JMTEC Jack of Jack - Japanese Valencia?

**MATT0404** · March 11th, 2017, 04:33 PM

Hello, All. I made a post on another forum about these speakers and a member there asked me to post over here; so here I am. I look forward to chatting with you all and learning from the knowledge base here.

I ran across an interesting pair of speakers last weekend and thought I'd give them a good home. I haven't been able to find much info on them outside of Hifido and a few other Japanese forums. The speakers are JMTEC Jack of Jack and appear to be a direct clone of the Altec Valencia's. From what I understand the Jack of Jack was a model below the Queen of Queen, and two models below the King of King (see ad below). Original selling price was ?69,000 though I'm unclear on the date of the ad. Most models I've seen on the used market via Hifido have been industrial in appearance and selling between ?98,000 and ?198,000. I've seen a few mentions on Japanese forums that JMTEC = Jim Ran + Altec, though I can't find any additional information on Jim Ran.

Anyways, I just thought you all might find these speakers interesting and, perhaps, shed a little light on their history and origin. They sound great to my ears. They're a bit lacking in the bass department but higher frequencies extend upwards of 15khz (where my ears give up). They are some of the best imaging speakers I've heard. Extremely 3 dimensional soundstage and an uncanny central image. If I close my eyes and listen, I'd swear I was listening to 3 speakers with one directly in front of me.

On to the pics! Seems like my son had to have his hand in every one. He loves digging into these kind of things with me.

JMTEC (Jimtec) Advertisement by Audio Database, on Flickr

JMTEC JL38ZF vs Altec 515B by Audio Database, on Flickr

JMTEC Jack of Jack by Audio Database, on Flickr

JMTEC (Jimtec) Jack of Jack DN8H8 dividing network capacitors. by Audio Database, on Flickr

JMTEC (Jimtec) Jack of Jack DN8H8 dividing network capacitors. by Audio Database, on Flickr

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I made a pair of stands for them to get them up off the ground. T-nuts and 5/16" bolts help me compensate for my old, uneven floors. I Totally mismatched the stain color (I'm colorblind

). I'm hoping I can use Minwax PolyShades to add a bit of red.

Untitled by Audio Database, on Flickr

**BillWojo** · March 11th, 2017, 04:42 PM

I saw and commented on that thread over on AK. I'd love to hear these, they were definitely patterned after Altecs. I figure a service man stationed in Japan moved these back to the states. Someone here might know about them.

BillWojo

**Elitopus1** · March 11th, 2017, 08:57 PM

Its good to see you made it over from AK. Welcome to the hostboard

**Phil-G** · March 11th, 2017, 11:02 PM

Wow, thanks for sharing. they are really sweet looking. are both drivers made by Onkyo?

**mah** · March 11th, 2017, 11:13 PM

Thanks for the OP and welcome aboard this forum. I can't get over the similarity Altec speaker cabs, let alone the similar detail in the crossover..

I have a general interest in the old Japanese large speakers but have not seen the JMTEC products before. All of the big Japanes audio names were in the market with such products. Some in this thread: JVC Loudspeakers

I noticed the woofer is Onkyo. Most of the Japanese companies were comfortable supplying components to other companies - a sale is a sale.

I have a Pioneer PL L1000 turntable. Many were taken to the US by returning servicemen as were other Japan-only audio products.

**MATT0404** · March 11th, 2017, 11:36 PM

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I couldn't find any other markings on the compression driver. I should mention that the enclosures are ported; they're vented on either side of the horn (see photos below).

I'm really enjoying these. My first (and last) pair of horn speakers were modded Klipsch Chorus II's, which I never grew to appreciate. These JMTEC's, on the other hand, are a pleasure to listen to. They're easy on the ears with a lush midrange and incredible detail and clarity. Unfortunately, I've never heard a pair of original Altec's to act as a comparison.

JMTEC Jack of Jack by Audio Database, on Flickr