As well as amplifiers, Ion Systems created the small stand mount JC1 loudspeaker.
The JC1 was inspired by John Chapman, a former Nytech dealer who joined the Ion team after the demise of Nytech and the speaker rapidly gained a reputation for outstanding musical performances The speaker evolved into the JC1a and continued until Ion closed down after the factory flood.
The JC1
We don’t know much about the original JC1 but we think it was a sealed box design using drive units from the ARC Atom left over after ARC shut down.
The JC1 was a conventional passive only speaker with a single pair of 4mm speaker sockets on the rear.
We have no idea what they sounded like but given John Chapman, Richard Hay and Russ Andrews all had a say in voicing them we suspect they were really good!
If anyone out there still owns a pair of original JC1’s then let us know what you think of them.
The JC1a
The JC1a was a fundamental re-design of the JC1, presumably forced upon Ion when they ran out of ARC drivers. Its easily distinguishable from the JC1 as the logo is along the top rather than the bottom.
The JC1a used a pair of custom Seas drive units and had a rear facing bass reflex port which gave the speaker a really open unhindered sound.
IMPORTANT!! – Please read.
The JC1 speaker uses an external passive crossover. IT IS NOT A BI-WIRED speaker. Trying to use it bi wired without the correct passive crossover (see below) or active crossover and power amplifiers WILL destroy the tweeter!!
The JC1a was somewhat unusual because it had its passive crossover in a separate box (with a very confusing wiring arrangement) to match the Ion amplifiers and allow for easy active upgrade.
Its important to remember this as the passive crossovers get lost in time and the new owner destroys the tweeter with bass, thinking they are “bi-wirable” so if you are looking to obtain a pair make sure they have the passive crossovers with them unless you intend to run them active!
The other thing to remember is that the speaker connections on the crossover are upside down compared to the speaker.
On the speaker the tweeter (HF) Connectors are the top two and the Bass driver is the lower two.
The crossover has the LF connections at the top and the HF connections at the bottom so read the back panel carefully before connecting to the loudspeaker.
The JC1a can still be repaired if the tweeter is damaged as Seas still make a modern version of the tweeter today.
We can also supply JC1 filters for all our current active electronics and the original Nytech CXA and EXO.
Sadly we cannot supply any crossover boards for the Ion nexus amps but watch this space for a possible future solution!