Morel Factory Tour
And Morel SoundSpot SA-2 And
SoundSub IS-9A Subwoofer

Article By Ian White

  Every now and then I let down my cautious "Flanderesque" guard and do something that sends my entire circle of family and friends into a total panic. My announcement at the beginning of June that I was going to Israel for ten days to look for a new job and conduct a factory tour of Israel's only audio manufacturer led to the expected barrage of phone calls from worried relatives demanding to know why I had to go at this very moment with bombs going off. Those closest to me wanted to know if I had finally received a "manila" envelope from "you know who" and was using the audio thing as a clever form of deception.

As much as I would enjoy working for the Mossad, I really did travel to Israel to spend some time with the people at Morel, tour their factory, watch how they make their drivers and loudspeakers, and hike across the Golan Heights. The ten days were relatively quiet and I left the rather troubled region with a renewed sense of optimism that life certainly does go on, even flourish, under the most difficult of circumstances.

The other thing that I learned was how spoiled we are on this side of the pond. North Americans are obsessed with driving larger cars, owning larger homes, watching enormous televisions, listening to bigger speakers, while the rest of the world has to deal with the issue of "space". Please throw my hat in with the "bigger" crowd, but if one spends enough time in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, you do realize rather quickly that most people do not have the luxury of space that we take for granted here. When I visited my friends in Tel Aviv, I was amazed at the size of their apartments and began to wonder what the hell I was going to do with all of my stuff if I moved.

I have started listening to a lot of in-wall speakers because my future living arrangements may demand such a compromise, but with few exceptions, I have come away less than impressed. The Morel Harmony series were very good when I had the chance to sample them in Ness Ziona, but without my own electronics it was next to impossible to formulate a really informed opinion of them. 

Another option for those of us who may not have a lot of room is an on-wall speaker. Morel is only one of a number of companies such as MartinLogan, Magnepan, Gallo, Spendor, and B&W who are offering high-end speakers that are designed to save space, capitalize on the growth of multi-channel applications, and not sound like bloated bass monkeys due to the inherent bass reinforcement that a wall provides. Not only is it difficult to build a wall-mounted speaker that doesn't sound like a boom box, it is rather expensive. The brand new Spendor SR5s are currently wall-mounted in my living room and I hope to report on their performance in the October issue.

Morel has been manufacturing speaker drivers and loudspeakers for more than twenty-five years, and over that time it has convinced a lot of audiophiles and loudspeaker manufacturers that it certainly knows how to build a really beautiful and reliable product. Morel's line of tweeters, midrange drivers, and woofers are used by some of the best companies around including Merlin, Eggleston, and Rega, and it would not be a stretch to say that a few of us may have enjoyed a Morel driver over the years while cruising around in our car. Their customer base is exceptionally strong in Asia, Europe, and sections of the Middle East, and their current goal is to strengthen their North American sales with new products designed for in-wall applications, wall-mounted speakers, and the growing multi-channel market.

In Part II (to be posted in Enjoy the Music.com™'s mid-month update on September 15^th, 2003) of my report, we will take an exclusive look inside Morel's factory in Ness Ziona, and I will report on the sound of their SA-2 loudspeaker and IS-9A subwoofer in both two-channel and multi-channel applications. If you are in the market for a small set of loudspeakers due to space issues, but don't want to skimp on quality and may want to expand from two-channel to multi-channel, come back on the 15^th to find out just how good "small" can be.

Morel Co. Ltd
P.O. Box 712
Ness Ziona, 70400
Israel

Voice: +972 (8) 9301161
Fax: +972 (8) 9301312
E-mail: info@morel.co.il
Website: http://www.morel.co.il