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Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:24 am
by prolle
I'm looking to upgrade my amp (don't laugh, just a NAD C315BEE!!) and i've been offered a Jungson JA-88D amp.
I'm trying to get a feel for what a fair price would be. Searching the web, I can see some second hand deals where the amp was sold for 500 GBP, and other have commented that 500-600 GBP would be the range, depending on the condition.
1. Would this be a fair price to pay for such an amp in good condition?
2. As this is a class A amp, I would expect to hear a large increase in sound quality over my current amp, am I right?
Thanks!
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:02 pm
by giant haystacks
i would not rush into things to quick-
i dont know anything about this amp .but i have heard many kt88-6550 based amps .the family of valves that it comes from a similar smaller valve 6l6-5881 , el34 ,el84 have similar character -most of the first stereo amplifiers in the 1960s used the el84 and they were excellent and still are
but unfortunately there are more horifying valve amps than good ones and many undependable -
there would be a few arion amplifiers knocking around which were fairley decent and earlier ones used audionote transformers
a cheap leak stereo20 and fix this up as i project - i have a friend in enniskillen who modifys these amps and leaves it using some of the excellent russian military valves
forum members will help .you can hear diffarent amps and get many opinions
probably the top valve amp maker in europe is a german called thomas mayer he has a blog called vinyl savour it is probably a bit full on but there is lots to read there
most important welcome to the forum from its worst typer
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:21 pm
by Ivor
prolle wrote:I'm looking to upgrade my amp (don't laugh, just a NAD C315BEE!!) and i've been offered a Jungson JA-88D amp.
I'm trying to get a feel for what a fair price would be. Searching the web, I can see some second hand deals where the amp was sold for 500 GBP, and other have commented that 500-600 GBP would be the range, depending on the condition.
1. Would this be a fair price to pay for such an amp in good condition?
2. As this is a class A amp, I would expect to hear a large increase in sound quality over my current amp, am I right?
Thanks!
What are you going to use this, or any, amp with? That NAD is a cracker so don't be a hurry to replace it until you have something special.
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:55 pm
by prolle
Ivor wrote:prolle wrote:I'm looking to upgrade my amp (don't laugh, just a NAD C315BEE!!) and i've been offered a Jungson JA-88D amp.
I'm trying to get a feel for what a fair price would be. Searching the web, I can see some second hand deals where the amp was sold for 500 GBP, and other have commented that 500-600 GBP would be the range, depending on the condition.
1. Would this be a fair price to pay for such an amp in good condition?
2. As this is a class A amp, I would expect to hear a large increase in sound quality over my current amp, am I right?
Thanks!
Thanks for the welcome.
My speakers are KEF Q300 which I have recently bought. The improvement brought to my system by my KEF's was immense, and that put the question in my mind - how much of an improvement could an amp upgrade have?
So that it what I am up to! I would assume that a "class A" amp like the Jungson would offer another jump in sound quality.
Or am I wrong?
I have also been offered a Roskan Kandy, could this be a better option over the Jungson?
Thanks again
What are you going to use this, or any, amp with? That NAD is a cracker so don't be a hurry to replace it until you have something special.
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:09 pm
by Ivor
I would think the Roksan Kandy would be a better match for those speakers than a valve amp. Believe me if you go the valve route you'll end up changing everything only to change your amp again at the end of it!
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:26 pm
by Diapason
Few things:
1) This isn't a valve amp, and it doesn't use KT88s. You probably know that prolle, but I thought I'd better put it here anyway.
2) Class A doesn't guarantee good sound. As always, it depends on the implementation. Again, just in case there's any confusion, Class A doesn't refer to quality, it simply refers to the fact that the amplifier conducts over the entirety of the input cycle, i.e. the waveform isn't split into positive and negative bits as it would be in Class AB. Again, you may know this already, but it's not clear from your posts.
3) I haven't heard the amp, it seems pretty well-reviewed and all that, but personally there's no way in hell I'd buy an amp without hearing it first. I've heard lots of well-reviewed stuff that I personally don't like at all, and it's very difficult to tell how something's going to match with your speakers. I definitely wouldn't be dropping relatively large coin (£500-£600) without a listen.
That's probably not the answer you want to hear, but I'd start by visiting a proper hifi dealer and listening to lots of stuff to get a feel for the sound you're looking for. You don't have to buy today, and in fact you'll find that stuff pops if you're willing to wait a bit for it. Don't be pressured into a quick purchase.
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:32 pm
by Rocker
After a brief Google of "Jungson JA-88D ", I think this is a solid state [transistor] amp and not a valve amp. Forgive me if I am wrong but that is what I think I read. The review was good too. The amp is described as heavy and it runs warm to the touch.
Re: Jungson JA-88D Class A stereo amp, any good?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:00 pm
by bone13
It just happened that I have a Jungson JA-88D amp and must say it's pretty impressive. Very natural sounding amp, built like a tank and drives most of the speakers without any problems. Had compared with hi-fi friends Roksan Kandy K2 and Naim Nait 5i side by side. For me slightly better then the other two. Was driving Kef Q5, which I owned at first, but then I switched to Monitor Audio GS-20 and did a job too.
Now here's the thing. It's for sale. I only upgraded to Vincent SV-238 last week and haven't got a time to put up for sale. I was enjoying Jungson company for more than two years and had to look for something really good to replace it.
Pm me if interested.