Hi Loyd,
There might be some confusion out there. Actually I am not entirely clear on this myself. Historicly I think the Connoisseur preamplifiers might have been designed by three different designers from three different companies.
From what I understand the first three Connoisseurs were called Connoisseur Definitions and made by an American company by the same name. The models were called 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. They were all designed from what I understand by Petr Mares. 1.0 and 2.0 were phono preamplifiers. The 3.0 was a full function preamplifier with linestage and phono section.
Then something must have happend because after this the next versions 4.0P and 4.0L (P for phono and L for linestage) were produced by the Japanese company Scan Tech Lyra and designed by Jonathan Carr. Petr Mares and Connoisseur Definitions were no longer involved and the products changed name from Connoisseur Definitions to Lyra Connoisseur. I suspect Allen Perkins and Immedia somehow was involved here since he was the former US distributor of both the Connoisseur Definitions preamplifiers and the Lyra cartridges from Scan Tech Lyra.
Scan Tech Lyra used to be both a manufacturer of the Lyra cartridges and now the Lyra Connoisseur phono and linestage preamplifiers as well as a Japanese distributor of several other brands like Audio Physic which at the time also was distributed in the U.S by Immedia.
At some point after this Scan Tech Lyra split up. The distribution part of the company became Scan Tech and Lyra continued its operation focusing only on the production of their Lyra cartridges and Lyra Connoisseur preamplifiers. Lyra and Lyra Connoisseur became two different companies under the Lyra umbrella.
Somehow from this point on Lyra Connoisseur products were designed and produced by both Scan Tech and Lyra Connoisseur at the same time time.
Lyra Connoisseur produced the 4.2P, 4.2L, 4.2P SE and 4.2L SE. Scan Tech produced the 4.0P Advance and 4.0L Advance. Both companies made a 5.0L. The differance on the outside is that the Lyra Connoisseur version only has a single knob on the front and the Scan Tech version had two knobs. Scan Tech also made a 5.0P while Lyra Connoisseur made a BB-1 power supply.
Lyra Connoisseur is now out of business. I don't know if Scan Tech is still producing Lyra Connoisseur products. However some rumours were circulating that Scan Tech had hired Petr Mares (who has worked as a consultant for Spectral Audio for several years) to continue design their products.
A special note however should be made to the new company Qualia which typicly is distributed in the U.S. by Allen Perkins and Immedia. The Qualia preamplifiers have a more than striking similarity to the Lyra Connoisseur 5.0L preamplifier produced by Scan Tech both on the inside and outside. The similarity is so big it can't be coinsidence. Maybe this is Scan Tech and Petr Mares taking a further step with their products now that Lyra Connoisseur is out of business. The Qualia Indigo Reference Phono preamplifier is a very interesting product with two mono phono preamplifier cabinets and it can be made with one stereo or two mono external power supply cabinets. In addition to the Indigo Reference Phono Preamplifier and Indigo Reference Linstage Preamplifier this company makes a D/A converter and will release a Blue Ray player.
http://qualia-highend.com/
However when you talked to Roy Gregory did he mention what Connoisseur models he was thinking about? They are all very different constructions. The first Connoisseur Definitions used a parented 3D circuit layout where the circuits were not just laid out flat on the boards but instead were mounted also on top of each other and underneath the boards to keep signal paths as short as possible. So when mentioning Connoisseur preamplifiers in general, it is like talking about preamplifiers from three different brands.
From what I understand Roy Gregory has tested and ownes the 4.2P SE and 4.2L SE. These products are just little sibelings of the 3.0 and soundwise not in the same class.