Kenaz Filan
New Member
A user on one of my Facebook stereo forums was selling his father's Janszens. They had not been used for at least a decade and he couldn't guarantee they were still operational but I decided to take a chance. Getting them to my 3rd floor apartment took some effort: they made them heavy in the 1960s. I wasn't sure what to expect when I plugged them in -- but was very pleasantly surprised when I did. And now that I've had a few days to break them in and awaken them from a decade of silence, they are really starting to shine.
If my Fortes kick like Jack Daniels slugged out of the bottle, the Z-600s are more like sipping a fine cognac. (I've heard other reviewers compare them to Bozaks and Wharfedales, two brands I've never heard firsthand.) Their tone is warm, rich and smooth: they can certainly go loud but I find they sound best at moderate volumes. They don't "disappear" the way some modern speakers do, nor do they have a pinpoint soundstage where you can hear the guitarist's hand moving up and down the neck of his instrument. The sound always appears to be coming from two big, beautiful boxes -- but oh, what a sound!
The legendary Janszen tweeters are especially good with female vocals, chamber music and mid-century ensemble jazz. The 10" woofers aren't really made for hip-hop or modern electronica but they can easily get down to the 40hz range -- deep enough to reproduce any string bass line. The sealed cabinet makes for tight, fast bass that integrates remarkably well with the electrostats on the high end (more the midrange since the tweeters kick in at around 800hz AIUI). The whole package makes for some remarkably easy listening: I can spend the whole day with Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald and Herbie Mann and never once feel like turning it down.
I'm really tempted to send the tweeter units to David Janszen for a rebuild as I suspect they would go to a whole new level once they were brought back to their original specs and the old selenium rectifiers replaced. And though my McIntosh MA6200 sounds great through the Z-600s, I'd love to get a refurbed MC275 and see how they sound powered by tubes. (They are not the most efficient of speakers: I'd recommend 50-75 watts as a bare minimum for anybody thinking about getting a pair). But in their present form they are more than satisfactory and I hope to be listening to them for many years to come.
If my Fortes kick like Jack Daniels slugged out of the bottle, the Z-600s are more like sipping a fine cognac. (I've heard other reviewers compare them to Bozaks and Wharfedales, two brands I've never heard firsthand.) Their tone is warm, rich and smooth: they can certainly go loud but I find they sound best at moderate volumes. They don't "disappear" the way some modern speakers do, nor do they have a pinpoint soundstage where you can hear the guitarist's hand moving up and down the neck of his instrument. The sound always appears to be coming from two big, beautiful boxes -- but oh, what a sound!
The legendary Janszen tweeters are especially good with female vocals, chamber music and mid-century ensemble jazz. The 10" woofers aren't really made for hip-hop or modern electronica but they can easily get down to the 40hz range -- deep enough to reproduce any string bass line. The sealed cabinet makes for tight, fast bass that integrates remarkably well with the electrostats on the high end (more the midrange since the tweeters kick in at around 800hz AIUI). The whole package makes for some remarkably easy listening: I can spend the whole day with Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald and Herbie Mann and never once feel like turning it down.
I'm really tempted to send the tweeter units to David Janszen for a rebuild as I suspect they would go to a whole new level once they were brought back to their original specs and the old selenium rectifiers replaced. And though my McIntosh MA6200 sounds great through the Z-600s, I'd love to get a refurbed MC275 and see how they sound powered by tubes. (They are not the most efficient of speakers: I'd recommend 50-75 watts as a bare minimum for anybody thinking about getting a pair). But in their present form they are more than satisfactory and I hope to be listening to them for many years to come.
