wood cone speakers

[Jon Abbey]

has anyone heard these or read about them? the only pair for sale right now in the US are the JVC EX-A1, and the EX-A5, which seem to be much higher-end, should be out here in the spring, available in Japan only now.

we got the EX-A1s a few weeks ago, as a secondary system, and they sound pretty great for the price point ($400 including a CD player, amp and speakers, essentially a glorified boombox). supposedly it will continue to sound better as it's used more, we'll see. it could probably use a subwoofer added on, but it's well worth looking into for people on a budget or looking for a secondary system for a smaller room. I think it may end up being our tertiary system, with the EX-A5 as a secondary one, we'll see.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00021MX0C/103-5568607-5434218?v=glance

[Gary Sisco]

Jon -- I've never heard the speakers or any wood cones but a wooden instrument, if properly cared for, of course, does sound better as it ages, if it was properly made to begin with. So I could see where such a claim could be made.

[Chris D]

Sounds intriguing. I'd love to hear some in action.

[Jon Abbey]

there's really virtually no info on these on the web in English, here's a thread from a hi-fi board:

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-72028.html

I've been using the EX-A1s as my main system the last few weeks while I troubleshoot my main one, and I couldn't work on these, but they're very nice for casual listening. if anyone hears about the EX-A5s coming out in the US, please let me know.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

These are the speakers that were realized when the designers discovered that soaking the wood in sake made it pliable enough to form the speaker cones. Apparently, the team of developers tried a bunch of solutions and nothing worked. It wasn't until one guy tried some sake that they were successful.

Later,
Kevin

[Mark of Cenla]

You can find more info about the JVC sytem here: http://www.jvc.com/main.jsp

There is a link to the info in the bottom right corner.