EX-A1

JVC has come up with a speaker cone made out of wood, the EX-A1.


EX-A1 

They had been trying for some time to come up with a way to do this, but they always had problems during the stamping process. They thought if they could make a wooden speaker cone, they would be able to produce a fuller, richer sound. However, the wood would either break or if they softened it with water it would warp.

As it turns out, one of their engineers was boozing it up at a saki joint and eating squid. He noticed the squid was very soft and wondered how they turned an otherwise hard and rubbery meat into the soft bar food he was eating. He found out that they soaked the squid in sake. It occurred to him that maybe wood soaked in sake would also be pliable. He was right. I'm not sure if it occurred to him that the Japanese rice alcohol probably also makes your liver very pliable.


Birch has the best harmonics. 

They tested several types of wood and found that birch, particularly the densest, firmest part of the core, offered the optimum set of acoustic characteristics. They refined the stamping process and are now producing beautiful wooden speakers. So, does this put these speakers in the woodwind category?

For more information visit: http://www.jvc-asia.com/sg/exa1/story