Jamo C803 Bookshelf Speaker Review
Jamo C803 Speakers
The quality of loudspeakers being produced by most companies these days is pretty good. Rarely does a set of speakers come in for review that just sound awful. Each pair generally has strengths and weaknesses, but overall, I have found that there are many quality products out there to choose from. You can almost always find a speaker that combines good performance with a size, shape and aesthetic appeal that suits your personal taste in most any price range. With that being said, it has been a while since a product just blew my socks off. Enter the Jamo C 803 bookshelf speakers.
Features & Listening Impressions
I contacted Jamo and inquired about getting a pair of speakers to review. Visiting their website, I found that the Danish company has quite a large range of speakers. After some discussion, they suggested I audition a pair from their Concert line, and they sent me the lone bookshelf from the C 80 series (the top of the Concert line), the C 803. The Jamo Concert series is designed to deliver "a thrilling performance." Jamo also describes them as being built to recreate the perfect concert experience. Of course, this all sounds great on paper, but what would the reality be?
The 803's arrived wearing a Black Ash finish with black fabric grills. This is a large bookshelf speaker, best suited for mounting on a stand. I put them on 23" stands in my listening room which aligned the tweeters at ear level from the listening position - the desired placement for any bookshelf speaker.
The cabinets are rock solid, and have an interior cross brace, positioned just below the bass port near the back of the speaker. Each speaker weighs 21.8 lbs. The cabinet has a sculpted design that curves gracefully on the top and sides. The resulting look sets this speaker apart from other bookshelves before you even hook it up. The top of the speaker is capped with a glossy piano black plate that accents the unique shape and adds a touch of elegance. The cabinet itself measures 8.9" wide by 15" high and is 13.4" deep. It is a rear-ported, 2-way, bass reflex design. The fabric grill has a thin, low-profile plastic grill that is easily removable, and tapers slightly at the bottom, again adding a subtle touch of style to the overall appearance of the speaker.
The beefy 7" drivers are black rigid cones that are built to handle high power and a wide range of low and midrange frequencies. (The speakers have a rated frequency range of 45-24kHz.) According to Jamo, the cone consists of two layers of fiberglass, glued together air-tight around a paper honeycomb mesh. This creates an ultra-light and very hard cone that is perfectly suited for a driver. Unlike typical drivers with a dust cap in the center of the cone, the 803's feature Jamo's Centre-Plug, which is a silver, hard metallic stationary "bullet-style" plug that the cone moves around. In addition to cooling the voice-coil, it also allows the cone itself to be lighter and more responsive which results in higher power-handling capability.
The 1" dome tweeter incorporates Jamo's Decoupled Tweeter Technology, which actually decouples the tweeter from the cabinet to reduce transmitted vibrations that can color the sound. This technology reduces vibrations by more than 20dB. Jamo has also incorporated a specially shaped faceplate for the tweeter, which results in a wider axis of dispersion when listening to the speaker. It was not difficult to position the 803's for an optimum stage.
One of my favorite songs for a listening evaluation is Rat by Train, which is on their self-titled debut record from 1998. The recording is spacious and laid back, with a fantastic groove. It begins with a simple hat-snare-kick, warm bass line, and clean, bluesy guitar with a mellow vocal that all builds up to a chorus that gets pretty busy. I love to crank this up and push a set of speakers as hard as they will allow. At the end of the chorus as vocal, guitar and cymbals are crashing together, a harmonica lick comes in, at which point the mix gets a bit cluttered and crowded. There are very few speakers that I have listened to this song through that can keep it sounding decent. The soundstage usually falls apart and gets pretty harsh. As the verse begins again everything smoothes back out. The Jamo's made me feel as though I was in the studio as the track was being laid down. The bass was very well defined and warm, and you could almost hear the room the guitar amps and drums were recorded in. As the chorus came, it all held together better than I have ever heard. I still find the mix a bit harsh at that point of the song, but I realized how telling this section is when it comes to speakers.
I continued to put them through the paces of disc after disc, genre after genre of music and found them to be consistently balanced. Early in my career I spent many years in the music business, and logged plenty of hours in the recording studio. There is nothing quite like sitting in a control room listening to live tracks being laid down. You are hearing music as it is meant to be heard in that environment. The best way I can describe the C 803's is that they are the most musical speakers I have heard in long time.
When I think of home theater speakers, I always think of the main left and right speakers as towers. Ever since I bought my first Dolby Digital receiver, I have had tower speakers up front. Sort of that "big speakers equals big sound" kind of mentality, I guess. So I was interested to see how the C 803's would sound anchoring my 5.1 system. Again, I was not disappointed. I love the score from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. I love how big the sound stage is in movie scores, and this one of my favorites. It is just HUGE. I popped in the disc and went straight to the end credits and to my delight it was as big as ever. I could just picture Hans Zimmer and his symphony spread out in front of me. The Jamo's actually surpassed my older tower speakers in clarity and definition. Going back to some action scenes in the movie, the speakers handled things well enough that I am convinced you would not be disappointed having them as your mains in a 5.1 system, ideally matched with other speakers from the Jamo Concert series.
Conclusion
At any given time I have several sets of speakers in my listening room that I am evaluating. Several buddies and family members will drop by from time to time and want to see and hear what I am working on. Over the past month the Jamo's have been the consistent favorites of all who have heard them.
Sometimes it's hard to write such a glowing review of a product - the impression is always that there is some kind of alternative motive. The fact is, I had never heard Jamo's speakers before now, and I had never met anyone from the company. What can I say? I loved these speakers, and I am thrilled to have a forum to tell people about products that I love. I have never been so reluctant to pack up some gear and return it to the manufacturer, but so it goes.
Are there any negatives? Well, it depends. You certainly will want a big boy amp or receiver to drive them, as they are 6- ohm speakers. But if you are considering a pair of $800 speakers, I would expect that you already have a respectable power source. And at $800/pair, these are not inexpensive speakers. The price will be out of reach for many people. But I feel they are well worth the money - they are certainly not overpriced considering the quality of their construction and performance. If you are in the market for speakers in this price range, you owe it to yourself to at least take a listen to the 803's. I think you will be glad you did.
Price: $799/pair
pricey!
Style
large bookshelf
Recommended For
rock/country
folk/acoustic rock/bluegrass
jazz
classical
home theater
What Sounded Great
Mark Knopfler
what sounded not-so-great?
um...mono podcasts?
Specs
- Woofer: 7" Hard Conical Cone
- Tweeter: 1" dome
- Frequency response: 45 Hz to 24kHz
- Sensitivity: 87 dB
- Maximum input power: 125 w
- Crossover frequency: 2000 Hz
- Exterior dimensions: 8.9" (W) x 15" (H) x 13.4" (D)
- Weight: 21.8 lbs.
Jamo
3502 Woodview Trace
Indianapolis, IN 46268
877-456-JAMO
www.jamo.com
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Recent Forum Posts:
tom67;496882
...along with Energy and Mirage...and they are leaving local management and R&D in place...may be a good thing if additional Capital helps these brands increases distribution and hopefully brings down cost...I would look for Jamo to get more exposure in US now...
For being #3 in the world in sales of finished speakers, they sure did it quietly. I'm amazed by how few here have heard of them after being in the US for a hair under 30 years. We were selling so many that the store owner would drive his van to Kenosha, have a shot of Damien Bitters with the Danish folks at the company, stuff his van full of speakers and come back, only to find that he would be doing the same thing the next day, if not that same day. We never knew how many of which speakers we would sell the most of, so placing a large order wouldn't have necessarily been the best way and we didn't want to wait for a trucking company to bring them.
They didn't need more money coming in. Part of the reason they consolidated the stock is because that would be the easiest way for the founders to sell their share and retire. One wanted to sail around the world on his boat (about 72') but I think the other just wanted to enjoy life.
As far as leaving local management in place- they told everyone they wanted to keep from the Buffalo Grove office that they wanted them to move to Indianapolis, which most didn't want to do, including the VP. The way they (Klipsch) fired the regional sales manager was a damn bad way to treat someone who worked for the company for the better part of 25 years.
If you look around, they're one of the best values in speakers- I'm not sure how they could drop the prices much.
I really miss the annual golf outing.
TjMV3;492536
After playing the hell out of my Jamo C603 bookshelves for the last month or two, I'm finally seriously focuing on and playing-in the Jamo C 803.
Jamo simply keeps impressing my more and more....each day. These C 803 are equally musical, sweet and beautiful sounding; as the C 603. But on a larger scale.
They don't sound exactly like the C 603. And they shouldn't considering their much higher price.
But the C 603 are a special speaker, they really are.
Don't know which I prefer more, right now. The C 603 has a certain musicality I love. It's going to be interesting to see how these C 803's break-in and sound after a few weeks of me playing the hell out of them.
There seems to be a common musicality and sweetness with both the C 600 Series and C 800 Series, while delivering wonderfully listenable detail.
I'm very impressed.
I'm officially a Jamo lover, now
Still love my Wharfedale Opus 2's, too. Love them alot.
Guess I just have a lot of love to go around
Just wait until you've owned them for a few years and have a gnawing, empty feeling because you don't think you need to replace them.
Oh, the humanity!
I'm going to try and convey how these C803 sound on their own and compared to their little brothers, the C603.
First and foremost, the C803 are very musical, smooth and pleasurable for long listening.
They are a little more polite or laid back than the C603. But we're talking a slight difference there. Nothing earth-shattering.
Much like the C603, these C803 handle low bass frequencies quite well and I have yet been able to make them sweat. They handle everything with poise, coherency, stability and smoothness. Unless the recording is rough, at which point you'll get a presentation that's a little rougher.
Their off-axis dispersion is absolutely amazing!!!
I tried them set up facing straight out and with just a slight toe-in. I mean very slight. One hair's worth. Okay, maybe two hair's worth
Any one in front of these speakers gets a full presentation and moving one's head (or body) to the left or right yields no real differences. So there's no Sweet Spot Exclusivity. But what's even more impressive is how they sound if your literally standing to either side of these speakers. I mean right next to them. The sound is so full and coherent.
More impressive, is the sound in other rooms. Have to run to the kitchen? Bathroom? Pick a room, the sound just travels through out the house and remains very coherent and rather full, all things considered. I've never had any other bookshelf speakers (except the C 603 ) capable of doing that. And the C 803 do it a little better than the C 603.
The C603, when you stand directly to the side of their cabs, sound a little boxy. When I'm in front of them I notice no boxiness. Only positioned directly to their side. The C 603 also excell at dispersion, but the C 803 are just a bit better. No boxiness sound from the C803, no matter where you're located.
Dynamically speaking they are very good with the punch, kick and crescendos. But definitely not the ultimate in slam-to-the-gut dynamics.
Which for my tastes, is perfect.
So far, I really love these C803.
I still love the C603, though. For their price, build and performance. Not to mention their sweet, organic presentation and musicality; it's hard to beat. The C803 are a more expensive bookshelf and the improvements are noticable. But they lack a certain something the C603 bring to the table.
Not really for worse, just a little different.
What's better would be up to each individual's ears, personal preferences and bank account.
Jamo has been a leader in European speaker sales since the early '80s and for quite a while, they were #3 worldwide, behind Bose and The Harmon International group. Not bad for a brand that most have never really hear much about.
If anyone knows where to get imported replacement cones that are correct, I'm interested, because one voice coil is open, but not scraping. I'd like to use them again.
I rented a place with someone I worked with at a stereo store and we both had a pair of J-101 and Sony TA-4650 V-Fet integrated amps, rated at 30W/ch. We stacked the speakers and ran one pair on each amp with independent control. We had to constantly tell people that there was no subwoofer and we played a lot of Prog, general rock and I listen to quite a bit of Jazz. Extremely easy to listen to for long periods.
Here's a photo, but it's not mine:
