[Lyndon]

I know this is an old (Jan. '08) lead, but I found it an amusing 'Aha!' moment. 

"JVC's dream of producing wood speaker diaphragms proved not to be an easy one to realize. The wood cone speakers were 20 years in the making because the wood sheets would crack or split when stamped. The answer turned out to be alcohol, sake in particular. A JVC audio engineer in Japan hit upon the sake solution while enjoying dried squid at a restaurant. Discovering the dried squid was so chewy because it had been soaked in sake the JVC team tried the same technique with the wood sheets and it worked - after soaking in sake, the birch sheets could be pressed into speaker cones without splitting."

http://futuremusic.com/blog/?p=2253

When I was staying at the Univ. of Chicago Club Hotel, each room had one of these JVC units.  They sound fine for what they are, but it strikes me as more of an office desk 'jewelry' item that stands out from the normal gear.

[lonewolfny42]

A past thread....
 http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=47514.0  ...

[Lyndon]

But Wolfy,
That past thread doesn't contain the best part, the anecdote.
Regards,
Lyndon

[lonewolfny42]

But Wolfy,
That past thread doesn't contain the best part, the anecdote.
Regards,
Lyndon

Anecdote.....heck....I'd worry about termites.....

[chosenhandle]

for clarification:

The squid was not pickled, the engineer eating it was, as were the JVC engineers who soaked the wood.

[mcgsxr]

I have owned one of these JVC's for more than 2 years - the speakers are dreck, the amp is something special...

As for the squid, eating them BBQ'd on a stick in Taiwan leads me to believe that pickling them is a waste - head for the charcoal!