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Jolida JD9: I think I over-bought. Alternatives?

In my infinite quest of attaining gear that punches above it's weight class.... I landed a used JD9 to try it out and I'm frustrated. The AT120ET cart is too high of output to use the high outputs (even with 12au7 tubes). I ended up using the low outputs. While it still sounds good, I can't help but think that I'm not getting as much out of it with the cart i'm using. ...and I don't want to upgrade my cart.

I think I might go back to the Cambridge 651p or Musical Fidelity V90-LPS. Both sounded pretty good. I post here, so you guys can talk me out of it ... or suggest an alternative. On the plus side, I did score some 12ax7 mullards, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I have a stock technics 1200 Mk2 that I'm quite happy with. Just need a preamp that matches nicely with the cart. I think there might be something in-between the $200 - $600 that might be a good match.

Conversely both the Cambridge and MF are pretty good. I'm not looking for a critical preamp. Thoughts?
128x128martinman
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martinman OP
93 posts
 
Hiho -

Thanks for your posts -- the schematic analysis really helps. I don't think I'll modify it though. I'd rather pay (at some point) and get a better cart that is more inline with the JD9 expectations. Or sell it now and get something in the future when I upgrade things. I have the MM switch on, and the other 2 off. When using the high output, I had them all off (still about 50db of gain!). The 12au7s helped, but still was overdriving things.

The Bugle2 is intriguing so I placed an order. Can't beat $139 for the kit. I've built tube amps before, so this should be a snap to put together. Looking forward to the comparison!
audio_candy
13 posts
 

You say you don't want to change cartridges but you are willing to spend $600 on a new phono preamp. The JD9 is a good one. I would get a better cart. There are some MC's that are way better than your cart. and you don't have to spend $600........
dsper
663 posts
 
I run an Audio Teknica AT150 and that gives more detail than my KB Ortofon sty40. Also have used a Denon 103R and that was more detailed than the Ortofon, I thought in my system.

Did not really notice a whole lot of gain difference between the three cartridges. Using the MM on the JD9, I believe.
martinman's avatar
martinman OP
93 posts
 
Hi Everyone,

I took Jedinite24 and Gadfly's advice and bought a Bugle 2 Kit from Jim Hagerman.

http://www.hagtech.com/bugle2.html

I am absolutely blown away by it's performance. It's exactly what I was look for. We all love products where the price to performance ratio is maximized. You can't beat this at $139 kit / $189 assembled. The bugle 2 is far better than anything you can get at this price-point.

If you are handy at all, get the kit -- the directions are very very good.
hiho
451 posts
 

Glad you like your new phono preamp. But it's curious that if you're technical enough to assemble a kit and yet you couldn't bypass the tube stage to lower the gain, just jumping couple wires, which would have cost you nothing. Essentially you're replacing one op-amp for another. Oh well, you're getting what you want so that's what matters.

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