Anyone have honest opinion of Jolida amps?

Those of you who like Jolida (& those who are curious) should try to search out a dealer that carries their JD3000 mono-block amps.

Not cheap @ $5500. pr. (ESPECIALLY for a "Jolida") but I gotta tell ya, I heard 'em powering a pair of Vandersteen 5a's a cpl. years back, and was FLOORED by how awesome the system sounded.

I didn't even know they were Jolida amps working this sonic-magic, as at the time, I had no experience with Jolida and wasn't aware they even MADE amps of this calibur and $$$, and just saw a pair of cool looking BIG-bottle amps sitting quietly on the floor -- which again, I assumed were some $20k something-or-others making things come to life.

I'm still surprised and puzzled as to why there hasn't been a review and/or more posts on these amps???

Could be one of the best kept "secrets" in tube audio...

Don't even try and decide how good your Jolida is until you've sent it too Bill Baker at Response Audio and had him upgade it. The changes are dramatic. Bill's also a nice person to deal with and has helped me in many other ways with my audio hobby.

i own a JoLida 502A that is heavily modified (see my bedroom system for details) - hardly anything in there is original. Without modification the 502A is a dark amp, has wooly bass (could be an effect of the used winged-C 6550 tubes) & slightly rolled off highs. Pretty damn good midrange. Post modifications it is a much better amp: tighter bass which seems to have much better definition. The biggest improvement is that it's much less dark. The high freq extension is much improved. So, after the mods, I realized that, tho' the used winged-C tubes could have been the culprit, the parts quality was a definite culprit. No doubt in my mind. The transparency of the amp is much improved such that it very easily shows the inadequacy of CDP (damn!). Alternately, when I feed the signal to it thru my CAT preamp in my main system, it sounds really very good! I had a hard time taking it out.
I personally feel that JoLida is a much better buy if bought used & modified. FWIW. IMHO. YMMV.

I began climbing the Jolida early this year with a used Jolida 102B integrated. Unfortunately it was not a good match for my Spica TC-50 speakers so I began looking for speakers to match. The sound was wonderful, though. I learned more about tubes as I looked around to upgrade them. I thought the 102B was an excellent little amplifier. After using the 102B for a few months I bought a used Jolida 202B and I like it a lot. I use 1950's NOS preamp & driver tubes and Electro Harmonix EL-34's. The amp drives my Klipsch RB-5 II speakers real well. I have become accustommed to the sound of the Klipsches as opposed to the Spicas. I think in the back of my mind that I could find a pair of TC-60's; they are ported and would probably perform better than the 50's I had. Had it not been for Jolida and the availability of decently priced lightly used units, I may not have gone into tubes at all. Now I am tempted to move up another rung on the Jolida ladder with a nice used 302B . . .

I have a Jolida 302A, along with a Rega Mira older black version, as well as an older Harmon Kardon 330B. I like them all. They all have a separate place, one in my room, one in the living room, and the other at the cabin, and they each seem to fit a particular need of mine, and all of which have been purchased on a working man's budget.

I have found that matching speakers to the amp is essential to truly appreciating amplifier quality. I was about ready to trash the Jolida until I matched it with old Klipsch Heresy speakers. I read somewhere where horns like tubes and in this case it could not be truer. For the buck I think the Jolida is just fine.