Back to Jadis?

[jadis]

Bring back memories of my Jadis DA88S ... Golden is the word ... Accurate ? who cares ... Glorious ... Yes !!!

my feelings too.

 

[jadis]

One thing about the Jadis Defy 7 MKII is how beautiful the damn thing is when you see it in person. Pictures don't do it justice. And when it is working correctly, it sounds as beautiful as it looks. Just don't expect a nice, tight, and extended bottom end though.

I visited the Jadis showroom in Mongkok, Hongkong a few year back and boy was the whole room shinning, literally shinning with lots of Jadis Electronics, on the wall, on the floor, and they were all brand new or demo models. That was my ultimate candy store. What a sight. And somehow just by looking at them, I knew I need to break (in) a bank. LOL

 

[jadis]

The words "unreliable" and "Jadis" seem to go together, at least with their power amps anyway.

I would say so too as there were many units and models that hit these shores in the 90s, there almost was a Jadis Club here. But, there were 2 or 4 pairs of JA30s that didn't register any problem or complaint from the users. Problem is, they couldn't drive my Maggies. I heard the 30s with the Spica TC50s and a small Ensemble bookshelf from Switzerland and they were a lovely, sweet match.

 

[microstrip]

The words "unreliable" and "Jadis" seem to go together, at least with their power amps anyway.

Having owned several Jadis and being friend of several happy owners I have to disagree. Most horror stories about Jadis were due to shortage of quality tubes and people trying to use non unselected, non-burnt and badly matched tubes, or simply bad distributors.

As most people know Jadis is a French company. Mains in France when Jadis started having US distribution was 220V. There were a few problems until they settled the modifications for 110V in the early phase of the distribution. Several known US companies had similar problems when starting distribution in Europe.

 

[mep]

The tubes that came with the amp were from RAM Labs. Anyone want to argue that RAM Labs doesn't know how to test and match tubes? The replacement tubes I bought came from Kevin Deal who I also think knows a thing or two about tube burn-in and tube matching.

 

[jadis]

Over here, the problems of the Jadis amp were mostly caps in the power supply chassis. None on the tubes as far as I can remember. Power tube replacement after use, yes, but not tube popping left and right. Our tech man here said it had to do with the humidity or heat in this region. Fixing it is actually quick but the spectre of listening in peace and suddenly hearing loud firecracker pops from around your amp and speaker area is ghastly, to say the least. I gave up after 3 of those incidents. I admit my ARC amps do not sound like Jadis, but a working amp is always better than a 'dead' amp, to me.

And, the 'stockist' who buys old hi end stuffs for his buy and sell business tells me the all the big Jadis amps in his possession still exhibit the same old reliability problem on the power supply side.

 

[mep]

I have to agree with Phil that a glorious sounding unreliable amp is less satisfying over the long haul than a damn good sounding reliable amp. When I turn on my system to listen to music, I really don't want to have to wonder or worry if my gear is going to be reliable and possibly go south when I turn it on or while I'm listening. I grew tired of that, and not just with the Jadis.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

I owned a 1991 (build date, mandatory DaHong Mod) JA-500 from 2007 until 2011 and the only issue I had was carbon build up on the on off switch due to the massive current flow during turn on/off. I took the switch apart (it was industrial quality and rebuild-able) and within 30 minutes I was good to go. It was indeed a beast to move.. four huge shiny chassis... PS's weighed 140 lbs each. My god it was beautiful. One of the top five amps I've ever heard.

 

[mep]

Why did you get rid of it Peter?

 

[jadis]

I now wonder how those JA 800s are doing in my neighborhood. I haven't talked to the owner for ages. 6 chassis in all. When he got them used from another friend, I asked him how the amps were doing, he told him he had to revamp his circuit breaker and wires as his old house's electrical plan wasn't designed for those humongous but glorious beasts. And in that instance, he was using only 1 side (3 chassis) in stereo mode which didn't trip the breaker. Those were fantastic sounding amps in those days.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Why did you get rid of it Peter?

Ayon Orthos. Better everything (sonically). Easier to move, less floor space. Why own the past? Live and listen to the here and now.

 

[mep]

Ayon Orthos. Better everything (sonically). Easier to move, less floor space. Why own the past? Live and listen to the here and now.

Does that infer that anything newer is better? I would submit that anyone who owns a tube amp brand new or otherwise is "owning the past." Tube technology is obviously very old technology and there are only so many *ideas* that can be recycled over the years by people who scour the Radiotron tube bible and rediscover some nugget of information on how to build a better phase splitter. I would submit that the principle reason that modern tube amps sound better than their grandparents is due to power supply components that weren't available for use back in the day.

 

[flez007]

What preamplifier are you using? IMHO a Jadis power amplifier needs a Jadis preamplifier. I have used the JPL and the JP80MC with other brands with success, but in order to get the best of their power amplifiers you have no other choice!

For vinyl I am also using a Jadis preamp (DPMC) which has a volume knob, for Digital a custom made 6H30-custom made preamp - good to inow that a Jadis preamp is prefered so that, in case I keep them, I can consider one as well.

 

[flez007]

Fernando, I cannot imagine how the 300b's could come close to driving Extrema's! If I was considering re-building my system with high efficient speaker's, the Jadis 300b's would be on my short list. Like Peter just said, the JA-500's are also great, only problem is I have heard that they are very unreliable.

I could'nt beleive it either DaveyF, but the sound was great...two things: one, it is a very small bedroom where they were playing, and two: the Muse card had the subwoofer perfectly matched to the speakers, I am afraid the cut-off was higher than average - I will try to locate the pic of that room and share.

 

[flez007]

Ayon Orthos. Better everything (sonically). Easier to move, less floor space. Why own the past? Live and listen to the here and now.

Surprised!

 

[DaveyF]

I could'nt beleive it either DaveyF, but the sound was great...two things: one, it is a very small bedroom where they were playing, and two: the Muse card had the subwoofer perfectly matched to the speakers, I am afraid the cut-off was higher than average - I will try to locate the pic of that room and share.

Fernando, I would love to see that photo. Was the room in question smaller than mine? That would be a VERY small room indeed I very much doubt that I could get 300b's to work with my GH's even in my room. Like the Extrema's, they are NOT a flea powered/low powered single ended friendly design.

 

[flez007]

I had a busy weekend and arrived to some conclusions:

1.- I might keep the Jadis amps, they offer a better match and sonics compared to my EAR 861 amp, which is a great amp as well for some other room/speakers.
2.- I will also keep the Jadis JPMC, great synergy with the Jadis set-up.
3.- I tried a pair of ribbon IC cables (OMega Micro) with great success, they cost a fraction of the Crystal Cable Dreamlines and offer similar or better performance (I will start a thread later on this).
4.- The KR amp arrived, but we did not have a chance to try it, all my friends were so focused on the Jadis/Omega combination that hours just passed and we had to leave that for other occasion (it is not a Kronzilla but an Anatares Integrated) so no rush here.

Still selling the Nagra T and the Havana to fund this project, I will post both on eBAY this week.

 

[LL21]

Hey Flez,

Whats the latest on the evaluation? Bet the Jadis amps are great! Did you end up putting in the KR?

I had a busy weekend and arrived to some conclusions:

1.- I might keep the Jadis amps, they offer a better match and sonics compared to my EAR 861 amp, which is a great amp as well for some other room/speakers.
2.- I will also keep the Jadis JPMC, great synergy with the Jadis set-up.
3.- I tried a pair of ribbon IC cables (OMega Micro) with great success, they cost a fraction of the Crystal Cable Dreamlines and offer similar or better performance (I will start a thread later on this).
4.- The KR amp arrived, but we did not have a chance to try it, all my friends were so focused on the Jadis/Omega combination that hours just passed and we had to leave that for other occasion (it is not a Kronzilla but an Anatares Integrated) so no rush here.

Still selling the Nagra T and the Havana to fund this project, I will post both on eBAY this week.

 

[flez007]

I did try the VA880 from KR, a nice amp but not at the same league - it is a very convenient, nice sounding amp the KR but not a contender with either the EAR or the Jadis (a Kronzilla maybe....?).

Yeap, I decided to keep the Jadis amps, the local dealer accepted my EAR amp as part of the deal so things were a tad easier for me - I can remember the last time I said "this is the last amp for me...does everything well", I am saying it right now again!

 

[LL21]

Yeap, I decided to keep the Jadis amps, the local dealer accepted my EAR amp as part of the deal so things were a tad easier for me - I can remember the last time I said "this is the last amp for me...does everything well", I am saying it right now again!

congrats!