New CJ ART88 Preamp

[whnay1]

The CJ Teflon Caps usually take 400-600 playing hours to fully break-in.

You can hear the difference along the way.

[ds-audio18]

I'm at 500 hours now. This is a wonderful pre amp.
Great out of the box but got more bass and dynamic at about 200 hours.

[whnay1]

Awesome.

[admin]

That's great. I'm sure it's wonderful. We're really talking best of the best and I'm glad it's meeting expectations.

[whnay1]

It has tremendous speed and clarity like no other

[admin]

Interestingly, I just got an official email from the CJ newsletter about the release of the ART88. I wonder why now as clearly they have been selling the unit already?

It sure is a beauty.

[whnay1]

They have sold out their current production run with more to be built in late March.

Nice oreamp

[admin]

Wow. That was pretty fast...

[AnotherJohnson]

Interestingly, I just got an official email from the CJ newsletter about the release of the ART88. I wonder why now as clearly they have been selling the unit already?

It sure is a beauty.

We all got one. The order queue must be “caught up.”

[AnotherJohnson]

They have sold out their current production run with more to be built in late March.

Nice oreamp

They’re still doing batch building instead of JIT. Controls labor overhead at the expense of tying up capital in parts.

I wonder how big the batches are.

[Big Dog RJ]

Hi RJ,

As requested, photos of my system attached.

Tony

Hey Tony mate, how's it going...

I was just wondering since your last post and fabulous pics of the ART top of the line, how are things sounding now?
Trust by now, fair amount of break-in has passed... those ART108A's should be sounding fabulous! Although the ART88 has also had sufficient time to settle in, sometimes preamps of such high quality can take longer to settle in to full flight compared to power amps. This is what my mate in Spore was saying the other day.

Those Magico Q7's should be really taking off by now. If I do happen to pass through HK anytime around Aug / Sep, I'll contact you. That's one system I would love to audition. Always a learning curve, especially at this level. Superb stuff mate, enjoy those very very fine tunes!

Woof! RJ

[whnay1]

The ART is pretty much broken in. It delivers clarity beyond any previous CJ preamp but the presentation is effortless. You never strain to listen and the background noise floor is so greatly reduced.

Love it

[admin]

Great to hear. Sounds like they really hit a home run with the latest units. I think they already started working on the 2nd run.

Enjoy the tunes!

[whnay1]

They did. Power supply design is key

[AnotherJohnson]

Power supply really is key. As most probably know, the tubes act as valves which control the electrical flow from the power supply to the load. No matter how good the tube design path is, if the power supply can’t meet the demand of the load, then there’s room for improvement.

[Jazzy5]

ART88 is indeed an excellent preamp almost surpassing my AR Ref6, word s that come to mind are, load of details/clarity/dynamics./Drive/speed
In my opinion if you have GATS2, hang on to it as it is relaxing harmonius preamp, alas I no longer have it.
I had a chance to listen it in jeff's reference system with Aurrender A10,ART88,27A, Zellaton speakers and uber expensive german cables.

My system:
MCD350/MT5>ART88>27A>Focal scala V2 with cardas loom and AQ hurricane power cords/niagra 5000/dedicated 20amp lines x2

Sami

[Big Dog RJ]

Excellent stuff maties, truly tops!

Also waiting to hear from TTsui (Tony), as he's got the full ART series line up including the ART108A's! Those things driving his Magico Q7's should be on another dimension!

Bump Tony in HK....

[Joe Appierto]

and uber expensive german cables

Do you remember by any chance if they were In-Akustic? I have their Ethernet and HDMI cables and while neither is their top-of-the-line models they are still quite nice.

[AnotherJohnson]

ART88 is indeed an excellent preamp almost surpassing my AR Ref6,

Sounds like maybe you’ve got more than one system going. Until we downsized to one residence, I had fairly nice CJ and ARC main systems going. I enjoyed them both. My favorite was nearly always the one I was listening to.

I had the REF 6 for about 800 hours, and then worked a trade for a new (not upgraded) REF 6SE. They’re certainly similar in their sound, and identical in their gain and function, but the SE version presents even more detail, and related to this, the 6SE does an even better job of unraveling musical threads and separating layers that make up the recording. The ARC gear definitely sounds very musical to my ear.

If you are considering the factory upgrade to the SE, I am very comfortable recommending it as worth the expense. I consider the 6SE to legitimately surpass the 6.

My present main system is comprised of

Roon Nucleus, dCS Rossini, Levinson 5101, and McIntosh MCT 500 transport as digital sources.

LP12/Karousel/Radikal/Keel/Ekos SE/Lyra Etna Lambda/REF Phono 3 as analog source.

REF 6SE and REF 250SE as pre and power amps.

Wilson Sasha DAWs as speakers.

Power is through a PS Audio P20 (on 20 amp dedicated breaker), except that the phono set up is on a separate circuit with a PSA P12. The regenerators are both set to give 117.5 VAC unmodified sine waves per ARC’s recommendation.

Interconnects are AQ Thunderbird Zeros (except Transparent Reference from Phono preamp to preamp).

Speaker cables are Thunderbird Zeros.

Power cords are AQ Hurricanes, except for a Transparent between the wall and the P20.

I’m pretty pleased with this set up. Unless tubes become difficult to source, I think it is my end game. If tubes do become a problem, I’ll consider solid state options as the next step. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

[Jazzy5]

Thank you for update on your fabulous audio system, Audio research is in deed very resolving system.
My ref 6 is already getting updated to ref 6SE and i have been asked to send in my Ref 160M for MKII update, it is a costly proposition.5K for AMP and another 5k for preamp upgrade(this is without new tubes, each small preamp tube cost $150.00 x7.)
New tubes for amp are scarce at the moments.
You are correct i have 2 systems shared by same speaker,I have not used BW 802 speaker due to space and spousal concerns,
I use dynamic design Titania IC and PC with ARC,i do have Ref 3 phono shared by both systems.
I am awaiting PS direct DAC to be, available(hopefully) in may 2023.