there is a partially upgraded Jolida 102b tube amplifier; it is one of the better chinese tubed units available. Would be surprised if not already sold at it's 375 price. This unit responds very well to basic parts upgrade as it has a good basic design and good transformers; just cheap part to hit a price point. With about 20 watts on tap I'd give it a try with your B/W speakers; you might like it. This is an integrated amplifier with a real active preamp section with four line level inputs so you would replce both your existing preamplifier and amplifier in one cheap fell swoop.
You can do upgrades to the unit (better capacitors, power supply mods, NOS tubes) down the road as your budget permits. Response Audio sells these units modded and stock and will also work on yours. You should be able to find them with a search.
The simplest way to "tame" you bright sounding CD player (which most are until you hit serious money) is to acquire a decently priced digital converter with a tube analogue output stage. The three units I would recommend, from least to most expensive are:
a) California Audio Labs Sigma II...exc entry level unit with single triode tube (12ax7/ecc803s) in output stage..has one optical and one coaxial input..price for a sigma II, which is extremely rare, would be perhaps 300 give or take 25 bux.
b) California Audio Labs Alpha.....this unit was the more expensive model and uses a pair of triodes in the output stage....Alphas are regularly up for sale for between 400 and 500 depending on if the original box (a real good one for shipping) is present, or not. This model has an AES/EBU (xlr) intput in addition to the coaxial and optical.
c) California Audio Labs Alpha with 24/96 board....this is the hard to find one....only way it was identified was by a label on the rear of the unit. That, or an inspection of the innards by somebody familiar with the product. This one soundds better with standard CD recordings; dunno why but it does. This one will set you back probably 600 if you can even find one.
California Audio Labs is long in the dustbin if audio history so if one fails you may have an issue getting it repaired. Might want to stick with the Sigma due to its low cost.
d) Audio Note DAC 1 Signature...this is the older (not the 1x) model and is very, very nice sounding and really takes the edge off of digital recordings. I had one for ten years and recently replaced it with the current Audio Note 1x Signature. Probably 550/600 but they rarely come up
e) Audio Note 1x Signature...the recently discontinued small chassis unit is very nice sounding, too, and has the non oversampling technology of the current models that replaced it. I bought one some months back for 700 inc shipping from Singapore; very nice unit but moved it along when I got hold of the current version at the Right Price.
Don't worry about your CD player until you listen to it with a decent quality tubed dac; you'll be surpised at how much better everything will sound.
You can do upgrades to the unit (better capacitors, power supply mods, NOS tubes) down the road as your budget permits. Response Audio sells these units modded and stock and will also work on yours. You should be able to find them with a search.
The simplest way to "tame" you bright sounding CD player (which most are until you hit serious money) is to acquire a decently priced digital converter with a tube analogue output stage. The three units I would recommend, from least to most expensive are:
a) California Audio Labs Sigma II...exc entry level unit with single triode tube (12ax7/ecc803s) in output stage..has one optical and one coaxial input..price for a sigma II, which is extremely rare, would be perhaps 300 give or take 25 bux.
b) California Audio Labs Alpha.....this unit was the more expensive model and uses a pair of triodes in the output stage....Alphas are regularly up for sale for between 400 and 500 depending on if the original box (a real good one for shipping) is present, or not. This model has an AES/EBU (xlr) intput in addition to the coaxial and optical.
c) California Audio Labs Alpha with 24/96 board....this is the hard to find one....only way it was identified was by a label on the rear of the unit. That, or an inspection of the innards by somebody familiar with the product. This one soundds better with standard CD recordings; dunno why but it does. This one will set you back probably 600 if you can even find one.
California Audio Labs is long in the dustbin if audio history so if one fails you may have an issue getting it repaired. Might want to stick with the Sigma due to its low cost.
d) Audio Note DAC 1 Signature...this is the older (not the 1x) model and is very, very nice sounding and really takes the edge off of digital recordings. I had one for ten years and recently replaced it with the current Audio Note 1x Signature. Probably 550/600 but they rarely come up
e) Audio Note 1x Signature...the recently discontinued small chassis unit is very nice sounding, too, and has the non oversampling technology of the current models that replaced it. I bought one some months back for 700 inc shipping from Singapore; very nice unit but moved it along when I got hold of the current version at the Right Price.
Don't worry about your CD player until you listen to it with a decent quality tubed dac; you'll be surpised at how much better everything will sound.