Jean Maurer JM320E, Swiss tradition

Sometimes things take on a life of their own and come to you, without knowing quite why. When serendipity flows, you have to be cautious with your ego and let yourself go. What was meant to be an assignment of first class loudspeakers, the JM320E; was joined, by the will of the importer for Spain and Portugal, Broker Audio, in a machine of sonic happiness with the amplification and DAC of Konus Audio. Jean Maurer and Konus Audio are worthy representatives of what we could call High Fidelity Artisans.

After placing them in the room, as always, they spent 24 hours to acclimatize and adapt to the new atmospheric conditions and eliminate the excess condensation they might have received during the trip. I recommend this to everyone. I know the interesting thing is to get them up and running immediately, because of the nerves and excitement. I recommend controlling them and doing things right.

Jean Maurer, a Swiss engineer, created his first loudspeaker in 1969, the model JM210, officially founding the company that bears his name on April 1, 1971. With the model 240, his first three-way version. He studied in depth the overexposure of frequencies in the mid-range to achieve a more pleasing effect to the human ear. Although, as an engineer, he has always been a great lover of figures and numbers, as his graduation thesis shows, he has never lost sight of the human factor and our perception of it.

In 1973, Jean Maurer met Professor Mario Rossi and engineer Hubert Massin. With them, he discovered new methods of simulation and modeling of Thiele & Small's bass-reflex vent ports for the woofer and bass volume of the loudspeaker. The 1974 JM320A benefited from these studies.

Two years later, the midrange cone was upgraded and the driver emitting sources were relocated in geometric displacement, looking more like today's JM320B.

JM302C was introduced in 1980. Its main innovations are the treatment of the harmful effects caused by the side edges and the continuation of the work initially carried out in the previous model to achieve a high speed dividing filter.

JM320D does a thorough job in eradicating internal parasitic sources with absorbing materials. This occurred in 1985. Aesthetically speaking, this series already has the look of the current ones.

In 2002 the E series appears. Here a change in the way of understanding the evolution of the brand takes place. Small improvements are applied to their products continuously, as their knowledge evolves, although this is not reflected in an obvious way in its name. In the video that I link in the final part, I talk about how difficult it is to improve, little by little, a product and the result is only appreciable with a long and detailed look.

The protagonist of our story is the evolution of a loudspeaker that has 50 years of evolution and acoustic improvement behind it. I'm not talking about the brand, I'm talking about the loudspeaker. The brand is as old as I am. By maintaining the same base, the improvements applied to it have been cumulative over the years and this is very noticeable in the final result. You can check the basic features of it on their website, with a link at the bottom of this article.

Sometimes, manufacturers put names that offer an enormous difficulty to the amateur to have a clear idea of what model or theoretical quality it has, with respect to the rest of options, within the brand itself. How many times have we not found ourselves with the dilemma of wanting to know more about something without having to consult the Internet?

Life, with a Swiss mentality, is easy. JM320E = (J)ean (M)aurer (3) way (20) iter internal enclosure capacity (E) version. I'm sure you already know the basic features of JM370F or JM220D.

Combining, at the same time, products of the highest level makes your experience much better than having only one or two of them. First I will detail them for you:

Equipment used in testing

Sound source:
» Konus Audio Digitale 2000
» Roon Server
» Qobuz Studio
Power amplification:
» Konus Audio Integrale 2000
» Bow Technologies Wazoo XL
Speakers:
» Jean Maurer JM320E
Wires:
» Wires4Music in wiring:
    » Horus Hybrid RCA interconnect
    » Evolution on speakers and power cord
HiFi Rack:
» Artesania Audio Exoteryc Rack PRO

Although the Swiss manufacturer recommends pairing its loudspeakers with a generous power tube amplification, the 33 watts of the Konus Audio Integrale 2000, solid state in A/B, has been a total success.

Although I speak with a positive sign about the combination of the elements, I could also speak in the negative. A certain degree of lack of definition makes it possible for poorly made or low-level recordings to stand the test of time without major problems. Until they encounter this “laser scalpel” that presents everything, makes everything audible, everything there is, and if it is missing, it is noticeable. For this reason, beloved recordings fade into the background and other well-appreciated ones become the manna of the Gods of Olympus.

Room scene projection is, in many cases, conceivable and reasonable. You cannot ask more from a loudspeaker than its logical size and capacity can give. Forcing it to give more is usually penalized with a loss of quality due to distortion, since the enclosure is not able to support the internal pressure in a satisfactory way and the vibrations generated, both by the transducers, with their impacts; as well as the internal pressure of the cones in their neutral signal, damage a sound clarity that should be perfect in an ideal world.

These speakers exceed expectations by a wide margin. To such an extent, that it is difficult for me to think, with this performance, if the superior version would not be excessive in a room (30 m²). I mention this as a guideline for potential buyers.

With the JM320E I have been able to fill the room with sound microdetails, generating an environment where you can immerse yourself in it and lose your ear following the passage of the different musical notes, flowing with absolute normality within the large enclosure, which is the room. Within the world of sound environments that generate a heady atmosphere, there is an album by Talk Talk, called Laughing Stock, which is sublime. Although with this system... I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the recording, so I went to Blue Banisters by Lana del Rey. Many of the cuts on this recording use the technique of layering sound on top of each other, like pieces of clothing, one on top of the other. The lightest ones, in the outermost part of the scene, creating a “sound tulle”, then, within the field generated by this “sound tulle” we find musical accompaniments to generate an environment that embraces the key element of the theme, the most focused and main one: the rhythm and the voice of Lana del Rey. The difficulty of reproducing this scenario is maximum. Please take some time to think about this last paragraph I have written and its extraordinary musical value. In the next chapter I will continue to delve into this subject.

Solid state, 150 Watts. It has been with me in my life for many years. I have tested it with a multitude of speakers over the years. Sometimes, when I finish my revisions and install my usual system, I like to reacquaint myself with my resident sound profile. It's like coming home from a trip abroad.

Musically speaking, it's at the opposite end of the spectrum from Konus Audio Integrale 2000. It's like climbing to the top of a mountain and seeing the peak next to it, which is at the same height level, but far away. Where before it sent you a huge and ordered amount of information (Integrale 2000) now it becomes a more compact signal, more solid, less defined, less dynamic, that is to say, warmer or more valvular. There are those who would define it as more musical; well, personally I refuse this definition. Like colors, there are tastes for everyone, and all are musical if they are good in their performance and results.

I wanted to point out this detail for those who repeat, over and over again, that the speakers define the sound of a musical system... Well, no, my friends, no, no and no. Try more things in your life. It will be more enjoyable and fun.

I wanted to mention here a product that has saved my life on more than one occasion. Through the CTO and KAM of Artesania Audio, Eric Garcia, he provided me with a box with three Sound Strip. According to its manufacturer, it improves the sound quality if we put them on the cables of the music system. I have not yet thoroughly tested its functionality in this aspect, although in one I have, and I share it. The DAC's are appearing and disappearing from my room at a constant speed, like light. And the other constant was that one out of four gave me problems of parasitic noise generated in the connection of the Roon server with the DAC through the USB port. It was put this on and I have forgotten about it forever. I don't know if the Digitale 2000 DAC would have been one of the problem ones or not, I don't know. I just know that I no longer have such a problem.

Vintage aesthetics, since it is an evolution and not a creation, it feels good in a domestic environment. It is non-invasive in family decor and easily placed.

It delivers a sound that surpasses logic, both in volume and quality. Its versatility means that you can choose the desired sound to your liking, with a correct selection of its amplification source. I insist on this point, it reproduces the received signal with mastery, it does not “interpret” it, therefore, the choice of amplification takes a greater value than in most cases, where the speaker conditions the result, for better or worse.

If you have the opportunity to listen to them sometime, do it. You will not regret it. They are scarce, there are not many units on the market, so it will not be an easy choice, but do it.