Jensen System B Can they really sound as good as they do?

fau5tu5

Active Member
So I went to pick these up for $25. I wasn't familiar with them but was slightly intrigued and they weren't that far away. I was pretty lucky that I did. (I think) Because when going through the stuff from the previous system (a JBL surround speaker package and mid denon receiver) the lady said who was selling them for her husband who just got a VERY nice new system, gave me the "Oh, there's some really old stuff back here that we didnt list".

So $160. later, I left with the Jensen's, A Sansui Seven receiver, a Pioneer PL530 TT with Audiotecnica At30E and At630 and stablizers, some old High end Sony Headphones, and a Carver C-4000 + M-400 combo. I left a pair of MK Subs, Tandenberg Deck with 2 DBX units and some other stuff.. (There's a limit to what I might use) But this guy obviously knew his stuff for the most part..


So I'm checking out the speakers and they sound,.. well.. Simply... Wonderful. I always thought of "Jensen" as either a parts supplier, or really low end stuff. ( I think of late 80s car stereos from Kragen or Kmart) But that wouldnt make much sense for a guy who spent MANY thousands on audio gear and did semi-pro/pro recording to have crap speakers as his mains for many years.

I tried to find out about them and all I could come up with was a couple links referencing the 2003 Orion Blue Book

"Official Orion Blue Book Report. Audio SPK Monday, August 11, 2003 JENSEN
SYSTEM B Retail BEST $275 Retail BETTER $240 Retail FAIR-Good $200

These retailed for $1,329 pr. from 1979-83"

and one picture on a Vintage Speaker collectors site (en espanol )

And thats it.

Anyone know anything about them? Have any lit, or specs?? I will say this.. I'm not a huge fan of the brown vinyl laminate (though it is better than simulated wood grain laminate) and the terminals leave a bit to be desired, but, They sound very accurate and open and tight.. Very pleasant and I will admit with the "Jensen" logo.. I'm a little surprised.. If not somewhat confused. I was thinking Garage Speakers... but right now, They're my Mains for the time being.

I'll try to put up a couple pix.
 
still kinda dusty.
 

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OK so no quick replies like:

"man those are junk, Dont hurt your back taking them to the dump"

OR

"Yeah, I remember those,.. Not too shabby, but a little ........ and. ..."

OR

"You know Jensen made some good drivers, and that was a rare attempt at a nice floorstander especially if they were askin $1400.00 in 1980"

OR even what I was likely expecting:

"You like the way those sound?? Really?? Then I've got a clazzic car stereo settup I'll sell you of all late 80s Pyramid equiptment, with 3 daisychained EQ Power BOosters and stacked square 4ways with chrome grills and swivel mounts....""


Well, I can't find much out about these things.. But they sound really nice. I dont know if the previous owner modded them or not.. I dont know how I would tell since I cant find out anything about them.

Ahh well. I'd love any info anyone has.. But for now,.. I guess I'll just keep scratching my head.
 
I have a pair of Jensen Model 15 that sound great. I bet those really sound great too. You got a great deal. I think Jensen has a few great speakers in bewteen all the cheap stuff they made.
 

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Jensen must not have manufactured or sold many of them since you have received no comments from AKer's that are familiar with this model, which is unusual since Jensen was such a well known entity. By the time these speakers were made the once mighty Jensen brand name was known primarily for its car speakers with blue foam surrounds, and their "Tri-ax II" 6x9's were horrid! These System B's look very well designed and constructed with quality drivers and excellent cabinets, so its not surprising they sound good! I'm sure they are stock as the person who purchased them originally seemed pretty picky about his audio purchases from your description. If I found a pair of these cheap, I would certainly snatch them up based upon appearance alone. They were likely an "image leader" product designed to recapture some of Jensen's glory days reputation of the 1950's, but by 1980 most serious speaker buyers did not consider Jensen's among high performance brands worth auditioning. I visited LA stereo stores of all types back then and never saw these speakers at any of the dealers.
 
There are a couple of threads deep in the archives about these IIRC. From what I remember, they were great speakers and worth looking for.
 
I did find a this snippet summary from High Fidelity Jan 1980: (so at least I know I'm not crazy )

High Fidelity, January 1980
*Equipment Reports (p. 19): Carver C-4000 preamp (elaborate and flexible, requires careful
and judicious adjustment for best results; autocorrelator is subtler and better than earlier versions;
time-delay is "mildly pleasant"; peak unlimiter useful if adjusted right; sonic holography
is "terrific," much better than stereo; measured S/N ratios are mediocre). KLH 3 mini speakers
(smooth, warm sound; remarkable bass, good dynamic range). Ortofon Concorde 30 phono
cartridge (low mass, superb tracking, wide separation, fine sound). SAE Two R-6 receiver
(remarkably flexible controls and dubbing functions, unusually useful FM signal-strength/multipath
metering; non-standard phono impedance, shallow filtering, good headroom and current
capacity in power amp). Jensen System B loudspeaker (efficient, warm, smooth rather than
brilliant, plays loud)
. Phase Linear 5100 tuner (made by Pioneer, superb in every way except
mediocre selectivity). Pioneer CTF-1250 cassette deck (elaborate tape-matching system works
well; overall performance very good, especially with chrome tape). Dual 731Q turntable (superb
performance; ULM arm has low mass and good damping, though calibration of damping is
off). Spatial Coherence TVA- 1 preamp (non-standard phono impedance; tone and tape controls
unconventional but effective; preamp sounds good). JVC Zero-5 loudspeaker (high power handling,
apparent crossover problems, midrange doesn't sound good).
*How Much Are Old Records Worth (p. 53): Finding treasured rarities in the closet.
*Input Output (p. 98): Details on Teac's "Portastudio" four-track self-sync cassette recorder.


I will second the fact that they DO PLAY LOUD.. and clear when loud.. Actually it is a suprising kind of painless loud.
 
Back in the late 50's, my dad had a console stereo by Churchill; Garrard changer, Bell tube electronics and Jensen speakers. It sounded great! That was before Jensen changed over to the auto speaker line.
 
OK so no quick replies like:

"man those are junk, Dont hurt your back taking them to the dump"

OR

"Yeah, I remember those,.. Not too shabby, but a little ........ and. ..."

OR

"You know Jensen made some good drivers, and that was a rare attempt at a nice floorstander especially if they were askin $1400.00 in 1980"

OR even what I was likely expecting:

"You like the way those sound?? Really?? Then I've got a clazzic car stereo settup I'll sell you of all late 80s Pyramid equiptment, with 3 daisychained EQ Power BOosters and stacked square 4ways with chrome grills and swivel mounts....""


Well, I can't find much out about these things.. But they sound really nice. I dont know if the previous owner modded them or not.. I dont know how I would tell since I cant find out anything about them.

Ahh well. I'd love any info anyone has.. But for now,.. I guess I'll just keep scratching my head.
A little defensive are we? Jensen made excellent vintage speakers. I've heard the Model 15's, which are very nice.
Yours are obviously a step or two above those. Please don't hurt me!
 
Actually not that defensive.. But Karma has a way of finding revenge ( I mean balance ) for talking poorly of your own speakers... Like when a midrange sounds out on same said speakers and you decide to open em up and see whats what, you happen to put your thumb through an fragile surround...:tears: (but they are due for re foaming at least..) Didnt find what was the problem with the mid right of the bat,.. but the crossover was a bit more than I feel up to tackling tonight (if at all without help) I didnt see any lthing obvious right off, but I do know that the mid is off/out, so it needs addressing one way or another.

The crossover board (is that what it's called?) is the size of my PC Motherboard. That second largest coil is closer to the diameter of a coke can than the Largest. And the front shell is resin,. Not plastic, but more like PVC..

Strange Speakers.. But now I'm intrigued even more so.. Though not what I imagined I was getting into at all.
 

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Similar to the number of chokes in my Celestion Ditton 25's. You've got a lot of re-capping to do.
 
. You've got a lot of re-capping to do.

:no: Bwaaaaa!!! I don't wannna!!!!!! I just want pretty MUUUUUZIX !!!!

The worst part is now having to try and hunt down even what caps to use etc. etc. since I've listed just about everything I can find online about these speakers other than one old listing from 2003 and a couple of Mexican sites, one of which was asking some crazy amount for these (which better be pesos.. though I dont think it is)

translated : http://209.85.201.132/translate_c?h...l&sa=N&usg=ALkJrhh2NuZ4cis988olfEpgngrQ8fcW9Q

I love it "Ceiling Line" . Thats one I havent heard before.
 
I read about that model before and think it was here several years ago. Keep searching. High end Jensen's for sure. Nice find. :thmbsp: Love the cabs with the tilting feature. The drivers, cab and XO all scream quality. Restore and enjoy.

- Go back and get the M&K subs, almost all their models were very good.
 
I have heard these speakers and I was very interested in buy them.
As I remember they are very musical, good bass and good midrange at moderate levels. But at high levels I remember I felt something like compression (I did this test only one time)
Anyway I have the brochure of the series where you'll find tha basic specs.

JENSEN-1.jpg


JENSEN-2.jpg
 
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I'm disappointed to read that these Jensens sound "warm" & "musical", I thought they'd sound better than that.

Irrespective, the $25 you spent for them is a great great buy.
 
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AAAHAHH Jfzea Thank you.. That is the first I've seen.

And to be honest Array, I dont know if I would actually call them "Warm".

Usually when I think "Warm" I tend to think slightly rolled off although not quite enough to complain.. And these definitely arent. Though far from bright (which I have some Polks that are a bit-bright and these arent arent anywhere near bright)

But if you turn down the mid and tweet controls then the do become "Warm",.. but set to "0" or neutral,.. I wouldnt accuse them of being warm.. Though I guess to be fair, if you had to chose either Perfectly Flat, toward Bright, or toward Warm,. then yeah,.. I could see making the call toward Warm rather than Bright.

And Musical is always a term I found kind of confusing as (like most things people use it differently and subjectively) I will say what does suprise me about these that they may have called "musical" is the fact that the strange resin/plastic? casing actually has a very nice ressonance or tone to it. That might have been very intentional. I dont know. I cant imagine any other reason you would use plastic or resin on a speaker you meant to compete with the top of the lines..

Warm and Musical? I dont know. But so far I like them.

I'll find out about the drivers soon.

Thanks all for helping me figure them out.
 
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