General Asylum: REVIEW: Conrad-Johnson (CJ,C-J) MV60 Amplifier (Tube) by Aurelio S.

The MV60 is the newest addition to the Conrad-Johnson tube amplifier family. According to the dealer with which I dealt, the MV60 is to replace the glorious sounding Premier 11. Can the MV60 fill its older sibling's shoes? In one word: Yes!

What makes the MV60 different than previous MV series amplifiers? One reason, according to C-J's website, is as follows: "Conrad-Johnson's continuing research into transformer design has uncovered an intricate variation on transformer construction that results in unusually wide bandwidth output transformers. These ultra wide-band Transpectral transformers are used in all of the current Premier power amplifiers. The MV60 is the first time these costly transformers have been used outside the Premier range. The MV60 also benefits from recent advances in power supply design developed for conrad-johnson's flagship products."

The rain fell hard on this dreary Saturday in southeastern Michigan, so traffic was light in the store. After attending to the remaining customers, my dealer, my cousin/fellow audiophile/electrical engineer and I sat down for some serious listening. The MV60 had been playing all day, so it was nice and warm - I felt "toasty" myself!

The session began with the weathered, raspy vocals of Willie Nelson's Stardust off the Sony SACD sampler. The MV60's presentation was lush and warm. I consider the 601s a wee bit on the bright side, but not with the MV60! The MV60 rounded things off at the top-end perfectly! The palpable presence of the instruments and Willie, himself, was UN-BUH-LEE-VABLE! I have listened to the Premier 11 before, and recalling that listening session, I swore I was listening to the same amp! Unfortunately, the dealer did not have a Premier 11 to compare. After listening to the entire SACD sampler, we turned our attention to Billy Joel's The Stranger on SACD. For the first time, the acoustic guitar on the title track actually sounded like someone was strumming it! I attribute this, however, to the SACD player's wonderful ability to resolve detail without fatiguing. The MV60 held its own with Billy, providing a snappy, toe-tapping presentation - if perhaps, sounding just a wee bit strained at times. I felt as if the amp was working hard to earn its pay. But this was a small price to pay for the glorious vocals that came next. After listening to The Stranger in its entirety, we switched our attention to CDs, as I had brought some of my own favorites. First up, was Jill Sobule's wonderfully recorded self-titled CD. Jill's vocals on Houdini's Box and and Girl In the Affair were orgasmic! She was right there...lush and sweet...oh, so sweet. The MV60 was magical in the mids and detailed in the high frequency but w/o the harshness often found with some solid state amps. After listening to Jill's CD in its entirety, we ended the session with one of my other personal favorites, Guy Clark's Keepers - A Live Recording. I wanted to see what the MV60 could do with a live recording, and again here, it did not disappoint. Guy and his guitar were perfectly placed front and (just left of) center with his backing vocals clearly behind him. Backing vocalist Suzy's few spoken words between songs were so palpable that I wanted to reach out and touch her! Guy's painful rendition of "Let Him Roll" sounded so good...so real...that you forgot you were listening to gear and lost yourself in the sorrow for for the old man in the song. Like many other tube amplifiers, the MV60 could not control bass as well as the solid state Mcintosh we listened to next or other solid state amplifiers. But again, thais was easy to overlook once you heard the mids and sweet, sweet highs!

In summary, I found the MV60 to fill its elder siblings shoes very, very nicely. And for nearly $1000 less money than the Premier 11 (albeit 15 watts less per channel), it's hard not to favor the MV60 over its older sibling! We listened to it entirely in ultralinear mode pumping out 55 glorious watts. Yes, the bass could've been better. Yes, there was a sense of "strain" when pushed somewhat. But if listening to jazz, vocals, folk, country or any other genre of music typically not requiring great volume, the MV60 does not disappoint. For $2800, I highly recommend this amp! At the very least, you owe it to yourself to audition it!

REVIEW: Conrad-Johnson (CJ,C-J) MV60 Amplifier (Tube) Review by Aurelio S. at Audio Asylum