Joseph Audio speaker thread, Pulsar / Profile / Prism / Perspective / Pearl

Speakers
1

Really been loving the pulsar2 since I got them, perfect for just kicking back and listening to whatever without worrying about things. Sure they don’t immediately grip your or command your attention, but they do provide a pretty convincing experience nonetheless

Big standouts:

  • Blackness - extremely black background and can represent empty space very very well

  • Tonal balance - fantastic voicing that works well with basically everything I put through it, very balanced and organic without sacrificing any clarity, and a hint of extra warmth and sweetness

  • Surprisingly good low end - very full, is accurate to around 40hz if I had to take a stab at it, and very textured and articulate. Sub is always still recommended lol.

  • Effortlessness - very very technically capable that puts everything out there, but never overly forward nor too hard to reach, never feels strained or constrained

  • Coherency - fantastic in this regard, can’t even here where it crosses over

  • Liquidity - manages to sound extremely liquid without feeling overdone or drawing attention, never harsh.

  • Tonal density - manages to have excellent body and fullness without causing any issues

  • Timbre - very organic

  • Overall refinement - they sound extremely refined and nitpicked

Some slight qualms:

  • Macrodynamics - handles micro extremely well, but sometimes can really lack some liveliness with big swings

  • Smoothness - mentioned this above as a positive, but this can lead to a bit more bite being desired in some situations

  • Stage is good, but not strikingly so, big focus on depth which is great, but can sound a bit limited in width at times

Traits that don’t fit good or bad:

  • They do demand more power than most bookshelves I’ve tried, they like having lots of juice on tap

  • They may not have as much initial wow factor as others, but are great for long term listening

  • Not the most technical you can get for the price, but other aspects make up for that

  • They can struggle in larger rooms, keeping mid size or smaller rooms is ideal

  • Good in both a room and nearfield

Some amp pairings I enjoyed:

Grandinote demone - absolutely fantastic match, emphasizes everything you would want to about these speakers and takes them to new levels, hard to stop listening with these while also really boosting dynamics overall, and throwing a much wider stage. I guess my only qualm here would be it could still use more bite at times

Monoblocked LTA ZOTL Ultralinear+ - basically a strong focus on clarity, organicness, and nuance while kinda putting macro to the side a bit. Tons of depth but more intimate stage, takes a bit dryer approach and gives a bit more bite, solid timbre too. Does tilt more toward midrange though

Bricasti M28 - smoooooooooothhhhhh and meaty, and fantastic tonal density as well. Offers great command and control over the speakers, bolstering macro aspects while also upping micro to an extent. Great tonality overall that leads to a really organic but lively experience. Although that smoothness can really lead me wanting more bite.

So far really think the demone is the best out of the bunch besides the bricasti.

Now onto some pairing misses:

First Watt F8 - basically too soft and smooth, too dense for me personally, thought it was lacking drive and demand, found it technically meh. So made these speakers pretty dull overall imo

Eddie Current Studio T - great clarity, wonderful tonality and timbre, fantastic sweetness, but really felt like it couldn’t get good control on these drivers leading to an overly compact stage, lackluster dynamics, and limited extension

Riviera AIC-10 - Good body and impact, wide stage, but really ends up tilting the speaker too dark and smooth, and I thought the speakers sounded strained as well

But honestly these speakers just flow with a sense of clarity and ability that is uncommon for this sort of tuning, and it’s hard to not enjoy that lol

Admin note: edited to include other joseph speakers

6 Likes
2

Do you use your Voxatives in near field or as regular in room listening? Would love to read through some of your commentary on them.

3

I have used those in a room, although way more in nearfield. I’d say you need to have a room on the smaller side for the Hagens to really shine, but you could get potentially away with mid size. Will make a thread when I get the chance :+1:

1 Like
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I will have lots of “smaller” in my future. LOL I’m really enjoying the BMR (interesting story with the crossover project I was looking forward to) it’s just a question of whether like everything else in the hobby it just keeps getting better taking the next step.

5

Me: Ooh!
Looks up dealer in Toronto
13K CAD
ohhhh
lol. They do genuinely look like great speakers though

6

Isn’t that like $5k American and $2k Euro? :wink:

7

See if there’s anything used, the older josephs are still worthwhile to

8

There’s a pair of prisms on sale atm on Canuck… Have been looking at Legacy audio (the paradigm? the bookshelf with the passive radiators on the side instead of a back port as well as the studio classic HD, both of which I can order online) as an alternative, however. Currently using Kanto Tuks as monitors for work and light gaming.

9

Those were solid, carry a lot of the traits of the above, although I thought some of the technical ability for the price was lagging behind a bit there where it’s more up to speed on the pulsar (for it’s price class)

Those are interesting, I recall those being pretty enjoyable, although felt they lacked a bit of refinement overall

1 Like
10

My mistake I was thinking of the Calibre from Legacy audio
I also have access to Focal, Bowers and Wilkins and Monitor Audio in my immediate Area

11

Can you get anything from Reference 3A? Fidelity Acoustics? Coincident? And possibly RL Acoustique? Those are all worth looking into, all canadian so potentially more aval than other options? There are a couple more I know but let’s start with these for now

For the three you mentioned, generally I like focal speakers but only on the right setup, never personally been a fan of b&w, and monitor audio while nice has never been stand out to me

12

I checked them out R3A and fidelity both have what I am looking for (bookshelves atm). But I cant find anything on the latter and the former is direct purchase or maybe infor for dealers for north america according to their site
Oh I also remember I have access to dynaudio via online store