Sonic Frontiers to Conrad Johnson .

Sounds like you will enjoy CJ. I heard the Premier 12 amps and was amazed. They are simply killer.

I owned a set of those B&W and would not describe them as "warm and inviting." Far from it. Accurate, dynamic, analytical, revealing, but not warm and inviting. They were the type of component that wows you initially but I found them tiresome after the initial wow wore off. Even with a CJ Premier 12 I tried they still did not warm up.

Even though the Sonice Frontiers is not as warm and lush as the CJ stuff, I would consider other speakers before changing electronics.

Well, you could always take a step back to the SFM 160's. They are a classic tube amp design. They are not near as cold sounding as the Power 2. The are very resonsive, tonally to tube selection and powerful. I run mine with SED 6550's and EI 6DJ8's and get a full, detailed sound, which errs off neutrality slighly to the warm side. I saw someone advertise a pair on AGon recently for about 1500. I have used these on Paragons, Quad 63's, and most recently Tylers, all to great effect. But, I haven't heard them with your B&W's.

The Premier 16 is no longer in production, but it is an excellent pre-amp. I am sure you can find one here on the Audiogon. I have a Premier 17 LS, which is still in production, and am amazed on a regular basis with the sound quality. I do not think you can go wrong with either unit, although the 16 will cost you more!
Regards,

Ya know, when I first decided to have a good stereo I decided that I could spend 2000 dollars per year to aquire a good one. I had a Pioneer reciever w/ pre-amp output jacks and a 100 dollar CD player and JBL LX44 8" 3 way (Best Buy) speakers. The first piece was the SF Anthem Amp1 which I was able to hook up to the Pioneer and it made a big difference w/ especially voices. When I went shopping for a Pre-amp, I took home a CJ PV10. When I hooked that all up I was astounded. All of a sudden I had bass..! and thought..thats what a good pre-amp does. But I did'nt buy it because I wanted the remote control and headphone jack and...features which the SF had. Then came the ProAc SC1's and Goldmund CD player. I know that all of this is good equiptment but the sound has never glued me to the couch. Last time I was glued to the couch and late for work the next day was when I hooked up my Fisher tube reciever to my JBLs and my cheap CD playe with cheap interconnects. That sound was to die for! Soloists were spotlit, everything was on a soundstage and there was a complete vivid picture before my eyes. I wanted to listen to the same cd over and over again. I upgraded the Anthem amp to the SF Power II, upgraded the speakers to the big B&Ws and added a REL Stadium! Interconnects are Straightwire Rhapsody. I have hooked it up single endedly and balanced and balanced sounded like the noise floor was lowered. But with everything I've done I still dont have a stereo that makes me even want to wait for the tubes to warm up. 20 grand into this stereo. And I read Stereophile and have come to the conclusion that they aint helping me at all. I really can't tell from reading their reviews if a component is for me or not. In the last issue they reviewed the CJ ACTII. The review reads like every other amplifier that they review. I've heard the B&W's sound warmer at a dealer hooked up to a SF Power1 amp though I can't recall the other equipt in the chain.