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August 21, 2008 by amplifiersThe Conrad Johnson Premier Twelve Monoblock Amplifier
July 29, 2008 by amplifiersConrad Johnson’s headquaters are in Virginia and they are a name synonomous with high quality audio. CJ was the brainchild of Doctors’ Lewis Johnson and William Conrad and was incorporated in 1977. The first amplifier that they produced was a vacuum tube preamplifier named the PV-1.
Conrad Johnson is synonymous with quality with price tags that certainly reflect that, although many audio enthusiasts feel the money is very well spent indeed. One of their flagship amplifiers is the Twelve Tube monoblock power amplifier, so listening in stereo will set you back close to 7 grand.
The Conrad Johnson Twelve tube has a refined sleek look with a brushed brass finish. It has some relatively straight forward circuitry and a large output transformer. This allows a wide bandwidth and high phase linearity. It’s nothing too spectacular, but it doesn’t need to be. This amplifier has earnt its followers through its performance rather than style.
The Conrad Johnson Twelve Tube transitions beautifully through the upper and mid ranges as well as at frequency extremes. It has a very rich overall sound, with amazing tranparency. It really seems a cut above, even with amplifiers in similar price brackets.
Now a lot of tube amplifiers have been seen to have problems with transients more normally with rock and pop tunes. The Twelve Tube produces consistent sounds right the way through, and in my years of audio intrest it is one of the finest I have heard.
Tube amplifiers are also often known for reliability problems, but the reliability of the Conrad Johnson is also something that sets it apart. It is very rugged and is very unlikely to give you any problems down the years which is the peace of mind you need when making a purchase at this level.
So the Twelve Tube really does deliver, and the internet is an excellent place to start a search for these amplifiers. Just spend a bit of time and have a look around.
The Conrad Johnson Premier 350
July 28, 2008 by amplifiersThe Conrad Johnson Premier 350 is CJ’s first solid state amplifier in their premier line, and produces a full 350 watts per channel! Now it is an elegantly styled amplifier with gold brushed aluminium but as with many Conrad Johnson amplifiers there is nothing that really stands out about it, although pleasantly it does have a detachable power cord.
check the link to find the best web store for Conrad Johnson Amplifiers
At the back the Conrad Johnson 350 has a set of binding posts and 5 way input connectors that are gold plated. Whilst the front end lights up with a red light emitting diode when it’s turned on. According to Conrad Johnson it has a ‘hybrid solid state circuit’ as well as a bucketload of other stuff. But this is not just fluff for marketing, the Conrad Johnson premier 350 does really deliver.
There is an amazing transparency that comes from the premier 350 which really gives your tunes a completely neutral state. Ok, it’s very easy to sound cliched when discussing this amp but it has a unique auto linear gain block which gives it a zero feedback loop. The Conrad Johnson 350 also has an exceptionally low distortion, that completely underlines Conrad johnsons commitment to excellence.
It has plenty of details which could be termed as accuracy with extended highs which linger and fast deep soulful base lines.
It simply brings you back to why you got interested in audio in the first place – for the love of music. The sounds will tell you that it’s probably the best amplifier you’ve had in your system. It really will get the best out of any system, and it’s tough enough to take whatever you throw at it so you can be assured of that confidence in your purchase.
You’ll find that the web is the best place to find some really good prices on Conrad Johnson Amplifiers, for both new and used ones with many of the new amplifiers at prices much less than retail.
check the link to find the best web store for Conrad Johnson Amplifiers
The Perfection of Mcintosh Amplifiers and where best to find
July 22, 2008 by amplifiersThe Perfection of Mcintosh Amplifiers and where best to find
them
McIntosh has been making amplifiers for a long, long time
since 1949 infact, when the company was first incorporated
as McIntosh Engineering labatory and moved from Washington
D.C to silver spings Maryland. However, the seeds were
planted as far back as 1942 when Frank McIntosh started a
small company consulting on radio station design and sound
systems. He was not satisfied with the quality of the audio
amplifiers around at the time, so he invented one that gave
high power with low distortion. Then in 1946, McIntosh
recruited Gordon Gow, who was young but a brilliant
engineer, and was pivotal in making his dream real. What
they came up with was called the McIntosh 50W1 Unity Coupled
Amplifier. It delivered fifty watts of power with less than
1% distortion in the 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz range. So McIntosh,
the company, arrived in the world with a bang.
See
Simwith Caldoe’s website with a huge range and some great
prices with McIntosh Amplifiers
Since it’s inception Mcintosh has been a consistent
innovator in amplification. Seen by many as it’s greatest
achievement was the 1967 introduction of the MC2505. It was
the primary separate solid state power amplifier made by
McIntosh. It was a huge leap in amplifier history and was
the forerunner of many of the features still used in the
amplifier world today. Among it’s list of many firsts was an
all-glass front panel, Sentry Monitor circuitry, illuminated
output level meters, autoformers and panloc mounting. The
autoformers of the MC2505 were a totally new idea in
McIntosh transformer design history.
18 years ago the company was bought out. It was also the
year of Frank’s death and some believed that it was also be
the end of the company as it was known. However they were
wrong, the innovation and high standards did not change. The
company today is still much the same as in it’s beginnings
with some of the finest amplifiers anywhere and simlar
designs to the originals.
One thing that makes McIntosh amplifier designs very
different from others is the use of output transformers,
their range includes the MC2102, MC2000, MC275 and the MC602
. The McIntosh Amplifier MC-602 is a 600 watt rms per
channel, two channel power amplifier, and weighs around 70
kgs. It has 24 output transistors per channel, a 1.5 kVA
toroidal transformer, four (two per channel) 27,000 F
capacitors, that has 70 Volts, for 265J of energy storage.
It can output 10w per channel in Class A, and the rest in
Class A/B. 35 dB of negative feedback are used. This
Mcintosh amplifier is fully balanced from input to output.
This baby retails at $8k and sounds like heaven, enough
said.
Now most of the competition use output from just the plates
in the output tubes. However McIntosh are somewhat different
taking only 50% from there and the rest coming out of the
cathodes, which allows the energy to come across the whole
of the tub.
So why can’t McIntosh’s competitors replicate the
amplifiers? After all the patent ran out years before. Well,
the output transformers are still woven at headquaters and
these give McIntosh their incredible performance at extreme
levels and can’t be copied.
Another factor in Mcintosh’s success was the innovative
campaign to market it’s amplifiers called the Mcintosh
Amplifier Clinic. Despite the fact that the guys knew they
were the best out there, how could they make the customers
understand that? Simple really, just show them! They went
out and tested right in front of the customers in the shops.
McIntosh Amplifiers can sometimes be hard to find, but with
the internet there are always some around, just have a look!
See
Simwith Caldoe’s website with a huge range and some great
prices with McIntosh Amplifiers
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