Bookshelf Speakers — JM Reynaud LUCIA

The LUCIA is a small two-way design for stands or shelves from JMR Electroacoustique, the French company founded around the work of designer Jean-Marie Reynaud, and it was conceived to open the JMR range at its lowest price. Both drive units are made in France, and the list price is EUR 850 per pair. Buyers can choose between Black Satin and Pearly White finishes, and JMR has since added a LUCIA MKII alongside it.

Key specs that matter

JMR rates the response at 65 Hz to 18 kHz and gives a minimum impedance of 6 ohm. Sensitivity is quoted as 85 dB per watt at 1 m with a 2 V input, and the recommended amplifier range is 20 to 100 W. A second-order network with a slope of 12 dB per octave divides the bands at 3.5 kHz. Each cabinet measures 18 cm wide, 23 cm deep and 37 cm tall and weighs 7.5 kg. Wiring is single, through a single pair of terminals on each cabinet.

Engineering and use context

A treated paper cone is fitted to the woofer, which is driven by a 25 mm voice coil wound in aluminium, set in an anti-resonant ABS basket with a soft rubber centre plug and a twin magnet. For the upper band JMR fits an impregnated fabric dome with a neodymium magnet and a 25 mm coil cooled by ferrofluid, loaded by a textured ABS horn that shapes its directivity. JMR solders the crossover by hand with no printed board, fitting polypropylene capacitors and a ferrite-core coil for the bass section, while the internal wiring is pure copper - 0.8 mm for the tweeter and 1 mm for the woofer. The enclosure is built from 19 mm Medite, pressed together during assembly for stiffness, with rounded front edges and an adhesive felt panel on the baffle to limit diffraction. Bass reflex loading runs through a laminar vent on the front, which is why JMR allows placement only 10 to 15 cm from the rear wall. The maker suggests roughly 1.5 m between the speaker axes, adjustable from 1 to 2.5 m, very little toe-in, and rooms of 10 to 20 m2. A 50 cm stand, a shelf or a desk are all listed as suitable supports.

Pairing

With modest sensitivity and a benign minimum load, the LUCIA asks for an amplifier toward the middle of its recommended window rather than a very low-powered valve design. A modest transistor integrated or a streaming amplifier of around 50 W per channel is a sensible match, and the front vent makes it a practical choice for a desk system or a small living room where the speakers must sit close to a wall.

Alternatives

The JMR LUCIA MKII retains the cabinet dimensions while adding a newly developed 13 cm mid-bass driver and raises sensitivity to 86 dB with a 60 Hz to 20 kHz response.