This is a very sweet sounding amp.Perfect?, probably not.QUALITY FOR THE MONEY?,i don't know of any amp in this price level that would offer more.Midrange clarity is first class.Top end can be tipped up!!with certain cables and speakers.Match carefuly.It has gobs of power and good bas, but I support last octaves with powered sub .Very musical, on good recordings hair rises.

tube bias adjustment on the bottom of 47lb piece of steel.gold becomes hazy,but can be cleaned with jewlery cleaner.scraches very easily,lettering comes off easy.

If you are looking for good,musicaly involving,powerfull amp,Jolida801 is the ticket.I compared this amp with much more expensive amps and it stands its ground.OUTSTANDING VALUE.

Similar Products Used:

adcom-GFP710/GFA5300combo

Looks

A little bright

I am currently using 3 Jolidas in a surround sound setting. I have a 801 running the front, a 102 for the center, and a 502A running the rear. When I got the 801 I was amazed, it is really a awesome looking amp. I set it up and biased it and played it for awhile to compare the sound to my other Jolida IA's. It does the a great sound, but it is not better than the 502. Those concidering an 801, I would get the 502 because the output is close to the same and the sound is more mellow. If you buy a 801 know that you spent the extra on the looks. I was hoping that the 6SN7's would give a different tone but it seems to bring out the brightness. I am still using the China 6SN7's so I will not get critical about it until I can get them replaced. To Jolida owners I will say that if you get nice input tubes (12AX7 12AT7) that will make the tone come out in these amps. I would not invest in NOS outputs because the Svetlana's already sound good, and NOS 6550 tubes are too pricey for the payback in tone. I have found that Sylvania's and RCA's work pretty good and can be obtained for a resonable price. Over all, out of all my Jolida's I would say the 102 is the sweetest sounding amp of them all. I think it's because of the EL84's. The 6550 is a ridged tube design with low distortion. They were designed for high power applications but IMO not as sweet as a EL34 or EL84. The only problem with the 102 is the power rating, it's too weak for Manepans but so is the 801 (if you like it REAL loud). I am giving the 801 5 stars in the value department because the value of all thier amps is unbeatable, and and 4 stars because the sound is very nice but was not "blown away" like 5 stars says. Still very, very good amps. TUBES RULE.....THEY ALWAYS HAVE.

Similar Products Used:

SJ-102 JD-502A

Hello all of you Music Lovers and Audio Guru's. I have been active in the Audio Industry for many years now and have been fortunate been exposed to most of the audio offerings available. In my search for excellence I have owned and or had in my possession many, many products with many different brand names printed on the fronts of the toys. I have been awed, inspired, and even overwhelmed by many. Yet others sent me screaming for the door in search of the off position on my main circuit breaker.
Well to make a long story short, or a short story long..... I was sent a new product sample to evaluate. Guess what, it was the JoLida SJ801A. Upon removing this amplifier from the box I was stunned by the hand polished stainless steel faceplate and the cool cylindrical transformer covers. This along with the exposed tube configuration on the top of the cabinet reminded me of something I might experience in the San Francisco Museaum of Modern Art. I had to hear this thing, anything that looked this good had to sound even better. Let's just say that I was not at all dissapointed.

The JoLida SJ801A along with it's more than sexy appearance sports an impressive array of tubes. With four Svetlana 6550c's, two 12AX7A's, and two 6SN7GT's, it looks like it can do the job. I connected this stunning amplifier to my Triangle Zay's, a $2,700.00 pair of floor standing loudspeakers form one of Europes most respected speaker builders. I choose the Triangle as my main listening speaker because of it's unforgiving abiltity to reproduce "LIVE" experiences. I opted to go for a CD since I was in a hurry and chose my modestly priced JoLida JD601A vacuum tube based CD player. Wait a minute did I say modestly priced? This thing is flat out inexpensive. At $450.00 I have yet to hear anything even close. Better yet, at $1,000.00 I hold the same challenge. Anyhow, lastly I used a complete Barrcuda wire and Cable package from Custom House, Bob Finch really knows how to build an honest Cable.

The result was nothing short of magnificent.... Testing this ensemble was a heavenly experience to say the least. Nigel Kennedy dipped and swayed during Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", KD Lang floated above the stage like an angelic vision, David Bowie was in my room playing just for me.... But the real suprise was when I decided to set this system up with my cheapo $300.00 VCR and see what it might do for a movie. I fingered through my selection of available films and settled on a true GUY flick, Apocalypse Now... heh heh. I WAS FLATTENED... I have watched this movie so many times I can recite half of the lines and I have NEVER been so enraptured. Everything was there, the sound wrapped around me like a fisherman's net pulling me in as though I were a helpless Tuna. This however was only the tip of my iceberg of suprise. My wife actually sat down next to me and with the volume reaching near ear deafenning levels commented on how nice the new system sounded. SOLD

Well I now own two JoLida SJ801A's momo-blocked to 140 watts per side and must admit it's the best thing I've ever heard. As far as the Triangle's go I'm looking to replace them with the new Lyrr which just won the Golden Tuning Fork award in France, and the CD player is on it's way out to be replaced by the new JD602A. All I can say is that is performance is more important to you that prestige, then JoLida is the only option available. If I could give this baby a sixth star it would still not even come close to the performance for the dollar I have experienced.

P.S..... I understand that the new 100 watt JoLida will be on active display at the WCES in Las Vegas. I can hardly wait. See you there.

This is a fine piece not only for the money but by any standard. It is a great improvement over the Acurus DIA 100 I was using previously. You get a true taste of the high end listening to the 801. I have some rather inefficient speakers but they are driven powerfully when connected to the 4 ohm posts.The overall tone is extended but smooth. Bass is great. I am using a rega planet Cd player and Alon II speakers.
People seeking amplifier systems under $5000 should check out this Jolida product. What a value !

What a fine amp. I tried several solid state preamp / amp combinations (Classe, Marantz, Krell) to match my Magnepan MG12 speakers, but the brightness was excessive for my taste (probably due to my room specs). I decided to jump into the tube world, and boy do I love it! I wanted something affordable that would allow me to get the best of these wonderful speakers (I strongly recommend that you try the MMGs, MG12s or MG1.6; all of them are outstanding). I tested the Jolida 801 for a weekend before making my decision. As soon as I hooked this gorgeous 50lb amp to my speakers, my listening room turned into a magical field of sound. The tubes were the following: 4 Svetlanas 6550Cs, 2 Sovtek 6SN7GT and 1 12AX7A. With this setup, the change was so dramatic compared to what I used to hear that I could barely believe what I have been missing at home! The most minute details of percussion instruments become audible, the clean bass (yes, the Maggies and the 801 do provide a clean, fast bass), the pure mid range, and most of all the high octaves sounded like heaven. Maria Callas, Cecilia Bartoli, Diana Krall and Astrud Gilberto spent the weekend in my listening room. The amp is gorgeous (keep the kids' fingers away), and the tubes are so easy to swap (too bad the bias keys are below the amp, but you won't need to bias the amp more than once every few years). In my opinion, for its price, its clean and pure sound, the power it delivers and its gorgeous looks, this amp is a winner. Needless to say, when my friends come to visit, they don't want to leave. Oh, sorry I have to leave you, but Mozart's violin concert is starting in a few seconds, and I'd hate to keep him waiting...

detail, musicality, bass, soundstage, looks, price, everything!!!!

N-O-N-E...let me explain... NO WEAKNESSES!!!!

This amp retails for about $1,400. It totally DESTROYS ANY Solid State amp for less than $3,000, and many over.
It produces tight, controlled bass, crystal highs, joyous liquid midrange, and a totally transparent point-source soundstage. It elevates speakers well beyond midfi like Acurus, Aragon, Adcom, Parasound, H/K and so on. Vocals are liquid gold. Miniscule details stand out. This amp looks like $5000, bit costs 1/4 that much. It is a truly AWESOMELY beautiful, and spectacular sounding product. I feel 5 stars is too limited in this instance.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaco stereo 70, mcintosh, Westlake audio

Easy, open sound. Sexxy smooth from low to medium levels.

Quickly distorts at higher levels, biasing underneath unit.

This amp could be a killer if it could pump out a little more power with less distortion. The bass tends to get flabby and rough on speakers at high levels. I have had better success with biamping two 801a's, but still too much distortion at higher levels. By the way, two amps could heat a small room as they kick off so much heat it gets down right hot in my listening room. I have owned many stereo's from top of the line Linn to Krell to Levinson. Those aforementioned systems tended to make me always turn up the volume and I was never happy just listening to the music. Now with the 801 I just sit back and listen to the music at low to medium levels. I do wish it had more cranking power though. All in all a very good amp for a very good price.

Similar Products Used:

302 and 601