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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
redglobe
223 posts
 
An Audiogoner recommended replacing the 1.0 uf stock output capacitors with Jantzen Superior Z-Caps. I performed the upgrade on my unit.

Before the modification, the Jasmine was very clean. However, after the upgrade, the whole sound spectrum became crisp and clear. Absolutely, a stunning improvement on an already very good phono stage.
andromedaaudio
170 posts
 
Excellent phonostage and certainly for the money,ive listened to it 2,5 years prior to the nagra .
birddogthecat's avatar
birddogthecat
46 posts
 
KCC 123,

I switched out the AC power cord before I ever plugged in the Jasmine LP 2.0SE. As to the DC umbilical, I am still looking for a source for upgraded connectors - the wiring with silver would be a snap.

Do you know of a connector source?

Christopher
gopher OP
499 posts
 
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.
kcc123
38 posts
 
I actually bought those connectors in Hong Kong where they are widely available. It seems strange that I could not find them on Farnell and RS Components web sites.
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