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JR149 Full take apart - anyone done that?

When Jerry at Falcon copied pages of the book he didn't get all the page in the copies. I also have the book. The licensed kits were sold by Wilmslow.
Rogers only sold assembled versions of the JR149 . There were several versions marketed. If the OP could post a picuture of the woofer . Many reviews have stated the woofer to be a Kef when it may have been a Dalesford.
Some of the Dalesford 5' had inverted surrounds and some didn't. Some had extended pole pieces compard to the stock versions using a longer voice coil gap height.
The Falcon archive is a Dalesford 5'. I have heard different stories over the years and I am not sure who is correct.
Rogers also had oem drivers sourced by the defunct Dalesford used in other models.

http://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/fa...ive/dalesford-speakers-drivers-datasheet.html
 
ecoak said:
Yeah, the last 149's used Dalesford or so I've read. All the earlier (arguably better but I don't want a flaming) use the KEF's they may not have been select as found in the original Rogers BBC but fine old drivers. You have a good set there and the X-overs look good. Spare fuse? Who knows.

Solid Rosewood? How do you decide it is solid? Can you see endgrain on the edge?

BTW your speaker cables are a liability - get some spade connectors on those and loose the frayed wire - it could lead to damage. If you don't mind my advise.
Click to expand...

I need to to something better with the speaker wire hook up, but I wanted to get them hooked up when I got home and haven't unhooked them since.

So is there a way to tell which drivers are in them without pulling them? Mine have the rubber surrounds on the mid/woofer. I'm not going to tear into them just to see what they are.

After looking at the end caps a little closer, it does look like they are veneered and not solid.
 
The Kef have a cast frame and the Dalesford have the stamped frame.

The link shows the Dalesford 5" used in some of the Fried lines.

https://sites.google.com/site/mpbarneyspeakers/friedbiispeakers
Peersonally I think the Dalesford surpass the Kef drivers. Some in the U.K. feel the opposite. I know the spec sheet I posted for the Drivers from Falcon is off quite a bit. I have a spec sheet I once posted on the drivers that state entirely different specs.

Maybe the picture will be able to help you tell which versions you have.
 
sm19422 said:
Peersonally I think the Dalesford surpass the Kef drivers.
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That is very interesting! Glad to hear that, so then both must be pretty good.

But with respect I need to disagree on the speaker ID. I have these speakers and have them apart right now, I also have an old (original-ish) Rogers LS3.5a's pair that I sadly fed DC through an old Albary amp - and fried. I knew those drivers, and KEF UK gave me some of the LAST original spec drivers to replace them with back in 1989 - they tuned and balance to original specs. So I know these drivers as well. All these were /are KEF 1003 8ohm, They are black steel stamped baskets - not cast. One of the ones I got in my jr149 is an aftermarket replacement 'KEF Constructor series 1003 and it is a black stamped steel basket.

The units in the Rogers have smooth backs on the magnets as does the constructor series unit.
The back of the least unit (original jr149 I suspect) has a 'dimple' at the center of the back of the magnet - this is similar to almost all the KEF 1003 units I see on e-bay.

I originally picked up these 149's (last summer at a junk shop for $15cdn for the pair:D) to pull the drivers as spares for the LS3.5a's. Then I lisened to them, and I like them more than the LS3.5a's, so I bought the new special foam from the fellow with the foam, and am now re-building them as my wood 'caps' were less than beautiful. Still have not chosen the finish venneer.

It is never a good idea to pull a driver for no reason - if you are not used to doing that. Even an old hand can put the screwdriver through the cone. can happen in an instant even when you are paying attention - I have found that out:tears:.

But the JR's should be checked to see if your 'can' is airtight. Mine were not great. If they are not, you should have the seals replaced and the drivers re-seated. I presume that you know the drill to check this?
 
sm19422 said:
The JR's use a Dalesford 5" not the Kef B110.
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Strike 2. Mine had the B110s. My buddy's also had the B110s. There may be a variant that used the Dalesford driver. Interestingly, my buddy also has a set of Dalesfords that use the B200 and T27 Kef drivers.
 
@so17, For your information Kef B110 is the same as the KEF 1003 that I was refering to. I should have probably said KEF B110 1003 8ohm to be precise.

@sm19422 Do your units with the Dalesford drivers use the KEF tweets? and do you know if the X-over is identical?
 
Interesting. I purchased the Super Woofer along with the JR 149 speakers. The Super Woofer was not, as it state in the link, made of mdf, but thick cardboard instead, with wood caps. All one has to do is remove the grille as evidence to that fact. Mine had a 25 watt mono amp to power the woofer, with a built-in passive crossover for the 149s. Not exactly a lot of power, but it seemed to work well.
 
sm19422 said:
There are many versions of the Kef B110.
Click to expand...

Very true, dozens it seems. Thanks for the link, I love those photos - no shortage of geek there!

For reference sake, I attach a shot of my 149's with KEF 1003 installed.
 

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Now I see there were at least 2 versions from the link I copied and paste.

I heard the JR 149 MK 11 and the Ls3/5a at the same dealer many years ago.
I preferred the JR over the Ls3/5a. I never purchased either but remember the many models of Roger speakers at the dealer. Now I wonder what tweeter was used in the JR 149 MK 11. Not sure if it was a Seas or Scan Speak?
The Kef B110 Sp 1003 looked different in cone color than the Dalesford 5" used in the Rogers model. I have learned some history from this thread.
 
I also preferred the sound of the JR149 over the LS3 5A. Better dispersion and imaging. Didn't have the treble peak of the LS and slightly better power-handling. The 149s may not have the cachet of the LS, but they are a better speaker.
 
What? WHAT! I need someone to come over and shoot me.

Sorry sm, don't know how I missed that. I loved the ls3.5a link in that post and completely ignored the other link! Then I was just clearing out some old links on my bookmarks file and found this link (same as your one that I ignored - kick me again please...)showing all sorts of photos of jr149's with 1003's clearly in the photo - and thought it might be a good thing to put in here... but you linked it?... but wait... you were on the Dalesford thing, weren't you? Now I am thinking that the Dalesford thing was a tease. Hell who knows, sorry... didn't mean to usurp your link, 'my bad' (as my niece always tells me).
 
The second version of the Jr 149 used the Dalesford D30/110 and a different tweeter. It looked like the same 5" driver used in the Fried B2 I never owned a JR 149 but heard them quite a few times. I recognized the Dalesford woofer seeing them at the dealer.

If you ever saw a Kef B110 Sp1003 and Dalesford 5" and and Audax 5" bextrene cone it is obvious they are from different companies. No big deal.
 
Got a pair of JR149s in pretty sad shape.
Someone had used a nipper to expand the woofer hole and now the nut receptacles for the top B110 drivers are missing. Of the 8 capture nuts on two pairs, I have three still in place and none had the correct bolt.
One B110 was blown and one T27 was crushed in, while the other one had part of the plate cut and the surround plate is no longer round.
Whatever modification was attempted was ultimately abandoned and everything was loosely thrown together.

Through ebay I was able to pick up a B110 SP1003 8 ohm driver and I had a pair of original KEF factory T27s shipped in 1978 to repair some blown tweeters in a pair of Chartwell LS3/5As and never used. They were still in the original styrofoam packages. I'd bought the excess stock when a dealer closed in 1980 and I kept the tweeters for someday figuring I'd own a pair of LS3/5As some day.

I've used some self-stick weatherstripping and a combination of different size pan head sheet metal screws to fasten the pair of B110 SP1003s tightly and replaced one T27, but not the other one with the metal plate partially cut.

Oh, and only one has a screen and there are no fabric covers. The speaker wire leads had been clipped off so I had to figure that out.
The top and bottom wood plates are black.

My reassembly was kind of a hack job, but is reasonably air tight, though far from attractive, and gives a solid centered sonic image on good program material. I'll have to give a substantial run-in time to recharge and reform the crossover caps.

What is the purpose of the foam over the T27 tweeter?
 
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Wow, cringe worthy story! Amazing that you pursevered and found a way to get them up and running again!

Regarding the nutserts, which are comonly available from places like Spaenaur (here in Toronto) they can be fussy to fit if you need the ones requireing Setting Tools. But my units do not use nutserts for the tweeters anyway. They are held in using self taps, and I believe they are as they left the factory. The 110's use nutserts.

My guess is the foam is to cut diffraction from the HF units, like the felt surrounds in the LS3.5a's. I am still trying to come up with an alternate to the steel 'backer grille' bor the foam, as it can do no good things to the sound leaving the speaker IMHO, and only serve to protect the drivers. It will be a challenge to substitute.
 
I suspect the front grille's main function is to preserve the round shape of the cylinder across the front for the sock cover.
 
audiodon said:
I suspect the front grille's main function is to preserve the round shape of the cylinder across the front for the sock cover.
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Yes, I agree, so I was thinking to place some heavy fly fishing monofilament around the tube as support for the vertical ribs of the foam surround
 
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