JC. Depending on faith, these initials could mean a Middle-Eastern holy man; or, in the audiophile church, John Curl. With new brand Jones and Cerreta—not a law firm!—speaker design royalty Andrew Jones takes top billing. And behold, I say unto thee, the above $34K/pr Troubador is his new big-woofer 3-way with dual-concentric tweeter/midrange plus an unexpected wrinkle which my prior feature on Voxativ's Elektra had already ironed out: field-coil drive. Such an electromagnet created with DC fed into a wire coil around a metal core dates back a full century when permanent ferrite magnets weren't yet sufficiently strong or affordable and neodymium hadn't been invented. Claimed advantages for its continued hifi use are a stiffer more stable flux field of higher strength; and how this informs sonic performance. In Voxativ's Elektra, it supports hair-raising 110dB sensitivity from a widebander without horn. Field-coil drawbacks are weight and operational temps. In Troubador it becomes a dual-concentric assemblage weighing a massive 35lbs to require an internal support. Crossed out at ~120Hz, this 10" dedicated midrange hands off to dual 12" paper-cone woofers with compact neodymium motors, one firing out the front, the other to the rear. The tweeter comes in at a low ~1kHz. Overall sensitivity is a high 95dB. To Andrew Jones' knowledge, his way of exploiting a vintage motor concept¹ which in the past also certain top Focal speakers revisited is unique to the industry because his executes as a dual-concentric so one field coil inside another. Popular dual-concentrics with permanent magnets he's previously penned for TAD, Elac and Mobile Fidelity. Adding field-coil drive is a new ingredient in his signature recipe. That warrants attention. So does the fact that for the first time, he has formally lent his name to a speaker company not just as a contract engineer but part owner.
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¹ According to Google AI, ongoing modern applications for electromagnets include MRI machines, maglev trains, industrial lifting magnets, magnetic data storage and automated security systems. Electromagnets can be significantly stronger than both neodymium and ferrite, with top-tier industrial electromagnets often over 20 x stronger than the best permanent magnets.
Jones and Cerreta's website
