Jordan Watts Modular Speakers 40W

[GW0LDZ]

Hi
Don't know if I am in the right section of the forums or not.
I have a pair of Jordan Watts Modular 40W (peak) speakers which my brother purchased in the mid to late 1970's.

I have no idea on how to test these but have checked coil continuity, connected to a portable radio external speaker outputs, and they work fine.

He had big plans for these, then the kids came along and put a slowdown on things. He unfortunately passed away 3 years ago. He never got round to using them.

I have no real use for them and not much idea of the value, but assume they are quite collectable.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I have posted some hi-res photos on Photobucket Jordan Watts pictures by GW0LDZ - Photobucket

TIA - Bernard

[cocolino]

Originally Posted by GW0LDZ

Hi
Don't know if I am in the right section of the forums or not.
I have a pair of Jordan Watts Modular 40W (peak) speakers which my brother purchased in the mid to late 1970's.

I have no idea on how to test these but have checked coil continuity, connected to a portable radio external speaker outputs, and they work fine.

He had big plans for these, then the kids came along and put a slowdown on things. He unfortunately passed away 3 years ago. He never got round to using them.

I have no real use for them and not much idea of the value, but assume they are quite collectable.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I have posted some hi-res photos on Photobucket Jordan Watts pictures by GW0LDZ - Photobucket

TIA - Bernard

Big plans, slowdown, never got around.....reminds me of something....

Wow, this are real oldies and speaker history. Your`re right, this are collectors items and when You want to sell them Your best bet would be to put them on ebay.
Maybe they`ll find their way in a nice showcase somewhere around the world or even somebody might put them to use again (I don`t know if after all that time they`d be still usable).

[Puffin]

Is it just 2 pics? what was your brother intending to do with them?

I assume these are metal coned full range units. Look a bit sorry to me.

Are these active speakers i.e is that a mains lead sticking out of one of them?

[cocolino]

Originally Posted by Puffin

Is it just 2 pics? what was your brother intending to do with them?

I assume these are metal coned full range units. Look a bit sorry to me.

Are these active speakers i.e is that a mains lead sticking out of one of them?

Metal cones, yes. Fullrange not quite if I remember correctly.

Not active, it´s a dampened die cast housing / frame, the leads are not main leads, they`re for the voice-coil. In that sense they are no "speakers", they are speaker chassis, they still do need an enclosure.

For almost 40 years they do look quite fine, what did you expect they look like?

[rjb]

I have a pair in a bookshelf Bass Reflex enclosure which I still use occaisonally, and they can still compete well with modern units. The treble is not as extended, but a small tweeter fixes that. There is a lot of info available on the web.
Yes, they are collectable, but also quite usable.
Just be aware that the suspension is by radial wire, and with rough treatment can shift. Recentering is then necessary, which takes great care and paitence.

[GW0LDZ]

Originally Posted by Puffin

Is it just 2 pics? what was your brother intending to do with them?

I assume these are metal coned full range units. Look a bit sorry to me.

Are these active speakers i.e is that a mains lead sticking out of one of them?

The leads are the speaker coils.
Not been rough handled, just came out of original polystyrene packing.
Would I be better off using them as doorstops ?

[GW0LDZ]

Originally Posted by Puffin

Is it just 2 pics? what was your brother intending to do with them?

I assume these are metal coned full range units. Look a bit sorry to me.

Are these active speakers i.e is that a mains lead sticking out of one of them?

By the way, there are 11 pics.
9 of the speakers (drivers) and 2 of my meter readings.

[rjb]

They look fine to me. If you don't want them, some one will buy them at a good price.
If the sound ok on music, ie no sibulance or harshness, they should be good. However without an enclosure there will be little bass. Note they are designed for reasonable listening levels, not heavy rock.
A further test you can do is to check for proper cone centering by VERY GENTLY with two fingers (one on each side of the cone very near the edge) press gently inwards so the cone moves a few mm, and listen for scraping. Do not distort the cone- it is fragile.Do not push hard, or make the cone move more than two or three mm.
No scraping means cone is centered ok.
I have enclosure designs if you are interested.

[Colin]

They're intended for full range use, with an additional tweeter in some cases. The tweeter was rolled in at about 5kHz and the module allowed to run full range. The JX92S is the modern version with better power handling and more extended HF.

This company's Vivide model now uses the same idea but with the JX92

http://www.acousticinsight.co.uk/

They were available in a number of versions over the years and were available as 4, 8 or 16 ohm. The latter, I presume, either for valve amps or to allow use in parallel for more output.

Highly collectable - a 'new old stock' pair went on eBay a week ago for over £400 !

Hope that helps.

[andyjevans]

I'm very surprised that these can reach £400. Usually in the UK they come up regularly and go pretty cheap on ebay in the cabinets they were usually found in - like even under £100 for a pair of speakers. Since you can buy new versions for around £250 a pair, which are considerably improved, it seems a little crazy to buy a deleted model, particularly since age will sometimes take its toll on various parts of the units. Unlike SME arms and such, speakers are vulnerable to deterioration.

Andy