Jamo c803 speakers - thoughts?

[RunOutGroove]

I keep telling myself that I'm getting close to done with collecting audio gear, but then I'll see something for sale and start thinking about a possible upgrade once again. I just had a moment like that when I saw these Jamo C803 speakers on sale locally for what seems to be a very good price. I have my main system (with only the one hooked up to my Mac as a secondary thing) hooked up to three sets of speakers, and in my main room I have my favorite set, Jamo C103 speakers... which I like better than anything else that I've tried (including Elac and ADS). Currently one of the remote sets of speakers that I have hooked up to my Marantz 2270 is a set of Klipsch RM600 mkII speakers, which aren't too bad, particularly with the sub that I ended up getting to go with them. Still, even though I can live with these as a remote set, I don't quite love the sound I'm getting and dig the much richer midrange of my Jamo C103 speakers in the main room. A second set of similar Jamos, might be just the ticket... I wonder if any one has experience with Jamo stuff and can compare the C803s to the C103s and could maybe even compare them to the Klipsch RM 600 mkIIs as well?. I did find just a bit of info about the C803 speakers, but not much, though it sounds like the C103 speakers might have been the replacement for the C803 speakers that I'm considering... and if they are close, I just might dig them more than the Klipsch, which I could probably sell for enough to break even on the deal. The Jamos, if they're anything like the other pair that I have, might not even need a sub in the small room that they're going in, so I could sell the sub I'm using with them and come out ahead in the deal.

One thing that I'm really curious about with these Jamo C803 speakers is if the boxes have real wood veneer? Those other Jamos that I've got are really beautifully finished in real wood, and that little detail would really seal the deal for me... though I may still buy them with a faux wood, vinyl wrap (like those Klipsch I have). I can't tell from the photos that I'm seeing of these if the finish is real or fake.

Jamo seem to be a kind of obscure make somehow, but I have to say that the pair that I have are really great sounding to my ears, particularly for the short money I paid for them... which probably has a lot to do with their relative obscurity...

 

[app4dstn]

where did you see these @RunOutGroove ?

i have Jamo e800's, and based on the strength of those, i'll click on any Jamo listing near me. the c803's i saw recently are no longer.

i've had klipsch rp160m (came after 600m iirc) and sold those. not because of lack of love, but because they had the brand recognition and sell-ability and i needed space. head to head, i would choose the Jamo's, but i really do miss those Klipsch.

i own a sub, but do not use, even with bookshelf sized speakers. your c103's are bigger than my e800's. and if i had to guess, sound better. i'd also think those c803's might be better as well.

i think you and i are inhaling the same fumes. (i looooooove my Jamo's)

 

[RunOutGroove]

where did you see these @RunOutGroove ?

i have Jamo e800's, and based on the strength of those, i'll click on any Jamo listing near me. the c803's i saw recently are no longer.

i've had klipsch rp160m (came after 600m iirc) and sold those. not because of lack of love, but because they had the brand recognition and sell-ability and i needed space. head to head, i would choose the Jamo's, but i really do miss those Klipsch.

i own a sub, but do not use, even with bookshelf sized speakers. your c103's are bigger than my e800's. and if i had to guess, sound better. i'd also think those c803's might be better as well.

i think you and i are inhaling the same fumes. (i looooooove my Jamo's)

Yeah, looks like I waited too long on those (which wasn't very long at all, as I think the ad just went up). I really like my Jamo c103 speakers though, I must say. More than anything else that I've owned (though I haven't had anything that I would consider truly high end) these speakers really seem to do it for me. Maybe they're aren't the very best in any one category, but they have a really nice combo of traits that I like: very good bass for a bookshelf speaker (I use a sub with them, but they were pretty satisfying bass-wise even without); they have really nice mids, unlike the Klipsch I have, which seem a bit thin in that department; they sound very good off axis, so that you feel like you're still hearing most of the music even if you aren't in the sweet spot; they image well, so that you get some nice 3d effects; they have enough dynamics to make music that has that kind of thing nice and crunchy seeming (though maybe not quite as good as the Klipsch in that one department), and finally, they look great and are very well built with the real walnut cladding that they have. I would say that they aren't maybe the very best speakers for very quiet or very loud listening, but considering that I'm mostly listening well between those two poles, they are fine.

These things apparently went for $1800 when they came out and at some point where blown out on Amazon for something like less than $200! I missed all of that and got my pair locally for something like $300-$350, but I still felt like I scored. I liked them so much that I ended up tracking down an identical pair to use as extension speakers in the extra room, but I felt that they were a little to big for where they had to go and preferred the idea of two pairs of different sounding speakers to having all the same sound all over. I kind of wish that I had kpet those, though I didn't loose anything selling them.

I could still see replacing the RM 600 pair that I have, though I'm not in any hurry... I like being open to experiment with differnt things, if I find anything interesting out there for a good buy to try... so there's kind of a silver lining to having a piece of gear or two at least that's maybe not a lifer...

 

[app4dstn]

i'm sure i'd like your c103's too! call me cuckoo, but i miss my old copper colored klipsch everyday.

when i started this journey, bookshelves were a great inexpensive way to get started. my room is in a basement, rectangular, with 2 walls being concrete. with placement, when i get the reflections right, it's wonderful. i have run with a subwoofer but didn't like it. the room has its own signature and for pop, rock, funk (anything with a beat) these small speakers get me engaged. the Jamos have an upside down configuration, with woofer above the tweeter. it has an almost surreal "wide" presentation.

i got my Jamos while on a day trip for a family function. i got them from an older, gruff Ukrainian guy. he'd been in the USA for about 20 years. in his previous life, he opened and ran clubs and bars ("dee-skos") in Europe. with his thick accent, it's pronounced "Zhyaa-mo". and from how he described it, the brand name is revered in the way that, i guess, JBL is/was here stateside. as he described it, his locations started with the sound design, and it was his go-to brand. they must have sounded great.

 

[RunOutGroove]

i'm sure i'd like your c103's too! call me cuckoo, but i miss my old copper colored klipsch everyday.

when i started this journey, bookshelves were a great inexpensive way to get started. my room is in a basement, rectangular, with 2 walls being concrete. with placement, when i get the reflections right, it's wonderful. i have run with a subwoofer but didn't like it. the room has its own signature and for pop, rock, funk (anything with a beat) these small speakers get me engaged. the Jamos have an upside down configuration, with woofer above the tweeter. it has an almost surreal "wide" presentation.

i got my Jamos while on a day trip for a family function. i got them from an older, gruff Ukrainian guy. he'd been in the USA for about 20 years. in his previous life, he opened and ran clubs and bars ("dee-skos") in Europe. with his thick accent, it's pronounced "Zhyaa-mo". and from how he described it, the brand name is revered in the way that, i guess, JBL is/was here stateside. as he described it, his locations started with the sound design, and it was his go-to brand. they must have sounded great.

So, did this Ukrainian guy wear track suits? That would really complete the picture for me...

 

[radiokom]

Be careful with Ukrainians. There should be also decent people among them, of course.

 

[RunOutGroove]

Be careful with Ukrainians. There should be also decent people among them, of course.

Ukrainians. Russians, Poles, Romanians, etc are all decent folks, or at least as decent on average as people from any other part of the world. I was just working off of a stereotype (admittedly) of a certain kind, ya know...

 

[radiokom]

Ukrainians. Russians, Poles, Romanians, etc are all decent folks, or at least as decent on average as people from any other part of the world. I was just working off of a stereotype (admittedly) of a certain kind, ya know...

Of course, if you have visited Albania or Armenia Russians are OK, generally you can trust them.

 

[RunOutGroove]

Of course, if you have visited Albania or Armenia Russians are OK, generally you can trust them.

I've only traveled in Western Europe, and even then, not that extensively. I'd really like to check out further east though, like Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic...

 

[app4dstn]

So, did this Ukrainian guy wear track suits? That would really complete the picture for me...

I wasn’t gonna go there, but since you asked… he comes out of his garage t shirt khaki shorts with belt…white socks and soccer flip flops. There’s garage sale dresses and kitchen appliances obscuring his gear table. So I got a first impression. He went by “Paul”.

But as the conversation evolves and we hook up the speakers the visual goes past track suits to leather jackets and brass knuckles. He wasn’t just an audio guy so to speak. He checked off so many movie bad guy mannerisms. Like an episode of American Pickers, I kept the dialogue going while letting my mind imagine…him busting heads in an earlier life. He wasn’t fun by any stretch. Not a conversationalist. And he was organizing racks of womens clothes for his wife’s garage sale?? It was like he was in witness protection and those jamos were one of the last leftovers.

speakering is like a box of chocolates

 

[RunOutGroove]

I wasn’t gonna go there, but since you asked… he comes out of his garage t shirt khaki shorts with belt…white socks and soccer flip flops. There’s garage sale dresses and kitchen appliances obscuring his gear table. So I got a first impression. He went by “Paul”.

But as the conversation evolves and we hook up the speakers the visual goes past track suits to leather jackets and brass knuckles. He wasn’t just an audio guy so to speak. He checked off so many movie bad guy mannerisms. Like an episode of American Pickers, I kept the dialogue going while letting my mind imagine…him busting heads in an earlier life. He wasn’t fun by any stretch. Not a conversationalist. And he was organizing racks of womens clothes for his wife’s garage sale?? It was like he was in witness protection and those jamos were one of the last leftovers.

speakering is like a box of chocolates

Wow... you're really painting a picture with that. I'd read the novel!

I like your term here, "speakering," though I wonder if it would be more accurate to say "stereoing," or if shopping for second hand speakers is really a unique enough subset of shopping for audio in general, that it warrants its own term?

 

[app4dstn]

i tell you the guy was unforgettable. almost like the Terminator. i said, "I've heard of Jamo, but I've never heard Jamo"... his response was.... "I don't bull **** you. This is Jamo. The best stuff. I run disco in Europe..."

i've seen maybe 3, 4 Jamo listings in the last year, all home theater tower speaker-types, not og Jamo.

did you get your c103's from a private party? or a retailer? you said they were once a closeout on Amazon? (wondering where they've settled).

 

[RunOutGroove]

i tell you the guy was unforgettable. almost like the Terminator. i said, "I've heard of Jamo, but I've never heard Jamo"... his response was.... "I don't bull **** you. This is Jamo. The best stuff. I run disco in Europe..."

i've seen maybe 3, 4 Jamo listings in the last year, all home theater tower speaker-types, not og Jamo.

did you get your c103's from a private party? or a retailer? you said they were once a closeout on Amazon? (wondering where they've settled).

I had heard about those speakers on this forum, right about when I first checked it out. It seemed that I had missed the Amazon sale where they were super cheap, but managed to find someone selling a pair in my area for not quite as cheap, but still a very good deal. The guy I bought them from was a real wealthy type and bought something that he liked better, for probably a lot more $, and sold me the Jamos before they were really even broken in.

 

[app4dstn]

totally agree... AK to thank and blame! the wisdom of the crowd is undeniable. at some point in the future, both of us will be beat out by some other AKer on a Jamo hunt. cheers, brother!

 

[RunOutGroove]

totally agree... AK to thank and blame! the wisdom of the crowd is undeniable. at some point in the future, both of us will be beat out by some other AKer on a Jamo hunt. cheers, brother!

Are you saying that I had tipped off those Jamos to some other AKer, who got them first? If that's the case, then I realize that I should be kind of angry about that, but since I've been fortunate enough to find some great deals over the years, I'll accept that it might be someone else's turn to have the same kind of luck...