CJ premier 8 - please share your comments

One of the great tube amplifiers from any manufacturer, and one of the best amps C-J ever designed. A true classic. Extremely well made, with high quality parts, and very reliable. C-J still provides complete tube sets.

These should be a very nice match to your Avalons, with tremendous bass authority and still with that wonderful C-J midrange naturalness. These are competitive with any large tube amp made today (but without the ultimate transparency and speed only available from OTLs). And, when wired in triode (the 8XS model as delivered from the factory) these are absolutely stunning but at about 1/2 of the output power.
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enjoyed them for several years purchased them used had never heard them before purchasing them was extremely pleased when I heard them play those first few notes definitely was the best amplifier I ever heard at that time. they are extremely musical sounding amplifiers with very few identifiable flaws. excellent bass,very well balanced dynamically from top to bottom,excellent midrange. Oh they are very reliable also usually left mine on continuously tubes last about a year this way. would like to hear a pair again on my current system someday definitely.

I have the 8xs(factory)----Not only am I tube junkie; I'm a triode junkie as well.---Everybody I know that owned the 'A' version 8's sold them. Most 6550 amps don't give me what I like--compared to el34's. To me the sound is very different---used with a friendly-load speaker. I owned the 5's and had them converted to triode---Eerily close to the 8xs with "all the right tubes"---At the price of tubes; I never 'just' leave them powered up.

Thanks, here are my observations so far:

a) very clean and life-like midrange reproduction
b) nice roundness to accoustic instruments
c) excellent pitch reproducing piano and female voices
d) not very good control and bass tonality compared to the X250
e) not the same degree of soubdstaging and dynamic handling as my reference amp

I have today as the last to make up my mind, as-of-today I am leaning towards keeping the x250 and save $3000.00 in the trade.

Fernando