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Price comparison:
JVC EX-P1
Website: www.jvc.co.uk
Size (WxHxD): System: 23x10x24, Speakers: 12x16x24cm
Power: 30Wx2 (RMS)
Playback formats: CD/CD-RW, DVD, DVD-A MP3, JPEG, WMA
Sound processing: Dolby Digital, DTS
Inputs: Stereo line in
Outputs: S-video and RGB out (Scart), optical digital, RCA subwoofer out
Extras: RDS tuner with alarm clock wake-up function, 4mm gold plated binding posts
Plus points:
Exceptionally clear sound, good looks, compact shape
Minus points:
Bulky remote, only one Scart socket, mini speakers can only do so much
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A couple of years ago, the Japanese Victor Company made a big fanfare about a mini system it had produced, which featured a new type of wood-cone speaker design. The birch wood cone was claimed to offer particularly clear and natural sound, despite its diminutive size, along with surprisingly deep and controlled bass - again surprising from such a small enclosure.
That technology found its way into the EX-A1 in 2004, which got good reviews pretty much everywhere it went. The same technology has now been revived for the EX-P1, to all intents and purposes the same system, except that the speaker cabinets now come in piano black MDF (the EX-P1's are cherry wood), which has allowed JVC to shave £20 off the asking price.
The story goes that a milestone during the 20-year production cycle was reached when one of the engineers chanced upon an unusual material to prevent the extremely dry and brittle cones from cracking - Japanese sake rice wine, in which the wood is soaked. Apparently the engineer was intrigued by the way in which the squid in a Japanese restaurant had been able to retain its moisture.
The thick metal casing makes it feel remarkably solid and inside there's a Hybrid Digital Feedback Amplifier capable of pumping out 30 watts per channel. The speakers too suggest quality above their price. The piano black finish looks very classy and the 8mm wooden drivers look so nice you may be tempted to leave the supplied grilles off.
The little system is nothing if not flexible. As well as doing sterling service as a stereo hi-fi system, it can also be connected to a screen or TV via Scart socket (just the one, so there's little temptation to use it with additional boxes) for playing DVDs and, perhaps surprisingly, the little system offers DVD-Audio playback (though not SACD). But since it's not able to make use of one of the chief advantages of DVD-A, namely its surround sound capability, it's appeal is limited. There is however an additional input for a subwoofer and it will also play CD-RW discs as well as CDs with MP3 or WMA compressed formats and it will read JPEG pictures too.
Performance
The EX-P1 is designed primarily for stereo playback so that's what we started with. True enough, the little speakers pack a pretty impressive punch, offering low, resonant, but controlled bass and a noticeably clear midrange.
It was difficult to ascertain exactly how much of the model's performance was down to the wood cone speakers, but swapping them for a pair of JPW 201 bookshelf speakers (worth around £200 when they came out) showed that they could more than hold their own.
Whether or not they provide the “natural resonance of a musical instrument”, as JVC claims, is difficult to ascertain. It's also tricky to judge if the sound travels along or against the grain of the diaphragm and therefore “transmits at diverse speeds, thereby reducing standing waves and resonance points”. But whatever they're doing, they certainly sound exceptionally clear and transparent for a system at this price.
At least they do with acoustic and quieter material. Japanese piano maestro Hiromi's acoustic trio sounded superbly detailed and fizzingly alive. But some of Basement Jaxx's dense soundscapes suffered from the small dimensions of the speaker - back to the floorstanders for them.
It comes with an aerial for AM and FM (no DAB) reception, but we found the poor reception afforded by the cheap aerial really didn't do it justice, though there's also a socket for adding your own, fixed aerial.
DVD playback was perfectly acceptable. It doesn't have the same sort of definition in deep blacks as you'll get with a decently priced dedicated player but it's still a cut above the supermarket cheapies. The controls include three virtual surround settings for DVD playback. Action, Drama and Theater settings allow you some control, and all do a little to broaden the soundstage, which can be quite effective in a smallish room, though it's no substitute for the real thing.
Although it's capable of playing DVD-Audio discs, without proper surround option (the virtual surround doesn't really cut it here), there didn't appear to be a huge amount of difference between CD and DVD-A sound quality.
The remote incidentally is a monster. The main audio and DVD controls are spread out reasonably well, but beneath a sliding cover there are a heap of additional buttons for controlling subwoofer and DVD options.
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The EX-P1 is a lovely looking piece of kit with more than decent audio chops and it's pretty versatile too. It's hardly going to take the place of a full-size separates system or a dedicated DVD player, but it works very well as an additional, primarily audio system for bedroom (or bedsit) where space is at a premium and so is audio quality.
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