No, we’re not talking about an apathetic or egotistical man whose heart cannot be broken. This piece is about a man who can do wonders with a material – wood – on which he has set his heart on. The truth is Lerio “Jon” Agner is one of the most likable audiophiles in a community where opportunists and pretenders abound. He’s quick to share what he knows to those interested in his works of art.
Jon belongs to a select breed of sculptors. He shapes wood to create gadgets for audio. How he finds the time to pursue his hobby is a triumph in itself, considering that his weekdays are spent on his demanding job as Belle Corp.’s senior manager for project management and external affairs, and his weekends are dedicated to his beloved family. So infectious indeed is Jon’s obsession with audio that even his wife Thelma and their daughters Louise and Annika now share his passion for music and the arts.
As an electronics engineer, Jon knows all too well that shaping audio gadgets from wood demands nano-precision. While others (there are a few of them worldwide) have the luxury of using state-of-the-art cutting and measuring equipment, Jon makes do with available materials. But hey, even without such apparatus, Jon’s accurate brain-and-hand coordination more than makes up for the shortfall. His creations, which are entirely hand-made but unfortunately not for sale, are sufficient proof of his ingenuity.
“Learn-the-way-follow-your-own-way: this has been my philosophy when I started building my own audio system,” Jon says. “I studied the designs and the principles behind the speakers and turntables that I build, to the extent that I had to de-construct them and do a reverse engineering just to know why it works. Basically, that’s how I learned to do it. By knowing the ‘why’, it became easy to answer the ‘how.’”
Thanks to the Internet, much of what Jon has learned through the years was cultivated by Googling his way through intricate and eye-tiring technical data. A dare from Ike Tuazon, a friend and fellow audiophile, led him to build a speaker system using Dai-Ichi drivers. He completed his first creation in six months: a mass loaded tapered quarter wave transmission line (ML-TQWT) enclosure using Martin King’s MathCAD spreadsheet.
His love for vinyl records (which he says is constantly being stoked by his favorite record gurus, Philip Chua and Pic Anonuevo) and that unending itch to create some more convinced him that it was time to make his own tonearm and turntable. Another audiophile, Mandy Mariño — the maestro — (more on him in a succeeding column) gave Jon the confidence to carry on. Jon finally built his own turntable using acrylic platter and a plinth made of wood. And with Mandy lending him a Kamagong tonearm, Jon’s Rosewood Koetsu cartridge found its match. Since then, Jon’s enjoyment of his favorite vinyl records has been heightened by this Kamagong-Rosewood combination.
“At that time I didn’t know anything about wood. But when I heard the results, I knew that there was something in Kamagong that made the Rosewood sing so good,” narrates Jon. Encouraged, it didn’t take long for Jon to build his own Kamagong tonearm. Thus began Jon’s love affair with wood.
According to Jon, “Wood is the choice material in most musical instruments – woodwinds, strings, and sometimes, percussion instruments. Wood has that particular resonance that is quite pleasing to the ears. And unlike other countries, wood can be easily sourced here, and quite easy to work on.”
When Jon started working on his own turntable, he made sure that it would be both pleasing to the eyes and ears. “It has to have a touch of art. It has to look good and play beautiful music at the same time.”
Building a tonearm and a turntable is no picnic; neither is it easy to make them perform as a team (synergy.) “This is where I had to learn the science behind turntable design and geometry. I downloaded the studies made by HG Baerwald and Erik Lofgren on tonearm alignment and turntable geometry, studied the theories and philosophies behind it, and applied it on to my work. But it doesn’t stop there. Turntable science is not just about tonearm geometry and alignment — the cartridge has to match up with the tonearm where it will be mounted.”
Jon’s works, albeit for personal use, attest that the Filipinos are at par with global gadget makers. Before maestro Mandy Mariño trailblazed the way for Filipino audiophiles, it was unthinkable for us to stray from audio philosophies that foreigners had taught us not to tamper with. Obviously and rightly so, they were afraid that we could do it better. And Jon Agner certainly proves that we can.
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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com or http://bikini-bottom.proboards80.com/index.cgi for quick answers to your audio concerns.