Bad Experience with Conrad Johnson
For many years I have admired Conrad Johnson products and waited for the right opportunity to try them out. Fortunately, I was able to get a great deal on a mint condition ET3se preamp and MF-2275 power amp.
Overall, I enjoyed the sound of this combo but then I started to have issues with the preamp and then the company itself.
After I spent much time with the ET3se preamp I became to feel that it was a flawed product.
When I first listened to the preamp, the background noise was very loud in both channels, even at low volume. The preamp came with stock tubes which were EH6922 at the time.
I then tried two new pairs of 6922 tubes (JJ Tesla and Mullard) and I could still hear the background hiss in both channels. On the Tesla tubes, I could also hear a pop in the speakers every time I adjusted the volume up and down with the remote.
Another problem I had was during the power up/warm up process. When powering up the preamp I could hear music (not source dependent) even when the unit shows zero volume. Then if I turn the volume up then back down to zero; no music was heard.
So I called Conrad Johnson for help. The new owner of the company, Jeff Fischel, answered the phone and proceeded to help me. From the very beginning of the call I started to feel very uncomfortable. He was talking to me as if I was a child, in a very condescending tone, telling me what I was doing wrong and how I should operate their products.
When I described the issues I was having, he said they no longer use 6922 tubes and only recommend NOS 7DJ8 tubes from Philips and Matsushita, which are more rugged for his preamp. I then asked him why normal 6922 tubes do not perform well in the preamp. He said it was because they run the heater voltage to the tubes much higher than the 6922 spec, the NOS 7DJ8 perform much better.
Jeff was right. When I tried the Philips 7DJ8, the background hiss went away in both channels. But the question I ask myself is what happens when all the NOS 7DJ8 tubes are gone, you have to just deal with background noise? What kind of product design is that? Through other research I found that this preamp just eats up tubes, even the 7DJ8. Eventually they will also develop noise over time.
So in summation, I think the ET3se preamp is a flawed product. It is a high-maintenance piece that is quirky and you just have to come to terms with its issues. I am so glad I did not pay full retail for this preamp.
Now on to the other bad experience I had with Conrad Johnson, the company. Once I had all of these issues with the preamp, I decided to sell both the ET3se and MF2275 power amp. I did not have the original boxes so I called Conrad Johnson to see if I could purchase replacement shipping boxes for both of them.
I had the ill-fated pleasure of speaking with their shipping clerk, Jasmine. You will not believe what Conrad Johnson wanted to charge me for shipping empty replacement boxes:
ET3 - $55 for box, $70 for shipping ($125 total)
MF2275 - $95 for box, $70 for shipping ($165 total)
That's right folks, Conrad Johnson wanted to charge me $70 for shipping an empty box.
I was willing to pay for the boxes and offered to send them shipping labels and have UPS pick them up for me. They did not want to work with me.
Here was the final response from Jasmine at Conrad Johnson:
"Box, packing and shipping is not negotiable. I think it's best you purchase them at FedEx as it seems to suite you best."
It is clear to me that Conrad Johnson is not the same company since Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson left.
Needless to say, I will never buy (new or used) a Conrad Johnson product again.
Terrible spelling of “suite”. Definitely a terrible company 😳😱🤔🤷♂️🤯
On a serious note, whether you ship empty or full boxes, shipping costs money. As shocking as this sounds
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@wkass i cant believe they answered the phone. i called, emailed, called, emailed, left messages with a very basic question, and they refused to even acknowledge my atempts to contact. they made no effort to return my contact. i finally got a real person on the phone, and there was some more agitation on my end to speak with someone who could answer a simple, basic 2-part question. when i got the person on the phone they werent entirely cooperative, but eventually i steered them towards actually answering my simple, basic, 2-part question. |
To those of you who asked, yes I did inform the buyer of my experiences with the preamp and what to do to get the best performance. I pointed him to Parts Connexion for the Matsushita 7DJ8. So thanks! Hi roxy54, No crickets here. I have a day job so my apologies for not responding back in a timely manner. Hey jjss49, I was just trying to share my first experience with CJ products and that it was not a good one. You might think that this case was trivial or that I am an entitled moaner and that's your opinion. But I am sure I am not the only person who would complain of a high-end tube preamp that: - has so much gain, that I have to use the variable volume control on my music streamer to just control volume. - always has background hum with standard 6922 tubes and reduced tube life. - has audible clicks in the speakers when you turn volume up and down because of tube noise. - that has music playing when the volume is at 0 on power up. Have to cycle power again to get volume display to work again. If I would have known of these issues with this model, I never would have purchased it. Lesson learned. And as for the shipping box issue, it was not so much the cost of the boxes, but how I was personally treated by CJ. I am a big believer in the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. For what it is worth, I have had nothing but great customer support from Rogue Audio and VTL. Hope everyone has a great and safe Memorial Day weekend! |
With regards to CJ. - I would like to state that there are a few companies that really value their customer. One in particular, is Van Alstine. Frank Van Alstine is all about customer satisfaction. An email from my wife was received and returned by the owner Mr. Alstine. He spent time discussing the product that she had written about and HE wrote the email. To say the least we purchased the integrated amp and could not be more pleased by his professionalism, respect and honest concern for the customer. In the end they do exist. |
@smerk Exactly, could not agree with you more. I have his SET 400 power amp. By the way, I hear he is having some healthcare issues right now so I hope he gets well soon. Take care. |
