Jolida and B&W Nautilus 805

How big is your room and what type of music and volumes do you listen to? For normal volume levels in a reasonably sized room the JD-202A drives the Nautilus 805 just fine. Wally

I disagree with Wally.

Although I am one of the biggest fans of the Jolida 202A, it does not mate well with the B&W N805. If that sounds like a criticism of the Jolida, it isn't. I tried the N805 with another, far more expensive EL34 based integrated, the Conrad Johnson CAV50, and it also is not up to driving the B&W.

Although I am not a big solid state propoent, I go along with your first statement, these speakers prefer solid state amplification. A demanding impedendance/phase angle up through the lower midrange is the reason. If you are going to go with these speakers, you'll never get them to sing until your pair them with transistors.

Personally, I feel so strongly about this amplifier, however, that I would see if you could look into a friendlier pair of loudspeakers. If you like the EL34 magic, it definitely has that. A beautiful amplifier when you find a synergistic match.

My room is about 18 x 11 and I don't listen at party volumes (although, occasionally, I will turn it up a little to get some of the excitement out of rock music...). :)

Let me name off a few artists in my CD collection of late:

India Arie, Coldplay, Michelle Branch, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Getz/Gilberto, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Ben Folds Five, Train, John Mayer, Eagles, Elton John, Jamiroquai...

I have two follow up questions:

1. For the collection of music I just mentioned, would the Jolida be a good match? If the N805s aren't recommended with the Jolida, what speakers would work better?
2. Otherwise, if the Jolida isn't a good match, what amp/speaker combo would be recommended?

Thanks for all of the good comments!

Lennychen, your tastes seem to tend toward an eclectic version of someone who listens to modern rock.

18' X 11' is not a small room. Forget about ever feeling you "don't listen at party volumes", although I am into lower power tube amplification, I am also a proponent of having enough guts to do the music justice.

I should clarify my assertion that the Jolida will not drive the B&W well. Sure, the speakers will play, you will attain a certain, probably satisfactory level of volume, and all may seem well. But, that is a far cry from what this hobby is about. What you will miss is something that may sound intangible - the marriage of a loudspeaker with the amplifier driving it. As in life, any man and woman can get married, but some make more sense than others.

An amplifier works well with a speaker, to me, when it is capable of producing beautiful music with the loudspeaker. The human voice will be realistic, the pace of the sound will not lag behind what the disc truly sounds like. The mid/woofer's voice coil will be controlled to the point of not having the illusion of it not causing the amplifier to seem like someone straining to run up a hill. You will know within a very short time whether or not it works.

To put things most plainly, if the loudspeaker - amplifier combination sounds like less than the cost of the two, it is a poor match. Conversely, if the whole sounds like it exceeds the cost of the sum, it is a good match. That is what should never be lost sight of.

As far as solid state amplifiers go, I am not so up to date on them, as I do not actively seek them out. But, you may want to look into Audio Refinement, Bryston, Electrocompaniet, Musical Fidelity, or Plinius.

In terms of speakers that mate well with the Jolida, I have personally heard absolut magic with the Totem Arro(INCREDIBLE, if you can live without the bottom octave) and JMlab Cobalt series(very musical). I would also recommend anything from the Alon monitors, Coincident, most speakers from Soliloquy, and a few models of Triangle(if they suit your taste).