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...changing the Tubes on the Jadis DA50 worth it ?

I am considering changing the Tubes on the Jadis DA50 , what can I expect is it worth it ?
It looks like it will run around $350 and up.
Alternatively I could use that towards a better D/A.
I want to improve my my Jadis DA50 integrated and Legacy Illusion speaker.
(Illusion is somewhere between Focus and Whisper) set up.
I tried different cables not much improvement.
I used my Legend D/A (now von Gaylord) from a different system and had a big improvement.
However that D/A is no longer available and the current D/A model ($13K) is bit much for a second system.

My other sources are a the HK HD7600 (kind of bright on the up frequencies and no emotions),
PC with Headphone out (seems okay), Nakamichi Dragon , Sansui TU9900 and a never used in over 25 years J A Michell hydraulic pretty turntable (just like the looks of it).

Mainly will listen to CD's ,...maybe more Internet stuff in the future, ...maybe at some point records but most likely not.

any advice would be great.
128x128awahl
ryriken's avatar
ryriken
164 posts
 
Depends how old the tubes are. If too old you should replace or get them tested.
egoben
56 posts
 
I have tried KT90, KT88, 6550 and 6CA7 on my Jadis JA30 mono amps (should be pretty similar to your amp) and honestly, there is not a huge difference between the tubes in my amp, even though they are said to be very different from each other. The smaller tubes doesn't normally need to be replaced very often, every four or five years or something, maybe more, depending on how much you use the amp of course. Four KT88's shouldn't be too expensive, like $250 (Genalex Gold Lion).

What tubes do you have at the moment?
awahl's avatar
awahl OP
7 posts
 
After the responses I did not do much with it since the likely hood of improvement seems limited and unclear to me at this point.
Instead I overhauled a HH Scott 299 with new caps restored to all original and some new tubes driving Klipsch-cornerhorns and that set up sound balanced and as good as I would expect from that combo. (the mid-range on that is nowhere near the Jadis DA50 set up but it plays very musical).
Still running the KT90's on the DA50 / legacy Illusion (one was blowing up but had an extra one and got it running). ( they tested Ok ). Four KT88's (Genalex Gold Lion) may be the next attempt.
I am still not happy with the performance for my taste. I head a great sound experience with Jadis amps during a Demo long ago and my set up is just falling short.
The mid-range is good a touch to antithetical (would like a bit more musical) but just a touch off. Some users push the tubes with a higher Bios or so not sure if i want to go in that direction.
The base is not where I would like it to be. The speaker should go to 20Hz, maybe the amp can't handle it pushing the 3x 15" per Ch with the 15W per Ch. I have heard the speakers perform better. The Legacy Illusion speaker are pretty sensitive 98db , so should be okay I guess.
With the current setup I don't bi-amp and don't use the volume crossover control for the speaker may be that speaker sounds better with more amplification. I was just hoping for a more simple set up.
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