Jadis Fidelity

I Have owned a JP80mc preamp for nearly 6 years. Oldest component I own. I have considered change or upgrade. Maybe something new with different signature. More bottom end. Who knows. But, fortunately I have retained this fantastic piece with no regrets, no mechanical problems and a consistency not experienced with other components. It's also beautiful to look at. Previously, I owned a Defy 7, moved up to a JA 200, which I sold when re-evaluating the importance of high fidelity in my life. Since, I purchased a pair of CATs, but would never rue owning another set of Jadis amps. If you do not locate used product on the websites, try dealing with the distributor, Northstar Leading The Way. He has been known to cut deals. Good luck and assure yourself of satisfying listening by properly matching components.

Jadis presence in the US is probably fairly minute. Not so in Europe, but also here you will find practically no offers on the used market. The reason is the reliability of all gear, their policy of not upgrading every three months, ( think of ARC of yore!!) and the musicality of these products, People who own Jadis gear, no matter what, generally see no reason for changing. The sonic signature has something very seductive. Solo instruments and voices have a tremendous, three dimensional presence, especially via electrostatics or the better horn speakers made here in Europe, and last not least there is just that slight euphonic touch, a combination of very subtle warmth with a slightly exaggerated punch, which can give you the illusion of being there. Then of course first class workmanship and very good looks. Who wants more.... to me that's why you practically do not find them anywhere and if at all, then at exorbitant prices.

The above posts are all accurate. I've owned my pair of Jadis JA80s for about 9 years and my JP80 about 7 or 8, and I can say I've heard many pieces of equipment in my system both before and after buying them that will do one thing or another better than these pieces, but none of which sounded as musically "right" as the Jadis equipment. I stretched my budget each time I bought them, and I haven't regretted it at all. They haven't been completely trouble free, they roll the frequency extremes a little (I've had some mods done to improve that), and they don't give you those instant on/off dynamics you can get from other equipment, but they have clearly been designed by a music lover to sound like what you hear in a concert hall in real life and have a naturalness and continuousness to their sound that makes it easier to imagine you're listening to the original recorded event (as opposed to the master tape). Now if only I could find a catche of MO Valve KT88s and Telefunkens to retube them for the next 20 years....

Oh, by the way, Odiomuse, the JA100s really were designed to run with KT90 tubes; that's the tube for which their transformer was optimized. If you want to use EL34s, as I think you were saying, you might want to look for a used pair of JA80s, which I think sound best with NOS KT88s but which also sound excellent with the EL34s. You may lose a little power with the 80s (I think they get about 40-50 watts with the EL34s), but not that much. Good luck!

Good follow ups, and accurate. Jadis stuff offers long term satisfaction, as other gear might offer certain audiophile checklist advantages without ever sounding more "real". Beautiful gear with high pride of ownership.