Joseph Audio

CDLehner

CDLehner

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Nov 9, 2013
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Eastern Shore, MD
puroagave said:
I owned the Pulsars w/ soundanchors, they're fantastic speakers. the perspectives build on that. I've heard the pearls at shows, more JA goodness.
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Well Rob; you sound like the guy to ask. How would you compare/contrast the Pulsar and Perspective?

My dealer tells me, the Pulsar is a HUGE stand-mount...and the Perspective is a small-ish floor-stander. He says the Perspectives "blow the Pulsar away" (dealer speak, lol); and you say "the Perspectives build on" the fantastic sound of the Pulsar.

As a friend pointed out...it's not like the Perspective has different drivers, or a dedicated mid. It's just 2 mid-bass, as opposed to one.
 
I wouldn't call the Pulsar huge at all.
[h=3]15" (381 mm) H x 9" (229 mm) W x 13" (229 mm) D.[/h]
 
CD...have you read John Atkinson's review of the Perspectives? I remember walking away from that review feeling he had some reservations. I will post it here. Give it a read: Joseph Audio Perspective loudspeaker | Stereophile.com

These quotes were the ones that stood out for me:

I began my listening with the MBL Corona C15 amplifiers, which I reviewed in June. These monoblocks had proved a synergistic match with Vivid Audio's Giya G3 speakers, which had preceded the new Josephs in my room, but the balance, though very clean and articulate, was definitely on the lean side. This was particularly so in the upper bass, though the low bass seemed boosted. I suspect that the Perspective was voiced with a softer-sounding amplifier than the C15. The foam liners were in the Perspectives' ports, but removing them wasn't the answer—the excessive low bass then got in the way of the music. The solution was to replace the MBLs with the softer-sounding Pass Labs XA60.5s, which I reviewed in January. Although the upper bass lost a slight amount of clarity, this was more than balanced by the fact that the midrange was better fleshed out.
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The Perspective's treble remained a little on the unforgiving side, however. ... But every time I played it, I wanted to turn the volume down: the Joseph's treble balance revealed too much of this recording's problematic provenance.
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However, with well-recorded music, he liked what we heard:

But with purist recordings—eg, Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra's superb-sounding performance of Rachmaninoff's Symphony 2 (DSD64 files, Channel Classics 21604)—the Joseph Perspectives showed what they could do: a wide, rich sweep of full-range sound, with tangible stereo imaging.
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So seems like a speaker that may require careful matching of gear to voice it right and maybe a bit unforgiving of hotly recorded or poorer recordings in general. Haven't heard it personally but I remember reading the review and that Atkinson wasn't uniformly pleased with its sonics, highlighting some reservations.

Just fyi.
 
Thanks Cyril. Yeah, I agree; that review would give me pause too.

A statement like "it was obvious that the Perspectives were incompatible with his room", translates to me as..."they sounded like sh*t", lol.

I've never been an advocate, of the tail waging the dog in this regard; that is...molding a room around a speaker, in order to make it sound good. Sure...placement and treatments play an important role; but they should enhance an already good sound...not make a speaker merely palatable.

That being said...I have an XA-30.8; so it sounds like I've got the right amp for them :) And I'm still really only looking into Pulsars. $13 big ones, is not in the budget right now.
 
Everything I've read about the Pulsars (both official reviews and owner commentary) has been uniformly good. Let us know if you get a chance to check 'em out and what you think :thumbsup:
 
CDLehner said:
Well Rob; you sound like the guy to ask. How would you compare/contrast the Pulsar and Perspective?

My dealer tells me, the Pulsar is a HUGE stand-mount...and the Perspective is a small-ish floor-stander. He says the Perspectives "blow the Pulsar away" (dealer speak, lol); and you say "the Perspectives build on" the fantastic sound of the Pulsar.

As a friend pointed out...it's not like the Perspective has different drivers, or a dedicated mid. It's just 2 mid-bass, as opposed to one.
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pulsars are compact with small 5.5" mid-bass drivers. they have prodigious bass when placed near the back wall (rear ported) When pulled out 1/3 the way into the room you loose some bass extension and are more inline with other mini-monitors in that respect. What defies logic is the ultra low IM distortion of the bass driver, covering so many octaves you'd think they'd break up and distort like many mini-monitors do - the pulsars don't, even with high power inputs. on balance they're very transparent and fast like a good panel speaker but with the mid-bass impact of a good box speaker.

the perspective builds on the pulsar because its the same top half with an additional bass driver to extend the low end. The footprint is identical to the pulsar without the need for dedicated stands. they also have the ability to play a little louder and go lower.
 
I think the Pulsars are the best for the dollar, heard them again in Jeff Rowland's room at 2014 RMAF with his entry level electronics and they were spectacular for their size and had a huge 3D soundstage, made us relax and listen to a few cuts, enjoyable. I'd take the Pulsars and a pair of quick subs over the Perspectives, just my opinion.
 
KLH007 said:
I think the Pulsars are the best for the dollar, heard them again in Jeff Rowland's room at 2014 RMAF with his entry level electronics and they were spectacular for their size and had a huge 3D soundstage, made us relax and listen to a few cuts, enjoyable. I'd take the Pulsars and a pair of quick subs over the Perspectives, just my opinion.
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My wallet, is inclined to agree with you. :happy:
 
Since the Perspectives don't provide full range extension in their bass response, I agree that I'd take the Pulsars with a really good sub or two over the Perspectives. The Pearl3s are full range on their own, and while admittedly much more expensive they are truly spectacular speakers!
 
For San Francisco area readers: The last time I was at Jeff's (A/V Solutions) he had Pulsars and Perspectives in his showroom, ready to audition.
 
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