The Jolida products provide an exceptional value. They are inexpensive and often many peoples first venture into tubes or the audio hobby in general. After they get the tatse of tubes, they will either move up the line or move up to more expensive gear. A lot of Jolida products are sold which is why you see so many on the used market.
I have a 1501RC that has been running in my home system since these amps were introduced. For 8 years, it was driving a apir of speakers that often ran at about 2.5 ohms. The amp never even glitched.
I think the 1501RC is a great choice for you nephew.
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If You want to buy Jolida, I suggest you to buy older models because its still MADE IN USA. |
I think the number of used Jolida is due to the brand's popularity. |
I have a Jolida tube tuner, a Jolida tube CD player and a Jolida tube phono preamp. All have worked flawlessly, are well made and have a price-to-performance ratio that is excellent. Check the reviews. |
Also too I think the reason why there are a lot of Jolida ads here is Underwood Wally has a strong presence on A'gon. I think him and Audioforce have a lot of Jolida listings. I have not been able to do a comparison of dealer adverts vs. used adverts to confirm. I concur with Response34's and TBromgard's points about Jolida.
I think your nephew will definitely enjoy 1501RC and will have an easy time selling it when he wants to move onto other tube gear. Getting into tubes for me was very infectious. I'm now going from a homemade tube buffer to a tube amp, tube preamp, tube dac. All I need now are those ICs with a 12AU7 tube and I'll be set till they make speaker wires that also use a 12AU7 tube. |
Indeed the most popular and affordable tube gear |
Also, if you get the 1501RC, swap out the stock tubes withsome nice Mullards ASAP! It's a substaintial improvement. |
Again, thanks to all who have responded. Sounds like a very good product.
Tbromard, I read somewhere on the AG forum that the Sovietec tubes were the best for the product; others have recommended a tube labeled ECC-ER( I could be wrong about the part name and number.) I have read much about the Mullards for not only Jolida, but for BAT and Rogue amps and integrated.
How much do the Mullards cost and what is their part number?? There are only 2 tubes, I believe in the 1501RC Thanks, Jim |
I have wondered about Jolida products myself. They look like nice pieces for the money. My initial response when you said you were going to buy your nephew a Jolida integrated amp was " that's too nice of a component for a college guy; he's not going to appreciate it for what it's worth" but then I remembered that if it weren't for my onkyo integrated surround processor and 5 paradigm speakers that my Mother bought me when I was 12 years old, I wouldn't have the love for high end gear that I do today. You're a good uncle :-) |
I owned the 1501, which sounded fantastic with a set of NOS GE 5751 in the preamp section. The build was solid and the sound glorious. I wish I'd kept it. Instead I "upgraded" to a 1501RC from an official Jolida internet retailer. The 1501RC had a cheap-feeling build compared to the 1501 (especially its flimsy plastic volume knob) and sounded much worse--grainy and bright.
When I called the retailer to ask him about the change in sound I heard between amps and if I could expect the 1501RC's sound to settle down with break-in or tube rolling, he told me (a slight paraphrase here), "You can't expect an amp with a remote control to sound as good as an amp without one." This may be the most absurd thing a salesman has ever said to me. When in that case I asked about a return said that he did not offer any return policy. I'd already sold the 1501 I'd owned, so I also sold the 1501RC (at a loss) and went back to NAD.
This was a good 5 years ago, so it's possible that the 1501RC has improved since then and certainly possible that it could sound better with more break-in and better tubes--and that I could have had a better dealer back then! |
Oh--it's also possible that the number of used Jolidas has more to do with an internet retailer's lack of a return policy than anything else. Folks who buy and find an amp doesn't work in their system have no choice but to resell it themselves. Despite my negative experience with the sound of the 1501RC, it might say nothing about the quality of Jolida's products overall. I want to temper my negative comments of the 1501RC in my last post by noting that I'm considering an audition of the 202BRC--so I'm not turned off from Jolida overall. |
Mullard 12AX7 are under $20 each at the tubestore.com. Consider switching out the tubes mandatory. |
I've owned a Jolida tubed cd-player for about a decade now, averaging two hours of use a day. Great sound w/o a single problem. The all-steel remote is still the most dangerous weapon in my house. |
Love my Jolida 102-B think i paid around 525.00 maybe 9 ,10 years ago.Cant beat it for the price. |
I know this is off topic a bit but has anyone seen or heard The new Jolida fusion/dac? Its not on their website and Jolida said it is replacing the JD100 cdp. Thanks! |
