Jamo C93 II Review
Small speakers are a fiercely competitive market. Every major speaker company has at least one product in the competition, and sometimes there are usually several product lines. Compact speakers are very attractive to interior design, and they have inspired manufacturers to develop a compact floor-standing/bookshelf speaker that surpasses entry-level products. As a small compact speaker, it faces audiophiles users who have HiFi feelings and have certain conditions. A complete speaker system requires room sound insulation, positioning, and front-end equipment matching. Some products of brands such as Jamo and Klipsch need audiophiles to have specific listening experiences. Here is the introduction of the Jamo C93 II desktop speaker.
The difficulty of making the bookshelf speaker to a high level comes from two aspects. One is self-breakthrough in design and production, and technology. The second is to face fierce market competition. Almost any speaker manufacturer will have a variety of bookshelf speakers of different models. Fortunately, for a long time, Jamo has accumulated rich accumulation in this product field for over half a century since 1968.
Jamo Concert 9 II Series
The Jamo C93 II speaker is the smaller product in the Concert 9 II series (the C 91 II is the smallest). The new Concert 93 II is specially designed to be integrated into modern home furnishings, keeping up with compact speakers’ current design trend.
Compared to the minor C 91 II in the entire Concert 9 II series, the size of the C 93 II has a standard specification suitable for most compact spaces. Of course, if it is for near-field listening, the C 93 II can even adapt to a slightly larger room.
Other products in the Jamo Concert 9 series also include two floor-standing speakers, C 95 II and C 97 II, center speakers C9 CEN II, and C9 SUR II surround speakers.
Design
The first impression of C 93 II is the minimalist and elegant appearance of Jamo’s famous furniture. Whether it’s a bit retro in its entire temperament or it has a very simplified texture, all in all, the C 93 II is a wild match in any space.
As a manufacturer from Northern Europe, Jamo’s design style can be well integrated into the home style. C93II is not a square or particularly round shape. The matching of speaker grilles does have some young and fashionable taste. I think the speaker color of this kind of bookshelf needs to be a little heavier to be better placed in the study room. But for this kind of product, the design considers more to serve the sound quality.
The sizeable front baffle is a feature of the entire C 9 II series, giving the speakers a unique appearance. The front baffle’s width extends beyond the side panel of the main box body to prevent the front baffle from having a significant impact on the sound when the front baffle is in contact with the side panel.
Some manufacturers solve this problem by making the joints between the panels radial and smooth, but Jamo chose to extend the baffle so that the edges are only in contact with air.
Jamo provided Black Ash, White Oak, and Dark Apple woodgrain finishes for C 93 II. The speaker is equipped with a gray magnetic grille.
The Trebble and The Woofer
The C 93 II speaker is a sturdy bookshelf speaker, 35 cm high and 14 kg in weight. It is equipped with a 25mm tweeter and a 15.25cm mid-woofer. There are a bass port and a binding post for connection at the rear of the cabinet. In contrast, the entry-level C 91 II, which is only 26.5cm high, uses a slightly smaller 10cm mid-woofer.
The layout of the C93 II looks very traditional, with a silk dome tweeter located in the center of a large and deep anti-diffraction waveguide. The waveguide’s design is to control the sound dispersion, so that high-quality sound imaging can be obtained even if it is far away from the sweet-spot.
The mid-woofer unit is also embedded in the baffle, producing a gentle horn effect, controlling the sound dispersion. The speaker itself uses the company’s Hybrid Composition Conical Cone (HCCC) technology, which aims to combine stiffness and self-damping. It is developed based on HCC (Composition Conical Cone) technology used in Jamo’s previous Concert series. The rigid outer layer maintains a cone shape while ensuring that the damping resonance is higher. The aluminum center plug helps to cool and prevents the cone from breaking.
The tweeter is still a silk dome unit. However, it does not use Jamo’s standard DTT damping technology but its upgraded version of TDR damping technology. It uses a redesigned tweeter diaphragm with a larger folding ring, except for the further mid-to-high frequency response. Improved distortion is also lower.
Speaker Placement
The C 9 II series’s user manual recommends positioning the speaker at a certain distance from the sidewall and the back wall, at least 2m/6ft away, and the same distance from the listener, forming an equilateral triangle. There is a small hole on the top of the rear panel so that you can hang the C 93 II on the wall. But I might not take the risk to hang up a box weighing 7 kg.
When I tested, I placed the speaker against the wall. The result is that even if the speaker is close to the wall, there is too much low-frequency vibration. When they are moved to a distance of about 0.5 meters, this tremor will be reduced. At the same time, the sound field and sound image are also remarkable, increasing the sense of depth and focus. As they said, your experience may, of course, be different because any speaker in any room will make a different sound.
Sound Performance
The Jamo c93 II small speaker sounds rich and well-organized, with excellent tonality and timbre for vocals and instrument performance. The tweeter and woofer do their job almost perfectly.
In the Lirico album played by Danilo Rea, the selections are all beautiful pieces of opera. After Danilo Rea’s re-arrangement, jazz improvisation, and piano solo, it forms a highly incredible piano album. The piano sound played by Jamo C93 II is incredibly round and complete, and the rich texture makes the notes sound healthy and powerful.
C93 II clearly and ingeniously engraved those soft, short, and fleeting decorative sounds. The sound of the piano is solid and full of grains, and the phrase sounds clearer. It moisturizes the entire space, listening to the raised high pitch and the burst of the luster from the knocked-down keys.
The piano’s performance is persuasive, and with the addition of the orchestra, the scale and momentum of the sound are even more remarkable. Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, the first movement is melancholic and entangled, and then there is the lyrical theme of the affectionate section. A single sign has various expressions and strong tension. It is a version played by Helene Grimaud as a piano player and conducted by Andris Nelsons. Nelsons is good at sorting out the intertwined parts of music.
I admire the large and deep stage on which C93 II unfolds here, and the cohesion of music is high, so it is so easy to show these dynamic ups and downs. C93 II expresses the piano, representing the rich and full texture and showing the crystal clear color.
If you think that the vocal replay should be warm and thick, you will probably be satisfied with Jamo C 93 II’s performance. Take the album Christmas in New York by soprano Renne Fleming as an example. Fleming’sWith a gentler speed and richer body cavity resonance, Fleming’s singing voice gives those Christmas songs extra warmth.
In the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, the jazz singer Gregory Porter was found to sing a duet. Porter’s singing is mellow and full of magnetism, Fleming’s singing has soft lines, and the accompaniment of drums is precise and granular.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the sound of C93II is clean and penetrating, and it maintains a pleasing softness. It is easy to express the dynamics and transients at low frequencies or high frequencies. With a more accurate timbre, all kinds of music styles can be competent.
As an all-around speaker, the Jamo C93 II bookshelf speaker provides users with a relatively young and mainstream aesthetic. When listening to pop music, or a symphony orchestra, the sound details are more polished. It is a bookshelf speaker worth having.
Jamo C93 II Specs
- System Type: 2-Way Bass Reflex
- Frequency Response (Hz, +/-3dB): 45Hz – 24kHz
- Sensitivity: 88 dB
- High Frequency Driver: 25 / 1 Silk Dome with WaveGuide
- Low Frequency Driver: 152.4 / 6 HCCC Cone
- Impedance: 6 Ohm
- Power Handling (Watts Long/Short Term): 120 / 240
- Inputs: Chrome plated screw terminals
- Dimensions: 350 x 200 x 259 / 13.8 x 7.9 x 10.2
- Weight (Kg/lb): 6.4 lbs (14kg)
