Geoff101
08-09-2014, 08:21
My pre-house move clearout continues with this lovely, and very rare CD player:
A lovely smooth 'analogue' sounding CD player by Conrad Johnson. Information is scarce about these players but they got a good write up in Stereophile back when they were current.
It has a very un-fatiguing sound but doesn't seem to lose any detail for it.
I believe they were a staggering £800-900 new.
It's basically a Philips bit-stream machine which has been extensively modified by Conrad Johnson. The output stage is a work of art and chock full of huge, expensive capacitors (pics below).
It uses the proven and capable CDM4/19 transport.
The result is a reliable machine with a sound that rivals most other things out there without spending many hundreds of pounds.
It's in good condition. Sadly since the first photos below were taken, someone has scratched the top edge of the fascia plate (which no-one in the house has any knowledge about of course) - around an inch and a half. There's a photo of the damage at the end but it doesn't really notice when on the rack.
Fully working - doesn't skip, reacts quickly and plays CDRs absolutely fine.
I have the instructions and original remote which come with it.
I would like £175 for this. Pricing is tricky as this is the only one I've ever seen for sale but given the original price, quality and sound, I don't think that is unreasonable. If you don't agree then I'm happy to discuss by PM.
I'm more than happy to demo this.
A couple of points to note:
There is no digital output but then this is all about its analogue output stage, so not using it would be missing the point.
The output of this player is, by design, about 10dB lower than some players. This is not a problem for most amps but you might struggle if you have a passive pre (according to the manual). If you have an older preamp with sensitive line inputs then the lower output is actually really useful as you can actually get some use from your volume control.
There are no transport screws (and no apparent facility to fit them) so this is for collection only from Bicester. I'm probably travelling to Dartford tomorrow (9th Sep) so we might be able to arrange delivery if you're quick and live that way.
Pictures:
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_1.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_2.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_3.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_4.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_5.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_6.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/CJ_scratch.JPG
A lovely smooth 'analogue' sounding CD player by Conrad Johnson. Information is scarce about these players but they got a good write up in Stereophile back when they were current.
It has a very un-fatiguing sound but doesn't seem to lose any detail for it.
I believe they were a staggering £800-900 new.
It's basically a Philips bit-stream machine which has been extensively modified by Conrad Johnson. The output stage is a work of art and chock full of huge, expensive capacitors (pics below).
It uses the proven and capable CDM4/19 transport.
The result is a reliable machine with a sound that rivals most other things out there without spending many hundreds of pounds.
It's in good condition. Sadly since the first photos below were taken, someone has scratched the top edge of the fascia plate (which no-one in the house has any knowledge about of course) - around an inch and a half. There's a photo of the damage at the end but it doesn't really notice when on the rack.
Fully working - doesn't skip, reacts quickly and plays CDRs absolutely fine.
I have the instructions and original remote which come with it.
I would like £175 for this. Pricing is tricky as this is the only one I've ever seen for sale but given the original price, quality and sound, I don't think that is unreasonable. If you don't agree then I'm happy to discuss by PM.
I'm more than happy to demo this.
A couple of points to note:
There is no digital output but then this is all about its analogue output stage, so not using it would be missing the point.
The output of this player is, by design, about 10dB lower than some players. This is not a problem for most amps but you might struggle if you have a passive pre (according to the manual). If you have an older preamp with sensitive line inputs then the lower output is actually really useful as you can actually get some use from your volume control.
There are no transport screws (and no apparent facility to fit them) so this is for collection only from Bicester. I'm probably travelling to Dartford tomorrow (9th Sep) so we might be able to arrange delivery if you're quick and live that way.
Pictures:
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_1.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_2.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_3.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_4.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_5.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/SD22_6.JPG
http://www.g32.co.uk/images/CJ_scratch.JPG