Ion Audio JC speakers

Looks like Richard (Trickydickie) is your man here.

Hi,

Ion Systems was (is) one of the greatest name in the Hi-Fi bussiness...

Had possibility to hear  JC1 at the end of their pre/power combo several times  (forget their names)

and it was a relevation. Also had Obelisk 3 /Xpac (an integrated amp  with power supply) in that time (maybe

I do not remember their model's name correctly) driving a pair of Royd Eden speakers. That was

my firts "serious" Hifi gear.

Steven

What is the rest of your system and what are your expectations from them?

As you will have seen from my previous posts I have a lot of experience with these speakers, having owned several pairs since the prototype stage and often lent my ears during their evolution so ask away. If I don't know the answer I am good friends with their designer, he was only round a couple of weeks ago to listen to my new 250dr.

I really don't think there is a better speaker at their size. In my opinion they wipe the floor with Kans, taking them on at their own game but without the obvious faults.   i.e. they do the fun thing and speed but do better hi-fi if you know what I mean.  In their time they were nicknamed 'the mini Isobarik' due to their tremendous bass extension for their size.

John supplied around 40 pairs to Naim employees, probably a third of the work force and Julian was a fan and used them at a show to demo Naim equipment at a time when Linn speakers became out of favour with Naim.

I once did a comparison with SBL's and the cheque book was spared.  As it was so long ago I don't recall the detail but the SBL's didn't present a compelling reason to make me part with the cash and changes to other parts of the system were made instead.

Whist I don't currently use my pair I will never sell them, I should compare them to my Kudos C20's one day, this could be dangerous although I am pretty confident the C20's would win.  It would be great to hear them with a modem Naim system.

They will respond well to system changes and can be used with some serious kit.  I used mine with at the time a fully loaded LP12 and Naim amplification (42/hicap/250) and they sounded even better driven by a pair of 135's.  I used mine for a long time with Ion amplification as I strayed away from Naim and moved to the Nexus mono-blocks with an Ion pre-amp.  The Ion amplification is smoother than Naim in the chrome bumper era and was a little less relentless.

The crossover is quite complex so they aren't a benign load but they can sound magical with the lower range Ion Obelisks but I didn't find the early Nait a good match.

I suspect the price is quite low, so they will probably be a bit of a bargain if they are in good condition.

Hope this helps

Richard

Dear PZ and Richard,

Many thanks for your helpful replies. I have an Ion Obelisk 2 in good unfettled condition which I am increasingly appreciating, and which I would be pairing the speakers with. My system is currently mostly Spendor, driven by either Quad or Sugden amplifiers, which should tell you sthg about the sound I like... Front end is a minutely set-up Lenco L76S with Denon MC cart.

I noticed your many references to Naim and Linn speakers (well, what did I expect on this forum), which are not quite my cup of tea. Hope the JC's don't try to emulate those too much.

Kind regards,

Steven

Steven

The JC's have the mojo of the Linn and Naim speakers but are more refined but are much faster than say a Spendor speaker and won't gloss things over. I.e. if a cymbal is hit hard you will hear this and they won't hold back and try and make things sound pleasant. This is how I believe they should sound. They are not as raw as say the Linn Kans though and will appeal to a wider audience.

Given what you say I think you should audition unless they are really cheap.

Richard