-R
C-J CAV-50
Meridian 508

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from UPSCALE AUDIO

Summary:
I bought this amp used in hopes that it would be able to drive my vintage DQ-10's. Previously a VTL 45/45 did a nice job until it self destructed. A replacement VTL 75/75 worked well for for many years but lacked the sweetness of EL34 based output tubes. My vintage Marantz 8B (35wpc,1967) could never do well with the DQ-10s. The MV-55 sounds great without expensive NOS tubes, although I do have some of these tube to experiment with. Beautiful midrange and highs with a black background, no hum. Even the bass is almost as good as I've heard with these speakers (Marantz 9 monoblock reissue has better bass). I play CDs straight in with Monster and Kimber cabels from a Sony ES player with a variable output. My listening area is a 25 x 13 x 9-10 ft, L shaped, about 3000 -3500 cu ft. Speakers are at the top of the L..

Strengths:
Great mids and highs from a silent background. Superb on vocals and opera.

Weaknesses:
None. I'm delighted with this unit.

Similar Products Used:
Marantz 8B, VTL 45/45, VTL 75/75, Marantz 9 monoblocks reissue, AES SE-1 sig, ASL AQ-1006 monoblocks. The latter two SET amps I've used with Triangle & B&W speakers which I've also tried the MV-55 with also with excellent results.

Summary:
This is the first amp that introduces me to the tube sound.

Firstly, thanks for many posts here to respond my e-mail and advise on what kind of tube that I should buy (either new or NOS), where to buy, and what kind of sound it is supposed to be. I did change all of the original CJ tubes to current 12AX7 Ei Yugo, 6sn7 Russia 6H8C, and Svetlana EL-34 tubes. The sound stage and image were better than I had ever heard on the original CJ tubes. I am not saying that the tubes coming along with the MV-55 are not good but changing the original tubes will provide you a better sound quality.

I use this amp connected directly with Wadia 830 CD player via Cardas Cross to drive ProAc Response 1.5 via Monster cable M2.4 biwired. This setup produces a sweet tube sound especially for vocal. With some good CD's record, I could imagine like the singer was singing in my room. I will next try some NOS tubes that some posts here suggest to see how best the sould quality is.

I have a solid state Krell 300iL in another system and did compare it with this CJ. To my ears, CJ is better in vocal and Krell is better in instrument. For vocal sound comparison, I will give CJ 5.0 and 4.5 for Krell.

Lastly, I second the previous post on a UK's post here on his bad experience on the CJ distributor in UK. Pls do not complain such kind of thing here because it does not add any value on the product. If the sound is not good or you do not like the sound quality, pls say it ... but do not use this review here to complain about a bad saleman's service/manner and rank 1.0 for the CJ product that you did not judge the sound by your ears.

Strengths:
Sweet sound

Similar Products Used:
Krell 300iL

Summary:
This comment is for the idiot who posted here about his experience with UK dealer/distributer,This is a place to review the PRODUCTS,all you did was slam CJ in general (1 star rating)because you had a misunderstanding with someone The Conrad Johnson line of Product is Outstanding, especially the MV-55. I am leaving these remarks, along with 5 Stars to counter your thoughtless post
Cheers,
Shred