JPW loudspeaker, a brief history. Heybrook, TDL.

JPW loudspeaker, a brief history. Heybrook, TDL.

[gordonmarkus]

I did work experience from school at JPW Speakers in Plymouth in 1992. The factory was next to a wetsuit factory on Richmond Walk. At the time I built some mini monitors, Sonatas, Sonata+ and AP2s I think. After my week there I enjoyed it so much that they let me do another week (which was 1/2 term holiday as it happened) and they gave me a pair of Sonatas at the end. I still use them every day in my office running off a Denon PMA 350-2 that I got for my 18th birthday! Really good memories of that place and the people there, and I remember the guys going off in the van each week to collect the cabinets from Dartmoor prison. Only certain cabinets were made there though I think, the real wood veneer ones were but not the vinyl veneer ones. I also remember just before the end of my 2 weeks there, the first pair of 'Ruby' speakers were delivered to the listening room and hooked up to an amazing setup of pre-amp with a pair of mono-block power amps. The speakers were rosewood and looked like something from another planet at the time.

[Clodhopping]

ML 310s here - and they are amazing - great range with a rich bass and the treble isn't shrill. ❤

[Eyerex]

Had my JPW Sonata speakers about 26 years now which i still use every day, keep thinking about changing but they still surprise me how good they sound so safe for awhile

[timnewland]

Have a pair of JPW Sonatas and still going strong almost 28 yrs old now. Great history vid, thank you 👍

[jojoy]

You did a very good history there. Joy and Peter Wanstall are my parents! ❤

[andrasberethalmi]

I bought my own JPW Sonata in 1993 and it has been doing its thing without any errors ever since and is in daily use. I am also surprised to this day by his voice how well he performs in any genre. I had thought about an exchange before, but eventually changed my mind and discarded his exchange.

[hermanmunster]

I owned a pair of JPW mini monitors back in the 90's, and they were a great little speaker for their size, and solidly built. I may be wrong, but I think they were the same speakers as the Gale mini monitors, they even looked the same, but with the Gale badge. But Gale charged a bit more for them.
I remember that the JPW's sounded much bigger than their size, and many people bought them as an upgrade for their micro and mini hifi systems, to replace the cheap and nasty ones that came supplied with such systems.
I bought mine at Richer Sounds, as they were the main stockist I believe, along with a Sherwood Receiver. The monitors, if I remember correctly, I bought for £49.95 for the pair, and the Receiver for about £129.95 I believe. And I already had a Philips CD player, and Aiwa cassette deck. But the JPW's did me well for a couple of years, before I upgraded to a Yamaha receiver and a set of Tannoy 607's which were fantastic. But I kept the JPW's and used them as rear surround speakers, which they were more than capable of. Yeah, find memories.

[redrobbosworkshop]

Still have a pair of HB2s in my collection. Lovely sounding 'speakers - sound way larger than they look. I miss TDL, used their Studio 1 for several years and enjoyed them.

[johnbradshaw]

Very nice history.

I bought JPW P1s in 1995 or thereabouts from a dealer in Guildford and then when our kids were young I gave them to my parents who subsequently stored them in the garage for 20 years.

Fortunately, the garage was dry and I got them back a month or so ago. Just had them refoamed by a specialist and having rewired them this afternoon myself, I've been playing Stones and Dylan since. These speakers are so much better than my Dali Zensor 5s it is ridiculous - fast and open with a meaty bass.

Needless to say the Dalis will be going on eBay this weekend or relegated to AVR duty.

[rakeshgr]

Thank you for the brief history. I just recently acquired a pair of JPW 310i. Lovely sound...but never heard of the brand until recently but again i am a newbieto the world of speakers. Now i am not sure if I should keep my Akai Sw tm3..

[AlexMitchell-sjsb]

What happened to JPW? I have had 4 of their speakers over the years; first Sonata in 1991, then Mini Monitors in 2001, ML310 in 2022 and just recently some ML510.

[scrunts]

I bought a pair of the 310 today, lovely little things, perfect with my Sansui AU-101.

[hermanschneider]

Thx for that clip. Just been taking care of my very old HB1- what a speaker. So the next on the list is a pair of jpw. Didn't know they where related.
It's a, what I understand, mini-tower. However, the tweeter is bad. It doesn't say anything on the tweeter. Do you know who made the tweeter? Can you advise me on a replacement unit?

[wilderbeestmcc]

Got a pair I bought back in the day (P1’s) Put new bass units in them and still sound great! My uncle Rob a design engineer at Celestion at the time told the prison story and said they were “unbeatable at that price point” because of that... Bit worried about deterioration of the crossovers due to the passage of time?

[oleo]

I have a par of mini monitor and ML 610, this speakers are amazing, i never see nothing play like this speakers!

[mrcrazyjonpresents]

Do they still make speakers these days I did a small stint at a workshop down by Camels Head plymouth back in 1994 soldering speaker crossovers etc Still have a set of Ruby 1s to this day

[videocreation]

Got a pair of jpw gold monitors, picked them up on fb marketplace. For their size they are amazing and stand up well against others in 2022

[nathanboulton]

Thank you for this. I'm lucky enough to own a set of jpw cabinet speakers ( I think they are ruby 2's possibly?!). They were bought by my late father in the early to mid 80's im guessing, i was born in 86 and he had them then! They are one of my most sentimental items as they (and his hifi in general) meant a great deal to him, music was his escapism. Unfortunately they no longer have the "mesh" fronts and the large speakers were replaced after damage about 15 years ago but this tweeters are still good and the actual cabinets themselves are solid! i'd love to see if i could get them restored to their former glory

[gianlucacasnici]

thank you for your detail. I just bought RUBY 4 and I love them a lot. Very warm. which are the highest quality speakers they did? im going to buy Ruby 1 or Ruby 2 aswell. which is better? tks!!