Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 Tube CD Player

Looking for some advice....

I have an extensive bootleg collection that I listen to...

I am considering adding a Tjoeb 4000 to my system for the 192 upsampling it would provide on my standard cd's. My question is....with a Marantz 8b amp and 7c preamp....would this be providing too much color for the system? Adding more tubes to the mix?

My other choice would be to get the new philips 936sa. Which also provides upsampling for redbook cd's. I have read some negative reviews regarding the philips though. Clicking during play.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Charles

 

I had both players. Phillips has a pretty schetchy record for QC, but my 963 had a dead quiet transport. Make sure they allow you to return it if it clicks. I understand they consider it acceptable.

The NT4000 is a nice player with a somewhat forward midrange (non-upsampling). The base player (Marantz 4000) is plasticy, tinny, and cheap. After 10 months the analogue board went out, but Upscale sent a new one out pronto, and I switched it out and never had any problems. The 6922 tubes in the 4000 are used in a buffer stage so they don't influence the sound as much as with other tube CDPs.

 

Hi Charles,

I have a lot of boots that i listen to via a McIntosh 240/C-20 combo. I would not hesistate to add a tube cdp to my mix b/c more color in the mid's works well w/ my boots. I try to stay away from anything that would enhance the highs since that is hiss city but always try to enhance the mids since that's where the music on most of my boots resides. Non-boot playback is a different matter.

-Jeffrey

 

Talk to Kevin Deal at upscaleaudio.com he can point you in the right direction and he has a good ear. Eeach change in sound with different tubes were exactly as he described to me. I use amperex 7308's now.

I use mine with the upsampling DAC and find it detailed but not overly so. Harmonics and decay sound very natural to me. Give Kevin a call hes the expert on this player.

The chassis vibrates so you will want to put a sandbag on top or use weight, maybe damp the inside with something. Use some aftermarket spikes as feet and you will be set.

Vedric

 

I had the Ah! for about two years. After about four months, I upgraded the tubes from the stock Philips 6922 to the Siemens 7308, but I never added the upsampling board. In my system, the Ah! with the Siemens tubes gave a nice soundstage, but much to my surprise for a tube player, it was more harsh with vocals than my Sony SCD-C555ES. I also have a Sony SCD-777ES, which is decidedly better than the Ah!. After awhile, I found myself using the Ah! less and less and sold it.

All in all, the Ah! is a good player of the money, and admittedly, I might have gotten better performance out of it with tube rolling and adding the upsampling board. In the end, I was happy with the Sony players.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I am looking forward to adding the Ah! to my system. It will include the upsampling board. I was told to upgrade the tubes to Siemens E288CC/8223 (gold pins) for a dramatic increase in soundstage and decrease in harshness too. I have also heard the Ah! might take as many as 600 hours to break in I have so many live bootleg cd's that I listen too, I thought it might be worth it to see if i could get a little better sound out of them. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Charlie

 

Charlie, best of luck with the Ah!. What are you using now?

 

Keith,

Ya, I hope it sounds nice. Currently I'm just using a Yamaha CDC-805 Changer. The sound is OK sometimes harsh. I'm hoping the tubes will mellow things out a bit and give a warmer live sound. I plan on getting the new Marantz dv8400 for the new high rez formats. Plus, I currently don't have a dvd player , so the dv8400 will take care of that too. I know a place where i can get the new dv8400 for 1200 shipped. Not too bad of a deal. The only problem is, it will be the wrong region. Will have to get the region code changed. Shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Charlie

 

Charlie, I think it's safe to say that the Ah! will be a big improvement over the Yamaha changer. You will be quite pleased with the results.

Regarding the DV8400, I assume that if it is the wrong region, then it isn't at 110V either. Is that correct?

 

Keith,

I hope the Ah! can breath new life into my system.

In regards to the dv8400....www.pricejapan.com offers the unit for 1200 usd shipped. The unit is USA 220v compliant. It is just regionized for the Japanese market. But, all dvd players have "codes" that can be entered in the remote to change their respective region settings. Its just a matter of finding out the "codes" I usually refer to www.vcdhelp.com for this. No word on the codes for the dv8400 yet. Patiently waiting... Check them out if you haven't already. Pricejapan specializes in digital projectors, but they also offer other a/v too.

Charlie