Thought I would put in my 2 cents. I think that it is too
that people are talking about the 9's again. Been playing mine for a couple momths.
They were designed by Janszen in the fifties, not Kloss as stated in the Boston post. His son is still in business. The company started in PA, making tweeters.
These speakers are 16 ohm, but can be changed to 8 by Janszen if you want to the spend the money (he also does restoration work on the 9's). They are only rated for 50 watts, and I am driving them with ST70's running in mono to supply about 55 watts into 16 ohms. My understanding is that you have to put a cap or something in front of them to drive them with ss amps (This doe not make sense to me as the speakers themselves are very capacitive, but after going through the powert supply they are supposed to be resistive).
The sound is transformative, I never thought that 50 year old technology could be as nice as I remembered, I was sure that my memory had sweetened the sound over the years.
I have had or have big Polk, Infinitys, 2ce's, Dahlquist, Belle Klipsch, and numerous others, but there is something special about the nines. Descent bass (taught but not super low), Mids and trebles to die for, mediocre ultimate loudness (not great rock speakers), Great imaging in 1 small spot, in short as in all speakers a number of trade offs artfully balanced, and in this case, just to my liking.
I am still awaiting the manuals, when I get them I will let you know the trick to using ss amps with the 9's
V/R,
Dale
