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Jolida and B&W Nautilus 805

Has any one had any experience with Jolida tube amps driving B&W Nautilus 805s? I've tried to read up on this in the forums and find two facts:

1. The Nautilus series likes high-powered solid-state amps.
2. Using a single-ended design is not recommended.

Jolida amps are not single-ended, but push-pull designs. My question is, would one of these amps (e.g. JD 202A w/ 40W output) be enough to drive this speaker pair nicely? Or do I need a higher powered model? How much power would be enough? Finally, do you recommend any other tube integrated amplifiers (or solid state) for this speaker pair instead? My budget for amplification (including pre) is $2000.

Thanks for any help!
lennychen
underwoodwally
60 posts
 
How big is your room and what type of music and volumes do you listen to? For normal volume levels in a reasonably sized room the JD-202A drives the Nautilus 805 just fine. Wally
trelja
3,215 posts
 
I disagree with Wally.

Although I am one of the biggest fans of the Jolida 202A, it does not mate well with the B&W N805. If that sounds like a criticism of the Jolida, it isn't. I tried the N805 with another, far more expensive EL34 based integrated, the Conrad Johnson CAV50, and it also is not up to driving the B&W.

Although I am not a big solid state propoent, I go along with your first statement, these speakers prefer solid state amplification. A demanding impedendance/phase angle up through the lower midrange is the reason. If you are going to go with these speakers, you'll never get them to sing until your pair them with transistors.

Personally, I feel so strongly about this amplifier, however, that I would see if you could look into a friendlier pair of loudspeakers. If you like the EL34 magic, it definitely has that. A beautiful amplifier when you find a synergistic match.
lennychen OP
28 posts
 
My room is about 18 x 11 and I don't listen at party volumes (although, occasionally, I will turn it up a little to get some of the excitement out of rock music...). :)

Let me name off a few artists in my CD collection of late:

India Arie, Coldplay, Michelle Branch, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Getz/Gilberto, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Ben Folds Five, Train, John Mayer, Eagles, Elton John, Jamiroquai...

I have two follow up questions:

1. For the collection of music I just mentioned, would the Jolida be a good match? If the N805s aren't recommended with the Jolida, what speakers would work better?
2. Otherwise, if the Jolida isn't a good match, what amp/speaker combo would be recommended?

Thanks for all of the good comments!
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