Anyone try the Jasmine LP2.0SE?


I have a Ray Sammuels Nighthawk battery operated phono pre which is a pretty darn good performer. It took me some cartridge and cable juggling and a whole lot of tweaking around, but I managed to achieve a musical synergy with it with one of the amps (a modified Dynaco ST-70) I have on hand.

As good as I can get it to sound with the el34 amp, however, I've been striking out with the battery operated phono pre and a solid state amplifier in the loop (both Firstwatt F1 & F1J) with all else equal.

The Jasmine is pretty much at the same price point and I'm wondering whether anyone can offer any feedback on it. Someone who has steered me very right in the past with speakers and amplification dubbed it a giant killer and claims it killed a Manley Steelhead in his own rig--yet there is little info on it out there...

The things I really like about the NH are its transparency, dynamics, dead quiet (so long as placed away from noisy electronics) and versatility. What I wouldn't mind improving on are harmonic density and centering the balance a bit which might be tipped northward a tad.

FWIW I'm using a Well Tempered Reference and Zu 103 cart (after much juggling the low compliance high mass Zu is doing me well in this position--I also have a 103D in a box).

Can anyone offer feedback on it? If its such a great performer why has it gone unnoticed?
gopher

Showing 4 responses by gopher

Thanks for the feedback. I ordered one today so I can compare for myself. The jasmine will have its work cut out for it to better the night hawk in with my. Tube amp in the mix, but if it succeeds it will probably be the heaviest hitter anywhere near this price range.
Interesting feedback, thank you. I would be swapping the stock PC anyway, but are you saying it is not on the NH's level without the cable upgrades?

Also, the delicate/refined treble is appealing to me, but I'm concerned by the 'slightly lean' midrange you speak of. I gave up a good bit of midrange body/extension going to the NH from a tubed phono stage (EE Minimax).

Should I be expecting the Jasmine to be leaner still? If so, that gives me pause...
Redglobe,

Thanks for that information. Seems like a cheap enough cap to give a whirl.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=027-476

Did you experience any negatives with the upgrade?

Was musicality scarified for the additional coherence? I like the tone, texture and body the Jasmine is doing stock--was that at all compromised?

Birddogthecat,

Did you have any luck sourcing the connectors? I too changed the AC cord almost immediately (have been using a Wywires "Juice") but am stock on the umbilical cord. If I could get my hands on connectors I'd love to try and convince Wywires to make a custom umbilical cord for my unit.
I have a source for the connectors. They are $10 with a minimum shipping cost of $16 (smallest weight DHL).

If anyone wants in, we can put an order of a few together to make it worthwhile...

I figure $15 a person would be fair?

Drop me an email.