Janszen 1-30's!

[stuckinthe70s]

Just thought I would share my excitement about my "new component". Pardon me if this is not the right forum, I wasn't sure where to post it. 2 summers ago I bought these Janszen speakers along with a pair of KLH 5's from an elderly gentleman who was the original owner of both. I had thoughts at different times of trying the Janszen's to see if they would work but was always too chicken(picture sparks and smoke). That was until 10 days ago. Since I had a tweeter going out on one of my AR3's I decided it was time to try the Janszen's. I removed the speaker wires from one of the AR's and connected it to one of the Janszen's, plugged it in(with teeth clenched) and listened- no strange sounds, great. Put on an album and brought the volume up a tiny bit, I heard music, turned it up just a bit more, everything sounded good. I put my ear up to each panel, had sound from all 4- phew! Now I'm getting excited! Repeated this testing on the second Janszen, it also passed with no issues. More excitement! So I proceeded to remove the jumpers from the back of the AR3's to put them in woofer only mode, placed the Janszen's on top and connected the wires. Powered everything on, placed an album on the turntable and dropped the needle. Brought the volume up a bit and took a seat. Holy crap, I couldn't believe what I was hearing! These things are quite open sounding and detailed. After making a few adjustments to the output controls and tone controls, they're sounding very good! They seem to match up very well with the AR's woofers and are well balanced in the output. I'm starting to like them a lot! On certain types of music they can be a bit bright sounding in the midrange, but where they really shine is playing jazz. The AR's always sounded good with jazz anyway, but these Janszen's are just a bit nicer, IMHO.

So a question for anyone who might know- are there crossover components inside that I could replace? I don't know if they need replacing or if I even feel like bothering, they sound pretty darn nice the way they are. The cabinets need just a bit of touching up, maybe some light sanding and oiling and they'd look nice. The grills are in good shape, both badges are there, the original stickers are on the bottom of both and as an added bonus they are consecutive serial numbers. I think I did ok paying $200 for these and the KLH 5's. It just amazes me that speakers this old are still working perfectly after sitting unused since the early 80's.

So for now I'm keeping these in the system, they need to be played and enjoyed.

[ar_pro]

The Janszen 1-30 electrostatic has a built-in crossover at 500 Hz, as well as a high voltage AC power supply.

Early on, they were commonly used with the AR-1, which was pretty much a state-of-the-art system in that era (Altec, EV, or JBL owners would argue this point).

[JKent]

$200? You stole them! The KLH Fives will benefit from recapping and an application of RoyC's surround sealant. I used to have some Fives and thought they were "nice" but the sealant made a dramatic improvement for the better. Wish I still had them to compare to my AR-3a's but I'll bet the Fives are every bit as good.

Arthur Janszen is a real legend. He worked with Henry Kloss for a while. Had a hand in designing my favorite radio--the KLH Model Eight. But his real triumph was the KLH Model Nine electrostatic speaker. Still considered by many (including Stereophile) to be among the best speakers ever produced. Your 1-30s, in good working condition, can fetch big bucks from audiophiles who know what you have discovered on your own. Here's some reading material: http://www.janszenloudspeaker.com/company.htm

It may be wise to have a qualified tech check the innards for any dried out wiring or other possible things in need of preventive maintenance.

Congratulations on a great find!

Kent