AudioCanberra Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 (edited) Ok, So posted the below some time ago but can now delete the requirement to sell ..... Sometime in 1965 to 1970 my Dad bought a set of speakers from a fellow in Sydney who made them from a Janszen kit. There are a pair of Janszen Electrostatic Tweeters in each. I’m not sure what they cost him, but it must have been a fair bit, as Mum was not very happy! They missed out on our annual family holiday! My Dad is no longer with us, and I’ve inherited his speakers some years ago. I had the speakers serviced in Canberra in 2010 by a very experienced fellow with a great reputation. the woofers in each box were replaced due to age and misaligned magnets. He also added porting to the back of each after testing them. All wiring and power was checked. The transformers for the electrostatics was found to be in good condition. Inside each speaker box there are: two electrostatic tweeters, a 9†woofer, a transformer, and dampening foam etc Cosmetically, I will rate this pair a 7/10 due to some marks on the top of the cabinets where ornaments have been placed over the years. These marks are minor and can only be seen upon close inspection. The original cloth on the speaker grills has been replacd by a black grill fabric. I need to sell these speakers, as I don’t have the room for them (my wife has put her foot down). I don’t know where to sell them, or what price I should be asking for them? Can anyone out there help me out, or seen something similar previously? I'd really appreciate your help, cheers. So I am still interested in any additional information anyone may have about these speakers, but am also trying to find out if I have any options for a) generally replacing / upgrading the cabinets b) Upgrading the woofer. At the time I had the work done I was not in a position to spend a great deal of money, this would probably mean changing the cross over as well??! c) Upgrading the power supply, or even putting it external to the speakers?!? I had been thinking about maybe trying to do sort of a bookshelf option, and maybe take the power supply external from the tweeters. But my only concern with this is that even if I run a sub for the system I think I am going to be missing some of the mid to lower end frequencies without having a woofer in built? couple of pics attached .. looking forward to hearing people's thoughts.. Edited November 1, 2015 by AudioCanberra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanArn Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Whatever you choose to do will largely depend on the condition of the electrostatic tweeters and their associated high voltage power supply with the matching transformer.The system is similar to the Z 220 model. All the early Janszen speaker systems followed the acoustic suspension principle of using a highly compliant,long throw woofer in a small sealed enclosure.If you opt for a smaller bass/midrange speaker, to enable a bookshelf size cabinet to be used, there will most likely be changes needed to the crossover network to match the drivers. It is normal to expect a loss of sensitivity by using smaller drivers in a reduced size of enclosure,nevertheless a good (say)165mm D with a vented box designed using the T & S parameters may well give better results than the current arrangement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audionutz Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Think I've still got a box of old JanZen Panels around here somewhere? Cheers 'Nutz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioCanberra Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Thanks for the replies. Both sets of tweeters are in excellent condition, no bent fins etc and the sound quality out of the tweeters is excellent. One of the reasons for starting this "project" is that the new woofers are no were near as sensitive as they really need to be to go with the electrostatic panels. There is a bid of muddiness in the lower end compared to the excellent and very sensitive top end from the tweeters. The power supply for the tweeters is electronicly ok but as per the pictures is not the most elegant of builds, though I have no idea if there would be anything off the self that would put out the 2000V required. The cross over also looks a but like a school project, nothing is really soldered together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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