JMC Soundboard The loudspeaker made out tonewood

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The mission of JMC Lutherie is to ensure that lutherie puts down solid roots in 21st century reality and, wherever there is noise and sound, to harmoniously transform it into music.

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JMC Soundboard

Sound at its most natural The “Soundboard” is named after the truly attending a concert. Since the music is literally crucial vibrating part of certain musical “played” on an authentic musical instrument, the instruments. The JMC Soundboard is a perception of the instruments and voices gives loudspeaker with a resonance spruce membrane hearers the impression that the musicians are built using lutherie techniques. The result is actually in the same room, or a sense of being aesthetically pleasing with an airily-mounted, whisked off to the place where the concert is slightly curving square-shaped membrane. The being performed. This is true with any type of sound is amazingly accurate, warm and brilliant, music, of which a single stereophonic pervading the entire open space due to the fact Soundboard is able to convey the three- that its wave is not of the focal type, but is dimensional nature of music. instead omnidirectional. Thus, whether a home if an open-plan, two-floor building or U-shaped, At JMC Lutherie, listening pleasure lies at the the music can be heard and felt throughout. very heart of our profession and our daily The verb “feel” is entirely justified for this concerns. musical sensation akin to that experienced in

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Technical information

The illustration compares the auditory impression when listening to music with the Soundboard or with loudspeakers.

Soundboard wave Wave from two loudspeakers

Technical description extremely fine restitution, a very natural Loudspeaker type Plane, stereophonic, 2 x 3-way stereophonic effect (due to its restitution by a Bandwidth 35 Hz to 20,000 Hz Distortion 0.05 % single speaker), extremely long persistence of Impedance 8 Ohms the sound in a large area while maintaining high Average level at 1 m 105 dB precision in a low volume, as well as a sense of Nominal power 2 x 60 WattsRMS intense emotion on certain recordings.” With Wave shape Hemi-directional, similar to a plane-wave regard to the harmonic distortion: “The harmonic Attenuation - 3 dB each time the distance doubles distortion rates fall within a range 5 to 10 times Sound 95 % air-borne, 5 % structure-borne lower than a traditional good-quality Number of vibrators 8 loudspeaker, meaning around 0.05 % compared Filter Low-loss splitter Cables Litz 0,942 mm2 with 0.5 %.” And as for the stereophonic effect: Dimensions 890 mm x 890 mm x 100 mm “The Soundboard is a speaker capable of single- Wall space occupied 890 mm x 890 mm x 210 mm handedly reproducing the stereophonic sound Fixture Central mount, secured to the wall by environment contained in records. One thereby four screws. The Soundboard may be placed either flat or in a corner. achieves an extremely natural restitution of the Anchorage Approx. 1.2 m to 1.5 m from floor level original stereophony. This system also serves to Weight 15 kg (depending on the model) eliminate the interferences engendered by the Amplifier power Minimum 2 x 60 Watts on the 8 Ω fact that each recorded sound source is output Inputs Stereo reproduced from two separate speakers. This Connexions 4 plugs (to be screwed in or inserted) quality results in far more natural tones.” Operating temperature 15 to 45 °C Humidity level 25 to 85 %

Some models may feature certain variations.

According to reports by several acoustic laboratories including those of the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne), the HEIG-VD (School of Business and Engineering Vaud), and other private labs, the Soundboard has exceptional technical and sound qualities, featuring: “an extremely low distortion rate,

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Press and customer comments

The beauty of sound. Le Figaro

The true nature of sound. L’Illustré Green

Pure Sound. JMC acoustic loudspeaker Pianist

An acoustic loudspeaker born of lutherie techniques. Le Temps

The Soundboard, a revolutionary acoustic loudspeaker. Open Magazine

Listening pleasure is growing every day for the entire family. P. N.

The Soundboard is the most beautiful thing to which I have ever treated myself. I listen to music all day long and it fills my whole house. M.-H. M.

I have never seen such a simple, pure and Your Soundboard is truly exceptional; what a natural concept. The Soundboard by JMC tremendous pleasure to listen to music in this Lutherie SA is a new way of listening to music. way! It has become a source of real delight. My N. I. parents were won over and have ordered one

for their new house. S. R. We are extremely happy to have this

Soundboard at home and we daily savour its When I first had a chance of listening to the wonderful sounds… J. + J. L. Soundboard, I realised it was a musical

instrument and not a sound “reproducer” like The Soundboard is doing well; it’s been almost a other speakers. It’s another whole world! An year now! It’s really great on all levels: the authentic discovery! The sound is never sound quality, the visual effect, the impression it aggressive and completely surrounds you, makes on people… We simply couldn’t go back restoring the spatial sense that only a musical to anything else. N. H. instrument can convey. There’s no point wasting

time on words; you absolutely must experience We realise that the sound is everywhere at it for yourself, and after that the question of once, that it pervades us and elicits beautiful whether or not you wish to own one will be emotions. N. G. irrelevant. A. M.

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Options and accessories

Colours The Soundboard is available in a natural shade, a violin-type progressive version (darker brown), black or white – as well as with a personalised colour. In all cases, lutherie varnishes are used in order to preserve the lightness, the vibration and thus the sound quality.

It is possible to have a silk- Maintenance tips screen-printed or printed The JMC Soundboard should be considered like reproduction made. An artist a full-fledged musical instrument or an objet can also express his talent on d’art, which should thus be cared for in a this surface, while complying similar way. It must therefore not be installed with our extremely strict criteria. near a radiator or in the sun. Although the Oils must never be used, since construction of the Soundboard enables it to they would seep into the wood withstand humidity and temperature variations, fibres. the humidity rate should ideally be maintained at a level of at least 40 %. Other colours, Marc J. Pasini’scollection and Public areas reproductions visible on next The Soundboard is the ideal solution for page. creating a pleasant acoustic environment in public areas. The Soundboard provides an extremely pleasing acoustic environment. In addition to the sense of musical immersion and Accessories the emotions that are generated much like in a The Soundboard is delivered with a short wall live concert setting, it also serves to create mount for installing it flat, or a longer one for intimate and harmonious spaces where installation in a corner. It is fixed at a height of customers and personnel feel good. There is no 1.2 m to 1.5 m from the ground along its axis. need to set the volume too high in order to We recommend good quality cables (at least perceive each detail of the music, encompassing one-inch for the empty tubes), and an amplifier the entire sound spectrum and pervading the with minimum 2 x 60 W power. entire physical area.

While the Soundboard can adapt to all kinds of use for broadcasting music, it is nonetheless important that the amplification should be appropriately sized to match the context.

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Resonance spruce is the heart of a tree speaking to the heart of a man.

L’épicéa de résonance

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Resonance spruce in the Soundboard

Lorenzo Pellegrini, tree gatherer

Resonance spruce is the fundamental type of suitable. The predominant factors are its wood chosen by stringed instrument makers. location, its exposure to sunshine, the regularity This wood combines lightness, ensuring an of its bark, its perfection without any knots or excellent response to vibrations, with rigidity resin pockets, and the straightness of its fibres. and tonicity guaranteeing substantial mechanical To find the perfect candidate, we benefit from resistance. We find it in particularly really close the rich experience of the tree gatherer. It is to our workshops, in the Risoud Forest, one of “gathered” in late autumn, by a waning moon. It the largest and oldest in Europe. Even in the age is then cut into quarters and prepared as thin of Stradivarius, specialists sourced tonewood planks that are dried for three to ten years. from this forest which, thanks to its poor soil and its harsh climate, produces wood of These thin planks are then matched and glued exceptional quality. to create the membrane. The latter is curved by bracings that are sculpted to balance out the Hundreds of selection criteria are taken into frequencies, as is the case for guitar tops. These consideration when choosing such a rare tree. It are lutherie techniques that are the very heart of is said that only one tree in ten thousand is this musical work of art.

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Jeanmichel Capt The inventor

A noble 350 year-old material, centuries-old lutherie techniques and contemporary audio technology lie at the core of this creation by Jeanmichel Capt.

What could be more natural than to listen to music on a real instrument? It represents the culmination of years of research and development based on trials conducted in our workshops and in collaboration with three Swiss schools: the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EFPL), the School of Business and Engineering Vaud (HEIG- VD) and the Vallée de Joux Technical College (ETVJ). The result is simple, self-evident and imbued with extraordinary quality. Jeanmichel Capt is the inventor of the Soundboard. He is a sound designer. A worthy heir to the tradition of Jeanmichel Capt, Luthier and Co-Founder the famous watchmaking inventors and creators of the Vallée de Joux, Jeanmichel Capt invented and fine-tuned this tonewood loudspeaker that is a full-fledge auditory sculpture. This daring choice stems from a magnificent approach to life guided by a passion for nature, for music and for freedom.

Perhaps it was indeed an extreme taste for freedom that inspired Jeanmichel Capt to build his own guitar 30 years ago. His successive attempts led him to become a self-taught luthier: first by making his own instruments, and then through gaining an in-depth understanding of the noble material represented by resonance wood that delivers such a pure and magnificent sound. No less than 200 guitars have emerged from his workshop, to the delight of connoisseurs. Jeanmichel Capt has also developed and crafted a number of resonance supports for striking watches for the most prestigious watch brands such as Audemars Piguet, Breguet, Blancpain, Vacheron Constantin.

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JMC Lutherie SA

JMC Lutherie SA is a Swiss manufacturer of acoustic speakers in tonewood, resonance supports for striking watches and guitars. It is based in the Vallée de Joux, located in the Swiss Jura and the historical cradle of Fine Watchmaking. Born from the founders’ shared desire to share their passion for music and to promote the rich treasures of the Risoud Forest which harbours the resonance spruce, it was created in 2005 by master-luthier Jeanmichel Capt and Managing Director Céline Renaud, and now comprises a seven-strong team. The exceptional resonance spruce and lutherie techniques are the beating heart of the company, which conveys an image of authentic values rooted in its magnificent history.

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The heart of JMC

Céline Renaud, CEO and Co-Founder

At JMC Lutherie, our deepest wish is to make musical listening pleasure our core concern.

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If a picture paints thousand words, a sound conveys a thousand times more information…

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JMC Lutherie SA HQ Route du Risoud 23 Showroom Route de France 6 Case postale 42  1348 Le Brassus  Switzerland T +41 21 845 56 10  F +41 21 845 56 30 [email protected]  www.jmclutherie.com

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