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The Jadis JA200Mk2 review---or slam!

In the current issue of Stereophile, Jason Victor Serinus reviews the new Jadis JA200Mk2....or should I say SLAMS the amp!!

Since I am new to the Jadis family, I thought I would bring up a few interesting thoughts on this review. The first is that I am totally understanding why an amp that uses Ten(10) KT150’s per side would probably not be a great solution at all!!!! Why, well JVS brought up the reason...although he did minimize the impact; the amount of heat this beast gives off is crazy! Space heater in disguise. What’s odd is how JVS also points to his Pass amps as giving off a ton of heat. ?? Anyhow, we then learn that the review was conducted using JVS DAC as the source...and direct into the amps....who does this??? Why on earth would anyone use a DAC to drive a large tube mono block for a magazine review!! No preamp was used. All of the photos of the amp show it using the KT120 tubes...all. There is mention of what the amp was designed with...the KT150’s, but there is some questions to what tubes were actually in the amp under review. Then to go on, the amp was apparently strapped for the 1ohm load....????? JVS doesn’t check these things!...and then states that the amp is not really that great in the bass reproduction. Huh, why would he think that a tube amp that is strapped to the 1ohm setting would produce prodigious bass with his hard to drive Wilson Alexia’s!!! Can we say classical "mismatch" here.
JA’s follow up measurements, while interesting as usual, are IMO also a little odd, what is the base line that he is using to determine accuracy??? Another tube amp...a ss amp, a hybrid design of some sort...his ears, someone else’s ears???

While I purposely did not consider the new Jadis JA 200Mk2 amp for my system, due to the immense heat output...and probable impact on reliability due to this factor ( IME, electronics seem to have a much longer life if heat is not that much of a factor!!! ( Am i one of the few that perhaps understands this??) Plus, i don’t need any space heaters in S.Calif.) I would think that a follow-up review ( preferably by a more experienced reviewer) would be in order....one who can correctly match-up this amp to their ancillary gear.
Anyone else have an opinion of the Jadis JA200Mk2 review in the current issue of Stereophile?
128x128daveyf
daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,871 posts
 
George, you should remember that ALL speakers react differently regarding the impedance interaction with the driving amp. Therefore, unless you had the exact same pair of speakers that JVS was using, your results with a different speaker are going to be wildly different.
While you may NOT have heard any significant difference with the speakers you were utilizing for this test, that cannot be said for what JVS heard with his set up!
I would highly recommend that one of the reps for Jadis ( or you?? ) request a follow up from Stereophile; this time allowing them to do the set up in regards to the strapping and other items. ( hopefully someone over there would have the experience required to mandate a preamp in the front end!! ---or perhaps the Jadis rep or you can!).
All IMHO.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
The Jadis JA200Mk2 review---or slam!

Who in their right mind gives a tube amp to a reviewer with speakers that have a .9ohm EPDR loading in the bass, this is an admin cockup.  
This is what I wrote in the comments at the bottom of the Stereophile review. 


"The reviewers Wilson Alexia are full range passive (no active bass) but that bass can go as low as .9ohm EPDR, I can't see any tube amp even this good one getting the very best out of the Alexia's bass, like a big current pumping solid state could do."

Then you can read between the lines of the reviewer.
"the bass was also quite good"
"the bass less full"
"the double basses that give extra urgency and dread to the symphony's opening were hardly audible through the JA200 Mk.IIs. While I can't confirm that this bass shyness was due to the Alexias' impedance dip down low"



Cheers George



kyomi_audio's avatar
kyomi_audio
63 posts
 
georgehifi, would the absolute confidence of your highly opinionated post indicate that you have heard the Alexias with ALL muscle tube amps such as Jadis JA200, Ja500, CAT Statements, VAC Statements, VTL Siegfrieds, Tube Research and others? I am sure everyone here would love to hear your impressions:) 

As fas as "Who in their right mind gives a tube amp to a reviewer with speakers that have a .9ohm EPDR loading in the bass, this is an admin cockup" comment - are you part of the industry? Do you know how the reviews are generated and arranged? Maybe you could teach us amateurs a lesson or two??!!!


georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Being a retail outlet for the Jadis, you need to get off your high horse and read a bit more carefully, I’m not saying the Jadis’s are crap, what I’m saying is a review was done on them saying the bass wasn’t up to scratch.
"the bass was also quite good"
"the bass less full"
"the double basses that give extra urgency and dread to the symphony's opening were hardly audible through the JA200 Mk.IIs."  
But this was because of bad component matching, not the amps which I’m sure sound magnificent with the right speaker. They did the same with the review og the MkI of these, I think maybe they just have it in for Jadis.

If you did your homework, I have a reviewer friend, who had/has both MkI and MkII Alexia’s and we have tried many different amps on them and I can confidently say that a tube will not get the best from their .9ohm EPDR loaded bass.

Even the mighty JC1 Halo monoblocks were bettered by the Gryphon Antillion Evo’s and there’s no tube around that could hold a candle to these into low impedance’s and give that amount of current needed into that load.

Cheers George
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
There's a real good reason ALL powered subs have solid state amps!
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