Joseph Audio: Perspectives and Pearls

@prof so happy to hear about your experience with 2112.  Side one, in particular, is one of my favorites and I have yet to spin it since I bought the Perpective2s.  I’ll have to move that up in the queue.  I still have so much music to try out with the new speakers.  Very exciting.  

@prof Did they give you any estimate of when you’d get them back? Looking forward to your thoughts. I’ve read the graphene drivers are nice but maybe not exactly transformative on the Pulsars, but in the Perspectives they make a not insignificant difference/improvements.

Following on the Rush theme, I confess I don’t listen to them as much anymore, but I’ll point to “The Rhythm Method” from disc #2 on their Different Stages live album as something big and fun to listen to on a good system that images/soundstages well. It’s basically an 8-minute drum solo by you know who. Cheers.

soix,

Three weeks ago I dropped my Perspectives to my dealer, who was going to get them to the importer, who was going to ship them to Joseph Audio.  I understand they have been shipped Dec 15.  No word or estimate directly from Joseph Audio, but the importer suggested "in the new year" (given it was Christmas season).

Hopefully soon.

This past week got to listen to a new set of Perspectives that maybe had 100 hrs on them. Still trying to wrap my head around what I heard but in a nutshell I was highly impressed. They were remarkably transparent with excellent imaging and soundstage and best quality IMO was its tonality which had this purity on piano and voices that were spot on. They sounded relaxed and natural but were able to rock as well. Dealer put on a track from Yello that was mind blowing! If I recall it was "All tied up" and he played it LOUD and immediately I got goose bumps and knew then I had found what I was looking for. Now to save some $$$ and hope to order a pair in early 2023.

Happy New Year to everyone.

@rsf507 I completely agree with your impressions of the Perspectives.  But here’s the bigger thing — ain’t it a great feeling when you finally hear “The One” that really does it for you?  It’s like an incredible feeling of both excitement and relief that you finally just “know” what you really want.  Some audiophiles spend their whole lives chasing their tails cause they never really found “The One,” so consider yourself blessed.  Congrats!!!

@rsf507 

That's great!

It's always nice when other people seem to hear what I hear.

Yeah, that purity of tone!  I wrote in my other thread about listening to an Emily Barlow track with piano, vocals and other instruments, and the authenticity of the piano tone (and vocals, and drums, and trumpets...) blew my mind.

Happy new year!

Well, I ordered a pair of Perspectives in Rosewood (based on a sample photo from Jeff) and so now the wait is on...

In the interim, I began the process of improving my room. My wife was quite the trooper, helping me move my 100 pound plus ARC 160S and juggling an even heavier rack!  Naturally my Harbeths are sounding better than ever, but since I didn't stretch for the Pearls, I don't "have" to sell them. 

I just pulled out and cleaned (in my degritter) Rickie Lee Jones' first album and it's like when I first bought it all those years ago!

Happy New Years to all. 

Wow, it's a Joseph Perspetive-Festival!

We will all be listening to our new Perspectives pretty soon.

Congrats!  Color me SO JEALOUS!!!  By all means please let us know your impressions once the speakers are broken in.  I have a strong feeling you might end up selling your Harbeths anyway once you have a new, er, Perspective on things.  Heh heh.  I’ve read more than one member here ditching their Harbeths after hearing JA speakers and notta one ditching JA speakers for Harbeth.  Look forward to hearing your thoughts, and it’ll sure be a Happy New Year for you!!!

@prof I recently acquired a new amp by Aavik, it’s their U-280 model. I was very skeptical since it’s class D and up until this point I had yet to meet a class D that I liked. But this amp has totally shook my belief system. It’s like the Pesperctive2s are on steroids now (in a good way). The bass coming out of these speakers is unbelievable. So much so that I ended up selling my REL s510 subs ... not needed anymore!

The level of realism, purity, and transparency is just amazing! It’s hard to believe that these relatively small footprint speakers can sound so big, yet so pure and intimate. Yep, these speakers can scale with more high end equipment without a doubt. We are all lucky to own these perfect little gems!

Good to hear arafiq.

I'm actually borrowing a friend's Bryston 4B3 again to swap from my CJ Premier 12 tube monoblocks.  I'd tried it before with my tube pre-amp - liked some things but definitely preferred my Premier 12s.  However I'm curious to try all solid state, so this time I'll use my Benchmark LA4 pre-amp.

Aaron from Now Listen Here came by my house earlier this week and was a huge help with regard to placement and toe in.  It was a great visit and I am very appreciative.  He also brought a set of Transparent Ultra speaker cables. They definitely were a step up from my Silversmith Fidelium.  So, on the one hand, my system sounds better than it ever has due to Aaron’s good ears and help.  And, on the other hand, I’m left with a still very clear aural memory of the better sound I can have if I pony up the $$$.  Never ending. 

To the OP.....if you have a particular finish option you are looking for picture wise, let me know.  I try to keep pics of all finishes on hand and would be happy to forward them to you if I have them (I'm a Joseph dealer as an FYI).

In regards to cabling, Jeff internal wires with Cardas.  So he's a big Cardas fan, and they do tend to work quite well with the Pulsar/Perspective/Pearls.  I typically run my demo units with Kimber and Tellurium Q and those are good matches.  I don't personally find the Josephs to be to fussy in regards to cable matching.

I was at my dealer yesterday picking up my upgraded Perspectives (breaking in now).

They were setting up the Pearls.  OMG are those gorgeous looking speakers! The construction and finish are just impeccable and luxurious.  And they are such a modest size for a flag-ship speaker.

I didn't stick around to hear them: the last thing I'd want to do is hear the Pearls after having spent a bunch of money upgrading my Perspectives. :-)

Lol prof.  Don’t blame you.   How exciting though.  Looking forward to hearing your listening impressions!

I haven't put the Perspectives back in to my system again, but my impression upon unboxing was once again: man what beautiful speakers.  They just look so high end and high class.   I think the graphene drivers are a little darker too.  (Which I would like.  I'm not a fan of seeing most speaker drivers, but the Joseph's are something of an exception.  I find the SEAS drivers with the copper phase plug, and the way it ties in with the copper surround on the Joseph tweeter, to look really nice.  Still,  I dim the lights when listening and prefer the drivers to disappear from view when listening.

@prof it's been almost 5 days since you unpacked your updated Prospectives so what's the verdict? 

@rsf507 

I broke in the Perspectives in a different room for a few days, hooked up to a little radio receiver, wired out of phase playing dance music.   So I've only had them up and running in my system since Monday.  I plan to write about them in my "contemplating Devore" thread.   I haven't got a full handle on them yet, still adjusting things, but so far...promising.

I have had my perspectives up and running for a few weeks now and will be posting my impressions over the weekend. After a few weeks, I just made some cabling changes, and will also comment on that as well. 
I ended up with the Rosewood finish and am really thrilled with how they look. I can also say that I am hearing all sorts of new details in my reference recordings and am quite sure that there is even more improvement ahead as the hours increase. 
One thing of note is that I am likely going to bi-wire them once I finalize my cable decisions. Is anyone else on this thread doing this?
More to follow, but wanted to share my update!

@thr1961 I have spoken to Jeff Joseph about biwiring as I have a pair of Pulsars (v1). Jeff said that he really hears no difference with biwiring, and suggested using regular cables with a quality set of jumpers (he seems to like Cardas).

Makes no sense why Mr Joseph would add 2 sets of binding posts if it makes no difference. It's an added expense for the manufacturer and a larger expense for the customer. 

It makes sense from an economic standpoint.  There have been speaker manufacturers who don't believe biwiring makes a difference, but they are selling to an audiophile community in which many think it does, and demand speakers that can be bi-wired.  So...sell 'em what they want.

One of my friends has heard the Pearls and $32K KMD 700R’s and liked the KMD 700R’s more.. was more musical engaging more real sounding

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtrziEh2S6s

Is the KMD 700R using the same Seas driver?  I know Joseph Audio has them built  to specs, so manufacturers may have them “tweaked.”  Your friend must be single because the KMD 700Rs probably have the lowest WAF in the entire universe of speakers. 

@markalarsen : Agreed. They are butt ugly..

@markalarsen @yoby ++1