jolida issues? first tube amp

I decided to jump on this "Jolida issues" train and post some of my personal notes in order to help & inform my audiophile friends.
Well first I have to agree with Mwilson & Jupiterfish on a manufacturing issues. I owned 502b for a less than 4 months and had to let go due to a couple of issues that I discovered straight from the box. Purchased brand new, amp came shipped in double box nicely packed.I removed the amp from the box & discovered that the power switch blue led is hidden inside the amp instead of above the power switch, so when you turn on the amp it glows blue light from inside.That was easy fix.But paint on the surface of 1k amp shouldn't be so rough and it shouldn't include human or brush hair visible right next to where the tube holes are! Also some of the openings(small holes on the bottom of the amp) were so roug/sharp and almost dangerous looking.And sound of the amp is what you pay for.So don't expect anything close to Cary, Rogue or Quicksilver.It will paint a tube picture for you quite well but nothing stunning will came out of that box.I would suggest buying it used or hearing/seeing it first before any final thoughts on purchasing.Beleive me, there is sea of other models and companies who will offer more for far less or same amount of money specialy if you buy them used from your local Audiogoner.And for the end please inform yourself before any purchase.It will save you some money and a lot of nerves.Thanks and happy listening.

Reliability issues are what keep me from using tube equipment. It's been years since I owned a tube integrated.
While I wouldn't debate the sonic benefits of tubes, if tweaking/fiddling with your equipment is why you love this hobby then tubes are for you.

I owned a 1703 Jolida a few years ago and it worked perfect. I own their CD player (JD 100) and it also works perfect. Love it!!!!

R.

Most tube amps should not be powered up with no load, ie. speakers not connected. This is probably the reason the fuse keeps blowing. Don't do that anymore.

Jupiterfish,

couple of things....

"when i called about the shipping they said it was ont eh bench being tested- a park bench?"

LOL! no, it's not a park bench! they spoke to you in typical engineering terminology - a test-bench where equipment is tested is colloquially refered to a "bench" in short-form. typically, a test-bench (or bench) is a rigid metal table with 4 sturdy legs that can take the weight of some heavy test equipment (signal sources, spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, network analyzers, etc). Often this bench has a hutch so that some of the equipment can be stacked onto it as there is not enough space on the bench itself to accomodate all the test equipment & DUT (device under test).
hope that this clarifies.

agree with Rhljazz - tube equipment does NOT like to be switched on without a load (such as a speaker) & the reason for this is that if the load is disconnected, the anode/plate voltage of the output tubes can reach thousands of volts as a result of this open-circuit. This will most likely blow the fuse (as you are experiencing).