How To JVC JR149 speaker set up

[Dara]

Hi all,

My dad passed away a couple of years ago and I just found a pair of JVC JR149 speakers (pic attached) that belonged to him in my folks attic. I remember they had an amp with them when they were set up years ago. I know the amp looked something like the second attached image (the level adjusters look like what I remember - I don't remember that brand name, I thought it was JVC too) but I think that broke a few years back and was disposed off. I would have a fairly basic knowledge of speaker set up and I'm looking to restore them a bit and set them up in my apartment. I guess I'm just looking for some basic advice in setting them up! Things like do I need to get an amp to get them up and running or would be as straight forward as attaching some basic speaker cable to them and getting some RCA connections for the other end of the cable? If that's even possible?! Apologies if this sounds really stupid, as I said my speaker knowledge would be limited enough... Any help/advice on it would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Dara

 

[Al ears]

For a start they are not JVC speakers.
The JR stands for Jim Rogers and they were good back in the day.
Yes you're going to need an amplifier as they are not powered, and also a music source obviously.
Spares for the speaker can still be found I believe, simply Google JR149 speakers. However I think the grilles are hard to come by. They used excellent KEF drivers and still fetch a good price if in good condition.
What do they look like underneath, are there speaker terminals there?
Read more here:-

Jim Rogers JR149 (Vintage)

This clever little speaker still sounds more than respectable

www.hifinews.com

 

[Dara]

For a start they are not JVC speakers.

Well that's a good start alright! I don't know where I got that from 🤦🏻‍♂️😬

 

[Al ears]

Well that's a good start alright! I don't know where I got that from 🤦🏻‍♂️😬

The bottom is removable and the originals were hardwired in, see here:-

JR149 speaker

P.S.: I had added to my original post

 

[Al ears]

They originally had a wrap-around foam covering which always disintegrated over time.

 

[Al ears]

Your amp shown is a headphone amplifier. You will need a stereo amplifier.

 

[Dara]

Yeah I've opened the bottom and had a look and I've order some replacement 10mm black foam that i'm gonna cut to size. So I do need an amp then. Was wondering if I could just wire them directly to hifi/record player. Thanks for the info.

 

[Al ears]

Yeah I've opened the bottom and had a look and I've order some replacement 10mm black foam that i'm gonna cut to size. So I do need an amp then. Was wondering if I could just wire them directly to hifi/record player. Thanks for the info.

Which hifi/record player?

 

[Al ears]

Yeah I've opened the bottom and had a look and I've order some replacement 10mm black foam that i'm gonna cut to size. So I do need an amp then. Was wondering if I could just wire them directly to hifi/record player. Thanks for the info.

Whilst you can add a run of speaker cable they were designed to be powered from an amplifier so if you're talking about a portable record turntable then probably not.
Glad you found some foam, the original foam sleeves didn't last long

 

[Al ears]

I see some firm in the States is selling a pair of foam grilles for £102...... 🙂

 

[Al ears]

PS:
Sorry to hear about your fathers passing, he obviously had taste.

 

[Dara]

Which hifi/record player?

It's a fairly basic record player - a Lenco L76

Lenco L-76 Semi-Automatic Belt-Drive Turntable Manual | Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com

From looking it up there it says it has a pre-amplifier so I don't know if that makes a difference. I'd love to have the option of connecting them to a few different things, bluetooth would be great, so maybe an amp with that option is the way to go.

 

[Dara]

I see some firm in the States is selling a pair of foam grilles for £102...... 🙂

Haha they can keep them for that price! Fairly sure the cat might make light work of them 😂

 

[Al ears]

Haha they can keep them for that price! Fairly sure the cat might make light work of them 😂

Only worth considering if you were going to sell them really. Currently £200-390 on ebay, and that's without grilles....

 

[Al ears]

It's a fairly basic record player - a Lenco L76

Lenco L-76 Semi-Automatic Belt-Drive Turntable Manual | Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com

From looking it up there it says it has a pre-amplifier so I don't know if that makes a difference. I'd love to have the option of connecting them to a few different things, bluetooth would be great, so maybe an amp with that option is the way to go.

No, the phono preamplifer mentioned is simply to let you connect the turntable to a stereo amplifier that doesn't have an inbuilt phono preamp. So you will need an amplifier to attach the turntable and the speakers to.

 

[Dara]

Only worth considering if you were going to sell them really. Currently £200-390 on ebay, and that's without grilles....

The sentimental value is prob worth more than that to me. I'll keep hold of them for a decade or two anyway and see what happens with the prices then!

 

[Al ears]

Understood. You could sand down and revarnish the tops if you need to.

 

[Dara]

Understood. You could sand down and revarnish the tops if you need to.

I had already lightly sanded them down before I thought maybe I shouldn't have. Will finish the job now! Thanks for all the advice Al, appreciate it. I was worried it was gonna end with just your first message telling me they weren't JVC! 🤣

 

[Al ears]

I had already lightly sanded them down before I thought maybe I shouldn't have. Will finish the job now! Thanks for all the advice Al, appreciate it. I was worried it was gonna end with just your first message telling me they weren't JVC! 🤣

Sorry you read that first bit before I had time to add to it.....
Glad to be of service.