Conrad-Johnson 16LS User manual

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Thank you for selecting the Conrad-Johnson Premier 16LS line stage

preamplifier as the control center for your audio system. The Premier

16LS incorporates the engineering advances of our flagship Anniversary

Reference Triode preamplifier into a more practical single chassis unit.

The Premier 16LS 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 recordings than ever before.

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

and of pride to their owners for many years to come. Accordingly, 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 Premier 16LS has been designed to operate in an intuitively

apparent way, you will find useful information on it’s installation and

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

to better understand the features and capabilities of your Premier 16LS.

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

The Most From Your Premier 16LS” 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 product to the fullest.

To this end, our staff stands ready to answer any questions you may

have about the function and application of your Premier 16LS, and to

provide any needed service both during, and after the warranty period.

Our goal is to heighten your enjoyment of recorded music.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Limited 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 original purchaser,

or five years from the date of shipment to the authorized conrad-johnson

dealer. During the warranty period, conrad-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 accident.

b) Units which have been modified, altered, or improperly repaired 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 incidental 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 packing 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 express

warranty. Some states do not allow limitations on the duration 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.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Conrad-Johnson products purchased outside the United States are

covered by warranty terms of the importing distributor in the country in

which the product was originally purchased, which may differ from the

terms set out herein. Importing distributors are not obligated 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 customer 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 obtained from our

service department for a nominal charge, 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 your approval before commencing service.

Registering The Warranty

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

to register the warranty.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Installation

The first step in preparing your Premier 16LS preamplifier for use is to

install the vacuum-tubes. To do this, remove the tube guard by releasing

the two captive screws attaching the guard to the chassis. The Premier

16LS uses six type 6922 tubes. After checking the pin orientation, insert

one tube in each tube socket. Next, fit two of the included 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.

The next step is to remove the transit screws. To minimize

microphonics, the critical audio circuits in the Premier 16LS are on a sub-

chassis that is mounted to the main chassis with flexible isolation

mounts. To prevent damage during shipping, this assembly is secured by

four screws through the bottom of the chassis. These transist screws can

be readily identified as the four silver screws on white nylon washers.

Before installing your Premier 16LS, remove these screws to release the

suspension. Save the screws to re-use if it becomes necessary to ship

your Premier 16LS.

Set Up

To maintain proper ventilation, mount the Premier 16LS 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. Vertical installation is not

recommended.

All Premier 16LS 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 Premier 16LS will have the correct operating voltage and

frequency 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.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)

Considerable care has been taken in the design of the Premier 16LS to

minimize it’s susceptibility to radio frequency interference and other

forms of EMI. Choice of materials, physical layout, grounding practice,

and power supply design have all been specified with a view to reducing

the impact of electromagnetic fields on the performance 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 objective 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

problems which could be treated locally as needed, rather than

compromising the performance of our product in the 99.9% of

installations where EMI is not a problem.

Care in installation can often avoid EMI induced problems. The following

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 preamplifier

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.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Connection

SOURCES (AUX1/PH, 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 12

kohms. Connect the corresponding source components to these inputs.

EXTERNAL PROCESSOR LOOPS (EPL1, EPL2): Two sets of line-level

inputs and outputs are provided for connection of external signal

processors (e.g.. surround sound processor, parametric equalizer, tone

controls). These can also be used for the connection of tape recorders.

In this case, connect the EPL OUT to the recording input of your tape

recorder, and the EPL IN to the output of your tape recorder. The EPL IN

connections can also be used as two additional line level inputs.

OUTPUT: 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 Premier 16LS inverts

phase, it may be necessary to invert the speaker leads to maintain

correct absolute phase. See the section on “Getting the most out of your

Premier 16LS” for an explanation.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Controls

POWER: Press the switch labeled power to switch the preamplifier on.

A time delay auto-muting circuit is incorporated into the Premier 16LS to

eliminate transients generated by the warm-up, and cool down cycles of

the vacuum-tubes. All outputs are grounded via relays for approximately

90 seconds after the unit is turned on in order to suppress warm-up

transient noises. During this auto-muting period, 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 the Premier 16LS is

turned off (by pressing the power switch again), the standby led will be

illuminated.

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

Premier 16LS 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.

LEVEL: Level setting on the Premier 16LS is achieved by using a

programmed microprocessor to select combinations from among an

array of high-quality precision resistors. This arrangement allows 100

steps of approximately .7 dB per step. The steps are numbered 0

through 99, with 0 being silence, and 99 being maximum 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 Premier 16LS. Balance can only be set using the remote

control.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

SOURCE SELECTOR: AUX1/PH, TUNER, CD, VIDEO, AUX2:

Pressing the button labeled source will cause the unit to step through

these five inputs, in the order displayed on the front panel. The selected

input will be indicated by an illuminated led.

EPL SELECTOR (EPL1, EPL2, SOURCE): Pressing the epl button will

cause the unit to step from source through the two external processor

loops. When source is selected, the input selected as source will be

passed directly to the volume control. When EPL1 or EPL2 are selected,

the selected source will first pass through the external processor loop

before being routed to the volume control.

Remote Control

All operations of the Premier 16LS can be controlled by the handheld

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 switch the Premier 16LS 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 (AUX1/PH, TUNER, CD, VIDEO, AUX2): You can directly

access any of these inputs by pressing the associated button on the

remote.

EPLS (EPL1, EPL2): Pressing the EPL buttons will insert the associated

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

establish a direct connection to the selected source.

VOLUME: Exactly duplicates the function of the front panel LEVEL

control.

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 button will attenuate the right

channel in the same manner.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual

Vacuum Tube Replacement

The Premier 16LS circuit employs six vacuum tubes (V1 -V6), all 6922s.

The 6922 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 Premier 16LS. The tubes in your preamplifier have

been tempered by a controlled burn-in procedure that permits them to

perform for a greatly extended period without sonic degradation, then

selected for minimum residual noise. Replacement tubes are prepared

and selected 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 operation

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.

Premier 16LS Tube Replacement Chart

V6 V5 V4 V3 V2 V1

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