JPW AP3 -- Worth buying to repair?

[wes-ninja250]

Hey All --

I happened to be in the local thrift store (Hallowe'en shopping), and spotted a set of JPW AP3s. I don't know anything about these speakers (couldn't find a lot online), but they passed my immediate inspection test for probable quality -- they weigh a tonne and they have binding posts instead of build-in wires. Also, they were made in the UK, which means they probably weren't bottom-of-the-barrel.

Anybody know anything about these? Best I could find online was this: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entry.ph...d347ace73d694d

They look like they are set up for bi-amping; one set of inputs is labelled "passive only" (I guess these would be the normal connections into the crossover), and the other set is labelled "active only", with two sets of terminals labelled "treble" and "bass".

Anyhow, as you can probably guess -- the surrounds on the drivers are totally toast. In fact, more is missing than is left! Otherwise, the speakers look fine; the boxes are in great shape, the dust caps are intact, the cones aren't torn, etc.

I eyeballed the drivers at about eight inches, they are shiny so probably not paper. The tweeters have a soft dome and appear intact.

So -- I'd like a set of decent bookshelf speakers, but can't really justify spending any serious bucks at the moment. Should I buy these (I can probably get them for twenty bucks) and re-do the surrounds? Or just save my pennies and wait a few months?

Or, should I just replace the drivers? Does Vifa generally put the model numbers on the back of the drivers? Maybe just drop in those $25 Vifa drivers from BG Micro? (What do I need to swap drivers -- similar Vas, efficiency and same or better frequency response?)

Thanks,
Wes

[DDF]

Wes,
As coincidences go, this is a good one.

I own a Ninja
I live in Ottawa
and I just retrofitted some woofers out of an od pairof JPW AP3s last weekend. Very wierd.

I bought he speakers back in around 1986. They were decent at the time, with the British sound. Very soft top end, lots of BBC dip. The box is lined with tar apper, but isn't braced, and they are bi-wireable.

The woofer is a Vifa M21WG. The tweeter is vifa D19. I like this woofer, its a pleasant sounding one, if not in the high end category anymore. The tweeter isn't hard or grating, but its not very accurate.

They sounded reasonable, but not outstanding. Distant, tailing top end, good clean bass down to about 50 or 60 Hz. If you like the more exciting Paradigm sound, then you won't like these. If you like the sound of older British speakers, this could keep you satisfied for a while.

My cones rotted and I dropped in P21s I had laying around, but haven't re-designed the xover for it yet, and don'tthink i will for a while still.

[wes-ninja250]

Hey, DDF!

Wow, you must be my Doppelganger!

Thanks very much for the info -- you've helped me figure out what to do. I'm going to pick these up if I can get 'em for $25 or so -- they should give me at least $75 worth of sound, so that gives me a repair budget of $50.

As for speaker sound, my favourite speakes are an old pair of Yamaha bookshelf monitors I got to use when I was taking Electroacoustic Composition at Queen's University many years ago. I liked them because they were VERY clear, with all frequencies well-defined. Of course, the room was also fairly well designed, which probably helped a lot!

For my living room system, I have a pair of cheap 10-year-old Panasonic floor speakers with 8" drivers and a pair of ancient Realistics with 10 or 12" drivers. The Panasonics have better high end and sonic resolution, and are more efficient than the Realstics, which are also tuned a little bass-heavy. Between the two of them, they produce a pleasant but not monitor-quality sound. It's good compromise, though, as well-defined mids and highs make understanding the words on the television easier. The biggest factor in that system, though, is not the speakers but the amp. I got a Harmon-Kardon HK-440 for nothing a couple of years ago (pawn shop wouldn't touch it -- too old -- so it was going to the dump!!!) and after pulling out the POS amp in there, my system improved a million times over.

Now I'm looking for a second decent sound system on a low budget, and have already built a chip amp to those ends.. Now for some speakers to match...

Cheers,
Wes