Pre-Amp Shopping

I guarantee the CJ preamp makes the MC402 sound beautiful. That is a wonderful pairing.
 
Haven’t noticed any noise with music on or off at any volume. I’ll do a critical check tomorrow.
 
Sounds like you are good to go then. If you liked the standard ET3 and have the time to wait for the SE open up from all reviews you will be rewarded with sound that far surpasses the standard version. Plus the bonus of only one tube so if you find one you love you can buy a couple of spares. I would suspect that the Voskhod or Reflektor 6n23's would work great in that preamp and you can still get great buys on them from a couple of trusted vendors on Ebay in Eastern Europe. I just picked up a matched pair of 69 Voskhod's for about $40 shipped or in the US you can see what they have on tubemonger.com in Ca.
 
joeinid said:
I guarantee the CJ preamp makes the MC402 sound beautiful. That is a wonderful pairing.
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I’m hoping...wish it was balanced like the rest of my system. But, the regular ET3 sounded beautiful...and sound is what I’m chasing...😜
 
Jack said:
Sounds like you are good to go then. If you liked the standard ET3 and have the time to wait for the SE open up from all reviews you will be rewarded with sound that far surpasses the standard version. Plus the bonus of only one tube so if you find one you love you can buy a couple of spares. I would suspect that the Voskhod or Reflektor 6n23's would work great in that preamp and you can still get great buys on them from a couple of trusted vendors on Ebay in Eastern Europe. I just picked up a matched pair of 69 Voskhod's for about $40 shipped or in the US you can see what they have on tubemonger.com in Ca.
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I have lots of 6922’s from my BAT pre. Amperex pq white label, Siemens cca’s, early 60 tesla’s...and a bunch of other newer tubes. So far I like the Siemens the most. But torn to the amperex as well.
 
How do you like the BHK Jack...I’d still love to hear one but think I could be very happy with the CJ. Still trying to track a BHK down from someone I know.
 
I really like the BHK a lot but unless you run it balanced it can be quirky as the resistor ladder volume control can sometimes make a clicking noise if you change the volume with SE amp. Doesn't make the noise balanced. Some people it bothers and others it doesn't. It also is not "classic tube" sounding like CJ or Cary or on the other end like ARC or BAT. Sort of in the middle and kind of what I would expect out of Backert with tube input stage and SS power supply and same tube compliment. It does with the jumpers allow you to use 12AU7 or all of your 6DJ8 variants including 7DJ8. It does have lower gain though at 12 db as opposed to the ET3's 25 db. I will probably never do anything about the Backert or I would have bought the one another forum member had for a good deal earlier in the month. It sold in less than 2 days at his price. Just something about it that caught my attention plus most of the people involved in the company have done work with and for CJ for years.
 
Wow! Thanks. I’ll give you impressions after I listen to all three. The BHK sounds awesome....
 
Looking forward to it. Fortunate for you that you are in a market area where you can actually hear or try a lot of this gear. I have to base my purchase decisions on owners on forums like this one and buy on faith. So far I have been lucky. Reviewers are hit and miss and some of the ones that people flock to I avoid anything they recommend. You will find what you are looking for and may already have had it in the house.
 
I understand everything you said and appreciate the insight. I’ll be sure to post my impressions...
 
Running the BHK preamp balanced into the MC402 could be awesome. It’s a Stereophile Class A rated piece and I miss mine.
 
Thanks for the input...I didn’t realize you have the Nola’s. I had the open baffle Alon 1's and the Alon 5’s...he makes them right here on Long Island, NY. Been to his shop a few times...how do you like them?
 
I love them and think you would have to spend many times their price to better them. It was one of the last speakers HP reviewed before he passed. Their semi-open baffle design is what caused me to break down and try the Spatial Audio open baffle speakers. Joe is also a former long time Nola/Alon owner.
 
Carl makes amazing speakers. Love them.

Jack said:
I love them and think you would have to spend many times their price to better them. It was one of the last speakers HP reviewed before he passed. Their semi-open baffle design is what caused me to break down and try the Spatial Audio open baffle speakers. Joe is also a former long time Nola/Alon owner.
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If you get a CJ you need the SE. The Caps make a big difference. There are a lot of dealer demo and used selling for very low $3K. I love my First Sound. However no remote.
 
I'm just approaching 150 hrs and it's starting to open...sounds much better than yesterday! A friend is bringing a Backert Rhumba 1.2 Extreme this week...very excited to hear it. I loved the standard Rhumba 1.2. Also going to roll the BAT back in at some point. It takes time...I don't like switching to much. I like to spend some time with each piece...give myself and the pre's a fair chance...

The LTA also has me very intrigued...It seems to good to believe that a $2000 pre is competing and bettering preamps costing 10-20k...blows my mind. But, whether it's correct or not...I really like the CJ
 
Kingrex said:
If you get a CJ you need the SE. The Caps make a big difference. There are a lot of dealer demo and used selling for very low $3K. I love my First Sound. However no remote.
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If I end up with the CJ I’ll probably go through my dealer. I know I'll pay a little more but I feel like I have to support him. He’s very good to me...he always lets me bring a few things home to compare...I can’t imagine doing this without that kind of service...
 
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