Integrated amp decision, oh the headache

My Jolida was damaged by UPS when I bought it used. The weight distribution makes it very tricky to ship. Fortunately in the Bay Area there is a wizard repair guy. BTW Deborah the Jolida has become my wife's amp since I travel so much. She is also a music and tubed sound fanatic and we have spirited tube rolling discussions. Downstairs we have tube equipment costing 25 times the Jolida and are continually amazed at the quality of the Jolida sound.

I'd love it if your wife would join us here. I'm not sure if you've been keeping up with allot of the stuff thats been going on within the Audiogon discusson groups, but let me just say, it's tough being the only female in here most of the time! And I'm glad you and your wife feel as I do about the Jolida, and tubed gear in general. It is a shame about UPS though. With you all in the music, Deborah.

Good points Deborahl and Plsl! Deb, what tubes did you prefer in the Jolida? I found Svetlana good for smoothness, the JJ(Tesla/Teslovak) for overall balanced performance, and Ei for guts. I also think KT88 tubes are a big step up from 6550s, in these amps. Also, have you heard one modified for triode operation? I'm curious to hear one, despite the 50% drop in power. Didn't buy a Jolida myself(I bought a more expensive amp), but I have promised myself a Jolida in a second system one day. Have gotten many of my friends to buy Jolida, and often wonder if it's REALLY worth it to spend more. An upgraded Jolida is VERY close to many more expensive products.

On the Jolida 502, we are running matched Svetlana KT-88 with NOS selected by ear for the driver tubes. The speakers are old IMF Monitor IIIA transmission line speakers. The bass is astonishing. Our main system currently has new Melos Solist 400w each Triode Monoblocks custom made to match our Dunlavy SC-Vs. We listen in a large room to late romantic orchestral music with Sigtech room correction so we need the power downstairs

You might want to look at some older high end gear. I am using an 80's Pioneer Series 20 A-27 integrated amp. I bought new and would put it up against most Integrated amps. made today. I use a Sony DVP-7700 for a cd transport and a Monarchy 22-A DAC. and two pairs of Infinity sm-225's hooker in parallel.