Jensen G610Bs in Jake’s Music Room

Earlier this summer, Tish and I drove to New England to visit friends and relatives. One of the highlights of our trip was a sumptuous dinner hosted by Jake and his wife, Edie. Other guests included Angela, Andrea, and Charles - all music lovers. After dinner, we retreated to Jake’s music room to enjoy music and sample fine bourbon whiskey courtesy of Angela. The room was filled with over a thousand LPs. It was also the first time I ever heard Jensen G610B speakers and was quite impressed!👍

After I took pictures, I asked Jake if he was willing to provide a virtual tour for this blog on how his personally curated Hi-Fi setup evolved. Thankfully, he obliged!🙏

How do you summarize a 40-year journey in pursuit of the sound you have in your brain?

Utopia Instrument Company was founded in the 1970s in Japan by a music lover named Morikawa, who wanted to build the ideal enclosure for the Altec 604 Duplex. When interest in high-efficiency speakers started regaining traction in the early 1990s, I visited Robert Knight in Miami, FL. He was a seasoned audiophile who loved classical music and used to listen to stacked Quad ESL57s with OTL amplifiers. Hearing Utopish speakers was an epiphany for him, such that he decided to import them to America. Without extensive advertising and practically no internet presence, very few were sold.

These Utopish enclosures were acquired from Robert. They are the Symphony Masters Hollywood Bowl edition, which is slightly larger than the standard Symphony Masters. The cabinets were constructed from pine board and Shina plywood with a urethane finish. With the ultimate goal of reproducing music closest to real live sound, they utilized the Hall Tone loading system, which was patented in Japan. 

Even if Morikawa favored the Altec 604 series, the cabinets also work beautifully with most 15-inch vintage drivers. Over the years, I tried the Altec 604B, RCA LC1A, Tannoy Red, and Tannoy Silver in this cabinet. I finally settled on the Jensen G610B because it had better bass extension than the G610A, without significantly compromising midrange performance. Nevertheless, I kept the G610As as backup.

more Jensen Tri-Axial info

In the late 1960s, Jensen discontinued the G610 series and focused on smaller, less efficient, and cheaper-to-manufacture drivers. However, Utopia was able to convince Jensen to run a small production of G610Cs for the Japanese market in the early 1970s. I tried those and quickly sold them. The early '70s iteration lost the beautiful tone and soul of the G610A and B.

Garrard 301 with Utopish plinth and Kokomo bearing mod
Glanz 12-inch tonearm with a Miyajima Mono Cartridge

Garrard 401 in a slate plinth
Schick 12-inch tonearm and Koetsu Vermillion Red

For MC step up, I use the Partridge 7834. I have yet to hear it bettered.

My phono stage is by Doshi - very versatile with 3 inputs. This feeds the line-level section of a Jadis MC-200 4-chassis unit. Crazy, it's true! But what do you do when the sound has that liquidy goodness?

The amps are the legendary McIntosh MC30s!

Why push-pull when single-ended will do with very high efficiency Jensen drivers?🤔

 A single-ended 300B amp is no slouch driving 104 dB per one watt efficient speakers. But I found the Mac 30s push more air into the G610Bs in Utopish cabinets.

I love the sound of vinyl records, and aside from the aforementioned Garrard 301 and 401, I also have a Kuzma turntable with a Stabi tonearm and a Lyra Kelos cartridge. I just finished restoring a Cello Zarathustra turntable with a Pluto tonearm fitted with a wooden-bodied Denon DL103R modified by Joseph Long, aka Groovetickler.

I collect mostly first pressings of jazz and funk, with classical coming in second. I try to stay away from reissues. But at times its unavoidable when OG is unattainable or never originally issued on vinyl. Patronize your local record stores. There is a wealth of great-sounding music, many under 20 dollars!

Many, many thanks, Jake and Edie for a memorable evening! 🙏👏😊