JVC S-40 (early 1980s)

The JVC S-40 is a 2-way bookshelf speaker from the early 1980s. It was reviewed as part of a one-brand system in Audio (September 1982). That review, in the issue's "One-Brand Systems" coverage, appears to be the only period-press documentation for the S-40. Beyond that, surviving information is thin.

The S-40 was sold in at least two regional variants: a standard S-40 and an S-40 BE (which appears to have been manufactured in Belgium). Both are 8-ohm, 2-way designs. Power handling is listed at 35W RMS (DIN) with a 70W music peak for the BE version; other sources simply note “60W–70W” without specifying RMS or peak. Frequency response is given as 50 Hz–20 kHz for the BE. Dimensions vary between sources—one listing for the BE gives 485 × 275 × 220 mm (presumably height × width × depth), while another for the standard S-40 reports 275 × 520 × 219 mm—so physical size depends on the exact variant. Weight is about 5.3 kg.

Little else is reliably recorded. No crossover details, driver sizes, or official JVC spec sheet have surfaced. The S-40 appears alongside the S-55, S-66, S-77, and S-88 in the JVC G-X 303 series (per hifi-wiki), but explicit lineage or marketing context is absent. The speaker was sold as part of a complete system in the early 1980s, and the paper trail is still remarkably sparse.