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Jolida JD-300B with Klipschorns?


HPower

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I had been considering a Audio Space integrated for the Khorns and when googling 300B amps I came across a JD-300B for sale at a very attractive price.

The 1st question, will nine 300B watts be enough to drive the Khorns in a large room... 15' x 24', open to another 11' x 22' room?

2nd, have the Jolida guys been happy with their gear for reliability, sonics, and value?

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I use a Sophia Electric 300B with my Khorns and never use more than the first watt. Room size is 14x18x8 not real big but that first watt just fills the room completely with outstanding sounds. I would think that you would have more than enough power, UNLESS you listen to your music at ear splitting levels.

Jay

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Hey Jay,

Thanks for the feedback.

I just did a search on your amp... very nice indeed.

I am still having a hard time getting my head around idea of single digit watts, but real world input like yours is very reasuring.

Thanks

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I use 2A3 maps, at 3.5 watts each, to power my La Scalas. I put in a 75 wpc SS amp for a month or so, but just swapped the tubes back in. Aaaaahhh! They sound wonderful to me, but I don't listen at really high volumes. Maybe 80-85db most of the time. I kick it up on occasion. They still sound good.

I don't know if you have seen the Klipschorn Jubilees in any of the threads, but Rigma built his own, and pwers them with some 300B amps he built. Isn't that just incredible? I love it.

Bruce

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HPower that is fine I am glad to help, trust me when I tell you that I once was in the exact same place you are. I failed to mention that I also used a 2A3 amp before the 300B, and that little flea powerd 3.5 WPC sounded really nice. I just decided to go out into deeper water with the 300B, glad I did.

Jay

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will nine 300B watts be enough to drive the Khorns in a large room... 15' x 24', open to another 11' x 22' room? 2nd, have the Jolida guys been happy with their gear for reliability, sonics, and value?

I think the primary answer to #1 is how hard do you intend/like to drive them?? I had some in similar room, also opening up and for what I'd call easy listening, 4 watts was enough. When I wanted to crank it up though.... 4 watts isn't even in the ballpark.

I use to have a Jolida 502B. Was my first amp. Was a fine little amp however I had a lot of noise in my volume knob and that really bothered me. It was my first foray into tubes and I ended up selling it.

Jolida however, DID illustrate to me that they had fantastic customer service. Here's the story

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/52058/496878.aspx#496878

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Hey Marvel,

I breifly tried a Fisher 500C and at 32 wpc it would blow you out of the room at anything over 3-4 on the volume dial.

Just to get by, I am currently using my Denon AV receiver and at 90 wpc it sounds so BLAH and lifeless.

I was/am not expecting too much from the Denon but it is an interesting comparison.

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Coytee,

Your story helps make me feel at ease going with Jolida, sounds like they are willing to really support their products.

I don't usually do to much head banging anymore (I must be getting too old) so I guess I am more interested in quality

over quantity but I still am hoping for a full, satisfying and dynamic sound.

I guess the only way to know for sure is to give it a try.

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Hpower i don't think you can go wrong with the 300B and Khorns, it is not the end all by no means; but it is a good start. You will find yourself trying to improve upon it once you get familiar with the new sound, take your time it will come. When you reach a certain point, the improvemnts become smaller and smaller. Don't be tricked into thinking that you are missing out on something because of reading others post about their improvements, everyone has their own cup of tea. Just try to enjoy it.

Jay

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Well,

I pulled the trigger on the Jolida:

http://buy.audiogon.com/cgia/cls.pl?intatube&1204047691

So by this time next week I will be hearing what all this SET talk is all about... and hopefully enjoying what I am hearing.

Obviously the JD 300B is not the ultimate 300B machine, but for $1k I don't think I can go wrong.

Now the hard part, waiting for it to arrive.

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I think you will be extremely impressed with the JoLida, just as I was with my BEZ Model T3B 300B stereo SET amp and my dad's '79 Cornwalls (now sold)! The amp's 6.5Wpc was all that's needed in my small listening room...I don't know how well it would've done driving the 98.5dB CWs in my home's large formal living room (with more efficient Klipschorns I'm sure even 6.5 watts would be pretty darn impressive)!

Looking forward to your report...

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I have been running a Jolida JD300B with my 1979 Klipschorns for over two years and I think you'll be impressed with the sound quality once you receive yours. I do have one suggestion: use the 4 ohm speaker outputs on the amp instead of the 8 ohm outputs. I originally started with the 8 ohms and although it sounded pretty good the bass never quite impressed me. I switched to the 4 ohm outputs and everything fell into place - the same "magic" midrange was there but the bass tightened up and became more delineated. Klipschorns tend to have large impedance swings so the 4 ohm outputs work well for me but you may want to try both so you know the difference.

The JD300B also responds very well to driver tube upgrades so once you've had the amp for a while you should try a few different ones. The stock Chinese Jolida tubes are OK but overly warm at the expense of detail - there's lots of tubes out there that are far better. I am currently running some NOS Tungsram tubes that significantly increased the clarity for me but what works for you will probably be different due to room size, source components, etc.

As far as power goes, unless you really want to stand on it the 9 WPC is more than enough for most music up to reasonably loud listening levels. I do have a CJ Premier 14 preamp and Pass Labs Aleph 5 amp I'll hook to the Klipschorns on occasion for a little variety and more power (obnoxious ear-bleeding Metallica, Pantera, etc. sessions) but the JD300B runs the Klipschorns 90% of the time I listen to them. Good luck, you have some good sound coming to you soon. [8]

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Hey Curmudgeon,

Thanks very much for the speaker tap suggestion, I would have automatically assumed to use the 8 ohm tap.

It's reasuring to get feedback from someone who is happy with the same combination.

My next step will be to find a new CDP, I am currently using a low model Denon (558/1740) DVD player.

I see you are also are using the Jolida 100A, how is it working with the rest of your system?

The other players that have caught my eye are:

1) Cambridge... 740 or 840... I like the idea of the digital inputs on these guys.

2) Rega... Apollo or Saturn... it would have to be a great find on the used market to afford the Saturn.

3) Shanling... T80... it has a variable output so you could bypass a preamp if you wanted.

I am half wondering if a tubed unit like the Jolida and Shanling would be too much "tube" and it would be better
to go with a all solid state machine with the JD-300B?

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I just had an email from the gentleman that I purchased the JD-300B from, he only tried the 8 ohm tap with his Avantgarde Duos.

He also thought it would be a good idea to experament with the 4 vs 8 ohm taps.

For CD playback, he was using an Esoteric (Teac) Universal player, with good results with the Jolida and suggested the Oppo for

a good budget, all in one player.

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I am half wondering if a tubed unit like the Jolida and Shanling would be too much "tube" and it would be better to go with a all solid state machine with the JD-300B?

There's no such thing as having "too much tube" IMO. If my limited budget allowed me, I'd gladly trade in my excellent Cambridge Audio azur 640C for a tube-output JoLida JD-100A or any other quality tubed disc player.

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Hey Jim,

I think we would all prefer a CD player that is as close to "analog" and away from "digital" without loosing any resolution.

From what I have read your 640C is said to be pretty nice player and then the 840C is suppose to be a good step up from there.

One of the things that attracts me to the 840C is that it has 2 digital inputs so it has the added option of feeding a music server and/or

a satelite receiver, transport, etc.

I guess I will have to get comforatable with how the JD-300B sounds first before I decide on which way to go for a new player.

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The Jolida CD player is a great unit, especially for the price. Its a very natural sounding player, maybe not the last word in detail but it still creates a nice deep soundstage. You can also alter its sound characteristics a bit by swapping the 12AX7 tubes to dial it in to your system. I also like that reads discs quickly, unlike some of the DVD-ROM based players that take 20 seconds to read the TOC. I put some dampening material inside the case to kill vibration and upgraded the tubes, it works very well for me.

The Rega Apollo is also a good CD player, I have one in the Linn system in my office. Its also extremely good considering the price and has a great top end. The Rega's have a unique disc reading engine that "initializes" and sets error correction to the disc every time you put a CD in. The Saturn would be nice to have, a little pricey but it sounds fantastic.

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