Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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dhoni234 wrote:I've had the CJ premier 17LS II and the modwright 9.0SE. The CJ had a more lush sound and a wonderful midrange quality. The modwright was very neutral. The biggest problem with the modwright is that it inverts phase on all inputs except the HT bypass. This means you have to switch the polarity on your amps every time you switch between HT and music. The CJ inverted polarity on all inputs so you don't have to worry about switching all the time.
Instead of changing the polarity on the amp side, you may find it easier to get some banana plugs on the speaker side of the speaker wire. I don't particularly like using banana plugs, but they are really easy to switch back and forth, and don't put a lot of wear and tear on your equipment.
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Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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So I had a major upgrade to my system this past month. Looks like Christmas came early this year!

I had been using Martin Logan Vantages as my main speakers and I really wanted to go full planar. For those not familiar with Martin Logan speakers, in many of their electrostatic models they combine a conventional cone subwoofer for the low end. IMHO, Martin Logan probably does the best job of melding the panel and the sub in a coherent sound. However, to a certain extent this is still trying to mix "oil and water." I really wanted to go to a fully panel system. The negative side of planar speakers is that for accurate low end you really need a big (ie expensive) panel. After doing extended research it became quite obvious that I would not be able to afford their CLX model. I remember listening to several magnepan speakers prior to buying the Martin Logans but ultimately decided to go with Martin Logan Vantages for the bass extension. Anyway, after a thorough search I came upon a pair of Magnepan 20.1's which were heavily upgraded as well having an absolutely awesome custom made base. After some consideration, my new 500 lb speakers arrived in their 7 boxes! It took me about 5 hours to set them up but well worth my efforts.

I have about a dozen hours of listening in on them now and I can't express my happiness. They are so transparent and wonderful sounding. The soundstage is incredibly wide and tall (which was a pleasant surprise). The speakers definitely need some breathing room and I have them about 5 feet off the front wall. My home theater room is about 500 sq ft and I don't think I would put these speakers in anything much smaller. I am planning on writing a more thorough review as I get some more listening time in. From all the reviews I read it seems like these speakers need a lot of power to sound their best. My CJ Evolution 2000 is rated at 200 WPC @ 8 ohms and has worked really well thus far (,the speakers are 4 ohms). Here are some pictures:
Attachments
Magnepan 20.1 Front
Magnepan 20.1 Front
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Magnepan 20.1 Left
Magnepan 20.1 Left
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Magnepan 20.1 Right
Magnepan 20.1 Right
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Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

Post by wynnytsky »

When I compare your selfee xmas gift to the ZVox 580 sound bar I got myself last week (like a model number could make a diff) it gives me a flashback to my childhood when my rich friends would get presents that eclipsed mine. Seriously, that's a lot of speaker AND you got the bracing.

The Martin Logan curvature adds stiffness that stock Maggies lack. That base should totally make up for it. I think PS Audio has the same base on Maggie 3.6s to demo their products (scroll to the middle of this link)
http://www.stereomojo.com/CES%202010%20 ... tpage5.htm

My friend has Maggie 3.6s in a smallish room and I empathize for those speakers like I would a large fish in a small aquarium. If he had your bracing I would have "adopted" those puppies long ago.
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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Your absolutely right, the Martin logan's panel was rock solid with no wiggle. I was always amazed by how firm the construction of Vantage was as it looks like it would be very delicate.

The maggie base in that article is very similar but I think it is much shorter on the back end as it appears to be about the same length on the back as the front. On mine, it extends quite a bit back, probably a good 3 times as far back as in the front. The negative of this is that they take a up a lot of space. However, they work really well as there is no "wiggle" in the speaker even with considerable force.

Yes, these speakers need a "big aquarium." I would not have considered them if my room was smaller.
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Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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I took some new picture of the home theater after getting my left magnepan speaker back from the factory (had to replace the mid/bass panel). Now it's working like a charm and sounds absolutely wonderful!

Here is the setup from behind the listening position.
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Here is a side view of the setup. It shows the massive custom built stands that make the speakers rock solid. Not even a wiggle with firm pushing on the speakers.
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At a slightly different side angle.
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The equipment rack.
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Looking up at the "monolith."
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A "few" of the remotes I use. I bought some wireless lighting control modules so now I turn on/off much of the lighting wirelessly (back of room lighting, turntable light, screen bias lighting).
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Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
tonye
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

Post by tonye »

You said you had the Laser TT?

It's hard to combine the HT with 2ch.

Hmm.. you got the LDs still? Mine are currently sitting behind me in the office. With a Sony SLHF1000. I have no clue what to do with them. My own HT is currently simple... stream online and my own Plex servers. No CJ anywhere in there. Just a Nuforce 8 ch amp.. MCA-20
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Re: Home Theater Room with CJ preamp and amp.

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Yup. Using an ELP Laser TT.

My HT system is in the same room but completely isolated from the 2 channel audio setup. Different power lines and everything.

Yup, still watching laserdiscs. We do streaming as well but spin some discs as well. Fun stuff.
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Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
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