Conrad-johnson design CT5 Manuel utilisateur

Conrad-Johnson Owner’s Manual:

CT5 Composite-Triode Preamplifier

conrad-johnson It just sounds right.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 1

Thank you for selecting the conrad-johnson CT5 composite-triode

line stage preamplifier as the control center for your audio system.

The CT5 is a reference quality preamplifier derived from our cur-

rent flagship, the ACT2. The CT5 is capable of remarkably faithful

recreation of the dynamics, textures, tonalities, and ambience of

live musical performances. We believe that you will experience the

excitement of discovery in hearing more from your favorite re-

cordings than ever before.

At conrad-johnson, we expect our products to be a source of satis-

faction and of pride to their owners for many years to come. Ac-

cordingly, circuit designs, parts and materials for all conrad-

johnson products are selected with a view to maintaining optimal

performance over the years. Our reputation for producing among

the industry’s most reliable components is a natural consequence

of this engineering approach.

Although the CT5 has been designed to operate in an intuitively

apparent way, you will find useful information on its installation and

operation in this manual. Please take a few minutes to read the

manual to better understand the features and capabilities of your

CT5. Note that this unit is phase inverting. See the section entitled

“Getting The Most From Your CT5" for details on correct hookup in

your system.

In closing, we’d like to welcome you to the family of conrad-

johnson owners. We want you to enjoy your conrad-johnson prod-

uct to the fullest. To this end, our staff stands ready to answer any

questions you may have about the function and application of your

CT5, and to provide any needed service both during, and after the

warranty period. Our goal is to heighten your enjoyment of re-

corded music.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 2

imited Warranty For Conrad-Johnson Components

Conrad-Johnson Design, Inc. will provide service under warranty to

the original owner on products sold new in the United States for the

lesser period of three years from the date of purchase by the origi-

nal purchaser, or five years from the date of shipment to the au-

thorized conrad-johnson dealer. During the warranty period, con-

rad-johnson will repair defective units without charge for labor or

parts (with the exception of vacuum tubes and batteries).

Exclusions. The following are not covered under this warranty:

a) Units which have been damaged by misuse, abuse, or acci-

dent.

b) Units which have been modified, altered, or improperly re-

paired by anyone not specifically authorized by conrad-johnson

design, inc.

c) Units not purchased from an authorized conrad-johnson

dealer in the United States for use in the United States.

d) Normal wear

e) Incidental or consequential damages are not covered under

this warranty. Some states do not allow the exclusion of inci-

dental or consequential damages, so this exclusion may not

apply to you.

Obtaining Warranty Service: To obtain warranty service, the unit

must be shipped, along with evidence of purchase, in factory pack-

ing to conrad-johnson design (or designated service center) with

freight and insurance prepaid by the owner. After repair, the unit

will be returned with freight and insurance prepaid by conrad-

johnson design to any destination in the United States.

All implied warranties, including merchantability and fitness for a

particular purpose are limited in duration to the duration of this ex-

press warranty. Some states do not allow limitations on the dura-

tion of implied warranties so the above limitations may not apply to

you.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also

have other rights which vary from state to state.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 3

Conrad-Johnson products purchased outside the United States are

covered by warranty terms of the importing distributor in the coun-

try in which the product was originally purchased, which may differ

from the terms set out herein. Importing distributors are not obli-

gated to provide warranty service for products originally purchased

outside their country. Conrad-Johnson will provide warranty service

for products outside the United States, but in these cases, the cus-

tomer must pay all shipping, handling and customs costs both to

and from our Service Department.

Questions about this warranty should be addressed to:

Service Department

conrad-johnson design, inc.

2733 Merrilee Drive

Fairfax, VA 22031

The conrad-johnson service department can also be reached by e-

mail at [email protected], by phone at 703-698-8581,

or by fax at 703-560-5360.

Service

If your conrad-johnson audio component requires service, repack it

using the original box and packing material and ship to the Service

Department address above. Boxes and packing materials can be

purchased through our service department if you no longer have

yours. Include with the unit a note describing the problem you are

having in as much detail as possible. It is especially important for

our technician to know if the problem is intermittent. If you want an

estimate of cost for out of warranty service, be sure to request it in

this note. Be aware that requesting an estimate will delay service

to your unit, as we will have to contact you for approval before

commencing service.

Registering The Warranty

Please return the enclosed card to the factory within 30 days of

purchase to register the warranty

CT5 Owner’s Manual 4

nstallation

The first step in preparing your CT5 preamplifier for use is to install

the vacuum-tubes. To do this, remove the top plate of the tube

guard by removing the three socket-head screws using the sup-

plied hex-head screwdriver. The CT5 uses two type 6N30P tubes.

After checking the pin orientation, insert one tube in each tube

socket (the two tubes are interchangeable). Next, fit two of the in-

cluded silicone rubber rings over each tube, spaced at roughly 1/3

and 2/3 distances. These rings will minimize the effects of air-

borne microphonics on the tubes. Finally, reinstall the tube guard.

Set Up

To maintain proper ventilation, mount the CT5 horizontally on a

flat, hard surface, and take care that the ventilation holes in the

bottom are unobstructed. Allow at least two inches of clearance

above the unit and keep the cabinet or shelf open at the back.

All CT5s sold in the United States are configured for operation on a

60Hz ac power line producing between 108 and 126 volts. Export

versions of the CT5 will have the correct operating voltage and fre-

quency clearly marked on the back panel of the unit, near the ac

power cord. In all cases, the actual line voltage should be within +

5/-10% of the nominal rated voltage.

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)

Considerable care has been taken in the design of the CT5 to

minimize its susceptibility to radio frequency interferenceand other

forms of EMI. Choice of materials, physical layout, grounding prac-

tice, and power supply design have all been specified with a view

to reducing the impact of electromagnetic fields on the perform-

ance of this unit. At the same time, however, our primary goal is

the accurate reproduction of recorded music in the normal home

environment, and we have elected not to compromise this objec-

tive by the application of heavy-handed RFI filters, or by using

grounding practices that reduce RFI at the expense of degraded

audio performance. We find that the approach we have taken has

worked extremely well, resulting in only rare instances of EMI prob-

lems which could be treated locally as needed, rather than com-

promising the performance of our product in the 99.9% of installa-

tions where EMI is not a problem.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 5

Care in installation can often avoid EMI induced problems. The fol-

lowing practices should generally be observed in any application,

and will be especially important where EMI may be a problem.

Interconnect cables should be kept as short as possible (3 meters

or less), and shielded cable should be used (cable which has two

center conductors, and a separate external shield connected at

only one end).

Physical location and cable “dress” can be an important factor in

minimizing hum pickup. The installation should situate the pream-

plifier well away from the power amplifier, and power (ac mains)

cords should be dressed to remain at least 4" (100mm) away from

input/output cables.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 6

onnection

SOURCES (PH/AUX1, TUNER, CD, VIDEO, AUX2): These high

level inputs are electrically equivalent. The load they present to the

source varies with the volume control setting, but in no case will it

drop below 25 kOhms. Connect the corresponding source compo-

nents to these inputs.

EPL1: This set of line-level inputs and outputs provides for connec-

tion of an external signal processor (e.g. parametric equalizer, tone

controls) or a tape recorder. Connect the EPL OUT to the input of

your signal processor or tape recorder, and the EPL IN to the out-

put of your processor or tape recorder. Alternatively, the EPL IN

connection can be used as an additional line level input.

THEATER: This is an external processor loop designed to conven-

iently accommodate the addition of a surround-sound processor

(SSP) to a high-quality two-channel system without compromising

two-channel performance. Connect the front left and front right

channel outputs from your SSP to THEATER IN. You can also con-

nect the THEATER OUT to an input on your SSP, allowing you to

do signal processing on selected two channel sources. When

THEATER is selected, the level controls are set and locked to unity

gain. Level and balance control are then accomplished via your

surround sound processor.

MAIN OUT: Two pairs of main outputs are provided. Connect to

the input of your amplifier (or crossover in a bi-amplified system).

We recommend the use of an amplifier with an input impedance of

20k ohms or higher. Since the CT5 inverts phase, it may be neces-

sary to invert the speaker leads to maintain correct absolute phase.

See the section on “Getting the most out of your CT5" for an ex-

planation.

TRIGGER OUTPUT: When the CT5 is switched on, these termi-

nals provide a constant dc voltage that can be sensed by the “trig-

ger” circuits used to switch on some power amplifiers. If your am-

plifier employs such a trigger circuit, and you wish to switch it on

and off from the preamplifier, connect these outputs to the trigger

input on your amplifier. Observe the coded polarities (“+” and “-“).

CT5 Owner’s Manual 7

ontrols

<power>: Press the switch labeled power to switch the preampli-

fier on. A time delay auto-muting circuit is incorporated into the

CT5 to suppress turn-on/turn-off transients. All outputs are

grounded via relays for approximately 45 seconds after the unit is

turned on in order to suppress warm-up transient noises. During

auto-muting, the mute indicator led will flash. All control functions

are disabled during the auto-muting cycle. The muting relay also

grounds the outputs immediately at turn-off or in the event of any

power line interruption.

When first connected to ac mains, or after an interruption of power,

the CT5 will turn on in a default mode (after auto-muting), with the

level set at 20, and the CD input selected. In subsequent sessions,

as long as the ac mains has not suffered a power outage, the unit

will turn on at the last used volume setting and input.

<mute>: Pressing the mute button will silence the preamplifier

main outputs, and set the level display to zero on both channels.

Pressing the mute button again will restore the previously selected

level setting.

<vol up>, <vol dn>: Level setting on the CT5 is achieved by using

a programmed microprocessor to select combinations from among

an array of high-quality precision resistors. This arrangement al-

lows 100 steps of approximately .7 dB per step. The steps are

numbered 0 through 99, with 0 being silence, and 99 being maxi-

mum volume.

The level setting can be changed by pressing the vol up and vol dn

buttons on the front panel. Each time a button is pressed, the level

will move up or down one step. If a button is pressed and held, the

level control will cycle through the steps at an accelerating rate.

With each step, a slight “click” will be heard from the opening and

closing relays inside the CT5. Balance can only be set using the

remote control.

<source>: Pressing the button labeled source will cause the unit

to step through the five source inputs (ph/aux, tuner, cd, video,

aux2). The selected input will be indicated by an illuminated led.

<epl/thtr>: Pressing the epl/thtr button will cause the unit to step

from source through epl1 and theater. When source is selected,

the input selected by the source selector will be passed directly to

CT5 Owner’s Manual 8

the volume control. When the EPL1 or THEATER inputs are se-

lected, the selected source will first pass through the external

processor loop before being routed to the volume control. When

THEATER is selected, the level will be set and locked to unity gain.

Remote Control

All operations of the CT5 can be controlled by the wireless remote

unit.

MUTE: Pressing the mute button will cause the main outputs to

mute and the level display to be zero. Pressing it again will restore

the last level setting. Pressing and holding the mute button for

more than three seconds will switchthe CT5 into standby mode (all

tube circuitry switched off). Pressing the mute button when the unit

is in standby mode will switch it back on.

SELECTORS (PH/AUX, TUNER, CD, VIDEO, AUX2): You can di-

rectly access any of these inputs by pressing the associated button

on the remote.

EPLS (EPL1, EPL2): Pressing the EPL buttons inserts the associ-

ated processor in the signal path. Pressing the button again will re-

establish a direct connection to the selected source. Pressing the

EPL2 button selects the THEATER input, setting and locking the

level to unity gain.

LEVEL (+, -): Duplicates the function of the front panel <vol up>,

<vol dn> controls.

BALANCE: Allows attenuation of either channel independently of

the other. Pressing the right balance button will reduce the left

channel level setting by one step. Pressing and holding the right

balance button will cause the left channel to cycle down through its

level settings at an accelerating rate. Pressing the left balance but-

ton will attenuate the right channel in the same manner.

CT5 Owner’s Manual 9

acuum Tube Replacement

The CT5 circuit employs two twin-triode vacuum tubes, both

6N30Ps. The triode sections in each tube are connected in parallel

to create a higher current composite triode (each channel uses one

tube). The 6N30P offers low noise, low microphonics, and gain well

suited to use in a zero-feedback line-stage. The brands of tubes

we supply have been chosen by first selecting those brands which

are known to be most reliable, then by extensive auditioning of

these acceptable brands with the final choices being made solely

on the basis of sonic performance. We know of no vacuum tubes

available which will improve the sonic performance of your CT5.

The tubes in your preamplifier have been tempered by a controlled

burn-in procedure that permits them to perform for a greatly ex-

tended period without sonic degradation, and then selected for

minimum residual noise. Replacement tubes are prepared and se-

lected in the same way. Therefore, we highly recommend that you

purchase replacement tube sets from conrad-johnson design.

We anticipate tube life to accommodate two to three years of op-

eration without degradation in normal use -if the preamplifier is

switched off when not in use. If the preamplifier is left on at all

times, tube life can be exhausted in a matter of a few months.

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