Anyone compare Conrad Premier to Rogue?

Ahh, you missed my point Avguygeorge, my fault. I was trying to address the second-reponse question Arafel had as to which component to upgrade first, and like a dummy I didn't fully absorb Arafel's situation in his first of the no home-audition 140 option. The "system dependence" factor I was trying to get at was whether to start with the pre or the amp first because it seemed Arafel could not purchase both simultaneously. I agree with you that the cj 140 is superior to the Rogue 88 amp and that this conclusion isn't system dependent.

My suggestion is that 1) if you're headed toward cj nirvana anyway, why not demo the 17LS first and see of this makes a difference. If you appreciate and like the difference, buy that and then when you have $$$$, purchase the 140. That will put the final(?) icing on the cake so to speak.

Regarding pre-amp versus amp upgrade first, my recent experience was going from a CJ PV12L / CJ MF200 to a CJ Premier 16ls2 /Premier 140. I upgraded the pre-amp first to a prem 16ls2 still using the MF 200, then upgraded the amp to the premier 140. The biggest overall change was upgrading the pre-amp. that is I noticed an overall much larger positive difference going from the pv12-mf200 to prem16ls2-mf200 than from prem16ls2-mf200 to prem16ls2-premier140. Don't get me wrong, i still noticed a big diff from the mf200 to Prem 140 amp upgrade, just not the overall same scale. Hmmm....wonder why this is....

Rogue M-150's & Magnum 99!!!What superior you talking about???.I own this combo and CJ mv-55.More power?See the Rogue Zeus.

Yioyos. I wasn't sure where they were getting the CJ is superior either. Relooked at the question though and she is asking about upgrading form a specific system. A $3500 Rogue system to a $12500 CJ system. Not rather CJ is superior to Rogue.

So your talking a $2000 amp & $1500 pre as opposed to a $7000 amp and $5500 pre amp.

As a former owner of five CJ products I think you may not find the dynamic swings desired from the 17LS. I've owned three CJ pre-amps (PV4, PV5, and 16LS II) and found none of them very dynamic and even found the 16LS II a bit veiled and restrictive. In fact, after trying a number of other tube products (Cary, Mesa, OTLs) I've settled on Air Tight and as happy as a pig in you-know-what. I'm lacking nothing and have beautiful music at my command.

However, I do understand the addiction to CJ products as they have their own sound which is a lot like enjoying one type of wine, tequila, etc. over another. Maybe I'm just getting older and want more transparency and vividness to make up for stuff in my own head. Further, CJ are a great company with first class customer service and dealer back-up, and are one of the great American hi-fi companies - there's no arguing about that!