Which is REALLY the best Conrad Johnson Preamp

@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.

I have owned the prem 16,ART series 1 and 3 and now the GAT. All these preamps sound absolutely glorious and all are very special.
The GAT is the best sounding of them all, it is more transparent than the previous models but it still retains the cj warmth and musicality.

As far as cost for performance, the prem16 with the cj Teflon cap upgrades would be sensational and beat most preamps out there.

@Invenio78-
I have taken the PV-10 out of the loop and I am going to clean up under the hood and lube the controls. De-Oxit the tube contacts, etc and see if that helps. I had no idea you could buy a new PV-10, that could be a good option. I love the phono stage and miss it already.

I was lucky to snag a barely used GAT on Agon a while back and it's a big leap from the CJ CT 5. With tube rolling EH 6922 > Seimens ECC 88s >Seimens CCa, this is an incredible preamp in terms of texture with absolutely no grain, silly smooth highs, tight bass and an awesome soundstage. IME the best CJ pre by a long way.