How did I wind up taking the JMF Audio factory tour in France in the days following Munich 2024? Last year, when I was in Munich, I made the mistake of telling Laurent Fusilier of JMF Audio, “Your amplifiers are my favorite solid-state amplifiers in all of high-end audio right now.”
“Why solid state?” he replied and we both had a laugh, but he’s not wrong. There’s something about JMF Audio power amplifiers and preamplifiers that is easy to discern, a sound quality that can clearly be heard through speakers, sources and cables. Yes, they are neutral and revealing, but there’s also a certain sweetness deep in the foundation, a knowing wink to knowledgeable audiophiles that implies not all amplifiers are built with the same care and attention to detail as these.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
I use the word knowledgeable deliberately. To look at a JMF Audio, at least from the distance of the average listening chair, you might not guess how special these products are. From the outside the power amplifiers and preamplifiers are boxes, with substantial yet fairly conventional casework, and you can only detect the degree of fit and finish when you come closer. That JMF logo, for instance–it’s rose gold. (“The buttons are machined in solid pieces of steel,” Laurent added, and the casework seems to hold without apparent screws.)
But take a look inside and you’ll notice these JMF products use “made to measure,” and the finest parts available, arranged in a clean and compartmentalized manner that suggest a bespoke product, a one-off labor of love made by passionate designers and engineers. There’s only one problem–these boxes are sealed tight to keep out the dust, which means you can’t pop the top to ooh and aah over the brilliant work inside. Instead, you have to glimpse the innards of these masterworks through glass-topped display units at high-end audio shows. (Some have requested see-through tops for JMF Audio products, but that would compromise the final result.) Or you can visit the factory in Anould, France, which is in the northeast portion of the country, near the border with Germany–which is what I did.
Before we talk about the JMF Audio factory tour, I need to tell you about a neat little resort town down the road from Anould in a charming little city named Gérardmer, in the Vosges Mountains next to the Alsace region. That’s where I stayed while I visited the factory. Gérardmer is known for its ski resort in the winter, and the spas and the beautiful lake in the summer. Less than a week before Munich 2024, I had emergency surgery and I almost didn’t go to Europe at all. After so many health setbacks in 2024, including covid and a broken tailbone, I needed a day or two to catch my breath before carrying on with my busy schedule.
I doubt any locale could have made me feel more rejuvenated than Gérardmer and its Beau Rivage hotel. This was my first deep dive into this country, and I can now see a clear and logical case for becoming an obnoxious Francophile. Eating French food and drinking French wine in France might have had something to do with it as well. Wow.
The JMF Audio Factory Tour Begins
JMF Audio is run by brothers Laurent and Arnaud Fusilier, sons of founder Jean-Marie Fusilier. (Yes, the company is his initials.) The company had its origins in pro audio, which is why this gear is built to such exacting standards. The fraternal division of labor is simple–both brothers are the heads of engineering. Laurent mostly cares about the electronics and research and Arnaud about the mechanics and production.
Here’s the history of JMF Audio, cribbed from the website:
“Pioneer in electronics, Jean-Marie Fusilier founded his company in 1974. It specialized in high frequency and infra-red remote control systems for industrial, defense and nuclear plants applications. The audio department was created in 1985, as a side project driven by the passion for higher fidelity music playback. At that time Jean-Marie Fusilier who had significant experience in tube amplifiers design, developed linear audio solid state power amplifiers with an unprecedented approach: high voltage rails for greater headroom, high current enabled outputs for the best control of the speakers, selected and matched transistors for linearity, selection of high purity materials to carry the signal, short signal path circuit design, direct coupling, high internal energy reserve for best transient response, made to measure passive components by specialists in aerospace and defense, use of techniques and components normally intended for telecom and radar systems… to serve the music.”
During the JMF Audio factory tour, I immediately noticed the plaque on the right in the above photo. This shows the company’s dedication to not only the Blu-ray audio format, but to 2L Recordings–a Norwegian company that produces what I feel are some of the finest recordings today. I’ve been reviewing every new 2L release for many years, but I never once noticed that JMF Audio equipment is used in the recording and playback chain until Laurent pointed it out to me.
The liner notes on past 2L releases details all of the equipment used in the recording and mastering processes, and there it is: the JMF Audio PCD 302 power line filter. Morten Lindberg of 2L states that the PCD 302 lowers all the background noise in his recordings, and that’s why he uses it. If you listen to 2L Recordings, you’ll notice that they have an unusually low noise floor. It wasn’t until this year that Michael Vamos of Audio Skies, the US distributor for JMF Audio, started pointing out the PCD models in his systems at high-end audio shows to me. He knows I love 2L Recordings, and that I know about the JMF connection. We’ll come back to this shortly.
JMF Audio Factory Assembly
It does seem fitting, therefore, that the first product assemblies I examined in the JMF Audio factory were the PCD models. (Along with the 302, there is also a smaller PCD 102.) Although I’ve seen plenty of the glass-topped models at the hi-fi shows, this was the first time I was able to watch a JMF Audio unit being assembled. That provided me with the opportunity to really stick my nose into these exquisite machines, noting that every single cubic inch inside the unit was polished, gleaming, and perfectly routed and dressed throughout the chassis.
The PCD 102 and 302 mains filters are unique in the industry due to “bi-directional and independent” filtering that suppresses both noise coming into the system and noise that results from the interferences between each component. The PCDs were designed after the success of JMF Audio’s PC3 power cord, which inspired Laurent and Arnaud to pursue a more comprehensive approach to noise suppression through the mains.
Here’s another unique feature of the PCD series that was explained during the JMF factory tour. While many power conditioner manufacturers spend time on building a chassis that can reduce noise, JMF actually provides a suspension for their mains filters. The inner workings of the PCD models are mounted on a sub-chassis so that everything is “acoustically floating” and therefore immune to vibrations.
I’ve heard all about the JMF Audio gold-plated PCBs, and I’ve told you about them more than once. During the JMF Audio factory tour, I was able to verify that each gold-plated PCB is made by hand, in house.
It’s a proper example of the lengths JMF Audio will go to ensure better performance–the company uses these gold-plated PCBs, made to their specifications which require a particular solder that can properly bond with the gold. That’s impressive enough, but what I didn’t know is that the solder joint has to cool completely before the next joint is created. That’s what this gentleman was doing–hand soldering the PCB boards one solder joint at a time. That’s extremely time-consuming, yes, but it achieves the best results.
Michael Vamos once told me that the remarkable thing about JMF Audio is that they don’t make entry-level products. All of their models are designed to the same high standards, and the differences in the models, as well as the prices, are based upon things like output power, chassis configuration (stereo vs. monoblock) and, in the case of the PCD 102 and 302, the number of filtering cells provided.
I was reminded of this while we stepped into the next room on the JMF Audio factory tour, the room where all the preamps and power amps are built. This was a busy room, with many units being built at the same time. This is also where you see the level of fit and finish in each and every one of these products. Faceplates are thick, heavy and machined to perfection. (Arnaud kept handing me finished parts, and each time I flinched because I was worried about the possible residue of foie gras on my fingers from the night before.)
What I witnessed, time after time, was a flawless process in action.
Listening Sessions at the JMF Audio Factory
See the digital transport above? When I said I’d talk further about the connection between JMF Audio and 2L Recordings, I was thinking about this incredible machine right here. It’s called the DMT 3.7 digital transport and streamer. I’ve heard it a couple of times now, once at hifideluxe (an off-site audio show held a short distance away from the Munich show) and once during the JMF factory tour. The DMT 3.7 was paired with the JMF Audio DXC 2.2 Mk. II DAC both times.
That’s what I discovered last year in Munich, and during the JMF Audio factory tour in France–this company makes entire systems, not just amps and preamps. In addition to the HQS 9001,
7001 and 6002 power amplifiers and the PRS 1.5 preamp, and the two PCDs, JMF Audio manufactures two phono preamplifiers (the PHS 7.3 and 7.3), a full line of cables, and their amazing horn speakers. JMF doesn’t make turntables or cartridges, which is why they use this Pear Audio Blue Odar turntable with a Benz-Micro LP-S cartridge.
I like the fact that both JMF and I both own Pear Audio Blue turntables, and it’s not just because I’m having my audio tastes validated by such a reputable company. More accurately, it shows that my tastes align with the Fusiliers, and that’s always part of the recipe for sonic bliss.
This is the point during the JMF Audio factory tour where we really had some fun. This is pretty much the same system that I heard at hifideluxe, and it was stunning both times. I’ve already mentioned that the sound of JMF Audio can be described as neutral, with just a touch of sweetness in the treble that lets me know this is JMF Audio and not someone else, but at the same time I’ll emphasize that the JMF Audio system is in complete service to the music, not the other way around. After a few tracks, I was no longer evaluating a system. I was hanging out, listening to music, and every genre sounded fantastic, whether on analog or digital sources.
You have to remember that I had just spent the better part of a week at Munich 2024, and that I heard a number of systems that surpassed the million euro mark. I think I preferred this system over anything else I heard at the MOC, although I do realize this is a professional sound room and not a booth inside a convention hall. But there was only one room at Munich 2024 that could make me feel this relaxed and content, and it was Michael Vamos‘ room with Baun speakers, Ideon Audio digital and, of course, JMF Audio.
The Special Room at the JMF Audio Factory
After we spent several hours in the main listening room at the JMF Audio factory, there was some sidebar activity over letting me into a very special room which hosted an incredible home theater system. Laurent and Arnaud informed me that very few journalists were allowed in this room–and not so much because it’s a big marketing secret or a protection of proprietary technologies. No, this magnificent home theater system was a labor of love for Jean-Marie Fusilier, a one-off system designed for personal reasons. I was asked not to take too many close-up shots because JMF owners will start asking for walnut faceplates. A JMF Audio product, with its machined faceplate, is as good as it gets. There are no compromises here–but the woodworking here was impressive.
This was sort of a treat after a long week, which started so long ago with Munich 2024–watching music videos on a system that reproduced the live performances with stunning fidelity. I’m on the record for saying I don’t like home theater or multi-channel audio because it veers too far away from the accuracy of a two-channel audio system and starts playing tricks on your brains concerning where sounds are originating and where they should actually be. This system changed my mind a bit.
We watched concert films from Leonard Cohen, The Police and a few more, and if anything this system was lovely and sedate instead of outlandish and consumed by gimmickry. This system didn’t trick me into thinking it was a live performance, obviously, but it was so close that I felt that same kind of buzz you get from actually being at the concert. When I hear a system like this, I could see how I might warm up to mixing high-end-audio with high-end video…one day. That said, I haven’t heard a movie theater that could best this system, and I grew up in LA.
Au Revoir
The JMF Audio factory tour might be my favorite manufacturer visit of all time, mostly because I felt so completely rejuvenated by the time I returned home. (Thanks to France, I was able to put together the Summer 2024 Buyers Guide without too much trouble.) While in this mountainous region, I learned a few things about the French people. First, the stereotype of rude French people–especially in the textbook context of the Ugly American–was simply non-existent. Second, I was told repeatedly that Anould and Gérardmer represent the “real” France, and most of the French consider Paris outside of that, just another big European city.
I was able to test this after I left Alsace. I took a bullet train to Paris (really fun!) and spent a couple of quiet days before heading back to the US. I had a wonderful couple of days in Paris and the charming hotel where I stayed, but I did not feel compelled to jump in a cab and see all the tourist sights. Instead, I found a couple of sidewalk cafes where I could sit and watch the people walk by. I soaked it all in, but I kept thinking about Gérardmer.
Was the JMF Audio Factory tour a big lead-in for a review? Sure, it’s possible. The last time I told Michael Vamos that I wanted to review some JMF Audio, he simply replied “What do you want?” But that’s not my prime objective, believe it or not. As much as I love reviewing high-end gear, I think that’s important only in the context of informing readers of something worthwhile in this hobby. In the past I’ve gotten this excited about speakers, or maybe a turntable or a cartridge. When I say that JMF Audio is my favorite manufacturer of solid-state amplifiers, I’m not implying that tube amplifiers will always be better.
When I say that JMF Audio makes my favorite solid-state amps, I’m saying that these amplifiers transcend their specific category and circuit type and just play music. That’s why I’m so glad I took the JMF Audio factory tour–in a time when reviewers have a fealty toward one big brand after another, I’m quite happy to take the road less traveled with one of the true vanguards of audio.
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