Just got this amp (Joilda JD-302CRC black) on Christmas Eve......my first foray into the tube world. I started my sales career in the audio business......left it in 1988 for the I/T business which is where I have been ever since.

Never lost my love of audio (and video, too). I upgraded the amp becuase my NAD 7000 was getting a little long in the tooth, plus a recent divorce left me wanting some new gear. So I got the Jolida, an NAD C546BEE, Morrow Audio speaker cables and interconnects (Mike Morrow is a great guy to do business with).

My speakers are my old faithfull Snell Type E/IV, and I needed to replace the surrounds, but the good folks at Snell basically glued the damn drivers into the cablinet with some sort of mastic, and in the process of getting the speakers out, I ruined the cones. Fortunately, I found replacements for all of the drivers on Ebay, and then I purchsed some replacements from Madisound....not the originals but the closest driver I could find.

I hooked it all up (with Snell replacement drviers...Vifa M23-WN) and have been knocked out.....and the Morrow cables are not fully broken in yet.

The Jolida sounds wonderfull.....siky, smooth, great soundstage and imaging. The Snells sound wonderful with this gear. I know that there are plenty of good speakers on the market, but I have been hooked on Snells since I sold them in the '80s. The NAD sounds wonderfull too......and I am looking forward to hearing an improvement as all of this gear breaks in.

I purchased this amp about a year and a half ago. I am sitting here doing my bills and had to stop to write a review of this amp. I have the 302 BRC - remote control option. I have owned some pretty decent equipment PSE Studio IV, B@K ST 140 and 202, Audible Ilusions 2D. This amp sounds amazing. I'm listening to Yes first album and it sounds great. The problem is once I turn on the system I can't get anything done. I have to sit and listen. A major player in addition to the amp is my speakers and cables. I have a pair of Vandersteen 1c speakers and Kimber 12TC and hero. This is my exit system, I'll own it for the rest of my life. I am or was a chaser. Always buying and selling reading books more books buying selling more, not anymore this system got me and doesn't cost anywhere near what I thought I would have to spend. The rest of the system NAD cd player Pro-ject AT 440 ML cartridge, AT phone pre-amp. If you want to jump off this system will do it.

I bought this amp used about a year ago. It was my first experience with tubes. I chose the Jolida based on reviews here and elsewhere and on the apparent value it represented. I have never regretted the choice.

I'm using Von Schwiekert VR-2 speakers. Not the most efficient out there but the Jolida drives them very well.The amp also responds well to tube rolling and with the EL34, 12AX7, 12AT7 compliment, tube rolling does not require a second mortgage.

It is a very musical, powerful and satisfying amp to listen to. Some have commented that the bass is lacking. I don't find that to be the case. With my speakers, (which can go down to 25Hz), and in my room, the bass is more than sufficient. On the Dave Matthews CD, "Some Devil", track 6, "Grey Blue Eyes", there is a bass note that comes across so low, strong and clean that it seems to liquify the floor. I've heard tighter bass but I've never felt that I'm missing much with this amp.

The value for this product is absolutely off the charts. Well built. Quality parts. Great performance. And from what I've read it responds VERY well to upgrades/modifications. I truly believe that I will not need another amplifier during my lifetime. Buy with confidence and enjoy!

This is actually the 302A. The only real differences are cometics and a capacitor change. I was running an Adcom system but I could no longer stand the steely, fatiguing sound, so I went on Audigon and found this beauty for $450. Now this is a hefty unit. Very good weight to it. The tubes in it were the stock Chinese which were rolled out. The 12AX7s and the 12AT7s were replaced by NOS Mullards, while the power section recieved a set of JJ E34Ls. While it now sounded fantastic, the unit kept popping fuses every month. I later found out that the JJs had a piece of fillament floating around in one of the tubes. I replaced those with EH 6CA7s (big bottle variant of the EL34). The sound was a touch more open but within 9 months one of them red plated. The unit is now using the new Tung Sol EL34Bs. These are the best tubes I've used so far and the sound is absolutely gorgeous. I have this coupled with a set of Paradigm Atoms and it sounds very full. As has been mentioned, the EL34 is not the bassiest of tubes but the Atoms gently roll off at 55hz so they are actually well matched. The highs are non fatiguing and the mids are full and warm. Where I felt like I had to get away from the Adcoms, the JoLida pulls you into the music. I listen to a wide variety of music and it plays them all with equal aplomb. I have Faces "A Nod is as Good as a Wink..." playing right now and Rod's voice is at its soulful best. Listening to Elvis the first thing I notice is the roundness of his voice. Same with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Try to find a vinyl copy of "Dream With Dean... The Intimate Dean Martin" and you'll hear what I mean. It's like he's in the room. If you decide to get one of these, don't be afraid to tube roll (NOS preamp tubes are the only way to fly. NOS power tubes are way too expensive), it's alot of fun too.

50 watts of sweet el34 power for less than $600 on the used market. Tonally neutral but with a tube roll you flavor it to fit your speakers needs.

Slightly bloated bass (but not slow in the least), somewhat lacking detail with warmer tubes like the SED, complex music tends to get a bit 'confused' at louder volumes.

The 302b is probably Jolida's most popular tube amp and for good reason. At 50 watts of sweet El34 juice it's by far the best dollar for power in the tube amp market. I've listened to other EL34 tube amps on my speakers (VMPS 626R) and the Jolida is the second best. It's a fairly neutral amp by nature but with a tube roll you can go either warm (SED) or cool (Electro Harmonix). So part of the beauty of the 302 besides it's value is that it can match a large variety of speakers. El34's are not known for their bass and the 302 is lacking here. I do find that good bass is also recording dependent. Older CD's can sound small and dynamically lacking compared to most stuff mastered in the past ten years. The nice thing about the Jolida when coupled by a good transport (or better yet the lack of a transport such as a Squeezebox which streams the music via wi-fi from your home computer) is that just about everything is listenable. Tubes tend to distort at loud volumes but the difference is that it's good distortion--even with the raunchiest of rock recordings I experience very little listener fatigue.

Most people buying the Jolida 302b will be first time tube amp buyers. With that said it's an excellent introduction especially if you buy used. Like I said earlier, it's the 2nd best tube amp I've heard on my speakers. The best being a $2K pair of VTL monoblocks. Same EL34 tube component but with 125 watts--big difference in macro dynamics and bass. Also VTL tends to have a warmer tone and there's more 'inner' detail. The better more expensive tube amps like the VTL give you a more enriching sonic experience overall.

Tubes are addictive once you start listening to music through them. I know the Jolida has it's difficiencies but I'm always drawn back to it. It's musical (yes that means you tap your toes and play air guitar) and has enough of that beguiling tube character that lulls you to listen to hours of music every night.

Customer Service

Emailed Jolida about the pots being noisy and received a fairly prompt response. There's enough of these on the market that should you have a problem you should be able to find an answer.

Similar Products Used:

VTL tube monoblocks, Radii tube monoblocks, Panasonic digital receiver, various tube pre-amps with Norh Le Amps (solid state 100 watts)

Warm smooth midrange, great dynamics and clarity, a very musical amp with power that is much more than it's stated 50 wpc.

Tubes are Hot - issue in the summer time (handwarmer in the winter though)

I wanted to post my opinion as this is one of the sites that allowed me to gather the information needed in finding this amp - what can I say that has not been said here - its a great little amp - the sound will draw you in like pollen to a bee - it plays really warm and the midrange is spot on, a bit lacking in bass, but by no means a reason not to consider the 302b - I think it is a EL34 characteristic –

I play it with a pair of Triangle Comete ES's and a REGA Planet - I think they match up nicely and play really well together - the speakers shine with vocals and midrange - detail is really nice yet never ever ever hard to listen to - I work from home and I have to say this amp is on all day long - I never really turn it off. I did find that bi-wiring the Comete's really cleaned up the bass, however they were not entirely broken in yet, so that may be an unfair statement, but they sound better bi-wired for sure.

I don't think you can go wrong with this amp plus at night with the lights off the orbs glow like small buildings standing with lights left on in the suites - I have the more recent version 302b with the top mounted biasing, it works perfect and really easy to use. On recommendation by the folks at Jolida I replaced the OEM 2AX7 with some 2AX7EH's - it was not dramatic but it opened up the sound a bit more - also added a upgraded power cord which added yet more breath, again not dramatic just a tad more detail, but no degradation in sound at all just a bit cleaner and more open.

One day I may do a Mod with Underwood Wally - I am sure that will kick it up a few notches but for now as is out of the box, this amp has plenty of nice sound all it's own - you will be nothing but happy! If you are considering the 302b all I can say is just do it – no regrets!!

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi TA Reciever

A dynamicly clear midrange amplifier, first rate build quality, smooth clear and rich feeling sounds.

I just needed to throw my thoughts into the hat as this is one of the sites that brought me to this awesome little amp - it is as said by countless others on here as good as they say - if you are looking for an absolutely wonderful sounding amplifier that for its design and build quality basically flawless, you will be amazed at the ability of the sound reproduction this little jewel can reproduce matched well with the right speakers and source equipement you will find virtually nothing that can beat what this amp does and was designed to do - you could spend much more and get way less than a 302b now even better with the top board bias lights built in making biasing a piece of cake - this EL34 beauty is really a treasure not to mention it looks wonderful at night with its four glowing orbs. Long live valves! Matches up really well with the Triangle Comete ES bookshelf speakers - they are fast as hell. This amp blows anything away in it's price or power range!

Similar Products Used:

Nakimichi TA2

Tonality, silky treble, rich midrange, highly upgradeable

too heavy?, bulky?, some people report reliability problems (I've never had any), no remote, lacks modern day features of today amps.

I had to merge my hifi & HT system together, so I sold my Jolida, moved my hifi Totem speakers to be the front HT system driven by a newly purchased 2 channel Bryston.

Onced I hooked up the Bryston to drive the Totems, I realized how good and how much I missed the tube sound of my Jolida.

Regardless of what type of music I played the Jolida had me tapping my toes dance/rock or relaxing & soothing me with jazz & classical.

I would describe the sound as trebles as silky, midrange was sooo rich & "meaty" when you hear vocals and string instruments. Yes, the bass couldn't compare to my Bryston, but it's not bad at all.

The sound of the Jolida is an iron hand wearing a velvet glove...you feel the music without ever being tired of "in your face" treble, music is just smooth & sweet sounding.

Yes, SS amps are more accurate on paper and tubes in general color sound. But I say close your eyes and listen and you will find the Jollida resembles real music. So I get the Jolida if you wanna listen with your heart and not your mind.

If the Jolida wsan't so bulky and I was able to only use power amp section of Jolida I would have probably kept it for the front of my HT system.

Fantastic Soundstage, mid-range and high frequency

None at this price

I just received my amp and i am amazed by it's gorgeous sound. I used cayin TA-30 in the past and it is a great amp but the Jolida surpassed the cayin and most of the tube intg amps in the $2000 range in every aspect. All i can say is WOW i will be enjoying this amp for a really long time. Highly recommended...

Similar Products Used:

Cayin,mingda & Antiquesound lab

VALUE, VALUE and more VALUE, bang for the buck to say the least.

None yet

Simply stated I have NEVER heard a better sounding amp in this price range in my life( been playing around with audio for thirty years)I had purchased my Klipsch RF-7 system for home theater(for which they shine) but listening to two channel powered by solid state and using a "universal" DVD/CD player was awfull. By combining the Jolida 302B and my newly acquired Rotel RCD-1072, I'm Reborn !!! Old Cd's ( Flim and the BB's, "Big Notes") have magic again. AS for LP's after listening to Chuck Magiones "Children of Sanchez" the horns literally jumped out of the speakers and into my lap. As far as bass goes.... well you couldn't get a better combination with the Klipsch. Gotta go now I've got music to enjoy !!!