I was invited to an old audiophile friend's house last night for a party and to hear his latest system upgrades. Over the years I've heard his system through many changes, with some things like his speakers, the Synthesis SRS and listening room being a constant.
His new gear-- a Conrad-Johnson ACT-2 tube preamp and the Conrad-Johnson Premier 350 solid-state power amp.
This is by no means a review, it was a party after all, and I didn't get to hear all the different kinds of music through this system I would've liked to, but I did hear enough to draw some conclusions about the sound of these two C-J pieces.
On the Conrad-Johnson website, they present their claim, more as a company mantre, "It just sounds right". I'd have to say the ACT-2 and 350 combo do this to a degree I've never experienced before. The sound was so natural, detailed, dynamic and coherent that I never really found myself listening to one aspect of it over another as audiophiles often do when listening to their or others systems. That's not at all to say there weren't some remarkable things about the sound considered in its constituent parts. The ACT-2 has both tremendous bandwidth, noticeable as providing much more information and dynamics at the frequency extremes, and throws the largest and deepest soundstage I've ever heard in my friend's room. Even sitting substantially to the right of the sweet spot, I felt the stereo image was both audible and realistic. It's a little holographic, but not in any way that calls attention to itself, it's just there.
That summarizes the whole sound of the system with these components. Everything is presented, including shortcomings in program material or even sources, like 2 channel "video" DVD reproduction, yet, the system never sounded irritating, aggresive or fatiguing, even at very loud playback levels. Some source material sounded compressed, or tonally unbalanced. For example, on a Buddy Rich DVD we watched, sections were very compressed, had very limited bass extension , or even enough lower midrange warmth to the sound. On most systems, including mine, the first reaction would be that the sound was too bright and irritating. On this system the shortcomings were still there, perhaps even more audible, but I wouldn't describe the presentation as "bright" or irritating through the C-J components. To conclude from this that the C-J gear was masking the problems with the sound would be dead wrong. I could easily hear the faults for what they were, they just didn't seem to irritate me like they have in my friend's system in the past, or mine now.
On well recorded material the sound was simply remarkable, with a natural, balanced, neutral presentation with awesome detail and dynamics. I simply found myself being immersed in the music, not really listening to any single aspect of it. yet, it was so easy to follow every musical line in a song, each and every instrument or voice, including all background voices and instruments with ease. Listening to this system was just so enjoyable and FUN, i didn't want to go home at 2:00 this morning!
These two pieces aren't cheap, the total cost of the ACT-2 and Premier 350 topping out over $20,000, but if one can afford them, I really think they're worth the money. I wish I could foot the bill for them, I'd do it without hesitation.
My friend's system, from input to speakers:
McCormack UDP-1
C-J ACT-2
C-J "Synthesis" active crossover for the SRS speakers, with upgraded caps etc.
Premier 350 for the main speakers
Carver (Phoenix Gold) ZR-1600 driving the SRS bass towers
Synthesis Reference Standard speakers, mains and bass towers
Interconnect and speaker wire by Cardas and Kimber
