Opinions/Thoughts on the CA200 ....

[JONERVI]

Originally Posted by ronenash

I will try to relate to a few of the things said in one post.

The Premier 350SA had a revision made because of the shutoff issue. CJ sent a simple update to all dealers to avoid this problem. Its was a simple 5 minute fix. You do need to drag the beast to your dealer.

Regarding the blowup issues mentioned, to avoid degrading sound quality, CJ did not put any protection circuits in the 350. There is no series resistor, or short circuit protection. With all that power, if you short the output it will blow up. When this happens its a mess and many components need replacement. You need to get the components from CJ as they use such high quality components that they are not available off the shelf.
Of course you can avoid all this by simply powering off the 350 and waiting a few minutes before connecting and disconnecting cables.

CJ stopped making the 350 because of two reasons: (1) There was little demand for non tube gear from CJ and it was not selling as well as they hoped. Personally I think this is insane as all reviews stated that this is one of the best amps around! (2) The manufacturing costs of the 350 were very high and required a major price increase which CJ did not think they could charge for the amp.
If it ever goes back into manufacturing do expect much higher prices than before.

Now this is as EDUCATED, well RESEARCHED, and INFORMATIVE a post as you will ever find.......thank you kindly roneash for setting the record straight.

My PR350SA has performed flawlessly since birth, and since I work only 10 mins away from the cj mothership, I plan to stop by soon and have the cj techs perform a health check on my 350...... because it is definitely a keeper.

[turntable]

Originally Posted by dpod4

How do you like your CJ GAT amp?? What did you compare it to before buying, if you don't mind me asking?

The GAT pre amp is superb. I had a cj ART3 before that.

[Coppy]

Originally Posted by ronenash

I will try to relate to a few of the things said in one post.

The Premier 350SA had a revision made because of the shutoff issue. CJ sent a simple update to all dealers to avoid this problem. Its was a simple 5 minute fix. You do need to drag the beast to your dealer.

Regarding the blowup issues mentioned, to avoid degrading sound quality, CJ did not put any protection circuits in the 350. There is no series resistor, or short circuit protection. With all that power, if you short the output it will blow up. When this happens its a mess and many components need replacement. You need to get the components from CJ as they use such high quality components that they are not available off the shelf.
Of course you can avoid all this by simply powering off the 350 and waiting a few minutes before connecting and disconnecting cables.

CJ stopped making the 350 because of two reasons: (1) There was little demand for non tube gear from CJ and it was not selling as well as they hoped. Personally I think this is insane as all reviews stated that this is one of the best amps around! (2) The manufacturing costs of the 350 were very high and required a major price increase which CJ did not think they could charge for the amp.
If it ever goes back into manufacturing do expect much higher prices than before.

Ronenash,

I too thank you for the factual response on the P350.
Regarding Martin Collom's experience it should probably be taken in the context of understanding "mains" power in the UK. In the US, notwithstanding all the filtering and fussing we do with our power input, we enjoy a consistent supply of power at constant voltage, lots of current and most important to this discussion... at contstant 60 cycles. Not an excuse but many good equipment companies have some difficulty designing power supplies for use overseas as their supply of higher voltage power is very inconsistent as to voltage and AC frequency. We've all seen the discussions of their efforts to control the power issues coming into their systems. Maybe this is a part of the problem for the respected Mr. Collums. What I did take away from that quote was that despite the probable availability to him of some very fine modern amplification, the old P350 is still his "reference". Also, personally I have no problem driving my Sashas to brick loosening db levels at very low organ pipe frequencies with the P350.

Bob

[ronenash]

Originally Posted by JONERVI

Now this is as EDUCATED, well RESEARCHED, and INFORMATIVE a post as you will ever find.......thank you kindly roneash for setting the record straight.

My PR350SA has performed flawlessly since birth, and since I work only 10 mins away from the cj mothership, I plan to stop by soon and have the cj techs perform a health check on my 350...... because it is definitely a keeper.

Thank you. The CJ dealer in the country is a good freind of mine and I personally asked for one last P350SA for myself. This is the answer coming directly from Lew. Maybe if we all keep pushing we will get a re-issue of the P350....

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by ronenash

Thank you. The CJ dealer in the country is a good freind of mine and I personally asked for one last P350SA for myself. This is the answer coming directly from Lew. Maybe if we all keep pushing we will get a re-issue of the P350....

Yes! Count me in. Thank you very much for the information. I love tubes but for most of my listening, though not critical, solid state or hybrid is necessary.

Joe

I will send a check ASAP for a 350. Count me in.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by dpod4

I will send a check ASAP for a 350. Count me in.

I sense a group buy

Make it so .......

[ronenash]

All that is left is to convince Lew Johnson to manufacture them again...

[turntable]

Has anyone heard the McCormack DNA-750?

I wonder how much cj heritage is now inside

[turntable]

Originally Posted by Coppy

Ronenash,

I too thank you for the factual response on the P350.
Regarding Martin Collom's experience it should probably be taken in the context of understanding "mains" power in the UK. In the US, notwithstanding all the filtering and fussing we do with our power input, we enjoy a consistent supply of power at constant voltage, lots of current and most important to this discussion... at contstant 60 cycles. Not an excuse but many good equipment companies have some difficulty designing power supplies for use overseas as their supply of higher voltage power is very inconsistent as to voltage and AC frequency. We've all seen the discussions of their efforts to control the power issues coming into their systems. Maybe this is a part of the problem for the respected Mr. Collums. What I did take away from that quote was that despite the probable availability to him of some very fine modern amplification, the old P350 is still his "reference". Also, personally I have no problem driving my Sashas to brick loosening db levels at very low organ pipe frequencies with the P350.

Bob

That is good news that you can drive your sasha's no problem at all. Collom's still should not had any problems with the cj regardless of the voltage, he had none with the Krell. not sure if he ever found the root cause.

I am another from the 240 volt world. The voltage can go up to 255-260 volts at time's. I never had any problems driving any speakers with the 350's - then again I never had Sasha's either. But the issue of the amps switching off now and then was real and happened toafew of us in Australia.

I did have serious issue with Cary with their 500Mb monoblocks. Transformers incorrectly spec'd for 240 volts and they buzzed like crazy and used to shut down all the time. Cary eventually replaced them with over spec'd german transformers - but frankly with those, the magic in the sound was gone. Got my $$ back fortunately.

That is why buying 220 volt gear from Hong Kong is a no no, for amps especially. Things blow up.