Wooden cone drive units

[judahben]

Hi folks,

I'm not sure if anybody is aware of a Japanese manufacturer called PARC audio, but if not these units look pretty nice - I have just ordered a pair of the 8cm (DCU-F101W) units to test out (http://dream-creation.jp/product.php?product_no=5).
The cost works out at around £30 per unit (~$60), but once you add on shipping and bank charges for making a payment in yen, it comes to around £45 per unit (~$90 - not sure if the situation would be any different in the USA). The owner (Mr Nobuo Fuke) said he doesn't accept card or paypal at the moment, but may do in future (which would lower extra fees).

You may notice that the page (www.dream-creation.jp) isn't written in English, but can use a page like Babelfish (www.babelfish.altavista.com) to translate the site for you.

You might have seen wooden cones on the JVC systems (the EX range - http://www.jvc.com/presentations/Woo...ers/index.html), however when I contacted JVC they said you couldn't purchase drivers alone.
Here's one way of getting hold of some very pretty drivers that seem akin to the Tang Band range - the only other manufacturer I have found is Gui Sound (www.gui-sound.com).
I wonder if Parts Express would consider buying a few batches in to sell Stateside???

Now then: I am a student and unfortunately have very little money or time to buy and play with these units (the pair I ordered are a birthday present!) - so you folks with a little more cash, time and experience should go forth and create some more wonderful-looking cabinets to house these gems! I will be posting my own results in time, but that will be a good while later in the year (darned exams!).

I look forward to seeing the results.

Best wishes,

Judah.

[Geoff St. Germain]

That's interesting and isn't something I've seen before. It does look like the prices get pretty steep to get them from Japan.

[judahben]

Yeah - a bulk order from a dealer in the US/Europe would be the ideal. Mind you, it would be pretty expensive for me to order drivers from the US and have them shipped, I have to wait for my brother to visit the UK on vacation and use some of his luggage space (not great for larger drivers)!

[mistic]

This all sounds real cool but, how does it sound?

[mrstampe]

Appearance wise, both the PARC and Guide-sound cones are very nice. I think I like the PARCs better with copper phase plugs (ala CSS SDX7).

PARC



Guide-sound

[Zembonez]

Mark, back in the mid 80s, I had a guy come to my Audio/Video shop wanting me to carry his newest line of high end (his words) speakers with wooden cones. He brought in a pair of 8 inch 2 ways for a demo and they blew us away on some then new Harmon Kardon separates. Their performance was really open and quite musical. They were easily on par with the (also new then) Allison Acoustics line we carried at the time.

Funny thing was, we ordered 10 sets to test the waters with and he went on his way. That was the last time I saw him or his speakers. Never gave him any money, just the order...

Sorry for the detour but your post reminded me of that guy. Wonder what happened to him?

[judahben]

Well, after a little wait the drivers have arrived - WOW!

Photographs don't do these units justice, they have to be seen real-time to be fully appreciated from the aesthetic point of view. Very well packaged, although I wasn't too happy about having to pay customs VAT on top of the bank charges I had already incurred! Ho-hum...

Although I haven't the time to work on the cabinet at present (a combination of elderly care medicine, nuclear medicine and impending exams), I couldn't wait to try them out, so briefly hooked them up to my amp at v. low volume - I must say, new out of the box with zero run-in and not even an enclosure, they sound pretty impressive. Great detail on some Dvorak I had in the CD player, even at the low volume!

I am really looking forward to working on the enclosure, a novel rear horn-loaded design I want to try out (who knows, it could be brilliant or it could be a flop).
I have got hold of some lovely (and very dense!!) Meranti hardwood, which has a very nice grain and colour - it may prove a little tough to work with, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

I am also hatching plans for a sub to accompany these, although given the trouble it was to get hold of these I may opt for a non-wood-cone driver from the UK!

[Tripp]

I will say they look very nice, the copper phase plug goes very well. I gues like everyone else i would like some sound measurements. im at work atm so find it hard to get the time to translate the page but i see they do come im bigger sizes.

£45 per unit + customs charges per speaker is quite a bit of money to spend for drivers that appear to be virtually unheard of but more power to ya i suppose and i cant say im not considering a purchase myself.

Keep us updated

[judahben]

Yeah, I hadn't anticipated the additional costs on top of the basic price of the drivers. Anyone fancy becoming a European/US distributor?!
However, regarding the quality, the designer (Mr N Fuke) tells me he worked as an engineer for Sony for 22 years and JVC for 5, which should bode well (especially given JVC's own wood-cone products).

[Tripp]

So I checked out the t/s perameters on the site but the info seems to be very limited, bit hard to use this speaker in unibox without know a little more about it

did you get a manual with it with more details?

[judahben]

Just a Japanese sheet that came with the drivers - though I do have an English version in pdf format (attached). No more details that that I'm afraid. As I'm fairly new to speaker building and my standards aren't quite those of a true audiophile, these details have been sufficient for my needs so far!

[SQCherokee]

http://www.xtant.com/Products.aspx

wood inlay on their amps, and wood cone speakers that look alot like these.