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Vintage Boston's and Jolida Tube Intergrated


Guest cleaneduphippy

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Guest cleaneduphippy

In answering my last post to P.M. Summer, a thought crossed my mind. Orginally, I was going to replace my speakers (BA-60's) and then further down the road, my receiver (Onkyo TX-840). Of course, trying to find a natural, balanced, decent sounding pair of bookshelf speakers with reasonable bass extension for less than $600 is almost impossible. About the only thing I've found so far that I've actually heard (and would consider) is the B&W DM602's ($550). I also considering the Cambridge Soundworks M-80 based on mostly positive reviews (audioreviews.com), price ($350 for the "B' stocks) and hopefully, that still maintain somewhat of "New England" heritage in their sound and may yet take them up on their "45 day, no questions asked" audition of their speakers.

So getting back to my reply to Mr. Summer, this was the thought that entered my mind. Why don't I just keep the A-60's and marry it with a tube or tube/hybrid integrated amp, such as the ones made by companies like Jolida? I has actually heard a Jolida/NHT system a couple years back and was taken with the sound of it. Especially the difference that in way tubes sound in comparison to solid state equipment. Anyway, it's seem that their equipment is affordable, and might work well with an older Boston (such as my A-60's). The two Jolida's that I have in mind would be JD-302B (which is a 50-watt all tube design) or the JD-1701a (which is a 50 watt hybrid design, tube pre-amp, SS amp). Anyway was wondering if any of you have had any experiences of listening to vintage Bostons being drive by tube amps such as Jolida's (OK, let's say with especially with Jolida's as they seem to be the company I'm interested in dealing with - local Maryland company, although their stuff, like most everything else, is made in China and tweaked in the States) and how well the two worked and (most importantly) sounded together?

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Bret

>or the JD-1701a (which is a 50 watt hybrid design, tube pre-amp, SS amp)B) output tubes are realitively expensive and I didn't want to be faced with the annual or bi-annual expense and "alignment", C) I felt like I needed the additional power. You may have entirely different goals, so I'm not trying to tell you what to do.

The Jolida, thusfar, has been great. Going this "purist" route (no controls of any kind other than volume) I do find I really miss some things; chiefly a balance control. I never really considered how hard it would be to change the location of the speakers, or my chair, to get "balance" until I got a preamp and now this integrated with no balance adjustment. Well, it seems to me the whole "purist" notion falls apart at the tubes themselves, so whatever distortion the addition of a balance control might have introduced would have been mild by comparison to the tubes themselves and its just unhandy not to have one.

My 1501 was modified before it was shipped. They took out the tape loop and inserted a variable preamplifier output (for a powered subwoofer, ostensibly). I have yet to do it, but I thought it might be interesting one-day to see how the preamp section sounds compared to some upper-middle stand alone preamplifiers. At least that's possible with this modification.

I'm not sorry I bought it, after swapping the tubes it sounds good to me, and it's flexible for the future. I was told that if I had given the Jolida tubes (Chinese, not Russian) their 200 hours I would have been much happier with them, and that may be true. That's another experiment I want to run some day when I'm not going to be here to have to listen to it. (I'll go on vacation with a tuner connected and just let it play.)

I don't know if that helps you decide what to do, but it's all I know about the subject.

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Hi Brett;

An excellent review and commentary, thank you.

Stereophole could not have done a better, and more down to earth, write-up.

I am certain, your adventureness will assist others in a like predictimant.

You express yourself so that even I can understand. lol

Your subbing tubes has shown us the end results, better than we could, by reading and perhaps getting frustrated with our own hearing.

Thank you again, Bret.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest cleaneduphippy

Good review, certainly enjoyed reading it, and certainly underscores the difference that good tubes make in the sound of an amplifier using them (btw, I'd heard that the stock Chinese tubes in the Jolida need to be replaced). Anyway, have decided instead of going the tube/hybrid route, I'm going the full tube route by getting a used Jolida JD-502A integrated amp with upgraded tubes (Svetlana 6550s/NOS Sylvaina 12AT7s/Sovtek 12AX7s). Also, at the same time think I'll upgrade the IC's and speaker cables from the RS Gold IC's and generic Monster speaker cable that I'm currently using. As a matter of fact, the seller is also including a pair of AQ CV-6 DBS speaker cables that he was using with the Jolida to drive his Magneplanar MM-12 speakers (which is I believe is a much more difficult speaker to drive than my BA-60s). In any case, once I get everything up and running and get a little time to do some serious listening, I'll drop back by and let all you know what effect it has on the sound my BA-60s. Mind you, my Onkyo Receiver still sounds good, but after listening to some tube amps I'm definitely starting to be able to hear the differences between the sound of tubes and the sound of a solid state component. Now what I'll soon be finding out is just how well my BA-60s accommodates tube amplification and hopefully, it will be a happy match.

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  • 2 weeks later...

>Now what I'll soon be finding out is just how well my BA-60s accommodates tube amplification and hopefully, it will be a happy match.<

I look forward to hearing what you heard.

If you don't like what you hear, unless it's an instability or other problem in the power amp, you can change it to something you will like inexpensively. Just change a pair of 12AX7s.

That, or move the speakers a few inches.

Bret

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Guest cleaneduphippy

Well finally got my Jolida in (bought it used off the Audiogon site) and it's the SJ-502A (Signature Series) Tube Integrated Amp. Tube-wise it has a set of Svetland 6550s, Sylvania NOS 12AT7s, and Sovtex 12AX7s. Also included was a set of AQ CV-6 DBS speaker cables and I added a set of AQ Diamondbacks ICs to complete the upgrade. My source is a late 90s Onkyo CD Changer (DC-C540) and of course, my speakers are a pair of Boston Acoustic Series II A-60s. So how those this all sound? Unbelievably good, much more depth, authority, warmth, musically, imaging and sound staging (even my wife, who generally doesn't pay much attention to my stereo system, commented on how much better it was sounding). I thought (and still do) think that the Onkyo receiver was a good sounding amp (and it will find a new home in my bedroom) but adding the Jolida and AQ wires is really almost night and day in terms of what I hearing. I've always liked my A-60s, but putting some quality tube amplification along with some good wire has really brought out the best in these speakers and has given me a new appreciation of just how good the A-60s can sound. Now I'm sure as time goes on and I get more use to the sound of the amp, I'll do a little "tube rolling" just to see what difference, different tubes make and I'll probably upgrade my power supply (got a cheap power strip at the present, and that needs to be replaced), but for the time being I'm pretty happy and pretty impressed with what I'm hearing and what would definitely recommend matching the old "A" series of Boston speakers with tube amplification.

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  • 1 year later...

To begin, I bought a pair of Boston Acoustics A200 about 2 years ago - made a road trip to the New Jersey seashore to get them. They were extremely clean, and sounded decent, but I did hear some roughness once I got them hooked up in my listening room. I had Bill LeGall at Millersound go over them completely - Bill has a well-deserved guru-type reputation (see the 6moons article on Millersound). All of the drivers were in great shape, so Bill put correct foam around the woofers, put new dust caps on the woofs and mids, replaced a couple of bad caps and balanced the efficiencies of the drivers. They now sound absolutely incredible. On Bills recommendation, I filled the bottom cavity (plinth) with baked play sand, and fashioned new maple outriggers on the bottom and painted them black like the factory originals. I never touched the burlap-colored grills, they look brand new.

On to the Jolida question. I drove the Bostons for a while with a Phase Linear system (PL400 amp), then tried my Jolida 202 (40 wpc) amp. The wow factor immediately doubled. The old Bostons sound incredible with tubes - plenty of bass I might add. To be fair, my listening room is only 10'x13' and I really don't like excessively loud music, however, I'm told constantly that the music is too loud, so maybe that will help you imagine how loud I like to listen. When I recently upgraded my front end to a Cambridge Audio 840c player, the wow factor doubled again, to the extent of being totally enthralled with my music collection all over again. In another room (12'x16') I have a pair of Totem Arro, Dynaudio 300sub, Music Hall amp. Which speakers are better? The Boston's...without a doubt (I'm not knocking the Totems, they can give you goosebumps) - and the Totem/Dynaudio combination are $2800 retail. That's about the equivilant of what the A200's cost in 1979 ($750).

I'm still on the stock Chinese tubes from Jolida (I'm cheap - what can I say?) they sound great to me, so I decided to wait until the driver tubes go, then replace them along with some vintage preamp tubes. A word about Jolida, they are a great company, and I can assure you that I have no association with them, other than being a satisfied customer. I had a 1301 hybrid amp that I had to send back a couple of times, and they were more than accommodating. I would usually get an email back from Michael Allen, the owner of the company. Try that with B&W or any other audio company!

Yes, the combination of vintage Boston and Jolida is a winner!

Paul W.

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