Janszen z50??

[audiolama]

Just got these speakers ..I have no idea what I just got into. They say Janszen Z50 but absolutely no info other than the guy I bought them from. Anyways they are Janszen which I have heard them in audio shows but they don't look like these These are definitely huge speakers , I had no idea they were monsters but they are like a Frankenstein build. The kef woofer looks like it was dremeled in the enclosure. They are transmission line speakers like IMF and then with electrostatic all in one. I opened the top and the electrostatic panels have like cardboard fins?.

Anyways here are pics.

They sound loud ..highs are very clear. I'm going to speak with David from Janszen and see what he recommends

 

[Nat]

I've never seen that model, but I do remember a smaller tower Janzen with the same acoustic lenses - those slats/louvers increase the dispersion of the electrostatic elements (which are fairly large for tweeters, so have very narrow dispersion). I think you have picked up a very nice find.

 

[audiolama]

I spoke with Dave from Janszen and says maybe a licensee did them as he doesn't have any data on them. Also says that I need to check the bias supplies...is that capacitors?

 

[Tom Brennan]

Gill's Custom House on 95th St. in the Chicago burbs sold those Janszens with the lenses.

 

[audiolama]

What's interesting is the transmission line in this monster..it was built really well.

 

[Nat]

I suspect that by bias supply, Janzen means the power supply for the electrostatics, not crossover caps. These would be high voltage caps, and I believe working with them can be dangerous if they aren't discharged. If you aren't used to working with high voltages, it would be wise to have someone else do it.

 

[audiolama]

I suspect that by bias supply, Janzen means the power supply for the electrostatics, not crossover caps. These would be high voltage caps, and I believe working with them can be dangerous if they aren't discharged. If you aren't used to working with high voltages, it would be wise to have someone else do it.

Thanks..yeah I don't have no clue. I think these are way to huge .I mean I love the lows as much as the highs but I definitely do not have room for them

 

[Nat]

Not everyone at AK accepts the validity of the concept of a speaker too huge. I'm with you, though I will admit to having used a pair of ESS Transtatics, which were in many ways similar to your Janzen - KEF B 139 in a TL, electrostatic tweeter(s), and enormous - for five or six years. So I'm sort of a late comer to modest sizes.

 

[audiolama]

Not everyone at AK accepts the validity of the concept of a speaker too huge. I'm with you, though I will admit to having used a pair of ESS Transtatics, which were in many ways similar to your Janzen - KEF B 139 in a TL, electrostatic tweeter(s), and enormous - for five or six years. So I'm sort of a late comer to modest sizes.

No I get you I guess for my room it's just overkill. Just looks funny. I have heard book shelves with a decent sub sound as good ...again in the same size room as these monsters

 

[Nat]

I wasn't telling you not to sell them, just making a joke that your complaint about size might be incomprehensible to some/many here. I'm not sure even a good sub sat system is as good as a truely full range system, but ears and domestic situations vary widely.

 

[audiolama]

I understand and yes domestic situations vary. I was saying they were to big for my sq footage listening space (Domestic situations). A huge speakers in a small space sounds terrible no matter how you slice it.

Right now I have them in the basement.

 

[Canuck99]

Hello there, If you ever decide to sell these I would be interested, thanks Dave

 

[Nat]

Canuck99: Welcome to AK. It's better to do things like offering to buy or sell either in the BarterTown section or by PM. AK tries to keep all the equipment threads strictly non commercial so that posts are about experience and opinions, not ads.
I have made the same mistake as you (and many others have, too) and have gotten spanked by the moderators, so I'm not calling you out or anything, but those are the rules.

 

[Ziinda]

All I can say is you could have a well thought out system, I'm very familiar with JansZrens older stuff and I have gone through 4 different power supplies and you'll find that the transformor leads will rot off indeed the tape that's wrapped around them. Even if they're working chances are the connection point has a corroded solder joint that the cooler has turned green and is just laying next to the solder joint.

I have posted a revision of 1 power supply circuit on AK. To repair the transformers, you just need to carefully remove the tape and might need to remove a few layers of the paper separating the windings until you see the solder joints that connect to the ultra fine wires inside the transformers windings.

Once exposed you need to find where the wires are still in perfect condition and cut them off, then you need to remove the coating on the wires. Most times you can burn it off then use some fine grit sandpaper to remove the crust to expose clean copper wire. They're very fragile and you need to be careful to not pull on them too much since you don't want to keep unwrapping the coils to get more wires.

I used new wires and made sure to use pure copper wires so there's no electrolysis (corrosion between dissimilar metals) and carefully solder and rewrap the transformers with new painters tape. Just make sure to get them held in place as tightly as possible and don't pull on them while reinstalling!

You'll need to test all Caps or just replace them, also replace all diodes with new ones since they're the cheapest parts made. There's a unique component they used in some builds that's basically just 2 caps soldered together so there are 3 wires total. That replaces the silicon thingy. What I found to be the most in need of replacing is the ceramic resistors, half were way out of spec. Typically not considered to go bad but in these they seem to be the main issuues.

Other resistors like the 4x 22meg ohms need to be checked and can be replaced by a single 88meg ohm. The other transformer will be good (audio former with 4 wires and 2 are not used) all other caps need to be tested and keep in mind you can always use multiple caps to make up any needed capacity, some will have 1 bigger cap and others may have 2 or 3 smaller caps together, any combination will work as long as you meet the required capacitence.

Remember there will be 400 to 1000 volts depending on which supply was used and they can give you a good wake up if you touch them. I've grabbed the wires while live before and it's enough to make you pull your hand away as if you had super powers! But the same thing has happened working on cameras with flash capacitors that charge from a 3 volt battery, but store 300 volts.the camera caps are worse and burn your skin. That's why some cameras take a few seconds to recharge the flash before you can use it again. They have some real amperage where the panel power supplies have milliamps of power like a static shock from carpeting. Also the cameras are DC voltage and the ESL power supplies are AC, DC burns while shocking.

 

[Ziinda]

I forgot to add that there may be a chance that the power supplies were remade when they made these speakers, the one bad point of JansZen was their woofers they used. I would have replaced them as well so someone knew what they were building. I used 28 panels total when I created my home design similar to this. With an active crisdover and 2 amps you should hear stellar results.

 

[EefH]

Just got these speakers ..I have no idea what I just got into. They say Janszen Z50 but absolutely no info other than the guy I bought them from. Anyways they are Janszen which I have heard them in audio shows but they don't look like these These are definitely huge speakers , I had no idea they were monsters but they are like a Frankenstein build. The kef woofer looks like it was dremeled in the enclosure. They are transmission line speakers like IMF and then with electrostatic all in one. I opened the top and the electrostatic panels have like cardboard fins?.

Anyways here are pics.

They sound loud ..highs are very clear. I'm going to speak with David from Janszen and see what he recommends

Hi Audiolama, I happened to come across your feed about the Janszen Z50. I know hardly any documentation can be found, even on the internet. As far as I know in the seventies, only 50 pairs were built. And from these 50 pairs only 6 pairs were shipped to the Netherlands.
My father bought a pair from the distributor directly and owned them ever since.
I have always thought that I would prefer my own pair of ESLs over the Z50, but since the Z50s are in my home now, it turned out that the Z50s definately need an amplifier that are in control of these speakers.
My father used to drive them with Yamaha and later a serious Denon amp, but I always had the opinion that these amps were lacking the power and control needed for these speakers.

Anyway, I had the set checked and overhauled by a friend who is familiar with uncommon audio equipment and he replaced some electrical components that needed attention.
At present, I drive the Z50s with a Quad 99 set with two mono power amplifiers and that makes quite some difference. Very clear and huge dynamic sound. Hooking them up to valve amplifiers might be a next step.
And yes, they sure take some space in my room, but that's OK with me for now.
Which leaves me with a dilemma, I cannot choose between my ESL63 and the Z50 set. Using both sets in my living room is a little over the top. But I very much enjoy listening to the Z50 because they have a little more "punch" compared to the ESL63. Yet the ESL63 are even more clear and open in the higher frequencies.

I thought just to drop a few lines here, but it turned out to be quite a story instead.
Being aware of being a proud owner of what might be the last surviving pair of Z50s in the Netherlands or maybe even in Europe. for now I will continue listening to them and hopefully for a long time

Regards from across the ocean,
Eef