Beautifully and smartly built - especially bias set-up
Classic warm, liquid midrange
Simple to use & maintain

Lacks power with more demanding loads
Not particulary pacey
modest but not paunchy bass

Couldn't pass up a chance to audition CJ's classic integrated. I was impressed with its sound - smooth, warm & tuneful. Dynamics were a bit restricted - especially the bass which was not tight and punchy. Where it really fell short for my needs is on power and drive. When compared to my ARC Vsi55, it was so apparent what a lightweight it is - think Cary...Interestingly enough, the ARC is also rated at 50 watts. I think the difference is ARC's much beefier 6550 output tubes compared to the slim and slender sounding EL34s. The CAV 50 would probably be great with some monitors and the like.

Customer Service

Conrad-Johnson? Superb!

Similar Products Used:

ARC Vsi55

-Just the right balance between warmth and detail. -Simplicity. -Support of C-J. -Peformance for price.

None in my opinion.

I have to say that is one good amp. It's simple, straight foward, and outperforms its competition by far. I love it that it is an integrated unit and delivers a sound that stuns me everytime I turn it on. It may not be Class A on it's own, but with proper tube replacement and matching components (like my Rogers LS3/5A speakers), you can get Class A sound for a very reasonable price.

Soundwise, everything. Warm, open , dynamic, coherent, musical

Not a good match of a demanding set of speaker

Just a Note, I paid 3000$ Canadian Incredible... I bought the CAV50 after listening to the Bryston 4B SST, 2B SST. Before the purchase, I was listening music on the Marantz SR19 which drove a pair of Totem Model 1 Signature. After listening to the CAV50, I can't stand listening to the Marantz anymore. Anyhow, let's start with the Bryston 4B SST. I have to admit that it was the best solid state amp that I have heard so far. I listened to the Bryston 2B SST, the Arcam Diva 85w. The Bryston was very clear and dynamic. The soundstate was wide and the music was dynamic. I thought that it sounded great until I listened to the CAV 50. It blew me away, espcially considering that the Bryston is a 300W, and the CAV50 is a 45W tube amp. The CAV 50 has lucious voice and sweet highs. The image was quite wider, fuller , and the soundstage was 3 dimensional. You can easily perceive the layering of voices, and instrument. When listing to it, you can an eerie feeling, that the soundstage is full. There does not seem to be any holes in the imaging. The bass is very tight and controlled. Overall, the sound was warm as should a tube amp be. What I found amazing is how everything was coherent. I never understood what coherent and musical meant until I listened to it. My definition of coherent is that all seem to flow smoothly, not mechanical. For example, in a guitar solo, the notes seems to flow one after another. The sound is liquid. The opposite would be a mechanical sounding voicing in which each note seems to be played independently, instead of a continuous flow of notes. The CAV 50 is very dynamic. You can hear every guitar pluck. Drum and winds will hit you in your face. You swear that the singer is right in front of you. You can actually "feel" the voices and instruments. The amp realy open things up. Singers like Holly Cole really shine. For example, on "I Can See Clearly Now", there is a point where she sing with everything she got, i.e. a nice loud high vocal. Her voice felt like it would climbg without hitting a ceiling I never felt that it was compressed in any way. Instruments are precisely located, I would even say better than the Bryston and much more than the Marantz. Before I got the CAV50,I tought that the Totem lacked bass. THe Totem's only go down to 50Hz, however, with the CAV 50, the bass was much more present, tighter and richer. Whatever bass the Totem can play, it does it superbly well. The construction of the amp is quite simple: a volume knob, and a source selector. The Tube are quite something when lights are out! However, if you have speakers that can go down in bass, the CAV50 may not be powerful enough. On a set of floorstanding Totem Forest speaker, the volume was not as loud as the Totem Model 1. I do not think that this amp is ideal for demanding speakers, but what a great match for the Model 1's. I am addicted to the sound of this amp. The combination of the CAV 50 and Totem 1 has so much potential when mated with better components. I listened to it a Arcam Alpha 9, and a Rega Jupiter. The sound just keeps improving. I have yet to find a plateau. I tried a pair of speaker cable, (700$/feet), and the sound just keeps improving. And the final icing on the cake, I listened the setup with a Chord DAC64. Oh my god, the sound just gets better and better. When does it stop? I guess it depends of your budget ;) With the CAV 50 and Totem I plan to get a Regal CD player, and the Chord DAC , and I should then be in Heaven.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston, Arcam, Marantz, Nad, Yamaha

Liquid, harmonic sound. great depth Cannot imagine how to improve

The cover looks terrific

First switching it on i was allmost disappointed. the sound coming out of my proac EBS (the best affordable speaker on planet!)was too weak and smooth. because it´s my first tube amp i wasn´t used to the time burning in the tubes. my dealer told me to be patient ---this was a very good advice! after some hours of listening the sound got amazing! i´m now sitting hypnotized, listening to the music. last week i ordered nos tubes. i´m really looking forward to the time the tube will come to me.

Similar Products Used:

Tested a CJ MV-60. Sounded perfect too but limited by my peamp

it ia dope

none

Wow, is this integrated amp surprisingly good for the price. I was really amazed at what a clear and musical integrated amp the CAV50 is, particularly with vocals. It's almost eerie how holographically the CAV50 can present vocals on a good recording. Vocals just float between speakers. Even after owning the CAV50 for six months, I still sit there amazed at the sound. I've been using the CAV50 with a pair of B&W CDM1se's that I use in my second, smaller sound system. The CDM1se's are fairly easy to drive (and not bad sounding for the price), but just for kicks I tried the CAV50 with a pair of Thiel 2 2's that I often use in my more serious sound system. The Thiels can be a fairly tough load for most anything but bigger solid state amps, but very surprisingly, the CAV 50 actually sounded good and had no audible trouble driving the Thiels even at higher than normal listening levels. Of course, I didn't turn the volume up enough to try and shake the room, but then I wouldn't do that with any amp (I want to keep the hearing intact for the long run). Just making a point that this little integrated amp has a lot more guts than I would have guessed possible. Sure, there are better amps and integrated amps out there, but the CAV50 would be pretty hard to beat in its price range. And as far a service goes, conrad-johnson is simply legendary. Good service is something you don't always get with some of the other high-end manufacturers (just read some of the reviews of other manufacturer's products on this website). Unless you're a damn good electrical engineer or an audiophile savant and can fix your own equipment, you should always give a few points to audio companies with a good reputation for service. Out of the box, one of the EL34 tubes that came with the CAV50 wouldn't bias properly no matter what socket I used it in (can happen with any batch of tubes), so I emailed cj. I live in Washington, DC, (near Fairfax, Virginia where cj is headquartered), and Knut (their service representative) drove a replacement tube over after work the same day. He followed up with phone calls and email. I know I sound a little gung-ho about this product, but it's done nothing but sound wonderful. Strengths: Wonderfully transparent sound. Weaknesses: As noted previously on this site, it has no remote control (which apparently was a concession to keep the cost of the CAV5

Similar Products Used:

yes this was the best on

tonality, harmonic content, transparency, resolution, imaging

mid- and low-bass not as impactful as monster solid-state amps RCA connectors could be higher quality and stronger no detachable power cord can''t accept some old EL34''s with large bases

"tribute to Russian ingenuity"? I don''t think so. The main reasons C-J and other manufactures choose Sovtek or Svetlana as stock tubes are that they sound okay and are readily available. Currently my CAV-50 have all US made NOS tubes installed (GE black plate 5751 for 12AX7, Sylvania VT-231 for 6SN7, and GE 6CA7 for EL34) and the sound is many notches up. Well the reason for me to submit another review one year later is to update what I went through with this gem. Simply said, this amp is incredible and has lots of room for improvements. I''ve owned much more expensive integrated (the $4900 Musical Fidelity M3 and the $4500 VAC Avatar) in the past year and they were NOT better. Only CAV-50 stays. My original review was only with better tubes. But here are what I did to improve the performances further: Tweaks: -power conditioner (VanEvers) -isolation footers (BDR cones) -Teflon vibration dampers on 12AX7''s Upgrades: -DACT CT-2 volume pot -Cardas internal wires -fast recovery diodes So, don''t judge this amp until you at least try better tubes. I''ll give 5 starts for the stock CAV-50, but with the tweaks and upgrades the performances and value go through the roof. Hear it for yourself but make sure it is paired with good enough upstream and downstream components. Cheers.

Similar Products Used:

Musical Fidelity M3 VAC Avatar Jeff Rowland Concentra Bryston B60

Excellent sound

Size, appearance, runs hot, valves.

I purchased this amp to replace a QUAD 33/303 which was stolen. These were being used to drive a pair of QUAD ESL 57''s (which weren''t stolen). Based upon reviews I read here, amongst other places, I chose the CAV50 as a replacement for the QUAD amp. The CAV50 does sound a little bit better than the QUAD. Not a huge amount better, mind you. Of especial note is that the bass is tighter. This is an amp for the winter months. Class A amps run hot anyway, but the majority of the heat is generated by the valves and so this amp would run hot not matterwhat class it was in. The amp utilizes 9 valves, including four of the renowned EL34. I believe the CAV50 is fitted with Sovtek EL34 valves. They''re Russian and they don''t appear to be Svetlana. CJ really should have thought some more about the design. It looks like it''s housed in an electronic project box and is topped off with an ugly cover for the valves. The set screws in the source selector switch hadn''t been tightened so this immediately fell off! I would have liked to see the option for a phono input stage, but this is sadly lacking. Given the price of new QUAD amps (which I don''t find aesthetically appealing either), the CJ is competitive, but I wouldn''t call it a bargain. It''s intriguing is what it is. It''s amazing that this thing with all these weird-looking valves poking out of it and running almost as hot as the oven grill produces such good quality sound! It''s as much a tribute to Russian ingenuity as anything

Similar Products Used:

None

vocal and midrange; tonal purity; soundstage

bass not as tight and deep as good solid-state does; cheap speaker posts and RCA jacks

It is amazing that after owning it for more than a year, I still keep finding and appreciate its virtues. The most important midrange is where its strength is. It is liquid and rich. As many have pointed out, the vocals sound especially realistic. The top end never sounded harsh or offensive but the information is all there. It may strain a little bit when playing full-scale orchestra, but man for live jazz even some mega-buck systems I heard of can't compete. Only weak area is the bass where it is not as tight and powerful as a good solid state. But you can't have it all at this price... Overall I sincerely appreciate CJ for making such an honest product. By the way, after a long search, I upgraded to tubes of Mazda 12AX7, Sylvania VT-231 (6SN7), and JJ EL34. The sound is another notch up from the stock configuration. Don't care about the 12AU7 as it's only used to buffer "pre-out". I use a dirt cheap 12AU7 and keep the relatively good stock one for the days when it's really needed.

System:
Copland CDA-288 CD player
JPS Superconductor or Audiotruth Opal interconnects
CJ CAV-50
DH Lab T-14 shutgun biwire speaker cables
B&W Matrix 802 with external crossovers & Sound Anchor stands

Similar Products Used:

Bryston B-60, Audiolab 8000A, Adcom 555II

Smmoth unfatigueing mids

Slight lack of shimmer on brushed cymbals etc

This is a truly lovely tube integrated amp, well-designed, and well-constructed. I auditioned this amp with familiar music (mostly small combo jazz and folk), comparing it to other good integrateds, and I agree with others that this is a totally unfatiguing amp with a modified Conrad Johnson sound – warm and euphonic, but with good bass, too. Unfortunately, for me, as much as I wanted to love this amp, some little bit of excitement at the top was missing compared to the Cary integrated or even the smooth-for-solid-state Bryston B-60, with the Bryston adding (or revealing?) some very slight hardness on some recordings, and the Cary having the best balance of the three. The CAV-50 had the best depth and mids, and better bass than the Cary tube amp, but that very slight loss of sheen bothered me. This IS a very nice amp, but I feel it is a 4-star or 4.5 star amp, not a 5-star amp. A great amp, but perhaps not for everybody. I do hope that further auditioning changes my mind. Not the best bargain either (See Audio Refinement Complete for that on a lower level), but the CAV-50 is an amp you just want to love.

Similar Products Used:

Cary, Bryston B-60, B&W Nautilus 805 speakers on all

I will say right up front that I think this is a great piece of gear. Conrad-johnson has produced something really special here. For those who don’t already know, the CAV-50 is an integrated, 45 watt/channel (25 watts/channel in triode mode), tube amplifier. Essentially, it is most of the company’s PV-10 line stage preamp coupled with their MV-55 amp.
Right, let’s start at the bottom. Bass is deep and well-defined, although not the last word in speed. But that’s not what we buy tube gear for, is it? From 70 Hz on up and given the tweaks detailed below, I have not heard its equal, at least in pentode based equipment. The mids are truly spectacular, displaying a wonderful coherence, very wide and deep soundstage, and outstanding tonal fidelity. The sound is warm and liquid without displaying the sense of ‘lushness’ that some ARC (for example) amps tend towards. Human voice, especially female, is rendered beautifully, obviously assuming a proper recording to begin with - something that happens less often than most of us would like. I get no sense of a rolled off high end, as with some older tube amps. Rather, instruments shine when they should and don’t when they shouldn’t. Given the prices of truly great tube gear these days, I believe the CAV-50 is a bargain.

Tweaks: the manual states very clearly that the stock tubes should be used in this amp. Well, while I understand that c-j can’t provide NOS tubes in a production model, you should know that significant improvement is at hand by replacing the stock Sovtek 12AX7s and 6SN7s. Lesser benefits are derived from replacing the power tubes (EL34s). I am fortunate to have a good supply of 12AX7s on hand. I’ve tried Telefunkens, Amperex Bugle Boys, and Mazda (France) grey plates. Each provides a different spectral shift. The Telefunkens display a gorgeous midrange, slightly light bass, and a slightly darker overall tonal balance than the others. The Bugle Boys are a bit lighter and airier than the other two, while the bass falls about halfway between them. The Mazdas, which are pretty damn hard to come by, force a deep, articulate bass out of my system in a way that I wouldn’t have thought possible. Mids are very good, but not quite up to the standards of the Telefunkens. Seriously, we are talking about upgrade scale differences here. As for 6SN7s, I have tried fewer alternatives, but even a pair of Sylvanias, which don’t have the best reputation, had a noticeable (positive) effect. I briefly had a pair of brown plate GEs in, but the sound was poor enough that I think they were well past their prime. I’ve been told by a friend whose ears I respect greatly that NOS Brimars would do well in my system, so I’ll be trying to hunt these down. EL34s - stock Sovteks are replaced by Teslas. I can hear very minor changes when switching between these. A matched quad of Mullards would be nice, but its hard to justify the price when it’s clear that the small signal tubes are the important factors.

Caveats: There is apparently a real synergy between this amp and the Shearwaters. While I have heard the speakers with numerous amplifiers (they always sound great if driven by quality), I have heard only a few other speaker makes with the CAV-50. I can say that it was excellent driving ProAc 2s and Gallos, the only two that I am comfortable in saying that I have heard long enough to form an opinion. Obviously, audition it in your own system if possible. Lastly, I have not heard the amp in triode mode, which requires a trip to c-j. I would love to hear from anyone who has had the mod performed.

All in all, I am extremely satisfied with this amplifier. It makes music.

Associated equipment:

Well Tempered Classic
Benz Micro Glider
Rotel phono stage - to be replaced by a Wavelength Cotangent in a matter of days
CAL Delta
CAL Alpha (24/96 upgrade)
Meadowlark Shearwaters (Hot Rod version)
Biwire Music Metre Signature cables
D Lin Audio 4.0 and Music Metre Signature interconnects
Room Tunes