The "there" factor is the strong point.

Lack of bass extension.

Go for a listen and you will be also won over.Could well be the steal of the year regarding tube amps.Cost the same as a mid level Sony but is much,much involving.Never go back to solidstate again unless its for home theater.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaco,Cary,B&K.

I purchased my SJ 202A ten months ago and have been nothing but pleased with the performance of this little integrated amplifier. While it does not provide the razor sharp resolution that the characterizes the products of Conrad-Johnson or Audio Research (which cost quite a bit more), it certainly surpasses any integrated amplifiers in it’s price class.
The SJ 202A is attractive amplifier finished in black and silver, with bell covers for the power and output transformers. The front panel consists of a power switch, volume control, and source selector switch -- that’s it! The control knobs are machined aluminum and have a very solid feel. The tubes are neatly lined up in two rows in front of the transformers. The overall appearance is very art-deco. In back are sturdy four-way binding posts with taps for both 8 and 4 ohm loads.

This amplifier uses two EL34 power tubes per channel in push-pull mode for a rated power output of 40 WPC (60 WPC peak) into an 8 ohm load. This enough power to drive a wide range of speakers that would fit into it’s price range. I am currently driving an old pair of ADS L620s (no laughing please) with this amp. They have a rated efficiency of 91 dB @ 1m and I can play them as loud as I care to with the volume control at 9 o’clock.

I would characterize the sound of this amplifier as well balanced with the midrange “warmth” characteristic of a tube amplifier. This not to say that say that the amplifier displays a midrange coloration or lack of clarity. Instrumental and vocal timbers are realistic and there are no noticeably rolled-off high or low frequencies characteristic of the Dynaco ST-70. There is just a relaxed natural presentation of sound that allows the listener to reach into the gestalt of the music. This amplifier can display foot stomping rhythm and pace with rock and roll, and give you the breathtaking energy and subtlety of a full symphony orchestra. In short, this amplifier sucks you into music. Isn’t that what this whole “hi-fi” thing is about?

Since purchasing the Jolida, I have been forced to re-evaluate all of the other components in my system. I have replaced my CD player, upgraded my interconnects, and I’m afraid that my old ADS L620s will have to go. I think this is indicative of how this amplifier raised my expectations of what a modestly priced sound system can do. I don’t know if you can call the Jolida SJ 202A a “high-end” component, but it certainly is close.

For those of you looking for a low-cost entry into vacuum-tube amplification, this Jolida SJ 202A is hard to beat. If you have the craving for more power, you might be interested in the SJ 202A’s larger siblings. In any case, if you are in the hunt for a great-sounding integrated amplifier that won’t run your credit card to the limit, the SJ 202A might be the one for you.

Lovely highs, soundstage

Mid, mid-bass and bass resolution, very much colors the music

This product certainly has some charm, and playing with tubes can be fun, but frankly, the very mediocre, assembled largely in China transformer makes this a very average piece of equipment. While at about 700 bucks it is much less than other new tube products out there, in many respects it sounds worse than some old tube products you can find for 300 to 500 if you look. The Jolida was my first piece of tube equipment, and I got the impression from it that tube gear by nature lacks any sort of bass resolution. In fact, a decent tube amplifier goes as low with as much harmonic accuracy in the bass as a solid state amplifier. Tubes tend to warm things up and smooth things over, and the bass tends to be a little flabby, but it should be there. In the Jolida, it is not there, and for 700 bucks, which is not such a small amount of money by most standards, it should be. I've read a review that had similar complaints about the 302. Stereophile does like the 502, but there is plenty of high quality used tube gear out there that will be cheaper and sound better. That said, if you like your music ethereal and pretty, try the Jolida.

Similar Products Used:

Vintage tube amplifiers, an old Yamaha receiver

Clear and Smooth

40WPC

This is a remarkable amplifier by most standards. I heard the 202 at my dealer coupled to Tannoy speakers and was amazed at the sound. Perhaps the reviewer below has difficult speakers and does not get good bass extention with the 40W output of the 202. I did not hear any deficiency , bass or otherwise in this product. With efficient speakers most people would like this amp. If you want a civilized sound from your electronics , consider the 202. It is smooth and has no treble harshness to my ear.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha , Acurus DIA100 , Jolida 801A

Liquid highs,mids,and presense!!!!

It comes with "stock" tubes.

I'll try to make this short and sweet. This amp rocks and rolls!!!! But you have to do some tweaking unfortunately. No biggie just buy a cheap radio shack multi-meter $14.00, some matched quartets of Mullard EL/34's or some groove tubes,.....they'll do almost just as well! And you can't forget to change the 12AT7's and the 12AX7's (front small tubes) with telefunken "diamond sound" or groove tubes again, they really are very good tubes, much better than those "electron" tubes found in the jolida. If you do this, you'll be one happy camper!! I know this is a little much, but if you are a TRUE audiophile you know already that the improvements are worth it! If youv'e heard this amp stock, wait untill you hear it upgraded you won't believe your ears! I'm using mine with some Mirage M-3's (originals) these behemoths are not eficient but the sound is to die for!!! Sometimes it's hard to go to sleep because I keep looking for some music to listen to that I haven't heard for a while!!!! The upgrade is THAT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! I think that tubes were originally made for horn speakers and woofers that have a 95db/1-watt or more rating because the best tube amps in the world are usually under 20 watts!!!! Sorry I took up so much space but I felt it was my duty to inform the uninformed about the beauty of TUBES.

Similar Products Used:

None,all previous gear is/was solid state

Midrange

Bass (probably - I'm using mini-monitors)

If you saw the room I'm listening in you'd laugh. A small spare room full of empty boxes & old furniture; on the spur of the moment I decided to transform it into a listening room & went audio hunting for the first time in quite a few years. I decided to go tubes since I don't know that I've ever heard a really objectionable tube amp.

I bought the Jolida at a nice little place in Somerville called Sound Exchange. Got home & hooked it to a Denon DCM360 CD player (cheap these days, I got it for $115). I am using Audioquest Jade interconnects - the salesman at Sound Exchange actually looked alarmed when I went to purchase some cheap Monster Jr. cables. I opted to believe him.

Speakers: NHT Super Zeros which I thought I had heard before. Dollar-a-foot speaker cable from Radio Shack.

It's day one. I'm about 20 CDs in and I am in love. Ella Fitzgerald's voice -- ooh la la. I was clenching my fists at the climaxes of the Costello-Bacharach "God Give Me Strength". A Chesky Debussy CD sounds like it's been recorded holographically. XTC's "Mummer" I've heard a thousand times but never so cohesively.

I suppose there's no bass. At some point I may miss this. I should mention I use a Jadis subwoofer in my main system. I think it's probably significant that I haven't missed it so far. I have been entranced.

This system cost well under a thousand dollars. I haven't been in the audiophile loop for a few years, but I doubt I could have done better.

Good looks, nice build quality, great value.

Original equipment input tubes need immediate upgrade.

I've wanted a tube amp forever, but was afraid to buy one and discover that tubes were not well suited to my diverse listening tastes. Enter the Jolida JD-202a, I got mine for $400, certainly inexpensive enough to experiment with.

When I got it, I hooked it up to my existing system and found it bright, but pleasant. There was also some material that made it burp a little bit (Tracy Chapman, Matters of the Heart, Track 7). Replacing the input tubes with RAM Labs SLN fixed this.

Next I auditioned some speakers to replace my old NHT 1.1s to solve the brightness problem and find a little more bass. The final contenders were the Mission 774 and B&W CDM 7SE. Both speakers sounded very vice, but the B&Ws won me over with their good looks.

This is now the best sounding system I've ever heard Tori Amos and Mary Black on, and still sounds great with Peter Gabiel and Pink Floyd.

I'd give it 5 stars overall, if it came with better input tubes.

System:
Jolida JD 202a integrated amp
Pioneer DVL-919 CD/LD/DVD player
B&W CDM 7SE loudspeakers
AudioQuest Type4 speaker cable
AudioQuest Emerald Interconnect

Great sound, Build Quality.

Few for this price.

I purchased this amp as a demo and the output tubes had been upgraded to Tesla/JJ E34L's. I was looking at Nad, Arcam, and Rotel, but I decided to go with the Jolida 202a after many hours of research on tube amplification. Let me first give you my 2 cents on tube amps: Tube wattage is far more efficient than solid state due to the amount of headroom tube amps have. This means, do not be afraid to purchase a lower wattage tube amp fearing it will not "Jam" or get "loud enough", because it will be fine as long as your speakers are relatively efficient. Pure Class A Single Ended amps are low watt, sound excellent, and can be quite expensive. Push Pull Class A and A/B amps were developed to be more powerful with the ability to run less efficient speakers. There is a sacrifice in sound quality from SE Class A and PP Class A/B, but I think most people would have trouble telling the difference including myself.
My final decision was made on the Jolida 202a for two reasons, the first is that I wanted an inexpensive tube amp because I felt I was "risking it" buying tube, and second because of Mike Allen, who just happens to be the president of Jolida who took a couple of hours of his time to fully explain the details of the amp and the purpose of its construction to me. He was very laid back, down to earth, and gave me the confidence to go with tubes. Jolida's customer service is great and the $20 phone call was well worth it.

I am so pleased I bought this amp. The first CD I listened to was almost irritating because I was not prepared to hear all the music I had been missing. I then found myself laughing with glee about how incredible of a difference tubes compare to solid state. The definition is wonderful and this amp brought my 16 year old Pinnacle PN8 bookshelf speakers to life. I too have noticed a deeper and more defined bass, as well as superior mids and highs. This is truly a great amplifier that has alot of power and clarity to offer. I would recommend this amp to anyone who wants to pass on all the bells, whistles, and remote controls, to invest in good reliable sound. My only regret is that because of my speakers age, I budgeted for a new pair, but now realize I should have taken the entire budget and bought a sweet single ended amp or a nicer Jolida amp instead, but I do not regret saving money not having to buy speakers for a while. I guess it leaves me room to upgrade in the future. Overall, the Jolida 202a is a great introduction to the world of tube amps at a very reasonable price. 4 stars !

Similar Products Used:

Mid-Fi solid state.

Liquid, smooth sound, deep punchy bass. High resolution.

None

I set out to get te best amplifier for my money. I had $650 which by today's standards is not much. The first thing that came to my mind after years of research into audio components was the Jolida 202A tube amp. I had heard that tubes sounded incredible, but I needed a little proof. So I had the Jolida's put up against the Acurus separates. Although the Acurus sounded nice, there was none of that warm, soothing tonality that the Jolida offered. So I purchased the Jolida and happily walked out the door. I brought it home and hooked it up to my B&W 602S2's and was even more surprised. The mid's of the B&W's just came to life with stunning beauty, the bass deepened and tightened fourfold and the highs have become pure and shimmering. I was however, worried that they would not offer enough power, because I had just moved from a 100wpc Denon reciever, this was simply not the case, it overflowed with power, it absolutely teemed with it. Perhaps my speakers are just easy drive... Anyhow, I am absolutely satisfied with my new amp, and get this; I haven't even changed out the power tubes yet! Oh I can only imagine how excellent it is going to sound when I upgrade the tubes!

Similar Products Used:

Denon DRA-685, Acurus separates.

My goal was to outfit my home office with Tube sound, total package price needed to be under $1000 for WAF. My biggest decision was new or vintage. I like the vintage stuff, but I don't have a local dealer, so mine was to be an internet transaction. Frankly, I was nervous about dealing with an individual as I had read many horror stories in the audio newsgroups. I searched for months and read every review I could find of Golden Tube, Jolida and all of the kits. Finally, I found the Jolida 202 from Kevin Deal for under $500. I bought it. Next I needed speakers. I have always liked the B&W sound, but the 601s that would be the perfect size for my office list at $400 for the pair. This would leave me with $100 for a CD player which seemed impossible. I talked to the salemen at my local Sound Advice, and sure enough, the following weekend they were having a sale -- buy one speaker at regular price, get the second half off. So I came back the next weekend and bought them for $300. I patched in my Sony Discman to listen to the sonics. I was very impressed. This left me with $200 for a CD player. I shopped for used ones, but found nothing I would be happy with. Then I contacted North Country Audio. They had a NAD 513 for $175, B stock. This is the three disc changer, which also helped with WAF. I bought it. And I could not be happier with the overall sound. When I connected the NAD in place of the Discman, the sound truely opened up. Overall, the system sounds very transparent. Imaging and seperation are impressive. As long as you are not looking for booming bass, I would highly recommend this system. I used a pair of Monster Cable series 400 I had and I bought a five foot pair of Vampwire 13 gauge speaker wires. I challenge anyone to find a better sound for $1000.