Rib61
Yes it is
Yes it is
New Joseph Audio Pulsar Graphene 2
Just wanted to update my prior thread where this topic may have gotten lost. As many of you may know by now, Joseph Audio has come out with the new Pulsar Graphene 2. This new iteration of the venerable Pulsars has a graphene coated magnesium midrange-woofer cone, and the drive motor, suspension system, etc., have been revamped. From what I have been told, the upgrade is pretty significant ... the sound is fuller and has greater ease, yet is very resolved. Jeff Joseph advises that an upgrade path will be available for existing owners of the Pulsars, too. Also, note that the price quoted in the Soundstage piece was in Canadian dollars ... Jeff informs me that the price in USD is $8,999 per pair. I am eager to hear the new Pulsars.
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Riaa willing to bet my house is worth more than yours, please let us know where in NJ you live? Dude your Jersey City comments couldn’t be more wrong. Do the research https://jerseydigs.com/99-hudson-luxury-condo-sales-strong-jersey-city/ Jersey City is valuable because of the location but also because it has great access to all parts of NJ and the Airport, it also has historical sights, and buildable land. As per comparing Jersey City to Elizabeth and other parts of NJ you are way out of line, Jersey City is going through a major renaissance because it is a great place to live with high end restaurants like Talde, the Hutton and many, many others, new nightclubs are opening up, new Beerhalls and pubs, one of the best public High Schools is in Jersey City, as well as critically acclaimed culinary programs and film programs with a huge arts community and new galleries sprouting up. As Jersey City is the largest City in NJ there aren't many places we wouldn't want to go, however, with any city there are still bad parts, the entire city is gentrifying super quickly now.
We did find that Coda CSib to sound even better than the Hegel and Luxman gear we were selling at the time. We stopped selling Coda for a while as they are upgrading their integrated with a new digital card and we wanted to get the latest one. There have been others here who love the Persona line check out those posts, there are many fans and detractors of any and every line of products on audiogon. A speaker which offers tremendous resolution and is a bit finicky is going to be a polarizing product the same way that Vandersteen and Harbeth are loved because they invariably sound musical while others find them recessed and rolled off. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Rib61, couldn't disagree with you more. Synergy is not assembling a system where you have similar attributes it is combining a system whose parts differ to balance out the whole. For example if you have very warm speakers, a warm sounding amp, a warm sounding source and cables you get mud. Conversely a bright set of speakers, a bright or neutral amp, and a detailed source and cabling will equal bright hard and overly analytical. We strive to balance a system so we usually use a warmer amp with the Paradigms, such as a tube amp or warmer solid state, which is Naim, or Micromega or T+A. Same with cabling add AQ or Nordost and you are going to have super bright top end with the Personas not going to sound good, we use Wireworld which is a bit warmer then the Nordost or Wireworlds we know because we sold both. Add a set of Isoacoustics footers and The Little 3F sound like a $20k set of speakers. Also you can add a good subwoofer to the 3F and the combined sound will be anything but thin or overly clinical. Too many people like systems which don't sound anything like real music. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
A.T. Im from New Jersey Einstein. Only reason values are high in Jersey City is because of NYC being so close by. If you put lipstick on a pig its still a pig and thats Jersey City...And Newark/Elizabeth...one big toxic waste dump. I bet you don't walk the streets at night in Jersey City pal. Do you lure people in by offering a free meal with you at the infamous Mrs America Diner?? The comments made about the 3F Speakers came from real people on sites like Audiogon/Audio Shark/Audio Aficionado etc. Not people who get paid to have the brands advertise in their magazines. Thats about as meaningful and trustworthy as you who only blow the horns of the brands you carry. Bet you didn't trash Luxman and others when you were carrying their line. You only trash them after they are taken away from you and how everything you now carry is SOOOO much better. Your a joke and incredibly insincere and transparent. You probably got your "savvy" from working at a CRAZY EDDIE's store back in the day. |
@audiotroy ... With all due respect, to me, synergy in audio concerns compiling a system having similar sonic attributes between components. It’s a challenge, but is very doable, and it sounds great when achieved. This differs markedly from collecting a hodgepodge of components having divergent sonic attributes, and then attempting to remediate the problem (e.g., a shrill sounding system) by using cables as tone controls. While I wasn’t at AXPONA this year, I think your comment concerning a warmer sound admits or implies that the pairing of components with the Personas lacked synergy. I have heard the Personas previously and have found them to be on the clinical side. Certainly, those who enjoy a hyper-neutral or thin sound might find them acceptable. I do not. That doesn’t make them bad speakers, they’re just not my cup of tea. |
These pulsar speakers are simply overpriced. The fact that there are even more expensive speakers does not make the pulsars a bargain it just means those other speakers are even more overpriced. There is only so much good sound you can get out of a box with a woofer and tweeter in it. Throwing more money at it will not change that. As mentioned, companies charge multiple times the cost of the speaker to stay in business. Most of the money you pay is not being spent on the parts. We are being robbed All this hogwash about how speaker design requires expertise is false. Every 2way speaker designed by the so called experts comes out sounding different. If they were all experts youd expect a convergence of the end result. I've heard horrible things being said about speakers made by highly reputable companies like B&W. The fact that its designed by a professional doesnt guarantee anything. The only way to be truly happy is have a speaker custom built to the highest specifications and involve the customer in the design process. |
Riaa lets get some facts straight, sorry couldn’t think of the name of the Avante Gardes, sorry we all have our brain fart moments, however used to sell the speakers, just didn’t take the time to look up the brand as everyone knows the speakers we were discussing. As per Jersey City being like Camden or Trenton, here is some news for you, Jersey City is the fastest growing city in the Northeast with real estate pricing going insane. What part of the country do you like in? As per being mugged doubtful, but Jersey City is still a large City so anything is possible, we have had a customer drive up to our shop in his McLaren and it was totally safe. Our shop is in a huge tree lined street in the old mechant part of Jersey City Heights. Houses here sell for $800k to $1.5 million so hardly a bad part of town. Our median housing pricing is $518k and 780 foot condos are going for over $600k. Every major builder is building high rise condos buildings here where prices go in the millions. As per the Persona 3F sounding Shrill neither of these reviews said anything like that: https://www.stereophile.com/content/paradigm-persona-3f-loudspeakers-anthem-str-integrated-amplifier Paradigm / AnthemParadigm Persona 3F, Persona SUB, and Anthem STR Integrated Amplifier (Room 374) Perhaps one of the most exciting demonstrations at AXPONA 2019, between Paradigm’s Persona Series and Anthem’s STR Series, the product lines sampled in this room have garnered a dozen product of the year awards—and for good reasons. The Persona speaker’s beryllium mid-range and tweeter offer up audio magic with their ability to render a soundstage with extraordinary nuance. The sturdy Persona SUB, with six 8-inch woofers and 3400 Watts (peak) of power on tap, provides plenty of punch at remarkably low-frequencies down to 12Hz. Anthem’s STR Integrated Amplifier, being used with music streaming from an Aurender A100 music server, does a remarkable job (with its built-in Anthem Room Correction system) at integrating the speakers and subwoofer within the challenging hotel room while managing to deliver a demonstration with tons of dynamic energy and rich detail. Last point do you honestly think that a pair of Persona 5F at $17k being driven by $50k worth of Jeff Rolwand gear, a Doshi Phonostage a $25k Vpi Avenger and a $20k open real tape deck wouldn’t sound good? The point we were making was how good the Persona 3f were sounding with a real world priced $4,500.00 Amp and dac combo, yes that is $14,500 for the speakers and the electronics, vs $50k Rowland Stack plus $15k speakers. Where the Persona 3F/Anthem Room had a few pairing issues that would exacerbate the highs we would have made a few changes, and this system would have sounded even better. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealers |
No Rib61 it is called synergy. Imagine you are building a race car from scratch, you can choose the engine, the transmission, the tires, wheels, the braking systems. Now imagine you have a competitive team also building the same kind of car now imagine you have two identically skilled drivers. One team wins the other loses. Why? Because the car which all the parts work better in unison means that the particular car will work better and win the race. Whenever you are building a system which has moving parts and those parts have different sonic attributes then you will produce different sound. One pair of speakers on a tube amplifier will sound different on a solid state amplifier. One set of cables may be brighter than another one could roll off the highs and sound duller. The concept of cables influencing sound is simple cables can act like a capacitor and thus alter frequencies. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
@audiotroy A troll criticizes speakers he does not sell - the Pulsar2 and the Perspective2 - and then praises the Personas he does sell, an opinion with a strong financial bias. You are a troll seeking free advertising on this forum. Your suggestion that that you have made me unhappy contains a false assumption, that your financially biased opinion means anything to me. It does not. You do not have the ability to make me happy or unhappy, given my indifference. |
A.T. didnt even know the name of AVANTE GARDE in his initial post about AXPONA. Probably the first dealer I have run across that never heard of them. Then again...anybody that would set up shop in Jersey City which is the armpit of NJ obviously has questionable judgment and business sense. Has to come on Audiogon and do the used car salesman sales pitch because there isn't enough foot traffic. Would you risk getting mugged just to check out some speakers? Don't forget to wear your Kevlar. Make sure you don't miss future store openings in Camden, Trenton, Patterson and Perth Amboy As for the 3F Persona's he is the only person from Axpona that says they sounded good. The most often used term I have read is "Shrill". Hardly a positive endorsement. |
"We could have gotten better sound with warmer cables (sic) AQ does not a good match make with these components." There ya have it. That appears to be an admission that tone controls are required for those particular high priced components. Audio equipment is like a spouse or significant other ... you take them as you find them, and don’t try to change them. |
Dream on marklarsen many of our posts have nothing to do with products we sell. You seem hurt is it because you own a speaker that we didnt proclaim was amazing? Willing to bet you wouldnt be so negative if we thought they were amazing. Kenjit dream on cables are hardily a scam way too many people hear the difference and certain cables will bring out more or less treble and bass. |
audiotroy, I don't begrudge your opinion about the Perspectives, or the Paradigm speakers at all. If the Paradigms sound better to you, even with cheaper amps, awesome! I found the Paradigm Personas to be a really excellent speaker. But in the same vein of comparing gear combinations: I have an old pair of Thiel 02 speakers, which cost just a few hundred bucks circa early 80s, and hooked up to a lil old Eico HF81, that meager combo gives me more listening pleasure than I got from the Paradigms. Horses for courses... (I'm not saying that sound is purely subjective of course - we could still talk in more objective terms about which speaker is more full range, has higher resolution, different dispersion, smoother frequency response etc.But when it comes to personal evaluations, what "beats" some other gear is pretty subjective). |
what audiophiles hear can certainly be fictional in some cases. Consider the high end cable scam thats been going on for many years. No evidence that cables make any difference and no plausible explanation why they would. Despite that, audiophiles will happily rationalise spending thousands on cables. Audiotroy wrote: We could have gotten better sound with warmer cables AQ does not a good match make with these components. Even dealers cannot fail to be duped to believe such hogwash. A dealer i recently visited told me that there was not enough bass because he was using the wrong speaker cables. There should be laws to protect consumers from such hogwash. |
Sciencecop first many people commented favorably on the Personas which were being driven by a $4k integrated amp vs a huge stack of much more expensive Rowland gear on the Perspectives willing to beat the gear alone cost $50k driving a $14k speaker not a realistic package now is it? The 3F sounded really impressive considering the price of $14k for botb the speakers and electronics. We could have gotten better sound with warmer cables AQ does not a good match make with these components. Lets see Troll eh? We mentioned many rooms which sounded excellent with products we dont seIl including Wilson audio, Alta, Avante Garde, Golden Ear, Focal to name a few. So kind of looks like we call em like we hear em. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Like I said, your descriptions are fictional at best. No correlation to how these speakers actually sound, only to how YOU hear them.Sciencecop reminds me of someone else that was posting up until recently-someone who had relatively few posts and had never started a discussion but instead would just pop in and write extremely offensive put-downs that defied common sense. I suspect they are one and the same person. "No correlation to how these speakers actually sound". That is rich. Following your [lack of] logic, how does anyone know how they actually sound? "Fictional at best" is making the most hyperbolic statement one could possibly make squared. Utter pablum not worthy of further response. |
Like I said, your descriptions are fictional at best. No correlation to how these speakers actually sound, only to how YOU hear them. Thanks for one of the more hilarious posts of recent memory. Of course that’s how the speakers SOUNDED to me. But if you want to say that my hearing is so eccentric or my acuity regarding sound is so poor as to produce useless or inaccurate descriptions of how those speakers sounded in the auditions, there’s more evidence in that thread against your claim, than you have for it.The majority of people who commented praised the accuracy of my descriptions based on comparing it to their own experience. My job involves recording and manipulating sound all day long, constantly listening for similarities literally between the "air" of a room, the timbre of one vocalisation vs another, and minutely adjusting sonic parameters constantly to produce large or minute differences, or make two disparate noises sound the same. If my perception of sound were as unreliable as you imply, I literally could not have worked in my field for 30 years. But, hey, from your computer chair....someone has pronounced a less than happy opinion upon hearing a Magico speaker, the Bat Signal went up....time to swoosh in and diss that person. It’s a tired act, science"cop." |
I have a long thread detailing the sound I heard from many speakers, including particularly detailed descriptions of Joseph and Devore (and Magico A3 btw) speakers that I've auditioned.Like I said, your descriptions are fictional at best. No correlation to how these speakers actually sound, only to how YOU hear them. |
Keep in mind that to many the sound they are “hearing” is entirely in their heads. No relationship, whatsoever, to the way some components actually sound. Beware of judgments like “push my buttons“ or “foot tapping” or even the holy word “musicality”. If people can only describe their “feeling” when they listen, there is zero value to their input. Nice. While I have some agreement with that, as your comment was clearly aimed at my post.... I was quite obviously not attempting to "review" any of those speakers, but making a particular point. I have a long thread detailing the sound I heard from many speakers, including particularly detailed descriptions of Joseph and Devore (and Magico A3 btw) speakers that I've auditioned. Spoiler: The Magico A3 speakers also didn't push my buttons ;-) |
Keep in mind that to many the sound they are “hearing” is entirely in their heads. No relationship, whatsoever, to the way some components actually sound. Beware of judgments like “push my buttons“ or “foot tapping” or even the holy word “musicality”. If people can only describe their “feeling” when they listen, there is zero value to their input. |
Fwiw, the new lsa monitors are better then the joseph audio pulsars. **pssst: In your opinion. I haven't heard them so don't have an opinion. But having heard much of the competition, I'm a tad skeptical. People who like the JA speakers tend to be hooked by some particular aspects of their sound that are hard to find in other speakers. Another speaker may be in someone's opinion "better" but it might not do what the Josephs do for some of us.That's what I found when I compared them to lots of other speakers. (In fact, I'd take the Pulsars...or Perspectives...over many other highly lauded speakers. I just listened to $40,000 Magicos and would take the JA speakers of them...just because they push my buttons in a way the Magicos don't). |
+1 fsonicsmith When I walked into a AXPONA room and liked the sound of the setup, I would then ask if they would play me something I knew well. Every room I asked, honored my request. First, I would look through their LPs and then I asked for a digital version of the same recording, if it existed. Only one AXPONA room told me they didn't have that capability. I was in lots of rooms where the room attendant would ask a newcomer what they wanted to hear and lots of times the newcomer would say, "You pick." IMO this is a bad answer for the reasons @markalarsen points out above. |
To an extent I agree. I did not care for what the guy was playing in the room with O/96's but on the other hand, he spied that I had a record in my hand-that I had just purchased from Vincent Belanger-and asked if I wanted him to put it on. It's a two way street. If you don't like the music being played it is up to you to ask for something you like to be played. If you do and they say "no", than the criticism is fair. We all at this point know how the game is played. Some-but not all-vendors want to control the music so that the greatest possible number of people will stay in the room and so that their gear sounds good. No wonder Diana Krall and SRV are so popular-they do no tax the system. You won't hear large complex ensembles or classical music or even piano much because they lack the wide audience and they are more difficult to recreate. What surprises me is the lack of male voices being played. Richard Thompson's rich baritone would be a prime example. I don't mean to derail this JA Pulsar Graphene thread. |
Jason said, "The sound may be a little whited out, but it is seductively smooth." Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/rowland-conductor-phono-preamp-joseph-audio-perspective2-graphen... I have no idea what this means, but we do not seem to be hearing the same thing. The Perspective2 sound richer and deeper, one of the best I have heard. I view reviewers as giving me a lead. I make my decisions on what I hear. BTW, I might like the O/96s more if the demoed them with better music. The selection of music at these shows often is horrible, unless Lars Christensen is in the room. |
Glad to hear markalarsen. The "whitened" comment gave me pause. I don't like the idea of the tonality being messed with too much. Nice little report on them here too: https://audio-head.com/joseph-audio-announces-updates-to-his-pulsar-and-perspective-loudspeakers-axp... I'm getting excited about one day...hopefully...owning a pair. |
fsonicsmith That’s surprising. Especially the comment about missing midrange magic. I thought the midrange of both 0/96 and 0/93 had some magic. I heard them on Nagra SS amps and a tube amp I can’t remember. I use Conrad Johnson Premier 12 tube monoblocks and they tend to give any speaker I own a good helping of midrange magic :) As for the new JA speakers... The impression I’m getting from the Stereophile show report comment and from markalarsen, is of a somewhat smoother, mellower presentation from the Perspective 2s. The original was super smooth in terms of having zero grain or etch, and I think that let them get away with having a generally rising response in the top end without it being obviously bright. But sometimes, yeah, they could bite. That was one of Stereophile’s gripes with the Perspectives. I’m very curious how the new Perspectives would measure, if anything has changed about the trajectory of the upper frequencies. As long as the new Perspectives don’t sound "dark" (because their tonality was so dialed in), I’d think a smoother high end with better low end grip would make them almost ideal. |
On 1080 versus 4K TVs, I specifically waited to move up to a high end TV ($6K) when the color greatly improved from 1080P LCDs to 4K LCDs (my Sony 940D). Resolution improved where I can sit further away by a few feet but it was the superior color (and backlit panel) that secured the sale. Plasma 1080Ps could have great color but the latest high quality 4K TVs (OLED and LCD) are amazingly good. There's a pending improvement over HDR as well in the next TV generation, so color is the big difference, not the resolution. |
Prof; Just one little tweak with a smile; I don't love my Devores. I think they are sorely missing midrange magic and precise imaging. In my case, while they are quiet despite my high power amp (ARC Ref 150SE), I feel that they would be better suited to a lower power amp. At Axpona, the 0/96's were much more impressive than the 0/93's, but the O/96's were being powered by Wavac amplification and a Nagra preamp. Priced Wavac gear? Even then, the O/96's have more low-end grunt and overall kick. They still didn't offer a sumptuous midrange even with Wavac/Nagra. I would say that I am content. The O/93's are a good match for my smallish room. Perhaps I would like JA Perspectives more. |
fsonicsmith I certainly would not argue with what you find movingly musical or not. I’ve sat next to people who loved the sound of a speaker where I was left uninvolved. (In fact just today I listened to the big flagship Monitor Audio speakers and some Magicos and they just didn’t do it for me). You know I love both the Devores (that you own) and the Joseph speakers. I get why a DeVore owner wouldn’t go for the JA sound - they are really different. And that’s what drove me nuts deciding between them: I like both but they are so different! Unlike you I find myself completely trasnsfixed by the Perspectives. I’ve listened to them for up to 7 hours straight (auditioning at home) and never got enough of them. If I had found them to be strictly “audiophile speakers” for the head I wouldn’t be enthusiastic. But what won me over in initial store demos is how well they played absolutely every genre I could throw at them, from classical, to jazz, to van halen, to The Commodores, to electronica, whatever. They satisfied my audiophile side in terms of transparency and tonal accuracy, but had dynamics, juicy mids and rich punchy bass that made them a “fun” speaker as well. They certainly weren’t perfect. Occasionally the bass could be a bit overblown, and they don’t have the same papery, filled out organic tone as the Devores, but I did find them a head AND heart speaker. |
