Sonographes on the way

[ronenash]

I believe sonograph is much older than the the time CJ acquired McCormack. Sonograph was the entry level solid state from CJ. CJ also had the Motif line which was their assult on super high-end solid state.

[Rafale]

i remember the sonographe SD1 CDP launched in the eighties, highly praised but too expensive for my pockets

[jimtranr]

The C-J Sonographe SC25 and SA250 arrived via UPS this afternoon in an almost paper-thin cardboard carton--yeah, both were packed in the same single box--with bent and wrinkled top flaps. Yikes!

Fortunately, as indicated in the post-unwrapping and hooked-up photo below, there was enough bubble wrap inside to separate and cushion them on their long journey from Vermont to Oregon.



And they work! They're still "cold" (they have about an hour's "on" time as I write this), but judging by what I'm hearing from a classical FM feed via an MR74 to my bedroom's Paradigm SE-1's, they're keepers. And to keep peace in the family, I suspect I'll have to find another SA250 for my wife's home office system.

More after I've let them "cook" for a few days.

[jimtranr]

First, kudos to Ed Deitemeier of Conrad-Johnson. Since no owner's manuals accompanied my Sonographe shipment, I e-mailed C-J's service department this morning to ask if any were available and what they'd cost. Within two hours, I received PDF's from Ed of both, along with a schematic of the SA250, and a request for my postal address, since the SC25 schematic isn't available in PDF and would have to be mailed to me. (It goes out tomorrow.) Immediate response. At no cost. That's service.

I'm glad I asked because the SC25 manual informed me that the preamp (like my Premier 17LS) is phase inverting. While it's anyone's guess whether a given recording is phase correct, I like to keep everything as "tidy" (well, not everything, says my spouse) as possible. So I've dutifully reversed the speaker leads.

While the SC25 doesn't appear from what I've read to have garnered much respect (and is clearly no 17LS), its pairing here with the SA250 via Kimber Select KS-1020 impresses as a synergistic match. Put succinctly, the speakers disappear with greater ease than they did mated to the Rotel amp. (They're standmounted Paradigm SE-1's that have to rub elbows with a wood-faced dresser and an equipment cabinet featuring exposed metal and glass faceplates. When I have the room a little "tidier," I'll post a photo or two.)

Despite the obstacles presented primarily by the furniture, the soundstage is broad and wall-vanishing deep, imaging is precise and, with good source material, reasonably three-dimensional (an attribute that, along with liquidity, seems to be improving with "cooking" time). At present, the program sources are admittedly limited--FM and cable box "music channel" presentations (yeah, yeah, I know)--but I'll be adding CD capability shortly, and possibly vinyl if I can figure out where to stuff a turntable...turns out the SC25 appears to have the optional phono stage module installed (determined by inference when a high-level program source connected to aux 1/ph produced garbled output that transformed into music when I connected the source to aux 2).

One happy camper here.