modding Jolida CD

[winchester21]

Seeking current opinions about modding my Jolida CD Who has had this done HWere? Any noticable improvement?

[USNRET]

Chris, I bought mine modded so I don't have a comparison but it sounds the closest to vinyl I have heard. Reference level mod from hotrodaudiomods in Smyrna GA.

[Tarheel]

Never heard the original as mine came with the mini mod from hotrodaudio.com. I have thought about tube rolling some GE nos tubes from the 60s but never felt a strong need to upgrade.

Google 6moonsaudio and read the excellent review of modded Jolidas.

[CIGARBUM]

Chris, you have heard mine, box stock. Never had the need to change, sounds pretty good the way it is.

CB

[winchester21]

Underwood says 50% improvement for level 1 another 25% for level 2????????????

[USNRET]

Underwood must make a heck of a mod. [bs] Although different everything from system to room but there is not a 50% improvement from CB's to mine (those are the only two I have heard). But then I have to ask, 50% improvement of 'what'? Sonic nirvana at my ear drums from stock to modded, I think not.

[USNRET]

Chris, a couple of things. How much does Underwood charge and when I dealt with him (or tried to), he winters in Hawaii and had third parties doing the work. Have you checked with HotRodAudio? They treated me real well. Lastly, how about rolling a couple of tubes in that thing as that is one of the 'mods' included. What's in there now?

[winchester21]

Everything is stock- 8 months old. kinda thought the same thing[bs]

just dont want to leave a stone untrurned- if 10 people had jumped up at this post and raved about Underwood- I would take a second look- still surfing around looking- VRDs coming which makes me consider revisiting everything in my 2ch system to get that last bit of sound.

I may call the factory foer further input.

Does hot rod change the clock setting???

[USNRET]

Does hot rod change the clock setting???

I believe they do on the high end Reference Plus but they are there to work with you. I wanted a black model and most thru their door was silver. IIRC, it took about 3-5 days extra to get the black one in from the manufacturer before they performed the mods. BTW, I got all the stock parts in a bag with it.

[cjgeraci]

Your thread is less than 48 hours old, and you call "BS" on the Underwood mods because no owners have scrambled to answer your thread yet?

Oh well, its a free country.

Carl (Proud owner, Underwood Level One Jolida CDP)

P.S. Try the search function.

[HPower]

Hey Guys,

I had a JD-100 with the Underwood mini-mod and was very happy with the player and probablly made a mistake selling it...

Wanted to try SACD so I sold it to buy a Sony ES-9100 SACD player, I feel the Jolida sounded much better than what I am getting

out of red book with the Sony.

As to Wally's 3rd party modifier, that would be The Parts Connexion, which for those who do not know is run by Chris Johnson who

was the owner of Sonic Frontiers.

I never compared my mini-mod to a stock JD-100 so I can not say how much the mod did for the sound but I do know

that The Parts Connextion does know it's way around tubed HiFi equipment.

[gartenman]

ust dont want to leave a stone untrurned- if 10 people had jumped up at this post and raved about Underwood- I would take a second look- still surfing around looking- VRDs coming which makes me consider revisiting everything in my 2ch system to get that last bit of sound.

my friend modded his to level 1 and mine has not been modded, i don't think his sounds that much better than mine if at all and i just rolled tubes which is a much cheaper than paying for the mod...get a pair of RCA 6201s, they are not expensive...

[Blvdre]

I've owned both an unmodded and a level 2 mod unit. I really like the unmodded unit - instrument transients and body sounded right on. My only complaint was a bit of sibilance emphasis on female vocals. Something I hadn't heard with any other player. Maybe that emphasis was what I liked about the instrumental presentation. I picked up a level two mod unit at a great price, but it was a bit too smooth for my taste - a little dull in comparison to the stock unit. Disclaimer -> In your system, YMMV.

[winchester21]

Looks like the old BS thing did get some good info- some much better than others- to the point of the subject. I find claims of 50-75% improvement on level 1 underwood mods to be quite lofty. The another 25% to level 2- that is 100% over stock if my figures are correct. I certainly have not ruled this mod out however I would lean toward level 1 vs level 2. It looks like there are quite a few folks doing these mods so many options to consider. Many thanks for the input. Good information on a difficult decision. I may end up selling my Cambridge and buying a 2nd Jolida- I think that much of this component.

[thebes]

Tube rolling before dollars out, fur sure. With rolling you have to be a bit patient and let them settle in before you make up your mind.

Send me your address and I'll send you out a few AT7's to play with. Hard times, so they are not free if you keep, but it will give you something to play with that's tested and free to try and it'll only cost you postage to return them.

[CIGARBUM]

The kind and gentle Mr. Thebes, if I may inquire of what type of AT7's are suggesting, if the cost if reasonable could I impose to let me try?

Thanks you Kind Sir

CigarBum

[thebes]

The kind and gentle Mr. Thebes, if I may inquire of what type of AT7's are suggesting, if the cost if reasonable could I impose to let me try?

Thanks you Kind Sir

CigarBum

I have a very large stock, say 100 or so of usa , dutch, german and english AT7's in various flavors. I guess the question for both of you would be what tubes, if any, have you rolled into the Jollida so far and what you thought of them. I could probably narrow it down a bit from there, test them up to find closely matched pairs and send them along for you to play with.

[winchester21]

Box stock- never rolled anything yet- very new at the tube thing. really stupid question but while I have an expert at hand- what kind of tube tester do I need and where should I buy it?- not to get off topic.Thanks for your generous offer.

[CIGARBUM]

My answer is real easy, NONE. I want some new tubes to serve two purposed, first as set of spares and two, if I can find some better tubes at a reasonable cost I will purchase and use the existing as spares. For lending me some tubes, I wouldn't like to do that, I would rather purchase out right, I would trust your judgement and opinion. It's a crap shoot anyway you look at it.

Thanks you Kind Sir

CB

[thebes]

Why a tube tester? If you only have a handful of tubes, you really don't need one. When in doubt, you can mail them off to one of your forum buddies for testing and save the hassle and expense.

I would imagine the stock tubes are either Russian or Chinese. Generalizing, I find many, certainly not all, Russian's to be dull sounding, and the Chinese to be a bit thin and brittle. The great thing about 12AT7's is there are still tons of them out there and they usually sell for less than the 12Ax7's so relative bargains abound. Mullard, Telefunken, Amperex, RCA and I also like the Jans (Joint Army-Navy usually Sylvania) all elicit different presentations. In addition, there are other numbered variants that fit the bill, and depending on the circuit, you can often use 12Au7's or 12Ax7's. In other words, lots of options and certainly better than taking a leap of faith on some peddler selling big-buck mods.

Once you roll, and pay some attention when you are listening, you will find out pretty quickly that there is a discernible difference between brands. Me, I'd roll two or three hundred worth of tubes before I'd drop money on mods , which, if they are from the manufacture are the oldest doge in audio. "Gee, the gizmo we sold you sounds better than anything our competitors turn out, and for a few hundred more we will sell you something that will make you ejaculate on the spot"