Back in the game.......ish.

[DaveF]

So after my latest hiatus from hifi, I'm finally back up and running again but certainly not where I thought I'd be this time last year. To recap, my Jadis developed a problem at the end of last summer where the right channel went completely dead. Turned out that one of the valves had blown and had taken a bunch of resistors and fuses along with it. The repair was straightforward enough but I dithered for ages on whether to get a full set of new KT88's or KT120's. Neither would come cheap. In the end I had the relevant resistors changed so that they'd be less likely to blow with the extra current draw by 8 KT120's. I was this close to pulling the trigger on new valves when my plans to move to a new and permanent house had accelerated. This put my hifi on hold for a couple of months or so I thought.
As much as I loved my Quad 989's at the time, I always knew in the back of my mind that I probably would have to move them on due to space restrictions in future, not to mention WAF!!. No regrets as when they became available the year before I just couldn't pass on the opportunity to own them. Afterall they do say that every hifi enthusiast must own a pair of ESL's at some point. They gave me great joy and a real taste of what ESL's could do. That said, I dont think they ever gelled properly with the Jadis for some reason. The slight imbalance in the pair was always a niggle for me too.

Fast forward a few months and it was dead certain that the new gaff just wouldn't be big enough for the 989s and anyway I was told that they wouldnt be allowed near the front door! :-) The new space would be a hell of a lot smaller than my old rented place so the mission to acquire good quality compactish speakers began. The 989's were priced to sell and I was relieved to have moved them on given the time constraints I was under. A few replacements were being considered, my old Audioplans, Harbeth, JMR, B&Ws but since my new living room wasnt ready yet I couldnt demo.

Now during this time, a madman down in Dun Leery was bringing a certain pair of speakers over from Italy having never heard them before and in the end worked out really well for him. This put me in a dilemma as it became apparent that a pair of Kharmas would soon be up for sale. Yes Kharmas 3.2fe's! The one pair of speakers I've owned in the past that put me through sheer hell. The thing is, is that both Simon's and my old pair were very different in terms of the midrange/bass driver and having heard his on the end of Tony's Jadis DA50 I absolutely loved them. They sounded nothing like the ones I had. Obviously this gave me the idea that they'd work well with my Jadis which is the same as Tony's just with more power and a few extra valves. So I took a gamble and bought them having never heard them in my new living room nor even on the end of my Jadis which had been sleeping in a box for nearly 5 months at this stage. The Kharmas were brought into the room, both shoved over into a corner and a blanket thrown over them. For the next 2-3 months they sat there occasionally peeking out at me.

Which brings me up to last week. Finally , finally I got my act together and a spanking new matched octet of KT120's arrived. A new oak coffee table arrived too so with great excitement, and risking every vertebra in my back I dragged the Jadis up onto the table, popped in all the new valves, wired up all the bits and bobs. To my relief the Jadis powered up through its usual 2 stage process without anything going bang. I gave it a good 5 mins to get some heat into the cold amp before loading up a CD.
I held my breath......I got music alright but the right channel was still dead! Not even a hiss from the right speaker. You can imagine my disappointment. I had been waiting for this moment for more than 6 months at this stage and the right channel wasnt working. Swapped over the channels and it's definitely the amp.

So back it went to Cloney's where it's being looked at. I know now that the fuses are all intact so it could be just a faulty new valve. I kinda doubt this since they were allegedly tested before shipping. But we'll see. Hopefully nothing serious.

Anyway I got the lend of a nice little Cayin MA-80 valve amp to tie me over in the meantime. This little gem has 4 EL34 valves and its been sounding lovely over the weekend. Glad to say also that my Kharma demons have been exorcised! At least with this amp anyway! My biggest relief is that they are not overpowering the room at all. Oceans of detail and its nice to have the upper frequency extension again which the Quads never could manage. Different presentation than the Quads for sure but one which I'm very happy with. Still plenty of music to try yet but I've played enough variety over the weekend to know that the Kharma's will work very well in the room.

So, back to the Jadis. I really hope that there isnt a deep underlying fault with it such that it will just keep blowing valves or components even if they are repaired. I should get news early next week and with a bit of luck I'll be journeying down to Blackrock next Saturday to pick it up.

I've waited this long for that magical Kharma-Jadis sound I first heard in Ciaran's many moons ago. One more week then perhaps.....

[Ivor]

It's unfortunate that your return to hifi had been blemished by these horrible niggles. There's nothing worse than a piece of equipment you know I'd great to let you down like that.
Best of luck with the Jadis. Hopefully this visit will sort it out and all will be happy in you new home (congrats on that too BTW!). A life without good quality playback seems unthinkable!

[tony]

They must have tested it prior to giving it out to you Dave? Very surprising but maybe they just missed something not aware of any issues with them and not sure if the design is exactly the same. I don't have that two stage switch on thing on mine but regardless they should be fairly bullet proof. Hope it is not the valves that have done the damage I checked with Jadis and they came back advising KT120's will work fine in my amp. Jadis really over spec stuff and run it very conservatively that is a lot of the attraction.

Probably best you catch this issue now and get it resolved hopefully something simple. I had a problem with my Prima luna but that got sorted very quickly.Fran identified a resistor that had blown this was very soon after I got it. Once rectified it has been fine since.

Touch wood but have had no issues with my Jadis so far.

[DaveF]

I hope you're right Tony but I'm concerned that the first time I power it up since it was repaired months ago, the right channel stops working again.

[Ivor]

They must have tested it prior to giving it out to you Dave?

That wasn't my first though.

[Diapason]

LOL @ Ivor.

Great to hear that you're playing something anyway, and I'm VERY glad to hear that the Kharmas haven't sent you screaming from the room. It's a start!!

[DaveF]

All it was in the end was that a little signal valve was blown. Probably missed in the initial fault finding last year. Will collect on Sat.

Also picking up one of the new model Stax Earspeaker sets too (not the crazy expensive ones) so I'll report back on that for those interested in headphones.

[Diapason]

Can't wait to hear how the Kharmas get on with the Jadis. Really hoping they're not on the market again any time soon!!!

[tony]

Great that is good news, had sneaking feeling it was something very simple it is a battleship would have been shocked if it was something more serious. Would have high hopes the signature of the Jadis should blend well with the top end of the Kharma's.

[Claus]

Great full circle story... Nearly... Hope it all sounds amazing when you get the amps back!