Hi Steve. Not having any experience with Jadis, Avalon, Wadia, Atmaspehere, etc., I can not comment on the pros and cons of all the components discussed above. But I too went through a ton of listening when I was looking for the ultimate musicality to replace my wonderful ARC SP-10 of 9 years. So I understand all the effort it takes to find a preamp that retains that magical musicality that so few really have.
Concerning the Jadis JP-80, go to the Audio Critique website, http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html. There is lots of information here as the owner is a JP-80 fan. And he does modifcations to this unit. Read what he says about the JP-80 under "Recommended Components". You might be able to get what you want done on the JP-80 from him.
One other question here that nobody has addressed: if you are only using CD as your source (no mention of phono) why bother with a preamp or line stage at all? There have got to be some attenuators that you could use that would remove a lot of electronics and cabling from your system if all you have is CD as a source.
Here is another site: http://www.tweakaudio.com/
Click on "Products", then "Ultimate Attenuators". I talked to the owner of this company last week and wow, he has so much valuable information. So much to learn from his website too. He is a CD specialist so maybe this will help you a lot too on this.
Most of the people that posted here have audio systems yet another level beyond mine (ARC LS5II/PH2/DAC3II/VT130/ Maggie3.3 and soon to be a used Versa Dynamics 1.2. As I am more a phono guy, my focus is a bit different than others, but we are all after that musical event that often stops us in our listening room and gives us just a second or two pause to make us think it's the real thing. These times are when we know we've put together a great system.
Hope this helps.
John
Concerning the Jadis JP-80, go to the Audio Critique website, http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html. There is lots of information here as the owner is a JP-80 fan. And he does modifcations to this unit. Read what he says about the JP-80 under "Recommended Components". You might be able to get what you want done on the JP-80 from him.
One other question here that nobody has addressed: if you are only using CD as your source (no mention of phono) why bother with a preamp or line stage at all? There have got to be some attenuators that you could use that would remove a lot of electronics and cabling from your system if all you have is CD as a source.
Here is another site: http://www.tweakaudio.com/
Click on "Products", then "Ultimate Attenuators". I talked to the owner of this company last week and wow, he has so much valuable information. So much to learn from his website too. He is a CD specialist so maybe this will help you a lot too on this.
Most of the people that posted here have audio systems yet another level beyond mine (ARC LS5II/PH2/DAC3II/VT130/ Maggie3.3 and soon to be a used Versa Dynamics 1.2. As I am more a phono guy, my focus is a bit different than others, but we are all after that musical event that often stops us in our listening room and gives us just a second or two pause to make us think it's the real thing. These times are when we know we've put together a great system.
Hope this helps.
John