Anyone have honest opinion of Jolida amps?

In various secondary systems over the last two years I have had Jolida 202 302 and 502 units. I think the 302 has the best sound. The 502 with KT-88s is best for someone who likes a tube sound and rock. I have also compared them directly to the NAD 317. I like a tube sound so I prefer the Jolida but the NAD was also a decent unit. The stock tubes ARE trash and need to be replaced. The Svetlana EL-34s are a good buy. I agree with Dekay overall and especially that the sound is about old Dynaco quality. Used they offer very decent price performance and there is a ready market for them.

To Ezmeralda: OK so for Dakajiba with a budget of around $500 he could get a used Jolida 302 with upgraded tubes, an NAD or a ST-70/PAS combo. Any other specific recommendations?

One thing that seems to have been lost in this thread is the budget issue. I own a Jolida 302 that cost me $600 with upgraded tubes. It's a nice unit for my office system and I have bought a few for classical music listening friends on a tight budget. A used Rogue Tempest IS a better amp but goes for about $1500 used. While I have never heard a Kora Mercury, it will set you back $1300 used.

None of these integrated units sound as good as a five figure reference tube system. But these integrated amps only cost between 3% and 10% of a reference tube system. It isn't about having an implied poor judgement with a live and let live attitude. It is about price and budget.

I can remember when the difference in price between $600 and $1300 would have been daunting. If this is the case the Jolida is a good choice. If you can afford better, buy better.

To Glenreno:

I'm not so sure about feedback. I've been involved around 40 transactions on audigon and only have three feedbacks to show.
The number of feedbacks isn't a reliable proxy for the number of pieces of equipment you are familiar with.

Tweakerman I’m sure we all have our idea of what BUDGET means but I’m going to try this one more time.

Many of my friends are music loving students, musicians and dancers for whom spending $600 on an integrated amp is a heart stopping decision. In your last post, you mention the Kora mono’s at ONLY $6K. $6K is more than the value of all their earthy possessions. Your other recommendation of a Capitole or Mephisto (which I presume is your comparison to the Accuphase) is more than the cost of their total system and recordings collections.

Whether I wasted high five figures on my main system configuration is not the point of this thread.

For $600 I got a 302 with decent NOS/Svetlana tubes and a decent aftermarket power cord.

So what integrated amp should I buy for my friends for $600?

I’m still waiting for Ezmerald’s answer.

What’s yours??

If you tell me I’ll get one to listen to and if it is better than Jolida, I’ll buy that unit for my friends instead of the Jolida.

BULLSEYE!!!

I always know that I have made my point whenever the free speech Red Herring swims by in a post. I had actually though that I was exercising my freedom of speech to push back on those prefer to raising their vituperation to actual experience index as high as possible rather than be helpful to other Audiogoners.

At least we now have your entry on the circa $600 price point for integrated amps. I spent some time poking around Audio Asylums 200 recent posts on Jolida. Many of the positive posts are from folks who have had extensive personal experience, as do I, with multi kilo-buck amps. In “FACT” most of those posts were positives although there does seem to be two confirmed cases of units that went up in flames (In those cases always adjust the bias for the lightest color of smoke as my old engineering prof used to say).

From Audio Asylum I garnered the recommendation of Acoustic Zen. So know I’m going to get one of those and find a Kora Explorer, and although out of the price range a Rogue. I’ll report back on my ACTUAL experience against the 302 and 502 in a month or two.

It does seem from your most recent post that you are a little more flexible that the earlier posts might indicate. Two data points, because there are so many Jolida units available from people who did tube rolling it is possible to get a used unit with very decent tubes. Second data point, a tube amp without tubes is not worthless. If you own a tube amp that you like, sooner or later you will have to retube. At this point your amp is hardly worthless.