New CJ preamp w/ remote that have old CJ sound?

CJ Premier 14 is the last high end one with the original house sound and a remote (really noisy relays (mechanical not from the speakers) when adjusting volume

try a s/h prem16. I real honey of a pre amp. It will be more neutral than your PV-11, but it is very musical.

or as cytocycle state a prem 14 wood be a good option as well.

me, personally I like the clicking sound of the remote - it makes individual volume steps easy

I had a PV-11 and wish I had kept it, for my second system. I replaced it with a Premier 16 LSII and have had no regrets, see if you can audition one. It is C-J sound but not quite as it was, still for me it works.

Downunder: I didn't have a problem with the clicks (even though it was like 3 times louder than my Placette Active), what I did have a problem with the Premier 14 was the fact that everytime you clicked the volume control the tubes would ring even with dampers on them, since the 4 tubes are on a spring suspended board and this was audible through the speakers. If you buy a Premier 14 make sure they have the locking screws to lock down this spring suspension tube platform.. my seller did not and that might have wore the springs out.

The Premier 16 was the replacement for the premier 14 and started to move away from the warm CJ bloom, the Premier 16 LS II was even a farther step away from the CJ house sound, but with each of those steps the Premier 16 was a definitely more refined and transparent preamp, plus there were more volume steps.

The Premier 14 did not match the Gain inputs of the Lamm M1.1 amps I owned therefore it was either too loud or too quiet.. so check your amplifiers input sens.

Cytocycle, are you talking about tightening the TRANSIT screws? Kinda think that defeats the resonance-damping purpose. Sounds like the 6GK5s in your Premier 14 were seriously microphonic. My Premier 14 had no such issues (I owned it for almost 10 years), but the Premier 17LS2 with which I replaced it is better-sounding in every way. Dave

Dopogue: thank you...Just reminding JeffJazz that if he buys a Premier 14 to have the seller scew those down for transit. My Premier did have problems as it took CJ 6 months and 3 trips back to the factory to fix my preamp, but even with new tubes I had microphonic problems and tube dampners. Love the CJ house sound, but will never own their gear again based on how I was treated during the repair process.

Whoa! I guess I did well buying a really nice PV-11 here on the 'gon (not Jeffjazz' or Uru975's) for a fair price. Moving all my 2-channel sources and the front mains from my Sherwood P-965 pre-pro was a solid improvement in detail, soundstage and overall listenability. It's also my first (and so far only) foray into glass audio since I played around with dad's mono gear from the 50's and 60's.

It has given me upgrade-itus, however, and I have a real jones to upgrade both my Vandy 1Cs and Rotel RC-02 CDP.

After reading this thread, it will be quite a while before I will even think of a preamp upgrade. Thanks, everyone.