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Conrad-Johnson Premier 18LS
SOLD $3,000.00
DEC
2009
SoundStage Review
A/V Revolution Review
Manufacturer's Website
The Premier 18LS is a reference
quality line-level preamplifier and audio control center. Flexible
switching facilities and high-resolution balance and level controls make
the Premier 18LS the ideal control center for high-end audio systems. A
Theater mode, which passes the input signal through at unity gain, makes
it simple to incorporate the Premier 18LS into a high quality home
theater system without compromising two-channel performance. A
full-featured remote control is a welcome added convenience. Above all,
the Premier 18LS is a refined instrument designed to faithfully
reproduce recorded music to recreate the emotional impact of live music.
A number of important elements of the circuit design merit special
attention:
Field Effect Transistors (FETs). More important than the total amount of
distortion of an audio circuit is the character of the distortion.
Odd-order harmonic distortion products, being musically unrelated to the
fundamental tone, sound strident and irritating, whereas even-order
distortion products are part of the natural musical overtones. FETs have
been selected for the active devices in the Premier 18LS because, like
tubes and unlike bi-polar transistors, they produce almost no odd-order
harmonic distortion.
Zero Feedback. Negative feedback is an engineering technique used to
reduce measured distortion. While feedback does achieve this goal, it
also introduces aberrations in the transient response characteristics of
the circuit. The Premier 18LS uses conrad-johnson's unique auto-linear
gain block, which achieves low distortion with zero loop feedback by
exploiting the symmetrical distortion properties of n and p channel fets.
Solid Power Supplies. Power supply circuits present a parallel signal
path to the audio circuits. Ideally this signal path provides ac signals
with a zero impedance path to ground. Any deviation from this ideal is
reflected in the reproduced audio signal. Thus the power supplies are as
important to audio performance as the audio circuits and must be
accorded equal attention in design. The power supplies for the Premier
18LS feature discrete dc regulators that have been carefully designed
for minimum impedance, even at the highest audio frequencies, to prevent
the power supplies from degrading music reproduction.
Quality Parts. As with all Premier components, the Premier 18LS is
constructed from the highest quality, carefully selected parts for
unrivaled sonic performance and reliability. Only precision metal foil
resistors and polypropylene and polystyrene capacitors are utilized in
the audio circuitry. The audio circuits and their related power supplies
utilize precision low inductance laser-trimmed metal foil resistors. To
avoid the compromised performance of a potentiometer, these same
resistors are used in the level control, where level is set by to
selecting combinations among an array of these resistors. Loudness and
balance can be adjusted precisely in 100 steps of approximately .7dB per
step. Even the precision-machined input/output connectors have been
carefully selected for optimal sonic performance.
Thoughtful engineering, specification of the finest available component
parts, and painstaking care taken in production make this an audio
preamplifier without peer in music reproduction. We invite you to
arrange an audition with your conrad-johnson dealer to confirm for
yourself the extraordinary musical performance of the Premier 18LS.
Specifications:
Premier 18LS Solid-State Line Stage
Preamplifier
Gain: 22 dB
Maximum Output: 9 vrms
Output Impedance: 200 Ohms
Distortion: less than .1% THD
Freq. Response: 2 Hz to 100 KHz
Hum and Noise: line-stage 96 dB below 2.5 V
Phase: phase inverting
Dimensions: 15.25D x 19W x 3.315H inches
Weight: 16 lbs.
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