JoLida Integrated amp

[davetherave]

I've read a few good reports about these amps and i'm wondering if anyone has had the experience of hearing the JoLida integrated hybred model 'JD 1501RC' together with ML speakers'? If so, would you reccommend it?

 

[coolcobramatt]

slowgeezer has a Jolida integrated and seems to love it...may want to pm him

 

[slowGEEZR]

Sorry, mine is tube, not hybrid, so can't make any valid comments.

 

[davetherave]

Tube

Sorry, mine is tube, not hybrid, so can't make any valid comments.

Yeah, what model do you have and do you like it?

 

[flaco]

Ive had a Jolida 502A for almost 5 years now and love the darn thing, many amps and preamps have come and gone since then but this piece remains, you cant beat the price for 60W pure tube power, got even more punch when I switched in KT 88 for the 6335's. I havent driven ML's with it yet but have used it for powering fairly hungry Apogee Centaurs (major) with great success, also used on magnepans and was very happy. The one thing I dont like is the famously bad pot's (volume knob) their supposed to be alps but are terrible, Ive read alot of other jolida owners voicing the exact same problem so I think its fairly common, still considering getting them replaced. The silence between components isnt stellar either. But even with that said I love the amp and still recommend it, there's not many amps out there that can match the pure tube power for the money. Just my 2c.

 

[twich54]

Dave, FWIW I own the 302-B, and while it was OK on my Vantages it was far from 'stellar', but it does a fine job in a small system in my living room. As I try to recall from memory it didn't seem to have the dynamics and extension in higher frq ranges that one would expect. Granted it was only 50 watts of EL-34 push-pull power.
I never intended it for my main system application, rather it was just a experiment to hear what it sounded like. Another thing to keep in mind is at it's price point it competes quite well for what it is.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Yeah, what model do you have and do you like it?

Jolida JD 1000RC, 100 wpc (150 at 1KHz). I like it very much. It has plenty of power to drive my Aerius speakers. Note that a lot of Jolida amps are "upgraded" by people and places like Underwood HiFi, etc. One of the problems with having other companies "upgrade" a component is that they can change the sound that Jolida has strived to make. Some like the change, others may not. One of the nice things about the 1000RC is that Jolida itself upgraded the critical components of this amp from the previous iteration (this is the 15th iteration of this design!): ALPS potentiometer, gold plated RCAs, audiophile carbon composite grid resistors, high speed soft recovery diodes, poly tin coupling capacitors, etc., but they didn't lose that great sound.

Another huge benefit of this amp is that it has what they call "E-Z" biasing. You don't need a meter to set the bias for the tubes. It is so easy, you can do it in just a minute or so. You just turn a bias pot with a screwdriver until the associated red light just illuminates for each power tube. That's it! Then leave it alone, or check it every 6 months to see if there is any tube drift. Some other types of "auto biasing" amps have been known to add something to the sound, as they are in the audio circuit. This is not true for all auto biasing circuits, however.

Click on "My system" below to read further comments on the amp. Good luck in your search for an integrated amp.

 

[davetherave]

Jolida Amp

Hi steve

Had a look at your photos, you have a great set up! I guess I will be going with the Jolida 1000RC. Could you reccommend some good interconnects and cables to use since my system will be very simular to yours. Thanks! Dave

 

[slowGEEZR]

Hi steve

Had a look at your photos, you have a great set up! I guess I will be going with the Jolida 1000RC. Could you reccommend some good interconnects and cables to use since my system will be very simular to yours. Thanks! Dave

Dave, my current interconnects consist of: Tara labs reference, Straightwire Maestro II and Straightwire Rhapsody S. Of those, I think the Straightwire Maestro II offers the most coherent performance, to my ears. It offers a slight improvement from the Rhapsody S, maybe a more robust presentation, as the sound from the Rhapsody S seems just slightly darker. Both seem to offer a more balanced audio experience, from lows to highs, than the Tara Labs Reference, as the Tara Labs Reference seems to offer exquisite highs at the cost of less bass. It sounds sort of like the lower frequency range is a few db down.

My current Speaker cables are Audioquest GBC 15 ft. biwired. (I needed longer cabling in my new house.) I had been using Audioquest Bedrock 8 ft. biwires, which cost a little more. Either is a great choice; I haven't been able to really listen to them back to back, but I feel neither is lacking. They simply sound better to me than the other speaker cables that I have used.

Please note that these are just my opinions from listening to my system. The main thing with cabling is that they do sound different from each other, the key is to see if those differences are to your liking. Good luck, let us know what you finally decide and post some pics!