Wonderfully transparent sound.

As noted previously on this site, it has no remote control (which apparently was a concession to keep the cost of the CAV50 down).

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.

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Audio Research

Plenty of power, very well built... very solid, high parts quality, autobiasing tubes, sounds great right out the box. Very pure midrange, brass instruments are "living". Very dimensional sound. Tape/sub/proc. out

Plastic speaker binding posts, needs over 100 hours of break in to sound its best, tube cage is very ugly (but removable), Tubes need to be biased rather frequently in the begining, runs very hot. No phono stage

The purity and msuicality of this products astound me. At this price, you have no right to expect what the CJ CAV 50 delivers in abundance. The soundstage is large and dimensional... I get the sense of perspective and space between isntruments very clearly. It works wonder with brass. Best of all, though, it the way it handles well-recorded vocals... wow! Nat King Cole sounds like he is singing 5 feet in front of me... I can hear his breathing and his throat rattle a little as he holds onto a note a bit too long! talk about intimacy! This is a very detiled amp, especially for the price. It's probably also the best tube-type intergrated amplifier ever made at any price. Sure the plastic on the speaker posts annoys me, as do the utilitarian RCA jacks, but the sound and overall build quality are unasailable on any level. A world class amp for very little money. Unless you can afford to spend a lot more... say over 5,000 dollars for the Bel canto SEi40, for instance, get this amp! It provides 45 real, good, honest watts, and that's a lot of power. Whatever your budget is, stop and listen to this... you may wind up saving some money. An unmitigated, unqualified 5 stars

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Music Reference RM10, pathos classic one, Nu-vista preamp, cary 572-se

conrad-johnson midrange

No remote control

This is a fine integrated amplifier. It is not as colored as the mv-50 I owned so it is more truthful to the music.
It still has that lush midrange and serves female voices especially well. It also seems to have a more extended top end and a little bit better controlled bass. For acoutic music and jazz this is one outstanding integrated. It also seems a bit more dynamic than my mv-50 amp.
I do miss not having any remote because this system is in the computer room and it would be nice to not keep getting up and adjusting volume and changing sources (tuner/ cd)
Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

cj mv-50,audio research cl-120s

I recently acquired the C-J CAV-50, and this review reflects my comments after listening for only a week. I previously used a VTL preamp and 50wpc power amp in my system, and felt the need to upgrade to the CAV-50 after being blown away by it in the store. And that's exactly what the CAV-50 does at home, driving my B&W DM610's! The midrange and high frequencies with this integrated amp are totally smooth and transparent, without the slightest hint of grain or coloration. Voices are reproduced superbly, such as the vocals on Natalie Cole's "Unforgetttable" which come through with amazing palpable presence. Solo piano, which can be a difficult test for any amp, is produced with clarity. The bass reproduction is ample and in balance with the rest of the unit, but produced with less authority than my prior rig (which had great bass capability, but was somewhat less smooth in the midrange and colored the sound unless you gave it at least an hour to warm up). The CAV-50 seems to sound good withi minutes of turn-on, but is best after maybe only 15 minutes, which is great for any amp (!). The amp features small LED's for doing the tube bias, which is a joy to use, and sure beats getting out the ol' multimeter. In summary, the CAV-50 is a great amp for use in smaller systems and with reasonably efficient speakers. It's liquid midrange and transparent highs are fabulous and without par in this price range. Build quality is first rate C-J, perfect. My rating is a 5- with the (-) only because the amp doesn't have a remote volume control.

Previously I had Arcam 290 integrated and 290 power amps biamping Linn Kelidh speakers. Saw the CAV 50 in the window and went in to find out the price and was pleasently surprised to hear it was under USD 2K. Next day I was in with a bag full of CDs just to hear what it sounded like and after 2 hours walked out with it.
Give it half an hour to warm up and then the clarity, soundstaging and resolution was far beyond what I was getting with the Arcams and is at least a match for its transistorized price peers. The treble is smooth but detailed and the midrange makes vocals sound very natural and placed correctly in the soundstage. The bass can't match the Arcams for sheer power or extension but is very musical.

And thats the reason I bought it, the music was just foot tapping good and made you want to get up and dance and sing. I can't see me changing this for a very long time. The downside is that the supplied tube cage is really ugly if you are forced to use it like I am. If you can run it without the cage then it looks as good as it sounds.

Best push-pull integrated tube amp you can buy. Mids and highs are crystal clear.

No remote. Need to change the original tubes to make this amp do everything right.

After months of demos and the Stereophile show in Manhattan in May, I finally decided on the c-j cav-50. I have to admit that I was overloaded with information and became confused at one point. But after talking directly to Conrad-Johnson's customer service rep, Knute, I felt that I couldn't go wrong with the amp or the company. And I have been smiling ever since! You have never heard the Beatles like this before! (Demo the new Beatles 1 cd on it and you'll know what I'm talking about!) Friends and family have been moved by the way it delivers Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah and many cuts from O Brother, Where Art Thou. And when it comes time to rock, it can get down with the likes of any solid state amp out there! Bravo, c-j!

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JoLida, Legend, Cary

Absolute accurate sound, beautiful vocals, like the artists
are in our family room

relatively long(30 minutes) warm up period

We cannot say enough about Conrad Johnson and our CAV-50.The tonal balance and accuracy are outstanding. Never have we heard a system that brings music to life as the cj.As we have friends over, they sit in amazement at the sound in our family room. We are a couple that love to go to live concerts, and listen to live music in clubs. Any type of music suits us, but we love rock, jazz and blues specifically. Since we are also in our early 40's with three kids, we can't get out like we used to or want to. Hence, our respit is to sit in candlelight and incense on the weekends and listen to our system, with the cj cav at it's heart.I can safely say Pink Floyd, BB King, Koko Taylor, Metallica, and especially the Dead, have all stood in our house and sung directly for us. Isn't that what music is really all about? The emotional release of ourselves and our souls?
The Cav 50 is what gets us there. I can dabble and babble on about specs, and comparisons, and evaluations etc., but why? Those don't explain the true meaning of music, and why we listen to it. Other systems we've heard just don't make it. We could pay a lot more, but again, why? The cj cav is all we need it to be.

Conrad Johnson seems to be an outstanding company. We've communicated with them via phone and e-mail, and they always answer promptly and sincerely. Their system looks beautiful, glowing in the dark. We belive that their slogan is "It Just Sounds Right" and we couldn't agree more. As my wife says,"Music is an orgasm for the soul!", and the Conrad Johnson Cav 50 truly plays music. We are happy.

In the never ending quest for the perfect sound i ran across the cav-50 by CJ. I brought it home for an evening and was totally stunned by the clarity, depth, and warm sound. Tubes tend to be much easier to listen to for long periods primarily due to the smoothness of the high end. Not to worry though you hear all the music high and low. With my ProAc response 1SC's there seemed to be a magical aura to the music that could not be reproduced with solid state equipment. This is a totally non-biased opinion to seeing that ive always owned solid state products. IF YOU ARE IN THE MARKET FOR EITHER SEPARATES OR AN INTEGRATED TWO CHANNEL AMP I WOULD STRONGLY URGE YOU TO SET UP A HOME AUDITION OF THIS PRODUCT. I DID AND LANDED UP PURCHASING ONE.
NOTE: be shure that your speakers are and easy load for optimum output and sound though

Short and to the point. I traded in my Naim Audio amps for the conrad-johnson and its the most relaxed, easy to listen to amp I've ever heard.After all these years, even my wife loves this amp. [she always thought I was nuts when it came to stereo's] Anyone who's after great sound at home needs to hear this amp.If I could have had an amp custom made to sound the way I wanted, this would have been it. From the bottom of my heart, thank you conrad-johnson. Its nice to know products like this exist.

Excellent soundstaging which is deep and wide, greatimaging, excellent vocals , sweet and enchanting to the ears

Have not yet noticed any

I am deeply impressed with it's ability to reproduce lovely music( sounding natural, sweet and warm). I took it home after an audition and have been enthralled by it's music making capabilities( it has been two weeks since I brought it home).My nights have been so much more enjoyable playing my collection of CDs and every piece sounds outstanding and so natural. I am especially enthralled by it's ability to reproduce vocals that so closely resembles life performances. It has dynamic rhythmn and excellent pace. I have heard several excellent high-end products and I can personally say that the C-J CAV50 is from this top drawer of high-end equipments at an excellent price.
Equipment used at home :
C.E.C TL5100 Belt Drive Transport
Ultech DAC
ProAc 2000 Signature speakers
C-J CAV50 Integrated Tube Amplifier
AFA Zeus and Audio Magic cables

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