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Conrad-Johnson It just sounds right

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  #1  
Old 05-20-2016, 09:31 PM
mfoley3 mfoley3 is offline
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Default GAT Series 2

Today I Spoke with Jack Tozzi of Spearit Sound in Northampton MA (very long time CJ dealer) about the GAT Series 2 (cost is now $24,000). If you own the original, you can have it upgraded to Series 2 for about $4,000. I've done business with Jack for years. He is very knowledgeable, honest and not prone to hyperbole. I trust his judgement and integrity. He was very enthusiastic about the sonic improvements of the Series 2 and said they, in his mind, are worth double that amount. High praise indeed! I should've asked for more specifics about the sonic improvements and plan on doing so next week.

Do any of you have any direct or indirect experience with the Series 2?

Thanks, Mike.
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Old 05-20-2016, 09:34 PM
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audio bill audio bill is offline
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Mike - I can't remember where but I read another owner who had the upgrade done and was both surprised and thrilled with the magnitude of the improvement. His thoughts seemed along the same lines as your dealer and he very enthusiastically endorsed the upgrade.
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Old 07-28-2016, 04:40 PM
Forte 4A Forte 4A is offline
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Excellent review on the GAT2 in this month's British HI-FI magazine.
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Old 07-30-2016, 08:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forte 4A View Post
Excellent review on the GAT2 in this month's British HI-FI magazine.
You mean hi-fi+ magazine?
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Old 07-30-2016, 10:42 AM
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audio bill audio bill is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turntable View Post
You mean hi-fi+ magazine?
Looks like that's the one - Hi-Fi+ Issue | Hi-Fi+
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Old 07-31-2016, 04:57 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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And now those of us without a lotto win can wait for the trickle down.

ET5 mkII. Maybe as good as the original GAT ( probably because it pretty much is on the inside)

Sounds fair to me:-)
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Old 07-31-2016, 09:16 AM
stereoquest stereoquest is offline
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Wink

The GAT 2 seems to be an evolutionary product with the additional major benefit of NOS tubes as stock which would address a possible issue with current production tubes used in the GAT 1. Yes the PC88 operates on a higher heater voltage but this tube is not as sensitive to heater voltage as the 6922.....in the old days anything within 10% is not abnormal. Why they increased coupling capacitor total value is surprising though.

Anyone who has heard the difference between good NOS and EH knows what to expect as a minimum in the GAT2. The ET5 is nothing like a GAT inside , it would take more than a series revision for it to challenge the original GAT or ACT 2.2 for that matter.

Lets hope in the near futute the price of GAT 1's come down so mere mortals can look to acquire them
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Old 08-01-2016, 08:01 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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So the press got it wrong again.....

Stereophile said.......

The ET5 shares all of the same parts as the GAT but is a stereo design instead of the GAT’s dual-mono layout. The ET5 uses Vishay resistors, CJD Teflon capacitors, gold plated OFC I/O connectors and vibration-isolated ...........

My dealer said something similar, although looking at photos on the web the GAT is clearly sporting way more teflon than either my CT5 or the ET5 ( neither of which do badly in that regard).

I would suspect the GAT also has a beefier power supply.

Don't worry, its about time i bought another lottery ticket. Its been 3 months since my last one.( at least).
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Old 08-02-2016, 04:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stereoquest View Post
The GAT 2 seems to be an evolutionary product with the additional major benefit of NOS tubes as stock which would address a possible issue with current production tubes used in the GAT 1. Yes the PC88 operates on a higher heater voltage but this tube is not as sensitive to heater voltage as the 6922.....in the old days anything within 10% is not abnormal. Why they increased coupling capacitor total value is surprising though.

Anyone who has heard the difference between good NOS and EH knows what to expect as a minimum in the GAT2. The ET5 is nothing like a GAT inside , it would take more than a series revision for it to challenge the original GAT or ACT 2.2 for that matter.

Lets hope in the near futute the price of GAT 1's come down so mere mortals can look to acquire them
very true. I went through literally 5 or 6 pairs of cj EH tubes in short periods of time as they kept getting noisy. I then tried some Philips Holland / Pope PCC88/7DJ8 and Telefunken PCC88/7DJ8.
IMO, the stk EH tubes still sounded better than these highly rated PCC88's - I guess that is why cj had to re-design the GAT to get the best out of the PC88 as well as some evolutionary upgrades learned over time.

I then bit the bullet and tried the Telefunken E88CC / 6922. Boom - an increase in performance in every parameter. They have also lasted 2 years without any issues - the last 6 months they have literally been on 24/7 as running with my SS amp.

That is the conundrum - My GAT with tele E88CC sounds magnificent. Why spend another AU 7K or so to upgrade? AU importer will never bring a new GAT2 into the country, so impossible to know how much better the GAT2 is over GAT1 with Tele 6922's.

first world problems

Last edited by turntable; 08-02-2016 at 04:46 AM.
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  #10  
Old 08-02-2016, 06:12 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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I'm pretty sure the AU importer would bring one in if you paid the deposit. When i win lotto i will confirm this for you. :-)

Problem with high end audio is that there is a very limited market in Australia. i think its partly the Australian mindset and partly because the weather is too nice, although i do most listening in the evening.
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