Jolida and B&W Nautilus 805

"Trelja", I would like to agree and dissagree with you on a couple of point...
...First, 11x18 IS A SMALL ROOM!...from an acoustical standpoint that is! Maybe in terms of HOA and realter's terms it's not. But in the world of acoustics, 11x18 would most defintely not evern really be medium sized!..but I guess it's all relative to who'm your asking.
I would, however, agree that the little Jolida's aren't necessarily the best POWER OUTPUT match with the 805n's in my experience. AS much as I love those little Jolidas for the $, they want a little less demanding speaker ideally. As far as sonic match, tastes will vary.
Even though the B&W's are not so ineficient, and are modestly high sensitivity for small monitors, they seem to do better pushed with higher current indeed!..the same held true for the older Matrix 805's(even the likes of the VTL ST85 wasn't really enough to push the sound stage on those either!). I used to also own Thiel 1.5's, which were like 86db senstive at 4ohms. And the Jolida 502, allthough excellent sounding overall for the money on them, didn't push the soundstage as good as it could have. Better solid state amps did aa better job there. Although, I liked the sound of tubes on those two speakers for sure!
I guess alot depends on your tastes and what volume levels and types of music you prefer as well.
A combo, if you already own the 805's, that I think would be stellar, yet still giving tubes in the system, would be a great sounding tube preamp, mated with a good solid state amp! You could find used tube pre's with good sonics in the $500 range used, but you'd need to spend a bit more on a good amp I guess...at least maybe $600+ on a used Classe or something...minimal!
However, if you would like to find out what the Jolida's can do, it wouldn't hurt to buy one!..they are great little dudes for the money for sure.
hope this helps

I guess we each have our own definitions when it comes to room size...

Personally, I am not so fond of the tube preamp, solid state power amplifier combination. That's not to say that it does not work, as conventional wisdom often follows that path. Most people I come across recommend it. But, it just isn't for me.

In fact, while a proponent of this kind of setup in the past, I now have come to the conclusion that it really goes against my style.

First, there are enough tube friendly dynamic loudspeakers out there that a tubeophile can move into. Unless I was going to go with something like an Apogee or Magneplanar, or I had a non - sonic reason for using a solid state amplifier, I would be using a tube power amplifier.

Second, I have now come across enough systems where the tube preamp takes away from the sound, often adding hash or a upper bass - lower mid blump, or loss of resolution, that I have become soured on the what the conventional wisdom is.

Conversely, I have, in the past few years, been around quite a few very good sounding systems running a solid state preamp mated to a tube power amplifier, that I now believe in the contrarian point of view.

Of course, my first preference is still a tube integrated or a tube preamp with tube power amplifier. But, I am pretty much a tubeophile. Each person should fine out his own tastes, and then build a system according to it.

Current using Cary Audio SLP308/Audio Research VS110 to drive B&W signature 805s with great sound. I still have nautilus 805s driven by classe 151(150W/ch). If you like tube sound, classe is a ss amp with a tube-like sound. I second Trelja's opinion on N805 needing more power than Jolida. If you have made up your mind, go with 502B with KT88.
P.S. Thanks for responding to my previous thread, Trelja.

I think your Classe is just what kind of amplifier the N805 needs, Glai. I would still need to see how the marriage of the 502B with KT88 goes with the N805, but I cannot dismiss it out of hand.

Class and Rowland would be ideal candidates.

Maybe it's just me, but B&W doesn't seem to be the loudspeaker most easy to mate with a tube amplifier. In my experience, solid state is preferable for their product. Of course, your Audio Research should do find with 100+ tube watts.

I'm in the same boat!
I was looking at the Jolida 502b to drive my new N805s
I'm looking for a dealer in my area with both products for a test run. Anyone know of a dealer in the New York City Area?
Trelja, let me know what your opinion of the combo is if you hear it first.