Joseph Audio Perspective next steps

I still own JA Perspectives (and hope to upgrade).  Love them.  But I switch between the JA's and my Thiel 2.7s, and enjoy both.  The Thiels in my system are a bit more full and rich from top to bottom with more dense imaging, the Josephs more refined tonally and punchier in the bass.   If I ever moved on it would probably to try something like the Devore O/96 - a totally different sound.   But then, I like trying different speakers.  I'm still happy with my Perspectives.

Why are you asking?  You have Perspectives and have the itch to move on, I presume?

Yes, owned them since 2014 and still love them. Don't have a strong itch but if there was a speaker I identify as an improvement (with my system) that would be a definite step up [within reasonable budget constraints] I might consider making the jump. Aesthetics matter as well.

Attended several shows before (and after) the JAP purchase and just always gravitate back to the Perspective. 

Thanks for your feedback Prof.

jm1221,

No prob.

Have you thought of upgrading them to the graphene version?

Also, is there any area of performance you find wanting in the Perspectives?  I auditioned a ton of speakers before settling on the Perspectives and perhaps I can point towards some speakers that have different qualities.

+1  Upgrade to Graphene is the obvious move.

Prof & 2LE:
Yes, am considering the P2 upgrade path.  Have you heard the P2?  Know any up-graders? Their take/perspective? (no pun :)    

I did have a little audition of the P2 graphene model at my dealers.  Unfortunately they were set up too close to the back wall so the bass was overblown, which was a bummer, as that apparently is where the new version is improved most.

Aside from that, I did *think* I apprehended an even more sophisticated midrange/high end than the original perspectives, maybe a bit more clarity too.   But hard to truly tell under the circumstances.

One person in the long JA Perspective Graphene thread here upgraded his Perspectives to the graphene (or traded up) and was completely thrilled.  Said the 1s were great, but the 2s are true destination speakers.

I can't afford under current circumstances to have mine upgraded, but I plan to when I can.

A dealer I am in touch with told me that the Perspective 2's would be too small for my listening room, which is 26 x 15 x 8. I cannot see my way to the Pearls.

What do others think about this comment by the dealer? I suspect they just don't have the Perspectives and are trying to up-sell me or make me go away.

@prof Any thoughts?

@hilde45 I have a dedicated listening room close to your size 16 x 28 x 12 and use the Perspective2's with great success. They fill the space no problem and I tend to listen on the loud side (says my better half). I do listen mostly to vinyl and like jazz, electronic and 60's, 70's and 80's did I say I listen LOUD! :-) 

(JA dealer disclaimer)

@hilde45 I think that’s utter crap.  If you’ve ever heard the Perspectives you know that just like with the Pulsars they punch way above their weight ant the problem is usually the room is to small.  Maybe @goldprintaudio can chime in as I think he’s a JA dealer.

@soix @sksos 

Thanks for chiming in. This dealer [I'll omit their name and place of business] said that he didn't think the Perspective2's were "a good choice for your large room." I asked why and told him that Jeff Joseph himself (in an email to me) had said they would be fine. He replied, "Every company thinks all their equipment will work fine. Sometimes they are wrong. It's a very fine very small speaker. Very small."

I don't see my room as particularly large nor the Perspectives as particularly small. This sounds to me like disinformation. I have tried the Ascend towers, the Focal 936, the Martin Logan Motion 60's in this room and they filled the room with sound. 

My sense is that this dealer is trying to either up-sell me or just discourage me from bothering him.

@hilde45 

My opinion, or perhaps hunch, cuts a middle ground between what your dealer is saying and others here.   I can see his point, and that of folks like sksos.

My room is 13' x 15' with a wide opening to the hallway.  The Perspectives certainly have no problem filling that room.  They sound enveloping and dynamic.

HOWEVER....they are small loudspeakers for a floorstander.  Physic is physics.

And I do hear the limitations sometimes.   Mostly that occurs when I have the Perspectives on playing loud while I'm listening from outside the room, or just down the hall from the perspective (9 feet) in my computer room which is open to the hall.  In those cases it feels like I can hear the limits of the impact from the Perspectives compared to my Thiel 2.7 speakers.  The Thiels are rated to 35Hz like the Perspectives, but the Thiels are a 3 way with an 8 inch woofer.  The Thiels sound more solid, authoritative and "wall shaking" when cranked.  The Perspectives less so, almost a bit bass shy.  That mostly changes as soon as I walk in the listening room and sit down.  Then the Perspectives mostly make up for this and the bass is very punchy from the listening seat.  In fact in one way more punchy than the Thiels...the Perspectives bass has a warmth that reaches out to the seating position so that I can feel the rhythm.  Bass on the Thiels tends to sit back a bit more in the mix.  Yet the bass can also seem a bit more solid on the Thiels, sometimes a bit more convincing when asked to really produce a sense of power like heavy Rock, big orchestral etc.

How this would all translate in to a big room?  I guess for one thing it would depend on your seating distance.  Before I bought the Perspectives I demoed them a few times at my dealer, and that  was in an open show room.  Not super wide - I'd guess maybe 15' wide?  But very long and open...I dunno maybe 40 feet?  I listened to the Perspectives both on the short and long walls of that room and never felt wanting for bass.

BUT...I do think your dealer has a point that the Perspectives are a smaller floor standing speaker and no doubt other larger speakers in the price range could offer more scale and impact.

Ultimately when someone is saying something like the speaker is "too small" for a room that rests on a personal subjective criteria.   It's like asking "is X speaker satisfying for rock?"  Well, one person may find it is, another won't.  So will the Perspectives be satisfying in a big room?  Maybe not for your dealer, but for you yes.

 

 

I have perspective 2's in a large room, 15 x 30, and they work, but yes, scale and bass impact is reduced and not going to match a larger speaker with more/bigger drivers moving more air.  I do miss this sometimes.  I will be adding spatial audio speakers for a completely deferent sound (open baffle) and to get the scale back (have owned spatials before so I know what they are, and I like them). I will either sell or keep the perspectives for an alternative.  They are great speakers, do most everything right, a proven design that is a joy to own and listen to, zero fatigue. I don't think it gets much better than this in a dynamic, box speaker. By the way, tried them with a sub and didn't like it, couldn't make them work well, but I've never been able to make a sub work and have given up on them.

I think a 26x15' room is large - sound-wise, for how speaker companies design and position figuratively and literally their offerings. Case in point, size of listening rooms at my local dealers are never bigger than 20x12. But of course that may not be intentional.

 

 

I should mention that I have 3 subs.

It will really ultimately come down to just how much low end info you want.  My demo area is larger than your room, and I have no issues making Perspectives work great.  Of course as mentioned, the Perspective is really more of a large mid size speaker, so the overall bass impact will not be quite as much as a larger speaker with larger drivers.
All in all, the Perspectives are fantastic speakers, and likely would do well in your room.  Add a sub or two if you want/need the really low stuff.

Taylor

www.goldprintaudio.com  (Joseph dealer)

Joseph Audio Perspective2 fan. They are as good as I have heard, but I use a 15” sub with them. 18’ x 35’ x 10’ room with no problem. Used them in a similarly sized room without a sub; no problem. Just returned from AXPONA.  The Perspectives are staying for life. 

Bel Canto Black EX. Add IsoAcoustic Giga 2.