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Conrad-Johnson is a prestigious American high-end audio equipment manufacturer founded in 1977 by two economists and audiophiles, Dr. William Conrad and Dr. Lewis Johnson. Originally dissatisfied with commercially available audio equipment, they began developing vacuum-tube preamplifiers that immediately gained recognition as state-of-the-art components. The company has been dedicated for over 40 years to developing audio components that offer exact recreation of live music performances. Their first amplifier, the MV75 (1978), established their reputation, followed by the acclaimed Premier One in 1979 - a 200-watt tube power amplifier that The Absolute Sound Magazine credited as the finest sounding power amplifier of that decade. Conrad-Johnson specializes in handcrafted vacuum tube preamplifiers, power amplifiers, control amplifiers, and phono preamplifiers. All components are designed and built by hand in the USA at their Virginia facility. In 2017, the original founders sold the company to Jeff Fischel, their longtime Senior Technician and General Manager who has been with the company since the late 1980s. The founders remain actively involved in marketing and new product development.