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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment. |
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15th Aug 2017, 6:06 pm | #1 |
Nonode
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Location: Bristol, UK.
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Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
I got these from Steve in Bath, who posted about them a couple of years ago. Both drivers are no more, though strangely one of them measures 8 ohms on my meter! They are of a most curious design and I wondered if anyone here had managed to disassemble one without destroying it? The cone appears to nestle in foam which fills up the cast metal box encasing it. Messrs Jordan and Watts have clearly put a lot of thought into this unit - I understand there is some kind of cantilever suspension at the back which allows for greater cone excursions, so I would like to have a look at least....without wrecking it preferably!
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15th Aug 2017, 8:42 pm | #2 |
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
These were meant used as multiples of these modules.
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15th Aug 2017, 11:23 pm | #3 |
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
There was just a single one in the Jordan-Watts 'Jumbo' speaker. They also did a sort of pottery flask with one in it. (Shades of sticking a bulb holder into the neck of an old wine bottle as was common in the same era)
David
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15th Aug 2017, 11:37 pm | #4 |
Nonode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
There's only one in each of these.
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16th Aug 2017, 8:27 am | #5 |
Octode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
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16th Aug 2017, 9:23 am | #6 |
Octode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Crikey Roger, you have been acquiring some classic speakers recently!
You might find the pics here interesting - they show a module which has been taken to bits. From the look of it the voice coil and cantilever assembly is installed in the chassis prior to the cone and surround being glued into position. https://mdcarter.smugmug.com/Walbers...ular/i-J77D7pj Cheers, Steve.
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16th Aug 2017, 10:04 am | #7 |
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
The record shop where I did Saturdays n years ago sold J-W loudspeakers, and Quad gear as well. They sounded all right to me at the time, and the customers liked them. The idea was that a single unit was enough for a basic loudspeaker, but two could be (and were) used in a larger cabinet for greater power handling.
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16th Aug 2017, 10:52 am | #8 |
Octode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
The Haymarket Theatre in Leicester (now a stripped-out abandoned shell) had about a dozen of those installed around the auditorium walls as effects speakers.
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16th Aug 2017, 10:54 am | #9 |
Nonode
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Location: Bristol, UK.
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Yes it has been quite a week or so for tripping over interesting examples of hi-fi history! That set of pics is really helpful Steve and confirms my fears that the whole thing is glued together - as in.... will it all get so badly distorted during disassembly that it will never go back together properly? On the other hand - with that curious suspension system I suppose it is possible that the speech coil has become disconnected rather than burned out. Every cloud...eh? I shall scoop one out and report back.
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16th Aug 2017, 11:25 am | #10 |
Nonode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Beryllium cantilever ?
Some alloys are OK, like Beryllium/Copper but worth check what these are actually made of ... dc |
16th Aug 2017, 8:33 pm | #11 |
Nonode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Well, I went ahead and did it! So here is my guide to getting one of these apart, which might usefully be entitled Handy hints that the amateur audio engineer will probably never ever need!
Pic 1 shows the glued driver-to-batten foam seal pulled off Pic 2 shows the thin aluminium(?) plate to which the cone surround is glued. Very careful levering up will release it from the chassis to which it is glued without distorting it (glue, you might have gathered, is a significant component of these drivers) Pic 3 At this point you get to peek into the interior to see how it all goes together. There are 3 wires (a bit like thin brazing rod) connecting the speech coil to 3 points in the chassis. 2 of these are used to connect the coil to source via bolted solder tags. It is just possible to reach in with a soldering iron to detach them without wrecking anything. It's a bit rich to describe this arrangement as a cantilever. There is no mechanism as such - just the tension in the wires to control cone excursion. Pic 4 shows the cone and faceplate with the wires attached Pic 5 shows what's left inside. I checked for continuity in the speech coil at point 3 - sadly there was none. On the other hand I would hate to have to put it all back together again.
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16th Aug 2017, 9:35 pm | #12 |
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Go on...... rewind that coil.... you know you can't resist trying to resurrect something as unloved as that!
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17th Aug 2017, 6:48 am | #13 |
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Maybe the coil has become stressed where the rod attach's, try unwinding a turn, strip enamel and recheck continuity.
Andy.
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17th Aug 2017, 10:44 am | #14 |
Nonode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Strangely enough, Chris - it is tempting and I have been thinking along Andy's lines as well. It is surely quite an adventurous sort of design that relies on soldered joints for the suspension of a cone that is going to perform millions of excursions! Stress might very well have played a part.
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18th Aug 2017, 11:23 pm | #15 |
Octode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
Sorting out your croaky B139s will be like a walk in the park compared to this!!!
Cheers, Steve.
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19th Aug 2017, 10:40 am | #16 |
Nonode
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Re: Dead Jordan Watts Mk111s
I hope you are right, Steve! I haven't had a go at the B139s yet but I did scrape off a bit of laquer on the JW and, as Andy suspected, the speech coil is OK. The problem seems to be inside the collar above the coil in pic 4 where some kind of invisible connection is made. I am in the process of getting organised for a week in sunny Mansfield just now but when I return I shall post some close-ups and hope that sheds a little light.
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