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Revisiting Jim Rogers JR149s

Now here's something you don't see every day.... a JR149 wrapped in veneer!.... and before you ask, I have no idea why only one of the enclosures has been done! :confused:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334174626758

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ToTo Man said:
Now here's something you don't see every day.... a JR149 wrapped in veneer!.... and before you ask, I have no idea why only one of the enclosures has been done! :confused:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334174626758

s-l1600.jpg
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I like the completely buggered phillips screws.

Why do so many examples of the JR149s appear to be in such dodgy shape? Seems like a high percentage of the ones seen for sale have problems with condition.
 
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Yank said:
Why do so many examples of the JR149s appear to be in such dodgy shape?
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I suspect it is because so few have original boxes and they can roll around if on their sides in storage or poorly packed. Plus, as above, the alloy cans are apparently very easy to cross-thread/gouge with over-tightening. Anyone with a ‘Linn-tight’ mentality would ruin a pair in seconds. I suspect the top B110s with the woodgrain finish have suffered this fate and been riveted (the cabs would give out way, way before gouging the heads off the screws). They are sadly very rare in genuinely good condition IME.
 
The aluminium cans look no more than a sheet put on a bender, then folded round. Must have been the cheapest cab ever made. Is the joint welded or just clinked together by machine?
 
lexi said:
The aluminium cans look no more than a sheet put on a bender, then folded round. Must have been the cheapest cab ever made. Is the joint welded or just clinked together by machine?
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Yes, that’s pretty much it. Jim Rogers apparently served an apprenticeship as a sheet metal-worker so learned how to roll metal long before he formed Rogers let alone JR. It is an exceptionally clever cab IMO as it is cheap, low mass and low resonance, plus avoids the many issues of conventional wood panels. It amazes me that no one copied them. I don’t know exactly how the joint at the back works as it is covered with a plastic extrusion (the grille foam tucks under to make for a nice neat finish). No attempt was made to hide the manufacturing technique, the marks from the rollers are always there to be seen. Definitely designed to be used with grilles on!

There are many pro-audio active speakers (Genlec, Neumann, KRK etc) using moulded metal or composite cabs these days, so I guess these are really the spiritual successors to the JR149. I suspect that construction (moulds etc) is way too expensive to setup for the low-volume of hi-fi sales these days.
 
As a boilermaker by trade, I bent, rolled and formed many structures from all sorts of materials, to me the Jr149 looks like a sch 10 aluminium pipe formed into its D shape with a press, not from plate as that would have needed a welded seam, I don't see that on my JR 149 speakers.

Alan
 
The join/seam is at the back. To my eyes there is a 90 degree fold at each end which meet under the plastic extrusion on the rear. I assume there is either a glue joint or some form of weld to keep them air-tight underneath the plastic strip. I’ve no idea about the MkII as I’ve never seen a pair in person, but I’m certain the MkI is a flat sheet rolled into a cylinder. My guess is they first stamped the driver holes in the middle of the sheet, then rolled the sides keeping the baffle flat, and finally put the sharp bend on the ends to join the cab at the back.

PS Having a closer look just now it looks like the rear plastic strip is a trim-piece on an alloy extrusion running the height of the cab that I assume enables the jointing, i.e. it covers the two ends which my guess (as above) are bent at 90 degrees to make a seam. Somewhere online there is a thread where someone really disemboweled a pair removing the end-caps etc and I suspect that would have good pictures of the construction, but I can’t find it right now.
 
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Time to talk subs again.

What is the above?

Is it a power amp for a sub? Or is it a crossover only and the sub needs to be powered by its own amp?

If I bought one, just because I can, what could I use to test it out? I mean, I don't have a passive sub other than the Gradients and I don't want to disturb them.

Could I use a single Spendor SP1 as a sub for JR 149s?


Those inputs from the amp (pre? power?) don't look like they want banana plugs. How do you deal with that?

(I'm sure these questions have been addressed here before -- I just can't find the relevant posts, sorry!)
 
Decided not to pursue it. The whole point of little speakers for me is that they’re little, and so fit into the interior design of a domestic room easily - adding extra boxes somehow defeats the object. They are what they are.
 
That’s the conclusion I came to with mini-monitors. If you want them to sound bigger sit closer and use better kit upstream. There is no source or amp on the planet that is ‘too good’ for a nice little speaker like these, LS3/5As, ProAc 1SCs etc. The more you put in the more you get out.
 
Tony L said:
That’s the conclusion I came to with mini-monitors. If you want them to sound bigger sit closer and use better kit upstream. There is no source or amp on the planet that is ‘too good’ for a nice little speaker like these, LS3/5As, ProAc 1SCs etc. The more you put in the more you get out.
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Yes. I must say, I don’t use my Mk 1 149s and Radford STA 25 very often - it’s just a question of the room it’s in really — but whenever I do I’m knocked out by it, it’s a tremendous system.
 
I imagine 149s and a Radford would take some beating! Everything I love about the Leaks, but with more headroom.
 
^ I was idly watching those on ebay, I thought they looked pretty tidy ^

Seller got them to you nice and fast :)
 
Yes, very fast.
The seller seems a nice guy.
His first speakers were Acoustic Research AR7x's followed by Celestion Ditton 15's and then he bought these
which he says transformed the sound. They have spent years in his dining room and not been used much.
 
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