Conrad Johnson Art 88 Triode Preamp

About This Preamp

• Mint Condition, less than 80 hours of use
• Original Box, Remote, packaging
• Non Smoking Environment
• Free Shipping and no sales tax if shipped outside of NE

The ART88 Preamplifier has been designed to serve as an industry reference standard for line-stage preamplifier performance.

The ART88 is essentially a dual-monaural preamplifier, the two channels sharing only the power transformer and chassis. The circuitry is elegant in its simplicity. Each channel’s audio circuit features two high-transconductance twin triode vacuum tubes. Gain is provided by a composite triode of paralleled sections of one NOS Philips PCC88. This amplifier stage is coupled to the preamplifier outputs through a high-current buffer stage consisting of paralleled sections of a second PCC88 twin-triode. This buffer stage provides a sufficiently low output impedance to make the ART88 compatible with a wide range of interconnect cables and amplifiers. Each channel’s audio circuit is powered by its own dedicated DC power supply featuring discrete voltage regulators that isolate the audio circuits from each other and from the AC power line. Infrasonic noise is minimized by operating the tube filaments (heaters) on a DC voltage supplied by another regulated power supply.

Experience has taught us that the full potential of any circuit can only be realized by using the finest available parts. Each part for the ART88 has been selected on the basis of both sonic performance and durability. The audio circuit (including the level control) is executed entirely with precision metal foil resistors and proprietary CJD Teflon capacitors. Tubes have been carefully hand selected for minimum noise and microphonics. The DC regulated power supplies use the same quality resistors as the audio circuits. Capacitors for the power supplies are exclusively CJD polypropylene and Teflon – there are no electrolytic capacitors in the audio circuits or their related power supplies. All signal switching is done by special relays designed for signal applications. These relays are sealed and have gold plated silver contacts. Input and output connectors are machined from oxygen free copper, and are silver plated with a Rhodium flash. The ART88 is built without compromise to achieve a new standard in musical performance, and it is built to last.

Reviews

• HiFi Plus
• Tone Audio (PDF)

Owners Manual (PDF)