Another Chicago Gathering

Sunday 11/16/2008 Start 10-11am

So far attending, Burke, Cherian, and David Matz.
Joey will be vacationing in Barack's home state, so won't be attending.

We'll have both Summits and CLSs to listen to and Compare.
Burke will be bringing one of his Sanders Amps and David will be brining his CJ 350. Looking forward to this, cause my next upgrade will be an amp or two to drive the CLSs.

Any other members wishing to attend send me a PM.

wayne

If it gets here in time I can bring the CJ Premier 140 Tube amp. 140 WPC of tube power. should be fun.

Cherian said:

If it gets here in time I can bring the CJ Premier 140 Tube amp. 140 WPC of tube power. should be fun.

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Oh boy I'd be very interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on how that might pair with the CLS's. Much like Wayne I've been giving some thought to an amp change for my CLS's. It's coming on winter and I sometimes miss the sound of glass space heaters.

Wish I could be there, but I will be in spirit and look forward to a report on the sound.

Lot's of pictures too guys!

Sounds like a blast. Too bad Joey's not gonna be there.

That'd be very interesting. CJ 140 versus 350 showdown. Post what you think - and be as honest as you can.

Here are the pics

The great Chicago amp show-down has held this morning at Wayne's (theWB).
The contestants were: Sanders ESL 2ch, Sanders Sound Sytem ESL mono blocks. Conrad Johnson Premier 350 (solid state) and Conrad Johnson Premier 140 (tube).

Cj140

Cherian checkin on his conrad-johnson Premier 140

The test crew

The crew, Cherian, David Matz, Wayne (the WB)

The room

Wayne's fine man cave, with the newly finished CLS and Summits.

Another great Chicagoland get together. I want to thank Wayne for hosting us. We had some awesome amps to listen to. The Sanders Monoblocks , and stereo amps, the Conrad Johnson Premier 350 and the Premier 140.

CJ 350 –VS- 140
Ok now what you have been waiting for. The overall favorite amp between the 350 and the 140 is the 350 (3 to 1). The majority felt the 350 did more things correctly. I, being the lone voice for the 140. I like the smoother and more rounded sounds of the 140. I also found the 140 worked better with the summits rather than the CLS. Again when asked to do bass the 140 did not cut it. The summits having a powered sub seem to work with the 140 better. It is a good thing that I own both. I feel that bi-amping is the way to go. Still we must not forget the 350 is more than 2X the power of the 140. No doubt both are world class amps.

CLS –VS- Summits
Overall I liked the Summits over the CLS. The CLS had a massive soundstage and a larger sweet spot. Still I liked the detail and bass punch of the summits better. The summits are faster more airy and transparent. Don’t get me wrong for $2500.00 you can get a pair of CLS and new panels. This is a great deal for beautiful looking / sounding speakers. There is no doubt in my mind now the ML is improving the design of the stat speaker.

Again thanks for a great day of music, food and energy drinks.!!!!

The contest

My take on the results.

I first hooked up my Sanders monoblocks but something must have come loose inside the left channel developed a noticeable hum and so he bowed out before we hardly go started.

So we moved on to the Sanders ESL (2 ch). This made a noticeable difference over Wayne's B&K Reference 200.5 II. We all liked this sound, on both the Summits and the CLS.

Next we fired up the conrad-johnson Premier 350. I found it hard to tell the difference, But everyone else liked it better than the Sander's. Second time for these two and second time the CJ 350 has come out on top (of course is was the same judges so not really a surprise there).

Then we moved on to the CJ Premier 140. This was different very nice and warm sound but not the same tight control of the CSL panels as the solid state 350. The our too short and sloppy speaker wires for this test caught up with us, shorted and popped the right channel fuse in the 140.

While looking for a fuse I remembered that I had some in my pockets because I need the change them in the Sander's amps when I swithced voltages from 240 back to 120. Duhhhh. I forgot to switch the volatage back on the Sanders ESL it was set for 240 and we ran it on 120. So I switched it and replaced the CJ 350 with the Sanders (Boy the guys really design these well as you can screw up and they still sound great) But it does sound better when set properly.

The end,
I still like my Sanders amps, it is more articulate and drier sounding the CJ is slightly warmer, The others still like the CJ 350. (If you read this as biased you are most probably correct). Both amps are first class and you can not go wrong with either I highly recommend either.

I will agree the Sanders amp at $4k new is a great buy. It is a contender with amps costing 2x this. If you want a great amp that will work very well with ELS then audition a Sanders. Or better yet get a super deal on a used innersound amp for a 1K or less.

Evening Gents,

sounds like a great time was had buy all ! and given the way the Bears played today aren't you glad you listened to music as opposed to watching football !!

Hope to hook up with you guys next time out.

Looks like Da Bears are back to being the "Bad news Bears". Thank god for Good music and friends.

How did the Eagles tie with Bengals? A tie?????!!!!

Replaced the right channel fuse in the Premier 140 and all is well!!! I was hoping that I would not have to buy new tubes yet.

First of all, big thanks to Wayne for hosting us, and big thanks to Wayne's wife for serving a most delicious lunch.

My take on things is that I like the CJ 350 the best with every Logan I have heard it with. I auditioned about a dozen amps, and this one is the best I heard with ML. It's a close call between the 350 and 140 on the Summits. The CJ 140 is extremely smooth and natural sounding. However, I do like the control of SS on the panels. On the CLS, there is no contest, IMHO; The CJ 140 was just to mellow for my taste, and the 350 is a clear winner with this hard to drive speaker.

As for Summits vs. CLS, I also prefer the Summits. As mentioned, the CLS has a huge soundstage, but the Summits has the transparency, dynamics, detail, clarity (like a veil lifted from the CLS), etc. However, after hearing the CLS for the first time, I understand the passion of its owners. Listening to Dave Brubeck at Carnegie Hall on the CLS, I felt I was there. Amazing for a 20 year old speaker! Combining the virtues of both speakers, one gets the CLX.

Great time!

Sounds like you guys had a ball! Thanks for sharing--and the pics!

I want to Thank You all for Lugging your amplifiers over to my house.
I don't know any other way I would be able to audition so many quality amps in one afternoon in my own system and my own room.

First off, all were much better than my current amplification.

All amps sounded great. My preference overall was the CJ350 with the Summits and the Sanders with the CLS. But we didn't get a chance to listen to the CJ140 very long with the CLS,(thats when we blew a fuse).

I'm convinced that quality amplification definatly makes a difference in my system, and will probably be my next upgrade.

I also prefer SS over tubes.

The afternoon went by way to quickly.

Burke, Your pictures are excellent, you make the room look better than it does in person.

Once again Guys, Thanks for lugging what amounted to probably $30,000 in amplification over to my place.

twich54 said:

Hope to hook up with you guys next time out.

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Dave,
As long as you supply the Magic Dots.

theWB said:

Dave,
As long as you supply the Magic Dots.

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You guys were doing acid?

Just kidding, I know what it's a reference to. You weren't doing acid....right?

I agree with Dave, sounds like you guys had a great time and Wayne, you did get to listen to a whole passle of top flight stuff. I wish that the CJ hadn't blown a fuse. I'm VERY curious lately about tubes on the CLS's. May have to do a little auditioning with them myself.

Glad you guys had fun!

So sorry!

Chicago gathering,
I was on track to make the day when I had a last minute call for a job downtown. Coming to the gathering would have made my day a bit tight.

I really would love to come next time so keep me in the loop if you would. The pics look like a good time was had by all.

BTW I will be playing this Wed. at Green Dolphin Street in the city if anyone is interested. Smallish big band lead by Chicago allstar Bill Porter, 9:00 start.

Doug - out