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A Follow-up by Wes Phillips appeared in August 1995 (Vol.18 No.8):

In my original review in October 1994 of Conrad-Johnson's Premier Eleven power amp, I waxed enthusiastic over what I felt to be a truly special product. Did I say waxed enthusiastic? I was so besotted that my review read like a love letter to the Muses—specifically Euterpe, Polyhymnia, and Terpsichore.

Tom Norton cast a more dispassionate eye on the unit's measured characteristics—which is the whole point of our specs section—and wondered why the amplifier…

I performed a full set of measurements on the C-J Premier Eleven A, but I'll show just a couple here. In the measurements accompanying WP's review of the original Eleven amplifier, Tom Norton found a suspicious-looking distortion spuriae trace (fig.1) that implied the amplifier suffered from crossover distortion. It appeared that the culprit was the circuit that drove the biasing LEDs; the A revision of the amplifier was said to have been fixed in this regard. Fig.2, taken under much the same conditions as fig.1, shows…

Wes Phillips compared the Premier Eleven A with the VAC PA80/80 in March 1996 (Vol.19 No.3)

My longtime reference power amplifier, the Conrad-Johnson Premier Eleven A, costs $700 more than the Valve Amplification Company PA80/80 and provided an instructive contrast to it. While retaining many of the tube virtues, the Premier Eleven A sounds even less like a classic tube product than the VAC does—it's more extended at the frequency extremes, which also gives it a tauter, leaner sound. Its deeper, slightly more controlled bass lacks the midbass punch that…

Dad would have loved the new Mark Levinson No.334…

Description: Solid-state dual-mono power amplifier. Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz, ±0.1dB. THD: 0.5% (FTC). Power output: 125Wpc into 8 ohms (21dBW), 250W minimum continuous into 4 ohms (24dBW), 500Wpc minimum continuous into 2 ohms (27dBW), 500W into 8 ohms bridged (27dBW). Input impedance: 100k ohms balanced, 50k ohms single-ended. Voltage gain: 26.8dB. Input sensitivity: 130mV for 2.83V output, 1.44V for full output. Output impedance: ±0.05 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz. Damping factor: >800, 20Hz-20kHz into 8 ohms. S/N: >80dB (ref. 1W). Power consumption:…

Having heard the No.334's strong bass response and dynamic contrasts, I couldn't wait to try Madrigal's MLC780 VG No.331.5 Update Kit on my own No.331 dual-mono amplifier. At $1950 it is an expensive modification, especially when you consider that the difference in retail cost between the No.334 and the discontinued No.331 is only $1000. Madrigal claims that the two cyanate-ester voltage-gain boards account for most of this cost. Besides these PCBs, the kit supplies a new black-anodized "No.331.5" nameplate for insertion into the…

Analog sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Ittok tonearm, Spectral moving-coil cartridge.
Digital source: Krell MD-1 CD transport, Adcom GDA-700 processor.
Tuners: Day-Sequerra FM Reference Classic, Rotel RH-10, Fanfare FM-1, Magnum Dynalab MD-108/Model 205 Sleuth RF amplifier, Myryad T 100.
Preamplifiers: Krell KBL, Mark Levinson ML-7A with L-2 phono section, Duntech MX-10 head amplifier.
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.331, No.334s (2), Bryston 4B-ST (stereo), Bryston 7B-ST (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Snell Type…

A complete set of measurements of the Mark Levinson No.334 was made in the balanced configuration. Selected readings were also performed in unbalanced mode. Unless otherwise noted, the results here refer to balanced operation.

Following its one-hour preconditioning test, the Mark Levinson's heatsinks were hot, but could still be touched without discomfort. The amplifier's voltage gain into 8 ohms measured 27dB, balanced or unbalanced. The input impedance measured 98k ohms balanced, 50.7k ohms unbalanced. The DC offset was a very low 1.5mV in both channels…