Jolida has traditionally made great integrated amps. They have always took aim at the entry level tube buyer, and they have always delivered. I own some pretty nice tube amps, but am always delighted by the sound of Jolida amps, which I come across often. I have referred them to many people, and feel it is THE product for any non - audiophile who really wants to put good sound in their home.
Jolida took a step up with their JD1000 amp with 8 EL34 tubes. A nice amp, in the Jolida tradition. A friend of mine sells Jolida products, but is not carrying the new amp. He doesn't feel Jolida has established anything in this arena, and can offer his customers other great brands like Electrocompaniet, Linn, Rogue, and Thor if they are looking for something better than a made in China $750 Jolida.
Jolida making $6000 amplifiers does not make sense to me. And, I would not buy them. At $6000, you are now competing with the really good tube amplifiers: Air Tight, Atma Sphere, Jadis, Thor, VAC, Wavelength, Wolcott, etc. Why would anyone choose Jolida over these companies? These other marques have established themselves as the premier makers of tube equipment. Jolida has established itself as an entry level company. Personally, if I was looking for a 211 based amplifier, I would buy an Air Tight. They feature meticulous build, top drawer parts from the Tamura transformers on down, and sound that will melt you down. You can't do better than Air Tight amplifiers. |
Thanks. You saved me from commiting a major error. I should know betterm after owning Krell top of the line, AR VTM, Cary Audio, I should!!
|
Jaguar1845, thanks for your feedback. Please know that in no way would I ever not give Jolida their due. I am one of their biggest fans. I'll take a 202a or 302b over most of the sub $1500 competition. Very nice sound; warm, rich, and full bodied. Upgrading tubes and power cords takes them to a level much closer than most would admit.
My friend was skeptical when Jolida introduced the JD100 CD player. In his opinion, it was not a good move. Jolida's bread and butter is their great integrated amplifiers. Their reputation in CD players is pretty bad. The quality control and reliability is about as bad as you will find in high end CD players. However, since they normally play in the $550 and below ballpark, their problems go by innocently enough. When I inquired about it, he told me he wasn't interested in carrying it.
When you jump up to the $1000 pricepoint, you begin to play with some very fine competition. Brands made in the USA, UK, Europe, and Japan. Brands like Adcom, Arcam, Creek, Musical Fidelity, Rega, Rotel, and the like. Selling product that falls apart here will kill your company.
I opted for the Music Hall MMF-25. A great CD player. Eventually, Jolida sent him a JD100 for free. Just to establish the player's presence in the marketplace. In a shootout, the Music Hall proved superior. But, that's not a slight against Jolida. The Music Hall also beats the Rega Planet 2000. Also, the Jolida seems to be much much better built than the JD601, 602, and 603. The JD602 was especially bad. Still, the Music Hall is built and sounds like players in the $1250 - $2000 category.
Time will tell as to whether the JD100 is CD player that can play in this arena.
We normally correlate Jolida to another brand he once represented, Golden Tube. A great brand when they were doing what they did best. As time went on, they branched out from their core competancy. The loss of focus not only translated into not executing the new products well, but also taking away from the established lines.
Should Jolida stick to making great sub $1500 integrated amps? That's up to them. But, to jump from this class to making $6000 power amps is several levels. Several levels. In the process, they are trying to leapfrog companies like Audio Research, Cary, Manley, Quicksilver, Rogue, and VTL. It's a VERY tall order. In my opinion, one they are not ready for.
Instead, if they want to move upmarket, why not continue in the direction the JD1000 set? Take aim at companies like Cary, Quicksilver, and Rogue's standard lines. Build preamps and power amps at the $1500 price point. If you can do that well, and the public accepts them, move up to $2500 - $3000. After a few years, a $6000 211 based amp might not seem as ridiculous as it does today. Like Hyundai trying to build a car to compete with the BMW 760iL, Jaguar S, or Mercedes S Class. Show that you can hang with Honda first. |
re: Jolida 100. What tubes was the Jolida witted with during your audition, Trelja? I've heard the MusicHall and it trounced the Jolida with Phillips tubes, a definite trade up from the stock Chinese tubes. The Musicahll had a distinctive "lush" sound and made the phillips based Jolida sound lite. Alls lost? Not so. The tables, though, turn on the strength of a great tube like RCA, Sylvania, Seimen, and of course Telefunken. I just compared NOS Sylvania tubed Jolida 100 to a Wadia, and the Jolida gave up nothing. I've owned the Jolida 602 and 603. They bare no resemblance to the 100 functionally, nor sonically. |
Muralman1, the Jolida featured the stock Chinese tubes. My dealer friend never runs anything other than the stock tubes in the equipment he sells. We did speak about that. I do think that a lot of people will be drawn to the way Jolida products sound with the stock tubes. It's very warm and romantic, but I find that European tubes really open the sound and add a lot of speed and detail.
It's interesting that you found the Music Hall to be more lush. We thought the opposite, the Jolida was a bit slow and overly rich. I would think the Philips tubes would lend more of what the Music Hall sounds like. Good pace, rhythm, and quickness. At least, the JAN Philips tubes in my Blue Circle preamp give that sound.
I would like to hear the Jolida JD100 with the RCA, Sylvania, Siemens, or Telefunken tubes you mentioned. I guess you like the Sylvania best? I wish you a long and happy relationship with the Jolida.
By the way, I am probably in the minority(and get killed for it), but I had a chance to listen to the Shanling tube CD player(with stock tubes) over the summer, and thought the Music Hall MMF-25 to sound better than that as well. I think the cheaper of Roy Hall's players was more agile, natural, and musical. Tube upgrade would help this player I would think. |
I know these posts are very old but the information is still very useful, I was checking the information given by Trelja and checked the pricing of the brands recommended in front of the Jolida JD3000 a/b and found that Jolida is still half of the price at tag price of $5,900 in front of any of the other systems like Air Tight (based in the 211 tube)
Trelja now in 2011 do you have different opinion of the JD 3000a/b system ? |
Hi Juanin, I know these are old posts but just FYI but Trelja comments are pretty funny really. It's obvious he's never heard these amps before or he wouldn't have this opinion, as far as the JD3000a being compared to the other brands listed that can easily out preform them all regardless of price especially the Airtight 211 making them sound down right uninvolving by comparison[I've hear these amps with Maggie 20.1's and against Joule, Wavestream Airtight]
The only exception being VAC only because they have the same type of realistic, live,warm sound all though the Jolida monoblocks have some real low end grunt and control that I haven't heard in a lot of tube amps. I've owned a pair of these modified amps for about 3 years now I don't see any reason to change them, great amps that sound great with a wide variety of tube preamps, Cary SLP-05 deHaviland Mercury VAC renaissance Viva Linea and my own SF-L2 preamp. An almost SET with lots of of bottom end, they can drive the big Soundlabs and Maggie 20.1 with ease but still sound great with more efficiant as well. I've seen them here for under $3,000 a pair used making them a total steal land of big buck tube monoblocks. These are great amps that are fairly inexpensive to retube but you can always got for the cryo RCA, GE-VT4C for an even more amazing sound! The JD3000b is a nice sounding preamp also for the money. As far as being reliable the only problem I had with one amp wise my own fault, trying out an untested GE-VT4C circa 1945 that blew an internal fuse. The amp was sent to Jolida in Maryland for repair which did take a while but the amp has work perfect ever since.
If you ever need sweet sounding amps with big time guts and control
over electrostatic or planar speakers these amps are it!
Enjoy,
Vinyl9 |
Vinyl9, "Trelja comments are pretty funny really. It's obvious he's never heard these amps before or he wouldn't have this opinion, as far as the JD3000a being compared to the other brands listed that can easily out preform them all regardless of price especially the Airtight 211"
While we rarely get to involve ourselves in threads we participated in almost a decade ago, I'm happy to see it unlikely to have been able to do a better job in calling this whole thing.
As I wondered aloud way back then, not only did these amplifiers make no sense to me, but the ultimate truth teller - the combination of time and the high-end audio marketplace have proven me right.
Outside of the current upside down situation with the company in terms of who is and who is not Jolida, as before, I'm a fan. Since then, I HAVE spent time with the JD3000. Never said it wasn't a nice amplifier, only that it wasn't a smart play. While it did prove a nice enough product, and with almost ten years of high-end audio inflation it's no longer as poor a value as it was then, but neither is it the world beater you seem to think. |
IM NOT SURE ABOUT THE JD 3000 BUT I JUST GOT A JD 1000RC FROM THE FACTORY FOR $1390.00 THREW A SET OF KT77 TUBES IN IT AND ADDED A JOLIDA MUSIC VAN 4 CD PLAYER THAT COST $790.00 .6 DAYS FROM TIME I PLACED ORDER TO HOOK UP AND FREE SHIPPING FROM CHINA.IT WITH MY 4 LA SCALAS AND AN ACCUPHASE PREAMP IS THE BEST IVE EVER HEARD |
Oh my god ,I have had my amps for 4 yrs with a joilda tube CD player and and music envoy tube pre amp ,all playing my full range clsiiz stats ,here is my review ,WOW !!! Get them !! Hello 200wtt/ ch of tube power very sweet!!!!!! |
