Is this already being discussed? hahahaha. Likely not.
If its TLDR... Just tell me which cj Preamp would sound the best with Mcintosh solid state amplifiers. Thank all of you in advance.1. Axpona is coming up. Like the Florida show in February , there will be some cars shipped globally there trying to show of their "SQ" abilities ...in car audio Sound Quality our "SQ" is what they use for audiophile in our home audio world. SQ+ means it can also play louder. I'd like to have a car there.
2. In 2008 I made an amazing Audiophile grade car in my 1994 E500 Mercedes w/124 chassis. What's remarkable was the DAC wasn't particularly amazing - though I went to lengths to improve upon it..a lowly Apogee Mini DAC, but running off a large battery, using the XLR outputs converted to single ended with Cardas and fed Firewire 400 Audirvana hi-rez files. That went to a Nakamichi TP-1200 special shop (Upgraded electronics - a separate chassis preamp with vibration isolation). Running into a McIntosh MC4000M a 6 channel 4 x 100 2x 300 amplifier.- and McIntosh MEQ452 parametric EQ. Midrange used was a scan speak 12M, neodymium tweeters, and various subwoofers and woofers. I had an upgraded Alternator from a Mercedes S560 and extra Optima battery. That was really mind blowing, equivalent to a well tuned $70K system at home because of how much control with the parametric I had and I used good speaker cable and interconnects. Super tall sound stage- drums on the dashboard sound - enveloping goodness even without rear speakers.
3. Now it's time to better that. I still will use the McIntosh MC4000M's and perhaps a pair of MCC70 (2 x40) for tweeter amps. I'll use a McIntosh 5 way 4 channel crossover with an Analog McIntosh Parametric EQ. But because its is a Tesla... now its time to lift a few limits. We have a way to tap the "Penthouse battery" for pretty much unlimited power. Noise free.
4. I did a few tests, listened to many Teslas, I also tune audio systems for CES RMAF, T.H.E. Show and Sterophile and TAS seem to like the way the rooms sound. So I decided to try my hand at car, and as it turns out, having a really good 40 years of great reference home systems in about 60 different locations has helped. So I took a 2016 Model S, put some run off the mill JL Audio VXI 8008 amps and Focal Flax EVO in and went through the DSP. The result was comparable to Wilson Sacha with say Pass amps, and a lack luster DAC. Still quite good. Swapping to Mosconi was an improvement but no where at all near to my Mercedes with the MAC Nakamichi Apogee combo. But the acoustics of Model S are acceptable.
5. MY 2023 Tesla Model X 5 seater will get the system ... the question is , should I delete the Nakamichi TP-1200 Special Shop Preamplifier and swap in a cj preamp? Because I can also easily create 115v in a car also without noise.
Here is where I would greatly appreciate the expertise of people on the forum. I have had limited experience with cj gear, I had a EAR 912 which I really liked and though I thought I wanted Audio Research gear when I heard the depth of the E.A.R. 912...depite it not having the frequency extension and bass control I use used to... I still liked it a lot. I have some Great Northern Sound Corporation modified gear Audio Research VS 110, I had an Audio Research D-250mkII Servo GNSC, Ear 890, Bryston 4b (several iterations). I also ran some Chapman T-8 loudspeakers , T-7, and for many years 1983-present the Infinity Reference Standard RS1-b flanked by Entec SW-1.
I had never bought cj gear from Lyric Hi-Fi because I was told by Lenny it was rolled off and less bass control in the 1980s and it wasn't what I wanted to do rock and roll and used for mobile DJ and audiophile duty (He sold me Bryston 4b's and an apt Holman at the time) - and wish I had gotten into cj sooner. I happen to believe in the idea that few parts and off very high quality is the way to go because everything is a filter in the audio chain.
I had to quickly replace a preamp and amp for a friend and bought CJ PV5 used with a modified power supply and a DBX 4 channel 4 x 100 solid state amp (which surprisingly was very very good- ddx making some good design choices).That combo was great. It almost sounded like a mic feed coming through the second to last iteration of the Chapman T-7. And that's what got me going on cj because for a car..... a cj seems to have greater depth and decent stage width and layering....all things which a car typically lacks.
So using that cj PV5 as a starting point. which pre-amp would you pair with McIntosh (shudder) amps? The McIntosh amps are the best I have heard for car , and the service techs at George Myers say the circuit is pretty much the same as their home gear.
Will I have impedance matching issues? Is it worth it to go to a ET-3SE over a PV5 in a car? Or even a GAT?
