Tale of the preamps

HI Rcprince,

Thanks for input. I have read the opinions of others with similar experience when the Jadis is modified. When I spoke to Andy he expressed his admiration with this piece, but added the changes were neccessary to attain a clearer, less colored picture. Apparently, he no longer involves himself in such endeavors. Have you knowledge of anyone who does? How expensive was the modification, and are you at all concerned with Jadis policy regarding warranty? Obviously, at 9 years not much is left on warranty, but Northstar seems very accomodating. Lastly, how great an improvement have you realized with the mods? Have you had any long running experience with the Ultimate? Rumor has it, CAT manufactured the Ultimate to emulate the musicality of the JP80 without sacrificing detail or frequency extension.

Thanks again for your shared experience,

Steve

Siddh, I would be very careful in changing a chain that has kept me happy for a long time. As I remember the JP80, it plays music "beautifully". IMO, the CATs --pre/power combo-- play music "handsomely, with gusto"; with one I forgot shortcomings and was drawn to the music, with the latter I was happy to notice the strengths. (not sure I'm making sense here...)

If you switch to Ultimate's line you will have more analysis. The Eidolons are very analytical; but they're also musical. I think you're now enjoying the musical Eidolons. My opinion: make sure it stays that way, with added analysis, if you change your pre...

Good luck!

Steve: Other than Da Hong, whose modifications in my view change the character of the Jadis and may no longer be available (and may not be that well-executed, judging from at least two separate sources), I don't know of any modifiers of Jadis equipment. Andy's mods were expensive and probably voided any warranty I had left on the preamp, but it was well out of the warranty period anyway. The downside to them is that now, other than Andy, there are very few techs willing to work on the unit, because space inside is limited and Andy had to use a lot of it--it is certainly not neat and tidy. In theory this could also make it more susceptible to noise, although I haven't noticed that. The upside is better frequency extension at the extremes (this may be due to some Audio Note bypass caps he put in), a bit more transparency and a virtual elimination of the last bit of "electronic" sound that the unit had (which wasn't that much to begin with). The improvements on an objective scale were not cost-effective and certainly were no more than subtle (except perhaps in the additional bass extension), but I consider them worth it subjectively because, as a bit of an obsessive compulsive, I'm somewhat nuts I guess.

When you look inside the unit, you'll see that a lot of the capacitors and parts appear to be nothing special and could be replaced with better ones, but the danger there is that (in my view) the Jadis equipment in large part was designed by ear and when you change the parts you can change the character of the unit. I only agreed to let Andy do his mods because he assured me the character would not change and because he did them at my home (stayed over a few nights), we listened as he did them at various stages to be sure I was happy with the sound and he agreed to undo them if they were not to my liking. Without those conditions, I'd be hesitant to have your unit modified, and even then you'd have to weigh against that the loss of any remaining warranty you might have and the possibility that no one will want to service your unit if something goes wrong. I'd therefor advise you against modifying the unit--you might want to consider a JP200 instead, the one unit I'd consider to replace mine.

Unfortunately, I have no long running experience with the CAT Ultimate except on short demo at a dealer. Prior CATs impressed me, but more from the intellectual rather than emotional standpoint. If the design goal was as you noted above, it should be a great piece, and definitely worth an extended listen. But heed Greg's advice, make sure you don't lose what you like about the Jadis in exchange for improved resolution. Hope this all makes some sense.

If I'm you, I will add a pair of silver interconnect(Kimber KCAG) between the preamp/power amp to give the overall presentation a bit more transparent and detailed. Stay with the Jadis preamp, it is a very excellent preamp. It takes a lot of time to make the whole system sounds right. Switching preamp is not a very good method. As your music listening experience became more mature, you will find that the original Jadis's sound is the sound that you like the most..........

Siddh..I don't have experience with Jadis but I did once own and love a Cat SL1 MK3..and with careful tube rolling
you can probably get sound you are looking for from it..to my ears, the CAT was revealing but not analytical as some people say, very neutral presentation, not overly euphonic, a very hard peice of audio to critisize..the Ultimate can only be better..there are some who say that the pre and power should be of the same manufacturer..if I were in your shoes, I'd pick up a used CAT Ultimate (there is one on auction right now) before selling the Jadis and compare them side by side for a month or two, if the CAT dissapoints (which I doubt), you should get most or all of your money out of it.