Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Carolina Audio JTM Speakers by Newk

Model:	JTM
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1500
Description:	Transmission line Single Driver using the Jordan jx92s
Manufacturer URL:	Carolina Audio
Model Picture:	View

Review by Newk ( A ) on July 12, 2003 at 09:14:23
IP Address: 152.163.253.3

Add Your Review
for the JTM

I have owned these speakers for a few months and having been raving about them so thought it was time for a more formal review.

The JTM is the same model as the jx92 tall reviewed earlier on the asylum.

The JTM uses the Jordan jx92s full range driver in a tapered transmission line cablinet. They are about 36" tall 11 3/4" wide and 4" deep... the bases are 8" deep for stability. They are finished in a very elegant black satin finish.

As a quick background I am a jazz musician and teacher and enjoy listening to a lot of jazz and classical with some blues and eveything else mixed in.

Before deciding on the JTM's I have had an oppurtunity to own or audtion in home some very fine speakers including the B&W CDM 1se's ,, Meadowlark Kestrel, Kestrel HR's, Shearwater HR's and Kestrel 2's as well as the Audio Physic Virgo II's, III's and Spark III's.

The JTM's are the most surprising and wonderful speaker that I have had an oppurtunity to listen to. When I first unpacked them I had no idea that they would be able to produce sound like this.

Out of the box they show some definate potential, but really only start to show their vitrues after a real 200hrs of breakin with some bass heavy music or low frequency sweep to get the driver moving. The differences after break in are very noticable across the whole spectrum, especially in the bass response.

The speakers are extremely coherent and to me sound incredibly accurate and flat across the frequency band. They don't sound at all rolled off or funky in the mids like I have heard with other single drivers. The bass is deeper and with much better defintion and integration than the 4 times more expensive 3 ways that I have owned. The highs are more ntaurally extended and detailed than the high-line tweeters I've heard in my other speakers.

They actually sound much more like a panel speakers than a cone speaker that I have heard. The mid range transparency, imaging and iunner detail is rivaled only by quads in my opinion but without their inherent limitations.

The JTM's play coherently at a whisper and have the ability to fill the house with Buddy Guy with tight bass lines punching you in the chest. A friend recently bought a pair and the sound in his 20' by 30' room was wonderful.

The Carolina Audio cable is a fantastic match for the speakers... being extremly open sounding and letting the bass really come through. They easily bettered my more expensive 47Labs cable and my friends Harmonic Technology.

I think that the best way to describe these speakers is in their coherence and the way that they can give you so much detail in such effortless and ntural way... that they draw you into the music and open a clear window into the music...

Carolina Audio has been a wonderful company to do businees with.

Product Weakness: extreme low bass.. organ pedal tones etc..
Product Strengths: great looking, coherence, dynamic, transparency, bass and musicality

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Scott 299a
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Vecteur L4
Speakers:	Meadowlark Kestrel 2's
Cables/Interconnects:	Carolina Audio
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	jazz, classical and blues
Room Size (LxWxH):	18 x 12 x 9
Room Comments/Treatments:	none, carpeted floors
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 months
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	extreme low bass.. organ pedal tones etc..
Product Strengths:	great looking, coherence, dynamic, transparency, bass and musicality