Jolida SJ202A integrated, EL34 tube am plus Clarity Martin Logan Speakers--NEW MEMBER

[anacfez]

SO!!
Caught the bug.....
Just got me a nice Jolida SJ202A integrated, EL34 tube am and hooked it to my Clarity Martin Logan Speakers.
I have a Technics DL202 turn table also attached to this system.

After 10 years or so of having the Martin Logans linked to a Harman Kardon AVR500 (it was for surround sound), I never realized how I was wasting the beauty of the Martin Logan's design/audio!!

Now, I am hearing lots of ideas to increase the efficiency, power, etc out of the Jolida (the potentiometers be changed? the tubes? etc).... so I hope to get your support and guidance, as to what would you do next?

where shall I start going?
Power Line filters? better tubes? etc.

Can the Jolida power be increased from the current 30 to 40 watts?
Is there any other options for the martin logans to be improved?
A better needle for the turn table?
etc.


Any great books about audiophile principles?

I love all sounds and styles of music; Appreciate the tonality and details of any performance.
Special interest on--Rush, Eagles, Beatles, all of classic rock

Please, I welcome honest opinions--good and bad; wont hurt my feelings!

Regards
Anacfez :rocker:

 

[neil5m]

Hi Anacfez, I am a Clarity owner too. What did you find different when using the Jolida over the HK. Was it for certain types of music?

 

[Bernard]

If you decide to change the potentiometers, replace them with DACT stepped attenuators instead. Expensive, but worth it. They are available from partsconnexion.com.

 

[roberto]

Yes, agreed with Bernard, its a great advice. The potentiometer are not too clean, and they produce distortion. This distortion is many times avoided, because its not too evident, but its there. The new DACT stepped attenuators are not a variable resistor as the volume control is. They do really cleans the sound up. Your Martin Logan Clarity will show this change for good. Your Jolida will be singing better. Its a very good suggestion from Bernard. Happy listening!

 

[Bernard]

Get the book, "Get Better Sound", by Jim Smith.

 

[anacfez]

Thank you for the advise!

Will look into doing the changes and will advise as soon as they are made.

Regarding why I changed to the Jolida....
Well, I thought power (watts) was the only way...

it is not...the component quality and in reality the % distortion rate that our Claritys are rated with (83 db or so) need to have an amp that can push the tonality into the 94db range... only way to do it, was with the Jolida.

My friend has a high end system, and I brought my speakers to his home, listen to his speakers and mine, and let's put it this way, I heard things I never heard before out of my ML amp!! and the speakers did very well, even though my friends speakers were in the 94db range...so we had to use more volume (power) to drive the claritys.

WHen I got home, since I hooked up my turn table via a pre-amp, this for some reason increase the power?? and got more sound out of it when I got to my home.

THank you for the advise!!

anacfez

 

[anacfez]

Bernard/Roberto-
would you know which model DACT attenuator to use?
I guess I only have one volume potentiometer, so this will be the only component to change, correct?

need to find me a electronics expert in my area, not sure If I will need any other resistance or diode, capacitor etc.

is there a diagram or schematic that I can find on the change?

Regards
anacfez

 

[roberto]

Hola Felix, the stepped attenuators are already built. What you have is a lot of clicks when you move the volume knob. Each click is a resistor for each channel, instead having a variable resistor. This kind of volume control, is used by many preamplifier manufactures. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=stepped+attenuatros+pic&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

Regarding to adding a preamp to your signal path, the power remains the same...you can not add power, unless you do a physical change to your power amplifier. What you are doing, is increasing the input signal, which nothing has to do with having more power. What you are doing is, if you are used to have the volume knob at 1 o´clock, seeing the volume knob as a clock, you are increasing preamp signal, volume knob now is at 10 o´clock, but the power remains the same. If your amp is rated 40Watts/channel, that´s the power that you still have. Input signal has more input voltage, not power. The clipping (saturating your power amp) will be the same, with less volume control. When you apply typically 1.4V, you reach maximum amps power. There are other amps that need less voltage for clipping. .707V on certain brands is enough to have maximum rated power. All depends of your amp's sensitivity.
If you want more power watts/channel, then you have to change the tubes (need a mod here) and also the power supply of the amp. You need more working voltage from the power supply if you want more extra power from your amp.
Happy listening!

 

[roberto]

Hola Felix...thinking how the explain better, is changing the shift of your car when driving it, you can increase the motor's revolution, from third gear to second gear, it looks that you have more power, but the motor has the same horse power. Happy listening!

 

[anacfez]

It was great talking with you earlier today Roberto!

I will move into the main forum for future posts and start dialogs on my long journey to catch up to you, and the rest of the kind folks in this website!

Love it!

See you all in the main forum!!

Felix (anacfez)