Et3se

[jaxwired]

Great review of the ET3SE by Sam Tellig in stereophile this month. Makes me want to try one. Says it's the best CJ he's ever had in his house. Can it actually sound better than my new PV14LS2? Damn it!

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by jaxwired

Great review of the ET3SE by Sam Tellig in stereophile this month. Makes me want to try one. Says it's the best CJ he's ever had in his house. Can it actually sound better than my new PV14LS2? Damn it!

Hi Jax,

I haven't gotten my issue yet, but if it's anywhere near the ET5, you will love it. Sorry to say.

Joe

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jaxwired

Great review of the ET3SE by Sam Tellig in stereophile this month. Makes me want to try one. Says it's the best CJ he's ever had in his house. Can it actually sound better than my new PV14LS2? Damn it!

Some of Sam's comments have to taken in perspective, like when he last had a C-J preamp in his house.

I heard the "regular" ET3 when it first came out and I was impressed, it's a great sounding preamp, but then you have to bear in mind, all C-J preamps are great-sounding preamps. Like Honda building motorcycles, I don't think C-J can build a bad-sounding preamp. The differences between C-J preamps are a matter either of degree or taste (see below). When I asked both the C-J customer service rep at the factory and my local dealer if the ET3 was better than the Premier 17, and both, to a person, said, "No way". The reason I was given was the same from both sources: the ET3, while very good, was not as good as the Premier 17 and it couldn't because the Pr17 was built with a much higher degree of manufacturing specification than the ET3. I would expect the ET3SE to possibly be a bit better than a "regular" Pr17 in detail and transparency, but only because of it's Teflon caps, but I would not expect it to be better than a Premier 17 Series 2 or Premier 16 Series 2 (which really was a fantastic preamp). And I'm not sure I would prefer an ETSE to my Pr17 (again, see below). For example, an ETSE sells for $4k. Right now, there is a Series 2 Premier 16 preamp for sale for $3300 on Audigon. If it were me, I'd buy the Premer 16 LS 2 over the ET3SE in a heartbeat and put the $700 saved into music or some good power cords.

I would guess it's better than the PV14 Series 2, but probably not by very much, and only you can decide by personal auditioning if it's better and if so, is it worth the difference in cost?

Mind you, this coming from someone who has both a CT-5 and a Premier 17 and prefers the Premier 17. And keep in mind that the CT-5 received incredible reviews virtually everywhere. Does this mean the CT-5 is not a good preamp? Absolutely not. Some feel it's one of the best preamps ever made. Jeff Whitlock, for example, really preferred it to my Pr 17. Personally, I prefer the Pr17 because while not as transparent, quiet, detailed, or as fast, the Pr17 sounds more like music (to me, anyway).

It''s the job of the editors to review components and describe their characteristics in such a way to inform you that it might resonate with your own sensibilities. The truth is, it might or it might not. Both Turntable and I have owned both 6922 and 6H30 based C-J preamps and prefer C-J's 6922-based preamps. Others, like Jeff Whitlock or Jeff Dorgay prefer the 6H30 preamps, the ACT or CT-5.

What this means at the end of the day is you have to take what editors say with a grain of salt and audition for yourself.

[Rayooo]

So just out of curiosity, myself being a relatively new CJ person...How has CJ going to the FET outputs now on more recent designs, affected the "CJ Sound" now vs the past.

In my case, I was typically a bit leery of preamps with "higherish" output impedance.
I am sure there is far more to it than this of course.

I have not seen the article, but I would like to here Mr. Tellig's reasoning why he states the ET3SE being better than other/older CJ preamps. I could surely understand him stating they are different.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by jaxwired

Great review of the ET3SE by Sam Tellig in stereophile this month. Makes me want to try one. Says it's the best CJ he's ever had in his house. Can it actually sound better than my new PV14LS2? Damn it!

After years (more, I suspect, than at least a few people here have even been around, and including a couple working high-end retail itself) of chasing the "holy grail" (at far more dollars than I ever want to think about), I think a more productive, to say nothing of less vexing, question to ponder would be: How would a c-j amp--and with it my overall musical enjoyment--fare with my new PV14LS?

You already have what looks, and no doubt sounds, like a great listening setup. My gut feeling is that you'll get more bang for whatever additional bucks you might think of expending by investing them in a c-j amp for that last dollop of system synergy that I suspect will, given your apparent early satsifaction with the 14, elevate your system's perceived performance to a new level of enjoyment.

Since it's based on a gut feeling, I don't pretend that this unsolicited comment is sage advice. And because it's free, it might well be worth what (or for that matter less than) you paid for it. Nonetheless, having been there and done that--namely, succumbing to at least the temptation of buyer's remorse after reading a review of the "new and improved"--more than once to my regret, I toss it out for whatever you think it might be worth.

Stephen, BTW, is on target with respect to the context of Sam Tellig's remarks. I think it's been a while since he's actually seriously sampled c-j offerings prior to the ET3SE.

Jim

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

After years (more, I suspect, than at least a few people here have even been around, and including a couple working high-end retail itself) of chasing the "holy grail" (at far more dollars than I ever want to think about), I think a more productive, to say nothing of less vexing, question to ponder would be: How would a c-j amp--and with it my overall musical enjoyment--fare with my new PV14LS?

You already have what looks, and no doubt sounds, like a great listening setup. My gut feeling is that you'll get more bang for whatever additional bucks you might think of expending by investing them in a c-j amp for that last dollop of system synergy that I suspect will, given your apparent early satsifaction with the 14, elevate your system's perceived performance to a new level of enjoyment.

Excellent post I completely agree that I would explore the synergy that can be had by using a C-J amp with your PV14 LS2 than second-guessing whether or not the ET3SE is a better preamp than the PV14 LS2.

The truth is, you can ALWAYS get a better-sounding preamp by going up the engineering specification ladder, to a Premier 16LS2, an ET-5 or even a GAT.

But Jim really hit the nail on the head when he posted: "How would a c-j amp--and with it my overall musical enjoyment--fare with my new PV14LS?" is really the important question here; would you actually have a more engaging musical experience by doing that rather than exploring the synergy you could obtain by getting an MF2500 or ET250S or even an LP70S amp instead of spending $4K on an ET3SE?

My CT-5 is a beautiful sounding preamp...super clean, super-detailed, fast, transparent, all that good "audiophile" stuff.

But I personally find my Premier 17 provides a more engaging musical experience than the CT-5 does, for me, anyway.

[turntable]

I am sure the ET3se sounds very good, but do not take his opinion for anything except an advatorial. however it is a typical lazy Sam Telling review. almost a rehash of a couple of previous cj reviews.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Excellent post I completely agree that I would explore the synergy that can be had by using a C-J amp with your PV14 LS2 than second-guessing whether or not the ET3SE is a better preamp than the PV14 LS2.

The truth is, you can ALWAYS get a better-sounding preamp by going up the engineering specification ladder, to a Premier 16LS2, an ET-5 or even a GAT.

But Jim really hit the nail on the head when he posted: "How would a c-j amp--and with it my overall musical enjoyment--fare with my new PV14LS?" is really the important question here; would you actually have a more engaging musical experience by doing that rather than exploring the synergy you could obtain by getting an MF2500 or ET250S or even an LP70S amp instead of spending $4K on an ET3SE?

My CT-5 is a beautiful sounding preamp...super clean, super-detailed, fast, transparent, all that good "audiophile" stuff.

But I personally find my Premier 17 provides a more engaging musical experience than the CT-5 does, for me, anyway.

That question hit me, or struck a chord , for what I'm going through now. Would a C-J amp provide more enjoyment with my ET5 than my MC601's? I suspect it would and am exploring that possibility now.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by joeinid

That question hit me, or struck a chord , for what I'm going through now. Would a C-J amp provide more enjoyment with my ET5 than my MC601's?

Probably.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Probably.

Ha! I think I meant that rhetorically So yes, a C-J amp is in my future