It all started two decades ago in a silent, echo-free room at the University of Texas at Austin. Jeremy Porter, then a curious engineering student, found himself immersed in UT’s anechoic chamber, chasing sonic anomalies most would miss. That day, what began as a lab experiment turned into a lifelong pursuit of audio perfection. Fast forward to 2020, and JPorter Studios was born an artisan home audio company based in Austin, Texas, built on the belief that music deserves more than reproduction. It deserves resurrection.
At this yearโs AXPONA 2025, JPorter Studios debuted two handcrafted marvels: The Waterloo Micro and The Wellington Tower.
The Waterloo Micro: Where Precision Meets Poetry
Donโt let the size fool youโthe Waterloo Micro is a micro-monolith of sonic purity. A true three-way sealed loudspeaker, itโs been meticulously engineered to deliver full-range fidelity in a footprint no bigger than a stack of vinyls (just 9.25″ x 11″ x 13″, 25 lbs).
Inside, it sings with a 1″ ceramic tweeter, a 6″ ceramic midrange, and a 9″ composite glass fiber subwoofer, all working in absolute harmony. With 90 dB sensitivity, the Micro achieves room-filling clarity, ultra-low distortion, and transients that feel as if the artist just plucked the string.
But what really sets it apart? That heptagonal Baltic birch cabinet. No two panels share dimensions eliminating standing waves and its American walnut, faceted exterior is as acoustically effective as it is visually arresting. The result: crystalline highs, a lush midrange, and bass that defies physics. For $5,995/pair, this is a small speaker with a soul ten times its size.
The Wellington Tower: Redefining the Reference
If the Waterloo is a poem, the Wellington Tower is a symphony. Standing tall as JPorterโs flagship, this 2-way active mass-loaded transmission line is not just a speaker it’s a high-fidelity machine.
Powered by 600 watts of tri-amplified N-core amplification, and featuring an active crossover with 15 cascaded 2nd-order filters per driver, the Wellington achieves 180 dB/octave roll-off surgical precision meets raw power. At the top, a beryllium tweeter handles everything above 1.1 kHz, while dual-opposed 9″ mid/subwoofers take care of the rest with speed and authority.
The cabinet? A 65-inch folded transmission line in an octagonal Baltic birch structure, braced like a fine instrument, with 32-layer 1.5″ thick baffles. No two surfaces echo each other. Internally, itโs a maze a labyrinthine design that extends response down to 15 Hz, effortlessly. And with an integrated isolation system, resonance is practically nonexistent.
Visually, it stuns: finished in a hand-polished, mirror-gloss, 4-stage automotive coat more sculpture than speaker. For $19,985/pair, the Wellington is unapologetically ambitious. It doesn’t just play music. It reveals it.
