Conrad-Johnson 16LS User manual

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual
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Getting The Most From Your Premier 16LS
In a system of commensurate high quality components, the conrad-
johnson Premier 16LS offers an unparalleled level of sophistication and
refinement in music reproduction. To get the best performance out of any
audio system, there are a number of important details which must be
attended to.
Absolute Phase
Musical notes are heard through the ear’s response to waves of
alternating rise and fall of air pressure. Musical transients are almost
exclusively positive: that is, the initial effect is a rise in pressure. The ear
is capable of distinguishing these positive transients from the musically
unnatural alternative of a negative transient (an initial fall in air pressure).
In terms of your stereo system, these transients are created by your
loudspeakers. If the speakers respond to musical transients by first
moving out, they are creating a rise in pressure, and the system is said
to be phase correct. If they respond by moving in, they create a fall in
pressure and the system is said to be phase inverting. Each component
in the stereo system either preserves the phase of the incoming signal,
and is said to be phase correct, or inverts the phase and is said to be
phase inverting. It is unimportant whether an individual component is
phase correct or phase inverting, as long as the system as a whole is
phase correct. This will be the case if the number of phase inversions is
even (or zero).
The Premier 16LS is phase inverting. If your system has an odd number
of inversions, (for example, if the Premier 16LS is the only phase
inverting unit in the chain) then you must add one phase inversion. This
is conveniently done by reversing the positive and negative connections
to your speakers (be sure to reverse both channels).
If you are not sure about the phase of every piece in your system, you
can establish correct absolute phase by careful listening. When the
system is in correct phase, transients will be noticeably cleaner and more
sharply defined. The effect is especially apparent on plucked string
sounds. A final warning -not all recordings are phase correct (including
some “audiophile” recordings), so listen to several before concluding
your investigation of absolute phase.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual
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The Importance Of Wires
Interconnect and speaker wires are an important element in your stereo
system. Interconnects are available which will permit a reference quality
system to blossom and fulfill its promise of musical reality. Others will
strangle the system to the point where it becomes little better than
average. To complicate matters, our experience suggests that the choice
of interconnects will be system dependent -those that are top ranked on
one system may be a poor choice for a different system. Consult your
conrad-johnson dealer for recommendations for your specific system.
Performance Tip
Warm up the Premier 16LS before listening: The sonic performance of
the Premier 16LS improves noticeably as the unit warms up. The
midrange becomes more lucid, the highs smoother, and the soundstage
expands. The warm up period can be expected to last about fifteen
minutes.
Questions: If you have questions about the installation or function of your
Premier 16LS do not hesitate to call Customer Service at (703) 698-
8581.

Premier 16LS Owner’s Manual
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Specifications
Gain: 26 dB
Maximum Output: 15V
Bandpass: 2Hz to more than 100kHz
Hum and noise: 100 dB below 2.5V output
Distortion at 1.0 v output: less than .25% THD or IMD
Phase: inverts phase of all inputs at main out
Ouput impedance: less than 700 ohms
Mechanical:
Dimensions: 15.25"D x 19"W x 3.75"H
Net Weight: 25 lbs total.
Fuses
The Premier 16LS has two power transformers (one for the tube circuitry,
one for the control circuits), each of which is protected by a fuse. A
failure of either of these fuses is a symptom of a more serious problem,
and a competent service technician should be consulted. In no event
should these fuses be replaced with a value or type different than
that originally supplied. The fuses are located on the input/output pc
board at the back of the chassis. F1, the fuse for the tube circuit
transformer is located nearest the back panel. F2, for the control
circuitry, is located nearest the front panel. The correct fuse values are:
If configured for 100 or 120V:
F1 3/4 amp, slow blow
F2 1/2 amp, fast blow
If configured for 220 or 240V:
F1 1/2 amp, slow blow
F2 1/4 amp, fast blow