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JADIS DEFY7, can not get it to sing

Hi
I hope some of you old pros can help answer my,,well lets say help me figure out how to get my Jadis defy 7 to sing. I purchased the amp used (like new, as the seller had a  Jadis JA200 mono blocks laready and the Defy sat quiet, So I bought it in 2008. Months later i purchased a  MINGDA tube pre amp, sounded AWEFUL, Not even close to my jadis Orch reference, KT90's EI tubes, that intergrtaed was really all I needed, i made a  huge costly mistake selling and buying the  DEFY 7, I do believe that w/o a  powerful pre, to DRIVE the FQ's into the Defy, the Defy will not respo9nd. 
The sound is flat, lifeless, no dynamics, The Orch Refer had HUGE sound stage, bass, GORGEOUS life like mids, nice sweet highs. 
I wanted more and bought the Defy,. 
I just had the Defy cked in Baton Rouge, had the KT90's brand new EH tuibes biased . 
I have a  ONKYO preamp arriving next week and am about to buy a  Mitshibushi Pre amp, 
I have a  LITE LS9 , chinese tube preamp, and that pre sounds like the,,no worse than the heftier Ming Da. 
This Lite LS9 is suppose to be a copy of the Jadis 200 pre, It weighs only 7 lbs, the trans is light weight.
I get  the idea the jadis Defy needs a  great hefty powerful prem, which is what folks told me back when i bought it, I did not believe them. 

I am low on  cash and will list the Defy for $3500 and i will pay shipping. 
I will then wait fora  great used Jadis intergrated, say a  DA50.

But I 1st want to try the 2 solid state pres to see if i can get the Defy to wake up.
It I can get some better respose , i may keep it and look for a  good used Audio reserach or a  macnintosh.
I do not have $6K for a jadis pre used. 
My budget is $1K
any help is greatly appreacitaed.
I have the uncredibly  SEAS Thor MTM speakser along with the CAYIN tube cd player with upgraded opamps .
As I say I am very close to selling the hge, hardly used (Like New) amp, due to my doubts that I can get the amp to respond like its tiny brother , The Orch Reference. 
btw I am the one who coined the tag *shootout* wayyyy back in 2000, or 2001 
I stared a  thread of speaker shootouts,,,and based on that long thread, i bought the SEAS THor kits. 
I now see *shoot out* is now the common tag for speaker and stereo components comparison.
My old login was Bartokfan.
Look forward to any suggestions in my dilemma.
paul
new orleans
mozartfan
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
UPDATES
So much going on, Completed all new .47 caps
complete most resistors to Takman Rey Metal'
new Svet 6550s

Running Teles in the AX/AU section.
anyway, had most res swaped to Takman Rey's.tech guy biased  p-er <<Jadis'>> recommend 32/33, 
got it back, 
Mundorf cap blew + 3 tubes blew
so now i know why the other 2 techs biased on <<the safe side> = low at 27/28
+ IMHO biased higher messes with the sound of the tubes, the sonics change = some of the  vocals lost some magic = sounded distorted, 
Richard says he will bias back to 27 = Class B =  amp happy = I am happy + you get more life out the tubes at slightly lower bias.
anyway, amp will be back in operation next week
willl posta  YT vid here on how things went. 
Richard lent me his 
Allen 90 Organ monos 
+ his Dynaco 70
both amps were super, if not close to the $9K retail Defy7. 
Goes to prove you do not need to spend $$$$$ on a  tube amp.
But if you are looking for that extra nuances, deeper bass, richer textures, , especially in full orchestra, you need Jadis'
But you walk ina  room blind folded, it might be dif to deterimine which is which of the 3  amps playing. 
Cost me a  fortune for all these upgrades. 
Richard was the only fair dealing tech of the 4 local techs. 
Priced me more than reasonable. 
Anyway, I am hoping the vocal magic has returned as we also had to swap out a pair of tak carbon 18k res.
maybe that will restore the magic midrange that i had pre resistor swap.

stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,475 posts
 
Stereo 5 took the words that I was going to write
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
OK all units + Xover upgraded with Mundorf Supreme and EVO silver/gold caps, 
+ new Takman res in the Defy, about 40 Rey Metal res.
+  all nacvships wiring throughout entire system,

addeda  Jadis DPL pre added a  Jadis JS2 Mark2 DAC.
a  few more changes next week.
Here she is with Sophie Milman and Gatemouth Brown , 2 nice reference cds
Sound is extremely low = near nil ,,distortion. 
Hefty bass, gorgeous vocals, , nice crystine highs.
The new navships su=ilver internal wire in the Defy really made the sound come alive and opened the door for all caps/resistors to sing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID8ZhML7808
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
The reason Defy7 can't sing is due to <,Seas Thors>> withn their <<87 db sens>>>  Just built my cabinets for the 6.5 DavidLouis 6.5 FR, ha, Truth is FR annihilates every/any/all speakers.
FR is King of all speakers. 
Xovers are <,dinasaurs>>
Sorry SEAS and Scanspeak,, Now i nered to look into SEAS Full Range, ,,,,~~~ I;'m back~~~ ha, Seas Full range 8 inch  $800 each,, forget it. 
I can get a  pair of davidLouis 10 inch for under $400 includes shipping. NOW the Defy will sing like angels. 
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 

Finally after owning this amp some 15 yrs, added all new Mundorf Gold Silver caps, (The blue Philips caps were not changed as those caps are high fidelity) So my tech guy here in New Orleans, RG decided to test it w KT120's as we were going to list it for sale on Ebay,,,,,due to the shortage of 6550 tubes,,, He had it running w KT120's , I said, why sell , sounds super duper.

Works great. 

Here is a short YT vid, gives a hint at performance. 

I prefer a  quad of KT120's vs 12 6550's. 

Let me try to upload the YT vid

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gERjCM0k6_M

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