Feedback on Jamac speakers in Portland, OR

javeman70

More is Better
Interested in getting my pair of Spendor Preludes "refreshed". No problems but suspect that they are "tired" after all these years. Have any of the Portland members had any experience with Jamac?
Would appreciate any feedback.
 
I had the mids in my Snell Type A/IIIs refoamed at JAMAC. The guy who owns it (I think his name is Ron) is a very nice man and went above and beyond to help me. JAMAC does good, fast, and affordable work. I would have no problem taking more stuff to them for repair.

If you are planning on having your crossover caps redone, be specific about what you want. For example, if you want a specific type of capacitor, you will need to make your thoughts known or you are going to get electrolytic caps, not that there is anything wrong with electrolytic.
 
I’ve had them do a couple of things for me in the past and the service was okay. I stopped going there and started doing the work myself after they did some sorrounds on a pair of JBL woofers I took in. They came back to me with way oversized dustcaps and I asked if they could do the surrounds without removing the dust cap and they told me yes. There are not many places to choose from though.

Dan
 
I've only had them do a couple things for me, Fast, inexpensive, and decent work. However, I always leave with the impression that they have low tolerance for Audiophile nit picking.
Example: rare speakers that woofers and/or re-cone kits were unavailable.
Them - "we can re-cone with a stock kit or get you 8Ω drivers that will fit for similar cost.
Me - "how would that change the voicing of the speaker?"
Them - "It would be an 8Ω driver, shouldn't hear a difference. But, if you want us to mess with the crossover you'll pay shop rate."
Me - "What about compliance of the suspension, damping of the cone, Theil Parameters, that sort of stuff?"
Them - "You shouldn't hear a difference."
I never mentioned being concerned with cost. In the end I just had them re-cone and it was fine, but I had never had a chance to hear the speakers with the original woofers intact so I don't really know if they hit it on the head. Re-cone kit was Foam instead of Rubber surround and cone was definitely different style of paper and felt heavier.
 
I detailed my experiences with them in another thread, I'll try to find it. A couple good experiences and a few terrible experiences.
 
I've only had them do a couple things for me, Fast, inexpensive, and decent work. However, I always leave with the impression that they have low tolerance for Audiophile nit picking.
Example: rare speakers that woofers and/or re-cone kits were unavailable.
Them - "we can re-cone with a stock kit or get you 8Ω drivers that will fit for similar cost.
Me - "how would that change the voicing of the speaker?"
Them - "It would be an 8Ω driver, shouldn't hear a difference. But, if you want us to mess with the crossover you'll pay shop rate."
Me - "What about compliance of the suspension, damping of the cone, Theil Parameters, that sort of stuff?"
Them - "You shouldn't hear a difference."
I never mentioned being concerned with cost. In the end I just had them re-cone and it was fine, but I had never had a chance to hear the speakers with the original woofers intact so I don't really know if they hit it on the head. Re-cone kit was Foam instead of Rubber surround and cone was definitely different style of paper and felt heavier.

Based on this I wouldn't go near the place with anything I cared about!
 
The guys at Inner Sound do surround replacement with more care than JAMAC. I've dealt with both places for many years now.
 
I said I would detail my experiences with JAMAC, so here they are....

1) Walked in with a pair of Fisher xp7b's to get them checked out. First ever set of vintage speakers. Ron pulled out the drivers to test them and give them all a look over. Ron pinched the speaker leads between the cabinet and speaker baskets on both 12in woofers AND left 2 screws out. I gave him this "wtf??" kind of look and he gave me his screw driver and said "if you want to nit pick do it yourself". I indicated that the leads were pinched and that I am hardly nit picking. He saw it for himself and corrected it. After everything was together he listened to every driver and said it was all good and they are ready to go. While listening to them all hooked up I noticed a tweeter was not working and I pointed it out to him. He looked at me and said "you are right, let's see if I have another one". He did and he sold it to me for six bucks. Why didn't he catch that?!?!

2) He refoamed 6 speakers for me. All came out good.

3) He recapped a crossover for me. He wanted to do it while I waited and needed my help to do it which was fine with me. In the process of removing the old caps and soldering in the new ones he melted 3 huge chunks of plastic out of the crossover bezzle. That PISSED me off although I refrained from showing it. I pointed it out and he said it does not effect performance. WTF?!?!

4) I brought him the mids out of my mach twos for refoam. He installed the wrong foam and the screws that hold the speaker in place pinch the surround. I showed it to him and he told me to silicone the speakers into place rather than screwing them down. I did not want to do that (who would?). I asked if he could redo it with the right foam and he said that's the closest foam to the correct foam he had, he refused to order in the correct foam and that the only solution he was willing to offer was to silicone the speakers into place. I refused to do that so he cut up the foam with a razor blade, gave me the speakers back and gave me my money back.
 
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