Olympic tube amps: 1Jadis 2 Audio Aero 3 Kora


The thread -tube amps with big balls- started on 9-28-00 by Mistalava generated great intertest for 18 months and has 90 posts. However no mentioned was made of the 3 french labs above. There are very few reviews by the "professional" audio critics , as well as few comments here on audiogon. Thus there is a sort of mystique about these captivating french beauties.(refer to Soundbugl's perceptive comments on tubes as feminine and ss as masculine 3-30-01). For me they border on the esoteric, maybe because, where do you go to listen? as well the price tag. So to those own or who have heard the 3, lets hear from you. Do all 3 get the gold?
tweekerman

Showing 3 responses by rcprince

Haven't heard the Kora, but the Jadis and the Audio Matiere/Audio Aero (pretty much the same design) are some of the finest sounding amps ever made, in my view. Definitely have their flaws, but they present music so naturally you don't mind. Check out the thread from a while back, "Jadis Fidelity" for the view from us Jadis faithful.
Tweakerman, to find that thread just go to the bottom of the Audiophile forums page and put Jadis into the first box in the search engine, it shows up as one of the first 5 threads (Jadis Fidelity). The Jadis name is pretty well known in audiophile circles, but it is difficult to audition because the importer only has a few dealers, preferring to rely on audiophiles' word of mouth and Jadis' reputation. Audio Matiere and Audio Aero are less well-known, but their designer was with Jadis originally, and the Audio Aero Capitole CD player may help raise that company's visibility. They are special electronics, though certainly not everyone's cup of tea--for example, Plato has heard my system and has always noted (quite correctly) that the Jadis electronics do not have as much high frequency extension as he has heard from other top components and as he likes. I still feel they rule the midrange, though, down close to 40 hz, where they start to run out of the power and control you can get from other designs.
On your last point, I don't think Jadis and Audio Matiere/Audio Aero are about power and cohones (although Jadis does have some very powerful amps), but rather are more about subtlety and refinement; that's why you don't see them in the "Tube Amps with Big Balls" thread.