Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Carolina Audio JX92 Tall Speakers by Stew G

Model:	JX92 Tall
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1500.00
Description:	single-driver, full range speaker
Manufacturer URL:	Carolina Audio
Manufacturer URL:	Carolina Audio

Review by Stew G ( A ) on June 15, 2002 at 14:51:31
IP Address: 64.213.121.42

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for the JX92 Tall

I will start this review where I will end it as well: in my room and in my system, these speakers have blown me away unlike most anything else I have ever heard, and I've heard quite a bit over my 25 or so years of interest in home audio systems.
Now let's back up a moment. Ronnie - the owner and sole operator of Carolina Audio - is an audio enthusiast like you, the reader. He builds speakers with the love and attention that any of us would do it with if we were building them for ourselves, and not motivated by market considerations. These speakers are a steal at the asking price, and to think I got my pair for $800 when he ran a special last month is downright highway robbery! Ronnie is such a gentleman, he only asks for 1/2 the price of the speakers plus shipping up front before he builds them, and then gives you 21 days to check them out before you pay the balance and he doesn't even bother to cash your deposit check until he knows you will keep them. Not exactly like dealing with your local high-end store or most any other mail-order manufacturer I know of.
The speakers in question are quite petite at 37" high by 11.75" wide and 4.25" deep. The driver itself is the Jordan JX92 4" metal cone woofer, and the cabinet is a transmission line design, something that Ronnie is an expert at after working with Fried speakers for many years. The schematic for the speaker came off the Jordan website. They come in a very nice black lacquer finish; I am sure if you want to pay another ton of money, Ronnie will make these speakers really shine, but let me say that I am very picky about the cosmetic appearance of my equipment, and these speakers look just fine, thank-you very much.
Being that I sit in the nearfield in a very small room, I would imagine that in a bigger room the soundfield would open up even more; suffice it to say that presently they fill the room with an open, alive soundfield that is awesome to behold. They don't produce what I would call background music type sound. It's the kind of sound that makes you sit up and take notice, and what you will notice is every little nuamce of sound that is on your cd or lp, but put forth in a musical, rather than analytical manner. That's a hard nut to crack, for a speaker to be so transparent but be musical at the same time. Nothing is over the top, I would say. I use a Hsu Research VTF-2 subwoofer, so I haven't bothered to find out how the speakers sound just on their own in the bass department (I was too eager to get this review down to do too much fussing around) but suffice it to say that these speakers have for their size surprisingly deep, taught, tuneful bass. They rock out with rock, and upright acoustic bass has all the slam, pluck and thunck as you might expect from the real thing (albeit with the sub in the system, crossed over at 60hz).
Being that Ronnie's offer for in-home audition is so painless, I really think an interested buyer simply needs to try these out for him or herself. One thing is for sure, you will have a great respect for the capabilities of this Jordan 4" driver as well as for Ronnie's expertise at speaker building.
So I will end where I began: these speakers have blown me away unlike most anything else I've ever heard.

Product Weakness: may need to use spikes on thick carpeting, they have a small footprint and are relatively light at around 30lbs.
Product Strengths: transparency, openness, musicality, looks, fun(!), ease of drive, price

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Wright/Sound 3.5 2A3 monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Jeff Korneff built Bruce Beerman design
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	transport in flux/ Shigaraki Dac
Speakers:	Carolina Audio JX92 Floorstanders
Cables/Interconnects:	Audio Truth/ Museatex
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	folk, blues, rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	15ft x 10ft x 8ft
Room Comments/Treatments:	Room tunes in ceiling corners
Time Period/Length of Audition:	several days/ not much, I know, but they are really great!
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	may need to use spikes on thick carpeting, they have a small footprint and are relatively light at around 30lbs.
Product Strengths:	transparency, openness, musicality, looks, fun(!), ease of drive, price