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Not All Hype? Birch Wood Speaker Cones Made with Sake! (1 Viewer)

Arthur S

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Some of you may remember a post quite some time ago about JVC releasing a birch wood speaker cone. The wood was soaked in sake to make it pliable. This 3 inch cone is part of their $500 mini system, EX-A1. The system has a progressive scan DVD player built in.

Consumer Reports liked the sound quite a bit. I tend to be sceptical of exotic cone materials. The 3 inch cone comes in a very tiny but 10 inch deep wood cabinet. Bass reflex design. I have to wonder how a paper cone would fare in the same cabinet. Still, it is curious how they can get a good "full range" sound out of a 3 inch driver.

If anyone can revive the original thread there are some amusing pictures in it.

Artie
 

Chris Quinn

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Consumer Reports has also picked Bose in the past.

Most cones are paper which is wood pulp.

I'd be interested if the speakers were tested with other amps since the EX-A1 looks to be one of the new digital wonders. Is it the amp or the speakers?
 

Arthur S

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Chris

You are right. Consumer Reports also likes Bose, but then their audience is not audio hobbiests. But Bose is obvisouly doing something right. They sell an awful lot of speakers and high priced radios.

The birch wood cones are not made from wood pulp. The birch is strips of wood "marinated" in sake to make it pliable.

Any moderators out there who can revive the old post?

Thanks

Artie
 

Chris Quinn

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I was reading one of the British Hi-Fi rags today and they picked this unit as the best shelf system of the year.
 

Jimi C

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Here is a link to the product info at JVC.com
One spec kind of jumped out at me..

Power: 30 watts x 2 channels, min RMS, driven into 4 ohms at 1kHz with no more than 10% THD.

It also plays DVD-A

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027205&pathId=11&page=1[/url]
 

John Garcia

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Anyone actually heard this thing? I think even CC or BB was carrying them. I may have to drop by and give it a listen somewhere near-by, just for kicks. I wonder if the speakers could take being hooked up to my integrated?
 

Robert Cowan

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ive heard it...

for what it is, its actuall quite nice. the small single driver speakers do a pretty good job. sure, its still just a tiny minisystem, but its very decent for what it is.

i hear they have bigger speakers too. i would be at least curious to hear them.
 

Arthur S

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Thanks to all who have posted on this thread.

Danny The pictures are great, thanks for the link.

John It is always interesting to hear your comments on AV gear. Are you using a 34 inch Sony HD tube?



I wish someone could bring up the original post on this thing, the pictures are hilarious.

The cabinet work on the EX-A1 looks great. The cabinet looks like it is about an inch thick!

I still have a 13 year old stereo 2 piece Denon clock radio that puts out 50 watts RMS total, has sealed 2 way speakers with 5 inch woofers that can really put out a lot of bass, and weighs 22 pounds. Of course it is no where near as beautiful as the EX-A1 and does not have a DVD player or even a CD player built in but for now I am going to stick with it
 

Lewis Besze

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They also picked Budweiser[among lagers] as the best beer overall some years ago,which prompted me to drop the expireing sunbscription soon after.'Nuff said! :D
 

John Garcia

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LOL Sake can make anything sound good.


Yes, still a tube kind of guy. :) Though I was at a friend's place this weekend to see the big new generation Samsung DLP and I was quite impressed with the picture.

Now that I work in the LCD industry, I may just have to switch to support my job :D

Haha. I liked Budwiser...when I was 18 :eek:
 

Danny Tse

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JVC does make individual speaker models featuring those wood cones....for the Japanese market only.

SX-WD5



SX-WD8

 

FeisalK

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what's disappointing is that you're not allowed to lick the cones when auditioning...
 

Arthur S

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FeisalK

LOL Now that is just what this forum needs, speaker taste tests. I wonder if subwoofer cones taste more like beef than tweeters do? Maybe these birch cones are for vegetarians.

Artie
 

John Garcia

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At least you ended up married and not in prison...or did you...:D j/k

Sign at A/V store: "Please do not lick the speaker cones"
 

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