Интегральные усилители — Jadis Electronics Aria

The Aria is a tube-driven integrated from the French firm Jadis Electronics, a company whose amplifiers are hand-built in France. It shares its small-signal valve line-up and its five-input layout with the Óde, but runs in Class B instead of pure Class A and sells for less, at a North American list price of USD 6,900, or CAD 8,900. The whole signal path, from each RCA socket through to the loudspeaker posts, is handled by valves.

Key specs that matter

Rated output is 30 W per channel. Four EL34 output tubes are fitted as standard, and the circuit also accepts KT88 or KT120 types, which lets a later retube move to another valve type without modifying the chassis. One ECC82 and two ECC83 double triodes take care of the gain and driver stages. The rear panel carries five line-level RCA inputs, and sensitivity is 300 mV. Jadis quotes a bandwidth of 10 Hz to 40 kHz at -3 dB. The chassis measures 43 x 36 x 26 cm, and the mass is 20 kg. Power consumption is listed at 300 VA. Finishes are white, black and a Toile de Lu pattern.

Engineering and use context

Jadis designs, winds and assembles its own transformers by hand in-house, and the Aria uses these custom output transformers rather than bought-in parts. Bias for the output valves is set semi-automatically, which simplifies the job when a new quartet of output tubes goes in. A remote handset adjusts volume from the listening seat. The Aria is a purely analogue line amplifier - it has no DAC, no streaming module, no HDMI ARC connection and no phono stage, so every source has to arrive at line level. Owners who play vinyl must add a separate phono stage, while a streamer or transport requires an external DAC connected to one of the five RCA pairs. The power draw and the valves inside mean the case gets hot in use, so it needs ventilation on every side and should not be shut inside furniture.

Pairing

With its moderate power from a quartet of output valves, the Aria is best matched to reasonably sensitive loudspeakers with a benign impedance curve rather than low-efficiency designs that dip toward 2 ohm. A streamer with its own DAC, a CD player with analogue outputs and an external phono stage together fill three of the five inputs and leave two spare for a tuner or a tape deck.

Alternatives

The Jadis Óde is the pricier pure Class A model in the same Jadis integrated range, rated at 25 W per channel with automatic bias and gold or silver finishes.