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Sake Used to Make Wooden Speakers

geeber writes "And you thought Sake was only good with Sushi? Well, think again! IEEE Spectrum has an article on how JVC has used sake to enable making speaker cones out of wood. Wood has a wide frequency response which makes it desirable as a material for speaker cones. However Toshikatsu Kuwahata worked for 20 years trying to make the cones out of wood without cracking. Finally he discovered that soaking the wood in sake (but not whiskey) made the wood pliable enough to form into a speaker cone. So let's raise our glasses and toast those clever engineers as we crank up the volume!"

35 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Lucky bastards. by aardvarko · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hell, sake enables me to make all kinds of things, most of them accessory fluids for my American Standard, but I sure as hell don't get any stinkin' Slashdot articles about them, now, do I. Harrumph.

  2. Obvious! by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Drink enough sake and you will not see any cracks.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
    1. Re:Obvious! by r_j_prahad · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the cracks you do see will look a lot more alluring and seductive.

  3. Can't resist it by Magickcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    So I guess the sound really does give you wood.

    --

    Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.

    1. Re:Can't resist it by cgranade · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not really... the wood gives you sound... and not just in Soviet Russia, either.

      --

      #define DRM chmod 000

    2. Re:Can't resist it by AaronD12 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know about you, but sake makes my wood more pliable as well... :P

  4. In other news... by kilocomp · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news researchers are using wasabi to implement "Super Bass".

  5. "without cracking" by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 4, Funny
    However Toshikatsu Kuwahata worked for 20 years trying to make the cones out of wood without cracking.

    Wow, 20 years is a long time to work on a problem without cracking. Congratulations, Toshikatsu.

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?
    1. Re:"without cracking" by iNetRunner · · Score: 5, Funny
      Wow, 20 years is a long time to work on a problem without cracking. Congratulations, Toshikatsu.
      Well.. He did turn to booze.
      --
      Store with salt
  6. But how was it discovered? by product+byproduct · · Score: 3, Funny

    20 years of effort and it's still not working. Time to get drunk. [after a few bottles] heeey woooody, you wanty some sake tooooo?

  7. Sake! by dolo666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Drink enough sake and you become excellent karate fighter too! :-)

  8. Re:Audiophile applications by DigiShaman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Make sure your home is termite free. Or you just might find holes in your speakers. Damn those things, I hope they choke on a splinter!

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  9. fluent japanese speaker by riqnevala · · Score: 4, Funny

    After licking too many speakers, they'll start singing karaoke..?

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    love slashdot. populate it. use it. abuse it. hate it. kill it. miss it. stop following links, they only kill servers.
  10. Re:Audiophile applications by CaptBubba · · Score: 4, Funny
    It leads to another whole set of different things to tweak. Wood grain spacing, denisity, type sepcies, and even where the tree was grown could all alter the sonic properties.

    Of course, true to hi-fi traditions, the best wood will bee the rarest tree on the planet soaked in the oldest and most expensive saki, thereby keeping high end speaker prices in the upper statosphere.

  11. Hmm... by odano · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hear their next move is to replace titanium tweeters with spicy rolls.

  12. In related (but pretty old) news.... by wetson · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...it's been confirmed that alcohol can loosen up the most wooden of individuals.

  13. Re:All you ever wanted to know... by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 5, Funny
    Aged for 3 years or more

    Good. I can't stand underaged drinking.

    --
    True story.
  14. And now for you religious music fans... by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, if religious music is what spins your wheels, now you can have wooden speakers made with... what else but Christ's Sake :-)

  15. Re:Audiophile applications by nomadic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Considering people claim to be able to tell the difference between a Stratovarius (spelling?) and an inferior wooden violin

    I'm picturing a cross between a stratocaster and a Stradivarius...

  16. After 20 years of saki on his expense reports... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    He had to show some kind of results.

  17. the reverse is true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sake is also used to make wooden speakers
    more lifelike when they talk in front of audiences.

    Down a few cups of piss warm sour water and the most most wooden speaker is gonna be much more relaxed.

  18. Re:Why not ammonia? by Cranky_92109 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...you get to drink the sake while you play with your wood.

    I tried for a long time to think of a joke funnier than this quote.
    I couldn't, so lets see it one more time.

    ...you get to drink the sake while you play with your wood.

  19. But wait! by Captain+Irreverence · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they're made of wood, then scientifically speaking they must weigh the same as a duck. And therefore:

    They're a witch! Burn them, burn them!

  20. Re:All you ever wanted to know... by ChrisMaple · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh, for Guinness sake.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  21. How is this NEWS? by DKConstant · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've known for YEARS that alcohol makes music sound better! Where's MY article?

    --
    ----- "Oh, Stewardess! I speak l33t!"
  22. Re:Audiophile applications by Reverberant · · Score: 4, Funny
    I wonder when we'll see wood-cone based speakers filter into the world of hi-fi, if ever.

    They've been around for some time. They're called "paper cones"

    :)
  23. Hmmm... Wooden speakers... by shigelojoe · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't wait to get some of these just to have a friend come over, look at them, and say "Cool! Amish speakers!"

    1. Re:Hmmm... Wooden speakers... by Perdition · · Score: 2, Funny

      Man, the Amish that read SlashDot are gonna land on you like a badly-lashed barnwall after that cheap shot. Kiss yo' Karma Gute Nacht, John Book.

      --
      Windows XP SP2 told me to install third-party software that prevents viruses and protects stability... I chose Ubuntu
  24. What I'm waiting for... by Perdition · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm waiting for car audio applications so that the following conversation may be possible:

    "Sir, do you know how fast you were going?"

    "Well, I'm sure I wasn't speeding, officer."

    "Sniff, sniff... Would you kindly step out of the vehicle, sir?"

    "Oh, the smell! You see, my speakers are soaked with sake. You know, for the wood. Wooden speakers soaked in sake! I don't drink and drive. Seriously."

    "Tell you what, sir, just step back here to my car..."

    --
    Windows XP SP2 told me to install third-party software that prevents viruses and protects stability... I chose Ubuntu
  25. Re:Rice, eh? by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I follwed that link from your post, but it says that I'm not allowed to visit their web site since I'm not old enough. Can someone here get me a fake ID so I can get in???

    --
    Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
  26. Re:These speakers are for one thing... by prockcore · · Score: 2, Funny

    I will use those speakers specifically for watching anime.

    Nah, put them in your rice burner.

  27. Re:Actually, resonance is bad in speakers by prockcore · · Score: 2, Funny

    in a speaker cone the only two factors that make a good one are lightness and stiffness.

    Funny, I wouldn't think that any alcohol would be associated with stiffness...

  28. Re:Why not ammonia? by Brandybuck · · Score: 2, Funny

    No wonder you're not getting any. You're supposed to wine and dine her BEFORE the wood gets played with...

    --
    Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  29. 20 years without cracking a wood by nfabl · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe he should cut back on the sake a bit i say.

  30. At Least, That's What HeTold The Auditors... by nightwing2000 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hmmm... Let's see.
    The auditors have some questions about his business expenses.

    "There's been some very unusual expenses for this lab, would you care to explain..."

    "Well, we've been buying the sake for... ummm... making speaker cones. yes,that's it! We've spent 20 years with our research budget on making speaker cones. Research gets really intense around spring break, and also about the time of our Christmas party, as you can see from our expenses profile..."