What speakers are you using with your Conrad Johnson gear?

[artemus]

Kinda late to the dance, but I'm using Silverline Sonata (Avalon style) 2 Rel S5 subs, CT5 preamp with Bob Latino ST-70 amp. Sounds great, though I am looking for another amp. Classic 60SE perhaps. Speakers are e93.5 db efficient so don't need a lot of power.

[duetta]

I have been using an MF-200 with Apogee Duetta Signature ribbon loudspeakers for now close to 25 years. Amp still works fine, as far as I can tell, apart from a very occasional problem with the on-off switch, and at least when coupled with a traditional preamplifier (as opposed to a no-gain volume controls), and drives these speakers as effortlessly as I can expect.

[admin]

Hi Duetta,
Welcome to CJO. Nice to have you with us.

Those Apogee's are beautiful speakers. They remind me of the monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm a planar speaker fan myself and I think CJ amps really do work well with planar speakers.

[Big Dog RJ]

That's a definite Admin!

Over the decades I've also noticed that superb sense of realism, delivering a fine balance of spacial cues, ambience in soundstage depth and brilliance in transparency and ultimate musicality, is delivered through panels and CJ amplification 110%, nothing short!

Another very important factor I realised is that most distortion actually comes from the speakers and not really the electronics as much... Hence, panel designs don't have the colorations associated with the box / typical enclosures, regardless of how costly the cabinets are. Air flow internally has no where to escape, either through ports, flared ports, transmission lines, backwards firing drivers, or sealed enclosures through passive radiators and so on...

Panels don't have any of this. So they simply deliver more of what's on the recording, that's about all you're going to get. Now I'm not saying that dynamic driver types are inferior to panels or anything like that, in fact there are some superb dynamic types that due cost a fair bit, simply because of their internal structures. Wilson's, Magico's, Rockport, YG Acoustics, Genesis advanced technologies, Gryphon Pendragon and a few others come to mind, all of which I've heard with various top line gear, such as Dan D'Augostino Momentums, Relentless monoblocks, CH Precision, Boulder, Solution Audio and my all time favourite, Kondo Audio Note Kogaru amplifiers. All of these cost north of 200 grand... So definitely not for my finances but certainly a lifetime experience to listen to. And also a very special type of engaging sound that once heard, you will never forget!

Having, said that, on a much smaller scale and affordable budget for me, it was full range stats partnered with CJ amplifiers, nothing is much more required in terms of sheer musicality at its finest!

Another factor I also picked up as to why CJ amps sound marvellous on panels, is simply remarkable power supplies that are designed in all CJ amplifiers. These power supplies are rock solid! They don't flinch one bit under strain and can tolerate notorious impedence swings, which panels are known for. Therefore, when driving panels with fine CJ gear, you are bound to get not just great music but also a level of refinement that goes beyond the extraordinary. I would say it's easily closer to the actual event. With panels, such as Apogee's, Maggies, Alsyvox, Martin Logan's, Quads and other stats driven full range through CJ gear, sound completely natural and grain free from the ordinary gear out there.

Similarly in my experience with panels, other tube designs such as, VTL, Manley Lab's, ARC, and Kondo Audio Note have always been my personal favourites. On another note, I must mention one other brand if you really want to take things a fair step further but with an awful lot more dollars - Lamm Audio, especially the ML2 & ML3 series amplifiers, are built without compromise and to the same standards as CJ's transformers, delivering huge amounts of actual current on tap, capable of handling those difficult loads. I once partnered the original CJ ART preamp with a pair of Lamm monoblocks driving my older Apogee Divas, just as a second preference before passing them onto another customer, and finally acquiring the Prem 8a monoblocks. I must say that CJ & Lamm combination was like no other... Oh my goodness! What a superb soundstage depth and level of realism!

Now Lamm gear costs an awful lot more than yesterday... But for a fairly similar sound and lifelike performance, there's always CJ to turn to.

Cheers to that! And enjoy those Apogee's, they're one of a kind in terms of ribbon transducers. BTW did you get yours refurbed by Graz, who actually lives where I'm from down-under in Aus... Or did you get your refurbs done by Hank in Netherlands?

Graz does a mighty fine job with his refurbs on Apogee's and he knows his stuff inside out! Only issue, he takes a damn long time to finish a project. He changes the Apogee's completely from a low efficiency hard to drive panel, to a high efficiency easier to drive full range ribbon. Using some of the finest magnets money can buy, his refurbed Apogee's are second to none, other than his own top of the line 150 grand a pair, top of line ribbons he personally makes, which if I'm correct, takes about 3 years to finish!
RJ

[roberto]

Hola chicos,

The Duettas were my speakers after my Maganeplanar Tympany 3B. I had three speakers that our averadge country humidity destroy them, they are the Duettas, the Beveridge 2 SW and the model 3. After a year or so, the fungus humidity destroy them inside, and was not possible to rebuild them again. Sending them to the factory was too expensive, due to the high taxes that we had to pay for this type of products...so they ended at the not traditional trash. I lost a lot of money, of course...but when they did sing, that was a breath taking sound at that moment. I had the LP-12 Linn Sondek with a Koestsu rosewood cartridge and the ML2 Mark Levinson preamps, which I still have them somewhere. I still have the Duettas quality sound in my brain.

Good to know that you were able to refurbished them. They do really sing very nice!!!

Happy listening!

[jahatl513]

I’ve since sold my Wilson Sophia II’s and purchased TANNOY KENSINGTON GR’s running on my Premier 12 mono’s and GAT. Such a great combo.

[admin]

I’ve since sold my Wilson Sophia II’s and purchased TANNOY KENSINGTON GR’s running on my Premier 12 mono’s and GAT. Such a great combo.

Congrats on the new speaker. That's the one with a key to "lock" the grill on, correct?

[Big Dog RJ]

I’ve since sold my Wilson Sophia II’s and purchased TANNOY KENSINGTON GR’s running on my Premier 12 mono’s and GAT. Such a great combo.

Nice one Jahat, well done on the Tannoys. Another great combination with CJ, no doubt.
I clearly remember, this is going back to around 99/2000, my company chairman at the time, had the Tannoy Westminster horn loaded speakers. Huge things! He was using some vintage McIntosh amps on them and after many years the Mac's needed servicing... Since I was getting ready to migrate to Aus, he grabbed my premier 11A with the PFR preamp, driving the Westminsters he absolutely loved it! Couldn't understand how much he was missing from the Mac gear. 70w/ch of CJ finesse from the Prem11A driving high efficiency Tannoy's was all that he needed.

I would say this would be quite different from what you were getting from the Wilson's. I would think the Tannoy's would be more open with a fantastic mid-range driven by the prem12 monos. Also, the bass would be very tuneful and captures all the low notes with a smooth response. I'm sure the Prem12's are just cruising along...

Enjoy those tunes Jahat, nice one again!
Cheers mate, RJ

[jahatl513]

I’ve since sold my Wilson Sophia II’s and purchased TANNOY KENSINGTON GR’s running on my Premier 12 mono’s and GAT. Such a great combo.

Congrats on the new speaker. That's the one with a key to "lock" the grill on, correct?

Yes, The Tannoy Kensington GR’s are the latest in the line up. It has the locking key for the speaker covers.

[jahatl513]

I’ve since sold my Wilson Sophia II’s and purchased TANNOY KENSINGTON GR’s running on my Premier 12 mono’s and GAT. Such a great combo.

Nice one Jahat, well done on the Tannoys. Another great combination with CJ, no doubt.
I clearly remember, this is going back to around 99/2000, my company chairman at the time, had the Tannoy Westminster horn loaded speakers. Huge things! He was using some vintage McIntosh amps on them and after many years the Mac's needed servicing... Since I was getting ready to migrate to Aus, he grabbed my premier 11A with the PFR preamp, driving the Westminsters he absolutely loved it! Couldn't understand how much he was missing from the Mac gear. 70w/ch of CJ finesse from the Prem11A driving high efficiency Tannoy's was all that he needed.

I would say this would be quite different from what you were getting from the Wilson's. I would think the Tannoy's would be more open with a fantastic mid-range driven by the prem12 monos. Also, the bass would be very tuneful and captures all the low notes with a smooth response. I'm sure the Prem12's are just cruising along...

As usual you nailed it. Big Dog. I have run these with the Premier 11a and they were fantastic as well; less focus of the Prem 12’s. Comparing the Sophia II’s to the Kensington GR’s, tall, wide, and completely disappearing; bass, mid’s, tuneful; a much more full experience, one might never imagine from what looks like a single speaker vs the 3 way Sophia II’s.
Enjoy those tunes Jahat, nice one again!
Cheers mate, RJ

[duetta]

Cheers to that! And enjoy those Apogee's, they're one of a kind in terms of ribbon transducers. BTW did you get yours refurbed by Graz, who actually lives where I'm from down-under in Aus... Or did you get your refurbs done by Hank in Netherlands?

Graz does a mighty fine job with his refurbs on Apogee's and he knows his stuff inside out! Only issue, he takes a damn long time to finish a project. He changes the Apogee's completely from a low efficiency hard to drive panel, to a high efficiency easier to drive full range ribbon. Using some of the finest magnets money can buy, his refurbed Apogee's are second to none, other than his own top of the line 150 grand a pair, top of line ribbons he personally makes, which if I'm correct, takes about 3 years to finish!
RJ

Actually not. Mine are originals - although I am actually the founder of the Apogee Acoustics Users Group (along with Lewis Brown, who disappeared decades ago...) that eventually gave birth to Graz (Graham Keet) and the new Apogee.

Listening now and even though my speakers that are nearly 30 year old, they still sound wonderful to me. The foam will eventually go, and they'll need to be re-ribboned with Graz ribbons. But I'm trying to delay doing so as long as I can.

But I do love these loudspeakers - and Apogees in general. I've owned Calipers, Centaur Minors, Duetta IIs, and Duetta Signatures in my time and I can't imagine a better loudspeaker than the Signatures for well-recorded music, particularly orchestral music.

Of course, I never did get to hear a re-ribboned, properly-driven pair of Apogee Scintillas, which rumor has it is in a class of its own. Then, of course, there are Full Ranges and the Grands. Never heard those either.

I may be moving to a smaller space in the future, and need to somewhat downsize (which could mean putting my Apogee's into storage) - but I think that I will stick with this amp nonetheless. CJ rules!

[admin]

I think it's absolutely wonderful that you have had a piece of equipment that has given 30 years of listening pleasure (and still continues to do so). It seems like with modern electronics everybody is on the 1 year cycle of buying the latest version of the iPhone, computer, video game system, etc... One aspect of this hobby I love is that it proves that high-quality electronics can have meaningful use for decades.

Again, congrats on the speakers and enjoy!

[Smiggsy]

Martin Logan Prodigy, and love them.

Also have a pair of IMF Domestic Monitors in storage, which I've owned from new. (1973!) Must try them with the monoblocks though.

[admin]

Love Martin Logan. I had such a great experience with my Vantages for all those years. Congrats on the Prodigy's.

[blown306cougar]

I use my own home built speakers

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But if I could afford it I would own a set of Wilson audio speakers like the Yvette or Sasha daw the XLF speakers are really nice along with the whamm master chronosonic are just insane. I would also own dynaudio speakers and magnepans back in the day I owned a set of mg1 improved

[admin]

Looks very nice. How do you make the cabinets? I would imagine that it is difficult to make a relatively large cabinet like that.

[blown306cougar]

The speaker dimensions are
7.5"W x 13"D x 49"H ... 50.5"H with the buns on the bottom.

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On the top and bottom chambers the wood is an inch and a half thick.
Each chamber that houses a woofer is 6"W x 5.5"H x 11.5"D. Internal dimensions Which equals .22qf each. The Tweeter chamber has the same width and depth the height is 4.25"H

These are the jigs I made one is for the woofer Chambers and one is for the Tweeter Chambers.

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A couple of pictures of the finishing work

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And the large bottom chamber is a dead chamber and is very well dampened and houses The crossover network

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Nick

[admin]

Very nice. I really like seeing all the DIY projects that people do with their audio gear.

[blown306cougar]

I was editing the post I added more pictures I don't know if you saw them before you posted if you didn't check it out

[joeinid]

Awesome Job! Well done!