[sylbarth35]

Hi,

I am new to this AVA forum.

As I don't have the opportunity to ear an AVA amp, I am looking for someone that would have done a comparison between an  Fet Valve Ultra 350 and a Conrad Johnson MV50, an amp that I know very well.

Thanks for your help

Regards.

Sylvain

[avahifi]

I cannot comment on the CJ amp as I have not heard one recently.

However, I can relate one interesting comparison tale that happened here.

A potential client wanted to compare his Counterpoint equipment with our Fet Valve hybrid preamps and amplifers of the time (a few years ago).  So he dragged his two heavy huge Counterpoint units here and we had a good listening session.  He judged that the Fet Valve equipment was far superior and ordered new units from us on the spot.  When it was time for him to go home, he said he would leave the heavy Counterpoint stuff to pick up later.

When his equipment was ready, he picked it up, but said he did not have room to take the Counterpoint equipment with him then and would be back for it.

THREE YEARS LATER  he finally called and said did I still have the Counterpoint equipment around here somewhere.  Of course we did, holding down a shelf in our special cryogenic storage area (unheated garage).  About six months after that he finally showed up to retrieve his previous pet equipment.  I know our equipment was good, but had not realized it was that good in comparison.

Suggestion, you better have a firm buyer lined up for your existing equipment when you decide to upgrade to AVA, or you too may end up with spare shelf restricter weights.   

Cheers,

Frank Van Alstine

[sylbarth35]

Thanks for your answer Franck, it is a nice tale !

I was asking about that comparison because I live in France, and not a lot of people have these amps. By contrast to the MV50 that became very popular over the last years. That's why it is a kind of "benchmark" for me.

Regards

Sylvain

[tonyptony]

Hey Frank, did my FetValve get there in one piece? 

Sylvain, just to stay on thread, I have not heard the MV50, but have heard a few CJ amps in the past on my own speakers. Now, I have heard that recent CJ designs may not necessarily sound like the older classics, but in my mind the older CJ amps were beautiful, full sounding units. My FetValve 550 (which I just sent in to be upgraded to the Ultra!) had/has - to my mind - a significantly better combination of beauty, clarity, and transient capability. Yeah having just said that, I am upgrading, but only because everybody who's already done it says it takes the already excellent FetValve design and makes it even better (which I did not believe was really possible). 

[avahifi]

By the way, we do ship to France and will wire your amplifier for 220/240V 50/60 Hz operation at no extra charge.

The shipping weight of a Fet Valve Ultra 350 is about 37 pounds so it won't break the bank to get it there.  We would suggest insured air parcel post depending upon weight, size, and value limits to France as this saves the most in customs hassles.

Remember our lead time is 6 weeks right now.

Payment?  You can use Western Union, a direct wire transfer to our bank (I can supply all the numbers) or an envelope full of small unmarked US currency. We actually had a guy from the Philippeans do this a number of time years ago, sent envelopes full of $100 bills every once in a while.  Really strange, but it was real money and it actually got here for some reason. Sorry no credit card orders from furren places until we know you, no address fraud verification outside the USA and Canada and we have been burned once.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[Charles Calkins]

Don't know anything about the CJ MV50. I've heard it playing at Music lovers audio in Berkeley Ca. Sounded good as I remember.
 But!!! I had(still have) a CJ PFR preamp in my system. It was CJ's top of the line solid state pre some years ago. I replaced it with Frank's T7ECR pre. Much better results with the T7ECR. The Cj had kind of a digital edge to it. No more of that with the T7ECR.
 I even asked CJ if there were any upgrades available for the PFR. All I got was a "Sorry Charlie". Just my two cents worth.

                                                             Cheers
                                                             Charlie

[dB Cooper]

Just curious Frank, when you ship to a 220V country, do you wire it for 120V for testing purposes here and then re-wire it before shipment, or do you use a 220V supply? I would think testing would get complicated for 220V pieces.

[modular747]

or an envelope full of small unmarked US currency. We actually had a guy from the Philippeans do this a number of time years ago, sent envelopes full of $100 bills every once in a while.  Really strange, but it was real money and it actually got here for some reason.

Be sure dust off that funny white powder on those bills!

[avahifi]

I wire and test at 220 or 240 as needed.

Actually I came by my very heavy duty 120 to 240 step up transformer in a rather strange way.

I asked a local company to make me a sample solid state toroid power amplifier transformer with 120V AC in and two 40 volt AC taps out.  Of course they screwed up and made me a sample with 120V in and 240V out!  Oh well, I got to keep it for free and it dawned on me it had much higher current capacity than an off the shelf step up transformer.  With that and my 1500W rated AC variac I can test and play the equipment with almost any possible line voltage before shipping.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[WEEZ]

I had a MV55 a few years back. It's a generation (or two) up from the MV50. The AVA Ultra amplifiers are 'leaps above' in resolution.....no question about it.  The all tube Ultimate 70 is more refined as well.