Conrad-Johnson CAV45-S2 Stereo Control Amplifier ....

joeinid

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I'm thinking about getting a new control amp (integrated) for one of my desktop computers and saw this little baby. I want a little better sound when I surf and I think this would be great.

Here is a nice review:

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/conrad-johnson-cav-45-integrated-amplifier/


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Specifications

Power
45 watts per channel RMS both channels driven into 4 ohms from 30Hz to 15kHz at no more than 1.5% total harmonic distortion or intermodulation distortion.

Small Signal Distortion

less than .1% at mid-band

Frequency Response

20Hz to 20 kHz +0/-.5 dB

Hum and Noise

100 dB below rated power output

Phase

speaker output is phase correct

Input Impedance

100 kOhms

Dimensions

13.375”D x 17.375″W x 6.625″H

Net Weight

42 lbs.
 

Attachments

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Fun! I know you’ve always been a big CJ fan. Can’t wait to see what you decide.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joe.......How will you feed a signal to the CJ amp? Does your computer have a dedicated sound card with clean analog outputs, or will you be feeding the amp from the typical computer mini-jack output of the motherboard? It seems to me that if you are not feeding the CJ amp with a clean quality signal your efforts are a bit overkill. If you don't have a dedicated sound card, you may want to consider some decent power speakers instead, something like a pair of Audioengine 5+ powered bookshelf speakers.

https://www.needledoctor.com/Audioengine-5-Powered-Bookshelf-Speakers-Main?quantity=1&custcol125=25

I'm not trying to discourage you from a Conrad-Johnson integrated amplifier purchase, just encouraging you to ensure your audio signal is worth the extra cost.
 
Hi Dan,

Ha! Those Audioengine speakers are way too practical. :)

I'd be using a USB dac via an RCA out to the CJ integrated. Overkill for sure, but I like to have music playing and this would be an excuse to get back into CJ in smaller way with some EL34 tubes. I love the way it looks and can imagine it being a spectacular piece.
 
You may want to consider a used Hegel H160 integrated. It sounds great and has a good built in DAC. You can pick them up for about $1800 used. A Peachtree Nova and Nuprime gear with built in DAC's are also worth a look although I can certainly understand wanting to go with CJ. That CJ integrated is a beautiful piece.
 
You may want to consider a used Hegel H160 integrated. It sounds great and has a good built in DAC. You can pick them up for about $1800 used. A Peachtree Nova and Nuprime gear with built in DAC's are also worth a look although I can certainly understand wanting to go with CJ. That CJ integrated is a beautiful piece.

That’s basically my reasoning. Kind of missing that sound.
 
He reads the post and thinks to himself, I wonder how a CJ preamp would sound with the XA25. He decides not to write anything though as it's not practical for the application posted about :)
 
Ha!

That’s going through my mind too but one step at a time :)
 
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