[jsalk]

Morris wanted a pair of small Jordan monitors.  He asked what kind of "special" veneer we had lying around.

I mentioned that I happened to have a batch of some small sheets of camphor burl that were simply outstanding and just large enough for these speakers.  He said go ahead.

Once we had started working on them, he emailed to say his wife preferred to have them rubbed out to high gloss (which we also did).  They kind of remind me of jewlery boxes (that make beautiful music).

You can't really get a true indication of the beauty of these speakers based on the photographs we took.  High gloss is always a challenge to shoot.  So we used very flat lighting to avoid reflections.  The problem is, the wood tends to lose some of it's natural sparkle when shot this way.

That said, here are some pics...



And a close up...



Happy listening, Morris!

- Jim

[shep]

These get my vote as the all time prettiest. Bookshelf type? never seen them on your site before.

[jsalk]

These get my vote as the all time prettiest. Bookshelf type? never seen them on your site before.

Thanks.  I actually did a pair of HT1's in this same veneer a while back.  As I recall, I used plum pudding fiddleback mahogany solid wood for the front baffles.  They were stunning!

The Jordan monitors are listed under "time tested designs" on our web site.  They are a small bookshelf speaker.  Naturally, the bass response is somewhat limited (although deeper that you might suspect) and the top end is not as extended as with some of our other speakers.  But the midrange is excellent and for a small room, these do a very nice job.

- Jim

[shep]

What extraordinary names these wood veneers have! pure poetry. In your experience, assuming it were possible or reasonable, what dif. would it make to use these rare and exotic types in solid board rather than veneer?

[brj]

I believe you are referring to this pair of HT1s.  I always liked that wood combination...

[jsalk]

shep -

What extraordinary names these wood veneers have! pure poetry. In your experience, assuming it were possible or reasonable, what dif. would it make to use these rare and exotic types in solid board rather than veneer?

Well, I'll try to keep this short.  First, building cabinets out of solid wood is out of the question.  It is too unstable from a dimensional point of view.  Wood expands and contract with changes in temperature and humidity.  So cracks would develop at the seams and perhaps within the panels themselves.

You can work with solid wood by taking care to make sure it is well seasoned before use.  Then, you have to kerf it well, laminate it and seal it well to prevent movement (which is what we do with solid wood front baffles (and even then you can have occasional problems).

The more exotic the grain and figuring is, the more problems you can have as well.

I have run across many spectacular pieces of great exotic burl.  But it is often cut and shipped in a "green" state.  This means that you would have to purchase it and wait for a few years before it becomes seasoned enough for use.  So I often tend to pass on this kind of material (I don't want to have all my money tied up in wood I can't use).

Another problem is that solid wood resonates more than MDF or baltic birch plywood.  So cabinets made of solid wood would not be as inert sonically (and you don't want a cabinet that "sings" - you want the speaker drivers to do that!)

In the end, veneered panels are very stable and you generally have a wider choice of spectacular pieces (great wood is often cut into veneer because the price they can get is higher when sold this way).

So the answer to your question is a qualified yes.  You can use solid wood if you take great care in the way you use it.  But veneer is generally a better way to go where speakers are concerned.

brj-

I believe you are referring to this pair of HT1s.  I always liked that wood combination...

Yes, thanks.  I see I was wrong about the front baffles (bad memory).  They were ribbon-striped sapele.

- Jim

[jsalk]

By the way, I forgot to mention that raw camphor burl has a very unique scent.  It smells like licorice and is due to the camphor oil in the wood.  Very nice.

- Jim

[alan m. kafton]

These pictures are audio porn at its best.  Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship.

[Wind Chaser]

Jim,

Too bad you don't live in Canada, or I'd send these your way for a listen.

[jsalk]

Jim,

Too bad you don't live in Canada, or I'd send these your way for a listen.

Well, I'll consider moving if that's what it takes.

What's the story behind these?  What metal, thickness, etc.

- Jim

[Wind Chaser]

Here’s the story in a nutshell

I purchased the Jordan drivers out of curiosity and built the VTL out of MDF. A few months later I made Greg Monfort’s 48” MLTL using Baltic Birch.  Having seen a picture on the net of these…



I called up folks who had made them.  They found ¼” aluminum proved to be sonically superior to all the various types of wood they experimented with in the past.  The rigid aluminum structure negates coloration and cabinet resonance unlike wood, which tends to create and amplify these anomalies.

John Ötvös of Waveform also discovered the merit metal enclosures; but he took it another step forward in his Mach Series by forming his aluminum enclosures in the shape of an egg.  This got me to thinking and doing a little research of my own on the fundamental attributes of an enclosures shape.  I found this…



…on page 23 of Harry Ferdinand Olson's “Acoustical Engineering.” 

I looked into doing spherical and hemispherical forms but ultimately opted for the elongated vertical cylinder for functionality, practicality and economics.  The specifications, including the height and cross sectional area of Ted Jordan’s 8 liter bass reflex were converted to accommodate the cylindrical form. 

I decided to experiment with stainless steel because it has substantially more mass than aluminum and also because I consider it to be more appealing to the eye.  Unfortunately it is also far more difficult to fabricate than wood and aluminum.  The original plan was to go with ¼” stainless steel but the machine shop suggested 10 gauge would be more than adequate considering my objectives, the shape and characteristics of stainless steel.  Had I gone with ¼” they would have weighed more than 40 lbs each!

The ports are slightly larger than spec but are well done, flared out at each end.  The drivers are hardwired with solid core cryogenically treated CAT 5.  No binding post or BSC circuit.  I’m not equipped to measure the specs but they do sound fabulous and put out tremendous bass.  Far more than you’d expect from a mini monitor!

There’s a reality TV show in Canada called The Dragon’s Den on CBC.  5 Canadian billionaire’s judge the potential of various business ventures people bring to them and if any of one of them likes the idea, they invest their money for part ownership.  I got an email from CBC asking if I was interested in applying for the next season, but my gut feeling is they shoot the idea down when they find out how much the prototypes cost.

[DMurphy]

The ports are slightly larger than spec but are well done, flared out at each end.  The drivers are hardwired with solid core cryogenically treated CAT 5.  No binding post or BSC circuit.  I’m not equipped to measure the specs but they do sound fabulous and put out tremendous bass.  Far more than you’d expect from a mini monitor!
[/quote]

I very much enjoyed working with Marbles' similar cabinets (see his post).  They measured extremely well, and sounded and looked great as well.  I've also worked with the Jordan.  A nice driver in many ways, but I really didn't like the sound without a baffle step compensation circuit.  Just too much blare from the midrange on massed brass.  That has nothing to do with the driver itself--it's just physics.  Perhaps you're using yours very near a wall, which would help.

[Wind Chaser]

Wind Chaser, Yours are very nice, these are made out of marble...

These are my smaller pair

WOW!  That's beautiful...  Now I know why you are called Marbles.

Those really remind me of the Rogers JR-149.


DMurphy,

I have mine pulled out 5' off the wall.  I haven't tried making these out of wood to know for a fact if the rigidity of steel has something to do with the bass, but I've heard a number of mini monitors and I have not heard one that can go as low and controlled as these.

[jsalk]

Dennis -

There is 3db of baffle step compensation in the monitors I built for Morris.  Thus, sensitivity is down a little, but there is much nicer balance.

- Jim

[DMurphy]

There is 3db of baffle step compensation in the monitors I built for Morris.  Thus, sensitivity is down a little, but there is much nicer balance.

- Jim
[/quote]

Whew--That's a relief.   I wasn't going to ask directly.  The Jordans (with BSC) can make a really great near-field speaker.  Perfect for computers.  As you move back the listening position, the lack of dispersion above 5kHz becomes obvious.  Again, that's just physics.  As for bass, I have no doubt that they would sound impressive in a really rigid cabinet.  Of all the cabinets that people have sent me, I was most reluctant to say farewell to the coumn marble design.  For me, that was a perfect cabinet acoustically and aesthetically.  Too bad it involves so many $$$$$$$$$ signs.   

[morris_e]

Thanks Jim for the wonderful speakers. I have been quite busy traveling until recently, but now I am enjoying the unique sound of the speakers. I have to say that these are my all time favorites.

Speakers I have owned that are bested by these magical monitors:

Infinity RSII
Martin Logan ReQuests
MG 1.6
VMPS RM40's

Obviously these diminutive speakers cannot produce the SPL's or large soundstage of the larger speakers I have owned, but their clarity is unsurpassed as is their imaging and pure naturalness.

Ideally they would work best with subs and I am using two Velodynes placed at the base of my speaker stands.

I have often wondered if they might sound even better as a two way with a 6db crossover from a 10 inch or 12 inch aluminum cone woofer. Any thoughts on this Jim?

The wood working is flawless by the way...

Thanks again Jim!

[jsalk]

Morris -

Thanks Jim for the wonderful speakers. I have been quite busy traveling until recently, but now I am enjoying the unique sound of the speakers. I have to say that these are my all time favorites.

Speakers I have owned that are bested by these magical monitors:

Infinity RSII
Martin Logan ReQuests
MG 1.6
VMPS RM40's

Obviously these diminutive speakers cannot produce the SPL's or large soundstage of the larger speakers I have owned, but their clarity is unsurpassed as is their imaging and pure naturalness.

Ideally they would work best with subs and I am using two Velodynes placed at the base of my speaker stands.

I have often wondered if they might sound even better as a two way with a 6db crossover from a 10 inch or 12 inch aluminum cone woofer. Any thoughts on this Jim?

The wood working is flawless by the way...

Thanks again Jim!

Thanks for the kind words.  Much appreciated.

As to whether or not they would work in a 2-way, the answer is maybe.  Dr. Jim Griffin, who designed this speaker (the cabinet and baffle step compensation circuit), designed a model a few years later with a ribbon tweeter to extend the top end.  But I've never seen any application using this Jordan driver with a larger woofer.

Relieving the Jordan of midbass and bass duties would, of course, improve its great midrange performance even more.  And integrating the midrange and woofer in a passive crossover would guarantee the gain and phase relationships of the drivers would be optimized (something that is very difficult for the average person to do with a bookshelf/subwoofer combination.  So there definitely would be advantages.

But you would be talking about a 2-way (or even a 3-way design if you also wanted to extend the top end response in the process).  Since this would be a new design, the first question you would have to ask yourself is whether or not there would be a better choice for a midrange driver.  You would be looking for a driver that was designed to work in a multi-way speaker in the first place.  So while it would certainly be possible, chances are you would not end up using it in a multi-way design.

The Jordan driver was specifically designed as a full-range driver and it is an extremely good performer in this capacity.  But when a driver is designed to be utilized full range, there are certain performance characteristics that are required.  The performance characteristics desired for a full range driver are not necessarily the performance characteristics you would aim for in a dedicated midrange driver.

So...yes, it would probably be possible.  And it would certainly be an interesting experiment.  But it is somewhat unlikely that you would chose this particular driver in a multi-way application.

I hope that makes sense.

- Jim