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Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Speaker Week(s) Begins with Jordan Watts

Jordan_Watts_GT_Jodrell_JupiterHow y’all doing.  Sitting here on the (what feels like) first day of fall, listening to a pile of weirdo 70’s UK punk LPs: The 999, Steve Harley, The Stranglers, and The Doctors Of Madness.  What better match than some musty old paper describing some oddball British speakers of the era: Jordan Watts.  This is the first of what will be many uploads of late-70s speaker ephemera, both HiFi and pro-audio.  I have 100s of pieces of this stuff to go thru, and finally a free minute to do it.  So get ready… and remember to check if Orange County Speakers has re-edge kits available for any foam-edged 35 year-old-speaker yr thinking of buying.   Anyhow, download a complete late-1970s JORDAN WATTS hi-fi speaker catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Jordan_Watts_spkrs

On offer: the Jordan Watts models Juno, Juliet, Jumbo, GT, Jodrell, Jupiter, TLS, Jericho, Centurion, Qubique, and Flagon.Jordan_Watts_juno_juliet_Jumbo_JanetThe Jordan-Watts speakers used a very unusual 4″ metal-coned driver unit that came in its own integral mini-enclosure.  Even stranger tho are their Arabesque and Romanesque “Qubiqe” and “Flagon” models:

Jordan_watts_QubiqeJordan_Watts_Flagon

 

 

5 replies on “Speaker Week(s) Begins with Jordan Watts”

I came upon your excellent website by doing a Google search for Sidney Smith. In the mid-1970s, I was a Jordan Watts dealer. The unique aluminum driver sounded superb in the low-diffraction ceramic enclosure called the Flagon (see above). It did many things brilliantly, but was limited dynamically, and didn’t bounce. I still have a single Flagon, its mate shattering on a customer’s floor many years ago. Best regards,
–Chef Henry

It’s nice to see these on the web. The Jordan-Watts module was advanced for its day and many thousands were produced. They have become highly collectable, especially in Japan. If you have no objection, we have added a link to your site to the current E J Jordan website.

EJ Jordan Designs continues to manufacture single driver, fullrange speakers and we are always interested in seeing examples of older units in use.

Best regards

EJ Jordan Designs

I was recently given a pair of faulty (but cosmetically almost perfect) Jordan Watt Speakers. I’m pretty sure I have repaired them successfully.

Now I wish to identify them and find out their specifications.

They are about 5 feet tall and piano black, they have 13 (that’s NOT a typo) metal drivers each, in a line vertically. (arranged 2 lf, 9 hf, 2 lf).

As far as I know they date from the mid – late 80s and were purchased in a closing down sale.

I have not been able to find a picture on the web, I have seen a unit with what appears to be the same cone, but just the one, in a similar style.

In 1980 I bought a pair of Jodrells direct from Jordan Watts and coupled them to twin mono 25w ultra-linear valve amps. Pre-amp was a phono-only, dual mono all triode valve job. Best combination I ever had for classical music.
A year after purchase a passing car blasted a CB radio signal through them and killed one of the drivers. Jordan Watts replaced it free of charge.
Not surprised to hear of their present day cult status.

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