Inspired by the dramatic upsurge in popularity of plasma and LCD TVs, Jamo's new A 7 series of loudspeakers – part of the Jamo 2F concept - have been specifically designed to deliver a incredibly high standard of home cinema surround sound reproduction, using all the experience and technology gained by one of the first loudspeaker manufacturers in the world to embrace home cinema.
With a cohesive look created by the award-winning female designers Smedegaard and Weis (responsible for the entire Jamo 2F range) this series intentionally matches the Jamo HDP 4250 plasma screen and DVR 50 DVD receiver.
You may have seen products that look vaguely like this before. Most, however, put looks before performance. That's categorically not the case with the A 7 series.
‘It would be a tragedy if something this beautiful didn't meet owners' expectations sonically,' says Jamo 2F Business Unit director Poul Koza, ‘We were determined to avoid the sonic compromises that others make in the name of style but without diluting A 7's aesthetic appeal… this is one lifestyle product that repays your investment on every level.'
Initially comprised of three models (2 more models will follow in early 2005) these slender speakers are crafted from solid aluminium profiles that range from between 3mm to 7mm thick. To call them solid is something of an understatement!
And, of course, they look great. There's not much point in buying a state-of-the-art flatscreen TV only to diminish its aesthetic advantages by mating it with an ugly, bulky speaker system.
Heading up the new range is the A 775 floorstander. A 2.5-way bass reflex design this 110mm high speaker features two 110mm woofers plus a 25mm tweeter that's been integrated into one of the bass drivers, to maintain the correct acoustic phase. It's a great technique for keeping sound coherent and focussed, even when the sonic action heats up.
Just as importantly, the drivers use powerful Neodymium magnets of great efficiency. That fact means that more internal volume is freed up, which in turn means better bass extension. Power handling, too, is a cut above the norm thanks to the larger than average (30mm) voice-coils employed.
If all that's not enough, the drive units are anchored to the back of the speaker as well as the front, in order to increase rigidity and enhance accuracy.
Incidentally, the aluminium profiles used for the A 775 speakers weigh an astonishing 4.6kg each… and that's without their drivers!
The centre speaker, meanwhile, uses a pair of smaller 90mm variants of the A 775's woofers (still closely timbre-matched) in a sealed box enclosure, together with a 19mm tweeter. Both the A 7CEN and the A 775 speakers offer a wide frequency response, augmented further by the A 7SUB.
Sporting a 10in woofer, this compact closed box design is fitted with a 200 watt digital amplifier capable of delivering a knockout 450 watts of peak power. With a lower frequency extension of 35Hz there's more than enough wallop here to do justice to any onscreen earthquake!
Despite the state of the art technology used, however, it's all implemented in a totally sensible, straightforward way, drawing on Jamo's long acoustical experience gained through more than a quarter of a century of loudspeaker manufacturing.
That conceptual simplicity manifests itself in what you hear and what you see. This is a direct sounding system that cuts to the heart of the sonic message and delivers its essence, unsullied by distortion and coloration.
‘We deliberately wanted this system to be visually unfussy,' says designer Birgitte Smedegaard. ‘We wanted a look for it that enhanced and complemented the beauty of the environment it was placed in, not one that screamed “Forget the flatscreen, look at me!” Slim dimensions and black grilles provide the perfect counterpoint to the matt aluminium finish in a system you'll never need to make excuses for.'
No doubt about it, Birgitte's right… clarity of purpose is a truly wonderful thing.
Audition the new A 7 series and you'll see and hear the proof…