Jolida and B&W Nautilus 805

Thanks for all the great advice...but I'm starting to doubt I will carry out this massive (expensive) project...

I think it's going to be budget stuff for me...maybe a Jolida matched with cheaper speakers... :P

Lennychen, please don't feel as if you are "settling".

If you are going with the Jolida, you'll find better speakers that mate with it than the B&W, for a lot less money. Please give the Totem Arros ($1000 new!) a listen. The combination is almost as good as things get in this hobby.

Hey Joe!

I have to disagree with Trelja, but with a Caveat:

I owned the 805 for quite a while, and drove them well with 30 push-pull triode watts from a Rogue Tempest, and a Cary SLI-80 sig, I had great results, but with 6550 or kt-88 tubes.

The el-34, while having a beautiful midrange, just wimps out on the bass.

I'd rather have a fuller bottom end, and use line-level tubes to get the midrange sound (or as close as you can).

I know Trelja loves the el34, and perhaps the reportedly excellent bass response of most all totems is probably a good match.

IF you are going to try to drive the 805s with el-34s, you're probably not going to get the bass that you want.

IF you try some 6550/kt88 tubes, at the expense of some of the midrange magic, you might get a fuller sound, plus a little more juice.

Thanks for the advice all! After borrowing some equipment from a local dealer, I'm happy with what I've put together. I mated the Spendor S3/5s with the Jolida 202 with excellent results.

Glad you found a suitable match, Lennychen. Yes, I think you did right by not going with the B&W in this case.

Great to see you around here, Joe. You are correct about the EL34. It's weak points are the bass and its treble. The midrange is where it runs away from the bigger tubes.

Although I talk up the EL34, it is actually from afar. I do not own an EL34 amplifier. My Jadis runs KT90 and the AtmaSpheres use 6AS7G.

I prefer the KT90 in almost every situation to the 6550, but would opt for the KT88 if I wanted sweetness. The larger tubes bring the low end grunt, and a big part of the equation is the transformers. Larger transformers are needed to run the big tubes, which is why the amps give more power and can put out better bass than an amp designed to run EL34.

The 6AS7G is an offshoot of the 2A3, and is very fast and immediate sounding. Yet, with a warmth and realness that is hard to describe.

Fortunately, Lennychen is in a good position, as his Jolida is set up for the bigger tubes. The 302 and 502 are really the same amp, the 502 runs the bigger tubes, and doesn't sound NEARLY as good.

On the bright side for me, my favorite uncle is passing his Williamson Circuit amp my way soon. He built it long ago. I am not sure what tubes it uses, but often, they seem to be KT66/6L6, sometimes EL34. I am hoping for EL34, or maybe would go to them, as I am not the biggest 6L6 guy out here.