I miss my ART2. I was an original owner of no. 116 and after a $10 power supply resistor failure on the left channel which canned the whole unit and that had the machine float back from Oz to the U.S. for repairs and back again, a well traveled unit anyway, costing me several hundred dollars and taking my wonder as to how they could allow one of only 250 units to have such a stupid, untested and/or un-QA'ed mistake in such a premium line drove me away. I had recent to this event a problem with most likely a $1 hardened steel pin on a Krell KPS-25s in the unit's stunning swinging door and 2 + 2 = 4 and the CJ just topped that bitter cake and it went. So did all my Krell.
However I find myself in this very thread due to the fact that I have been wandering about the 'net reading about the CJ ART pre-amp line and missing whole-heartedly that machine. It's somewhat a sick yearning.
It had a sound, a signature. Which to many Folk in our business is counter to requirements, but I loved that pre. exactly for that signature. And its looks and heft too. It was a strong contender and would have suited me for years to come. It had a power and a drive and an excitement like most American designs, a glorious edge. I would probably say the signature was a rawness to its sound with a type of Purple Haze. Listening to an electric guitar track always brought out the guitar amp. in the unit, very powerful presentation and very raw.
It could play anything very well, just as a by. Jazz was lovely.
It ran as the pre. to a Kondo Shinri for a little while before bye-byes. It was definitely a pre. that could have been worked and dabbled with to find a synergy. It believe it would have been a quick process to find that; and I do not like to tinker with my rigs too much once I find what I like.
Anyway, lossing the point here. The ART pre-amp. line-up from 1997/2001/2007 would get my vote.
