I think I am now deeply in love with the Joseph’s! I purchased two 13 ft lengths of Western Electric 10g bare speaker cable and made up two very nice looking cables with spade ends and a nice braided outer cover.
They sound absolutely stunning, dead neutral, precise, tight, no hint of the top end fizz heard with the Nordost cables. Vocals have taken on a complete new life and these have truly moved into the next dimension!
Really, really happy right now.
Still may tinker with a tube amp down the road but for now it’s just enjoy the music and happy holidays! |
Really funny you should say that Bjesien, I am looking at a VAC Avatar right now. Watch this space..... |
Prof I did indeed read through it. Similar journey although I have not documented ALL the previous speaker trials and tribulations..... Take way too long for me.
Looks like I am back to a good start though with both speakers impressing me very much depending on cabling.
So both are still staying for now.
Now to just try and buy the right cables for the Joseph's first time hopefully.
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Quantum tunnel? More like carpal tunnel after all the twisting ... Lol. But yes maybe a fancy outer sleeve,bit of heat shrink on the ends and some Furutech ends and let the 💵 start rolling in! 😝😝😝 |
Jones. Seriously? There is nothing outright wrong with Nordost cables, they just did not work for these speakers from this amp, thats all. I still have full loom of Nordost Heimdall interconnect in play and they will not be removed anytime soon. |
Prof. Glad you are amused! Wish I had been along the journey,more depressed than anything and just that feeling that I must be doing something wrong! Have been listening solid for couple hours now and do not feel irritated by the top end or out of balance feel that was ever present earlier.
Time to relax and take deep breaths. |
Well good job I am a stubborn SOB! Finally have the Joseph’s sounding like I expected from day one. Went back to square one on speaker setup and changed them to woofer in. Hardly any toe in now even though EVERY speaker in this room has sounded best with quite a bit of toe in. And still the real deal changer was speaker cables, you would laugh if you could see what they are hooked up with now.
Home brewed 101. I have lots of cable and wire acquired over the years from my real job in heavy industrial machinery installations. So I twisted up 2 pairs of 16/14 gauge from wire we use for 460v motor wiring and threw those in just bare ends. Now that fabled Joseph neutrality is shining through loud and clear. At last they actually sound better than the Gibbons! Of course what I am going to do for final speaker cable I have no idea yet but this suggests nearly pure copper is the key. |
No worries Prof, I can confuse myself at times...lol
So I did put the Josephs into play with the new cables and...…
Underwhelmed to say the least.
There may have been a slight improvement but not to the extent I perceived with the Gibbons, very odd indeed.
Do not get me wrong the Josephs are darn good, it is just that the Gibbons are better! In my system to my ears.
And that is about all one can state...….
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Prof. No I swapped the cables while the Gibbons were still in place and found a huge improvement with them over what I was already very happy with. |
Have not got round to swapping speakers back around but I did fit the Luminous cables in place of the Nordost while the Gibbons are in play.
To ANYBODY out there who is still of the mind that speaker cables do NOT make any difference should come over to my house and LISTEN! Much deeper tighter bass, vocal definition and presentation much more profound, bigger projected soundstage.
In other words a huge change for the better in SQ. May get round to speaker swap tonight although right now I am just really enjoying the music. But I have a very good feeling so far. |
I am starting to think the Nordost may not be ideal.
Going from sublime to excessive.
A friend is loaning me a pair of cables on Sunday to test out the theory.
These are overkill but who am I to say no?
Cable is "Luminous SYNCHESTRA SIGNATURE
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Cannot help but be honest, nothing to hide here.All this thread really says right now is that in my system to my ears I prefer the sound of the Gibbons.Not quite the same as they "spanked" the Josephs ... lolBut I get your drift. All I need try next I think is some copper based cables....
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Very wise, indeed. Especially if you have alternate cables on hand.... Lol I do not which is why I was trying to get opinions first BEFORE spending even more money! |
Just going to throw this out there and ask for opinions as it went through my mind last night.
As the Joseph’s appear to be displaying symptoms in my system at odds with most reviews I read I looked at possible causes beside just my room, ears etc.
Does anybody think that a change of speaker cable could have a significant impact on taking some of the upper end tizz and tightening everything up at lower spl?
Currently using Nordost Red Dawn and I have read many reports of Nordost being somewhat lean and etched.
Possibly solid copper or high copper mix?
Rather than just give up on these speakers I think it would be wise to investigate all possibilities.
What do you think? |
Prof From everything I had read I was truly not expecting this at all. I was thinking these would be my final speakers! Well I could but dream!
Not one review pointed to an excess of treble energy or recessed depth at lower volumes. But we all know each system is independent and you do not always get the synergy you hoped for or that others achieve. A real shame because as furniture they are a work of art next to the Gibbons. |
I guess one major deciding factor was that I was just not enjoying listening to music through the Joseph's. No I do not think it is because they are more ruthlessly revealing than the Gibbons. The upper treble really irritated me and as,most rock music has a lot cymbal action this got tiresome.
The Gibbons are just so naturally open and expansive that they are a joy to listen to and when I switched them back in I almost just breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Now I just need sell them.... Lol |
I truly think I am enamoured with the Gibbons so it is likely a higher up the food chain model should be the way to go. However the Joseph's will have to be sold first before ANYTHING else can be considered. |
Hahah Blanding, especially anywhere near 295 is worst rd in Jax area! I always take 17 instead! |
@soix
Thank you I just sat down to listen to another favourite album, a Wishbone Ash cut and I felt completely relaxed so yes it is the right decision.
I think these Gibbons are going to be here for quite some time!
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I tried, I really, really tried honest I did.
But much as I truly wanted to like the Joseph’s they are the loser in this match up. Biggest two issues for me.
Having to crank the volume before they truly rock out. But probably larger than that is the sibilance from the tweeters. While the top end is precise it just has too much sizzle for my ears. While a tube amp might tame them down that is not what I am about to do.
So the Gibbons are back in likely for quite some time.
Listening to one of my "test" albums today made the final decision as I know this album is not recorded "hot" but it definitely sounded like it through the Joseph’s and believe it or not the bass seemed less although that is likely just because it appears to sound hot.
Anybody want a pair of Joseph RM33LE? |
Prof
I have not put the Gibbons back in the system since the changes made above but plan to do so later today after completing some of the "honeydew" list!
I listened to the Josephs until late last night at fairly low levels, high 60 to low 70db range and felt that everything sounded quite in balance. I think with these being a fair bit taller than the Gibbons, they needed the rake down at the front to get the mids and tweeter dispersion more accurately aligned with my ears in my slumped down listening position on my large squishy sofa.
So today I plan to crank back to my original spl level of 80db on average and play same albums from previous sessions on both and take mental notes.
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Once again I surprise myself by how much a small change can impact SQ in a disproportionate way.
I have the Joseph's in play right now and whilst looking them over carefully it became apparent that they were tilted back ever so slightly, maybe 1 to 1.5 degrees I would say.
Nothing to lose I adjusted the spikes until by my el cheapo level they were pretty close to dead nuts on.
This had an immediate effect on the vocal presentation being more palpable and fleshed out.
Hmm, remember a pair of Focals that preferred being tilted down at the front slightly so thought I would adjust until I had just a slight rake.
Looks like i hit the jackpot. I am listening right now at about 70db and I feel they are lacking nothing in presence, tonal balance or air. Allison Moyet could be in the room with me.
It's a funny old world! |
Yes the Gibbons are very efficient. However my Ayre ax7e although "only" 65wpc should have no difficulty driving the Joseph's too. I wonder what they would have sounded like with my old sadly departed BAT VK600SE monster at 300wpc. That had an iron grip on any speaker.
It's all part of the journey.
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Guys, it’s more than a curse, it’s a sick addiction ... Lol.
Maybe I was a bit over critical of the Joseph’s lower spl performance. I think if I did not have the Gibbons here to compare I may not have been as struck by it.
Listening right now to the Joseph’s on my next adventure... A vintage Denon DD table cw Infinity Black Widow arm and dl103d cart... It literally arrived 1 hour ago, got to love FedEx sat delivery!
Impression here is that now the vocals are more pronounced and bass has receded a little, slightly better balance . But I feel the dl103d is a poor match on this arm( it came with it) and a good vintage mm cart will do better still.
We will see because Prof I agree that having to play loud to get the SQ I like is not the way I want to go. The Gibbons may just end up beating out the Joseph’s after all.
To be continued! |