Which is REALLY the best Conrad Johnson Preamp

I ran the ACT2.2 for a couple of years. I enjoyed it immensely but it was always a little too cold/neutral for my tastes and a wee bit hot in the treble. Still a fabulous amp though and one you could live with for good if forced to. That said I have heard the wondeful majestic ART3 before and would have that in preference. More emotion, more music.

I now have the GAT though and would take that over both of the above. It was quite a large step up from the Act series 2, a step that I wasn't expecting tbh. In fact, I would say its a very different amplifier ... more of everything in the way you'd expect but a lot more natural sounding and with more warmth and lower mid/upper bass fullness but not in a manner that subtracts from dynamics, speed or accuracy. The coherence and unravelling ability it brought to the table was also pretty spellbinding, so much so that it made the ACT2.2 sound a bit muddled with certain allbums.

Great thread!

I want to demo the ART series. I have heard the Act2 Series2 pre-amp and it is my reference until I can hear the ART.

Happy Listening!

I love my vintage PV-10a but, the last several months it has developed a problem where at times the left channel wiil start to distort and fade to almost 0 volume. I've found that if I give the balance control defeat pushbutton a little wiggle it will crakle to life again for another day or 2. The unit must be 25 years old so I suppose it needs to be thoroughly re-fitted to bring it back to glory. I found Hamid Sheikh to re-do the pre for about $500-. He is going to dismantle and clean the switches, etc.
or should I send back to CJ?
Sorry for the hi-jack.

@Zenblaster

How much does CJ charge for it? The other thing you may consider is selling it and buying a "new" PV10 as they go for not much more than it would cost to repair yours. You may also want to crack the lid and do some cleaning. Not much chance that you would do damage from just cleaning it, and it doesn't cost you more than $10 in cleaning products vs $500 of having somebody else do it for you.

i have an act 2.2 which to me was a marked improvement over the ct5 and much more so the ls17. every improvement i make in getting synergies correct yields results. my point is that at a certain price point it is not only personal taste but synergies. point number 2 it is easy, very easy to lose synergies thru an incorrect move. i could not believe how the wrong (expensive) power cord on the act alone could cause so much loss in the tonal balance i had achieved with a cheap shunyata. i have had great synergy with cj and shunyata.