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JPW AP2s - worth repairing or not?

John_73

John_73

pfm Member
Hi folks.

Just inherited a pair of JPW AP2s (along with a Quad 34/FM4/606).

The rubber surrounds on both woofers in the AP2s has perished/crumbled. I've been quoted £130 to purchase a replacement pair of brand new woofers.

This is quite a bit of cash (for me at least) - are the AP2s worth this expenditure or were they only middling speakers at the time?

Many thanks,

- John
 
I have AP2's and AP3's, think that they are very good, Vifa units in them. £130 sounds a bit high for a pair of Vifa bass/ mid units. I forget the model number, there are many similar ones. You might be able to do just the surrounds. I did a temporary repair to mine, still OK some years later.

The AP2/ AP3 give my BC1's a run for their money.
 
You can get the surrounds replaced for a lot less than that. No need to replace the drivers, providing the voice coils haven't been damaged.
 
I sell these units & that is the price inc vat & p&p. (£80 each from Wilmslow) It is a nice driver with a cast magnesium chassis and a good quality doped paper cone. Still made in Denmark at Scanspeak's facility.

There are other 21cm Vifa units but most are intended for ported speakers and therefore have larger magnets.

The WG-09-08 is intended for sealed boxes & was used by JPW (P1, AP2, AP3), Heybrook (HB1 & Trio) & Snell (type K)

If you are diy inclined there are ebay sellers who sell just surrounds but try to find foam ones rather than sheet rubber. Foam affords a better termination.

I still maintain that you'd have to spend a tidy sum to improve on AP2's with many modern designs. Real wood veneered cabinets, good quality drivers, hardwired crossovers etc. Sadly few companies even do 2 ways with an 8" unit now.
 
valveheaduk said:
Hi folks.

Just inherited a pair of JPW AP2s (along with a Quad 34/FM4/606).

The rubber surrounds on both woofers in the AP2s has perished/crumbled. I've been quoted £130 to purchase a replacement pair of brand new woofers.

This is quite a bit of cash (for me at least) - are the AP2s worth this expenditure or were they only middling speakers at the time?

Many thanks,

- John
Click to expand...

I used a pair of P1s' for many years, speakers came, were listened to and then went , it took a pair of 57s to move the JPWs out.
I used the P1s with a 3020 and then the MF A1 but they responded to far better electronics than that. Sounded great with a powerfull amp, they were always very musical.
Errol
 
"I still maintain that you'd have to spend a tidy sum to improve on AP2's with many modern designs."

Seconded.
 
dont know the AP 1s, seen them in the shops in the 80s

but i have 2 pairs of the early jpw sonatas. one the plus model with metal dome and biwire, one the original soft dome, but busted tweeters, which are spectacular !

excellent company, they went commercial in a big way in teh end and that was the end. sadly familiar story
 
Indeed - the JPW Sonatas where the first pair of speakers I ever bought (along with the obligatory Target speaker stands, and also a nice Arcam Alpha 3 amp) - nice 90s style black ash lol! They served me well through a number of upgrades.

Thanks for all the feedback on these speakers, and thanks also for the heads up on the fact you can buy new surrounds rather than having to get a whole new speaker. I found some on Ebay (rubber - can't find any foam ones) for £15.99 which seems more than reasonable to me.

If I get along nicely with the speakers after that I'll probably go for a brand new pair of drivers when the old finances are looking a bit healthier.

- John
 
I always liked JPW speakers. Very good value for money. If I'm not mistaken I think the cabinets were made by prisoners at her majesty's pleasure, hence cheaper than many competitors.

Cheers

Graham
 
I worked for JPW for a few years. The cabinets for some models were indeed made at HMP Channings Wood & sometimes Dartmoor. There are some funny stories about that arrangement. Occasionally one of the prisoners in the woodwork shop would get close to release, become 'gate happy' and qc could deteriorate rapidly! They'd have to keep an eye on that. On other occasions messages would be written inside the cabinets or notes left on bits of paper. We used to have to take a lorry in & qc check finished cabinets in their workshop. I remember being warned to avoid a particular red faced prisoner who was working in there who'd tied people to chairs & done unspeakable things to them. Was never sure whether that was true! Most of the guys in there were quite enthusiastic about what they were doing. On leaving, the lorry we were in would be thoroughly searched inside & underneath for unauthorised stowaways. JPW had problems selling speakers to Australia at one time because of some sensitivity about where the cabinets came from.

JPW eventually bought another cabinet making facility & set up a large new factory outside Plymouth which did oem work for other brands, Denon, Monitor Audio, Toshiba and TDL & Gale (while both brands were owned by Richer Sounds) as well as making JPW & Heybrook speakers. The timing was wrong. Most of these brands moved their production to lower cost asian suppliers and the overheads of the factory were too great to be met by JPW & Heybrook sales. It folded & those brands were acquired by the Indian driver manufacturer Peerless, now a separate entity to the Danish company.
I believe they still make JPW & Heybrook branded speakers for certain markets but not the UK.
 
valveheaduk said:
Indeed - the JPW Sonatas where the first pair of speakers I ever bought (along with the obligatory Target speaker stands, and also a nice Arcam Alpha 3 amp) - nice 90s style black ash lol! They served me well through a number of upgrades.

Thanks for all the feedback on these speakers, and thanks also for the heads up on the fact you can buy new surrounds rather than having to get a whole new speaker. I found some on Ebay (rubber - can't find any foam ones) for £15.99 which seems more than reasonable to me.

If I get along nicely with the speakers after that I'll probably go for a brand new pair of drivers when the old finances are looking a bit healthier.

- John
Click to expand...

Ideally, foam surrounds (like the original) may provide the best sound. However, I have a pair of Videoton Minimax and the foam surrounds were no more, completely rotted out. I also had a pair of burnt out KEF B110's The rubber surrounds of these were fine. I removed them and fitted to the Minimax bass units. All worked fine, sound pretty good.

I think I remember seeing foam surrounds for the Vifa's (as in the JPW's) on e bay
 
For the benefit of those that don't know them, a pair of AP2's (with new drivers)
AP2swithnewdrivers.jpg
 
Radfordman said:
Ideally, foam surrounds (like the original) may provide the best sound. However, I have a pair of Videoton Minimax and the foam surrounds were no more, completely rotted out. I also had a pair of burnt out KEF B110's The rubber surrounds of these were fine. I removed them and fitted to the Minimax bass units. All worked fine, sound pretty good.

I think I remember seeing foam surrounds for the Vifa's (as in the JPW's) on e bay
Click to expand...


Strange.... it's hard to tell of course with them crumbling and perished, but I'd swear what remains of the surrounds on my AP2s is rubber and not foam. Perhaps they used both over the lifetime of this speaker?

I don't suppose anyone has any old reviews of the JPW AP2s they could post?

Cheers.
 
I came dangerously close to purchasing these decades ago but instead decided to continue modifying my DIY Peak Baxendall's.

However, I would suggest that you consider, in due course, removing the crossovers from the boxes and doing a Colloms passive parallel bi-amped job on them (see the two Colloms articles from Hi Fi News scanned on Mike Snowdon's thread). I imagine that with that done they would become simply stunning.
 
Ohh cool I'll have a look into that! Ta!

I have been advised by the guy who does the new surrounds that the later models came with rubber surrounds, and he personally feels these sound the best, not to mention lasting longer, so I'll go with these.

Had a look at the back of the AP2s and interestingly there's two more sets of 4mm sockets for active use (it says on the back)! So I guess I could use my Tripath Amp6 Basic for treble duty, with my GB150D or Quad 606 for the bass/mids, using some sort of crossover?

These speakers are turning into a fun project already! :)
 
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