GAT + ARTsa - inside

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wizard

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CJ_05.JPG


CJ_05b.JPG


CJ_05a.JPG
 
I noticed CJ of late has succumbed to mass production technique. their PCBs have green solder mask which means they wave solder. ARC still hand solders their 'boards even for models below the ref series.
 
puroagave said:
I noticed CJ of late has succumbed to mass production technique. their PCBs have green solder mask which means they wave solder. ARC still hand solders their 'boards even for models below the ref series.
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I also see what appears to be solder flux on some of the joints.
 
mep said:
I also see what appears to be solder flux on some of the joints.
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like the tube sockets and wiring soldered after the fact. I've owned a number of CJ pieces and they never de-fluxed their 'boards, ARC always washed theirs. then again has anyone built gear like ARC used to? thick, vented epoxy glass 'boards with heavy copper traces, 1/2 and 1 watt roederstein resistas, 16 awg litz wire everywhere...those were the days.
 
puroagave said:
I noticed CJ of late has succumbed to mass production technique. their PCBs have green solder mask which means they wave solder. ARC still hand solders their 'boards even for models below the ref series.
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Cj sounds better thou and their parts selection can somewhat better justify their pricing :D
 
XV-1 said:
Cj sounds better thou and their parts selection can somewhat better justify their pricing :D
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Them thar is fighting words! Does "CJ" stand for "Capacitor Johnson?" :)
 
mep said:
Paul-I don't know if you are pulling my leg or not. My point is the build quality is not that impressive.
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Really, Why?

ARC current products are known to be more unreliable, whereas cj last on and on and on. Hell ARC cant even decide what type of capacitor sounds better.
 
I absolutely love my CJ gear. It has been extremely reliable for me. I do want to hear the new ARC REFse amps sometime.
 
Considering that the GAT/ART Mono combination is without a doubt the best sounding system I I've ever heard/owned...but, I must also say that I've never been particularly happy with the build/workmanship CJ has. It's always just a bit messy in my opinion. But then again, it's the listening enjoyment that really matters. I've had gear that's beautiful under the hood that just wasn't as nice to listen to as the CJ stuff.
 
XV-1 said:
Really, Why?

ARC current products are known to be more unreliable, whereas cj last on and on and on. Hell ARC cant even decide what type of capacitor sounds better.
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Are we pretending that we can't read the words I wrote? I already called out the issues I saw one by one in post #11. So when I say the build quality isn't that impressive, I'm not trying to make a correlation to reliability and nor did I. Look, if someone wants to post a picture of the insides of a very expensive piece of stereo equipment, people should expect to read some remarks about the quality of workmanship whether good or bad. I'm pretty sure that Rob sees what I see so I don't understand why there are three of you trying to pile on me for stating what should be obvious if you look at the pictures.
 
Rayooo said:
Considering that the GAT/ART Mono combination is without a doubt the best sounding system I I've ever heard/owned...but, I must also say that I've never been particularly happy with the build/workmanship CJ has. It's always just a bit messy in my opinion. But then again, it's the listening enjoyment that really matters. I've had gear that's beautiful under the hood that just wasn't as nice to listen to as the CJ stuff.
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At last, an honest opinion from an owner who also sees the obvious. The good news is the gear sounds great, otherwise people wouldn't shell out the big money for it. As Ray said, "It's the listening enjoyment that really matters."
 
I am entering late on this opinion exchange on cj built quality. I have owned may cj´s since the early 90's and always found their intrinsic built quality and reliability very high. They did not remove soldering flux from boards because they felt the liquids that are needed to remove it would affect sound quality. Their components are from the best we can find and, in general, access to the PCB boards for any service is excellent - most equipment is accessible from both component and soldering sides . They provide us with schematics for service and the transistors used in the power supplies are easily available. The layout of PCBs is clear, logical and easy to follow. Their components also are some of more reliable that can be found in the audio industry (except the tubes that must replaced from time to time, surely ... ;)). What else do we need?
 
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