Joseph Audio RM-33LE vs DeVore Gibbon 8, my experience.
Never heard either but I really value most anybody's hands on in home side by side comparison over a decent period of time. @uberwaltz's model (not just a brand name) description, likes and dislikes are useful and quite informative - well done. Despite the possibility of room anomaly causing a dramatic difference this is still a well done comparison. |
@ozzy62 , Love an honest assessment. Sorry it didn’t work out, but now you know. It appears the Qualio’s set the bar pretty high. |
Yes. They are really good speakers and do a lot of things right. But their undoing for me was the lower midrange which makes vocals sound real. They have a lot of clarity, but there seemed to be a thinness in male and female vocals that could be a crossover issue. It might not have been so noticeable if my Qualios didn’t excel at that attribute. There was a stark contrast. And the Qualio IQ is pretty damn good at most things. So I’m sticking with them. |
@ozzy62 , Any extended listening sessions yet? |
I finally got around to setting up the speakers yesterday. I must say I'm pretty impressed. They play big and are really easy to listen to. Their biggest strength so far is that they are engaging and I like that. I don't think they will be able to play as loud or quite as dynamic as my Qualios, but an 8" bass driver is only going to move so much air. They remind me of the Verity Audio Parsifal Encores in that they are very refined sounding. But they aren't as polite as the Encores on rock. They have the bite and grit of an electric guitar when needed. So far I really like what I'm hearing. |
@ozzy62 , You have those new speakers up and running yet? |
@ozzy62 may pull the trigger on the QUALIO IQ Ultra next week. |
@ozzy62 , hope you like them as much as I do my Pulsar 2’s. I, too, am curious about how they compare to the IQ’s, a speaker I’ve long admired from a distance. |
@ozzy62 Congrats! Heard nothing but great things about the IQs so would be very interested in your thoughts if you could share. |
Well it looks like they sold locally. The seller was very slow to respond to emails. I made my offer this morning and he replied to my initial inquiry from last night after that email, ignoring my offer. That was 10:00 am this morning. I get an email from him at 7:00 tonight saying he had another offer. Strange for sure, but it’s his prerogative to sell to whomever he prefers, I get that. |
It’s weird that there is almost zero information about these speakers on the internet. No owners manual, no reviews, no specs. I would like to know if they are as hard to drive as John Atkinson said the 33si version was. But I can’t find anything. And it makes me wonder if my 100 wpc SMc audio amp will drive them. |
@ozzy62 , If it has a passive radiator, I don't know where they put it. A bit more info on them: The seller bought them 4 years ago and the asking price was $2975 I don’t know if that’s helpful to you, but knowing he didn’t pay any more than that and maybe less, it seems after 4 years you can whittle some off his asking price if you are getting serious about them, especially for 20+ year old speakers... |
@ozzy62 As I recall that Stereophile review was very positive and may have even earned a Class A rating for whatever that’s worth. I’d expect the LE to be an improvement over the model they reviewed if maybe only marginal. Hard to see going wrong with these IMHO, and if I was in the market at that price level I’d go for them. But that’s me. Only downside is if for some reason you don’t like them, which I would think pretty unlikely, they might be a little tough to sell as they’re a lesser-known model in the lineup. Let us know if you pull the trigger — love to know your thoughts on it. |
@ozzy62 , Be hard to pass up that deal... |
@ozzy62 If they’re the ones currently available for $2300, I’d have a hard time coming up with another near full range speaker better than those for that price. I’m a big JA fan though so admittedly I’m a little biased. |
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! |
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. |
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. |
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This is getting hilarious uberwaltz! But in a fun way. I'm enjoying reading your roller coaster ride with these speakers. Never heard those older Joseph RM 33s. I wonder how they stand against the newer models that I'm so enamored of. I know that the Pulsar monitors were designed from what Jeff learned doing the bigger Pearl 2 speakers. And then apparently it was actually designing the Perspectives where Jeff Joseph felt he advanced things there in the crossover etc to where he wanted to incorporate that in the bigger model, hence the Pearl 3s afterwards. |
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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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 don't know those cables, but I will say based on this review they seem like a much better fit for JA. It'll be very interesting to hear your thoughts on this pairing. https://positive-feedback.com/Issue14/synchestra.htm |
