Reynaud Bliss Jubile vs Cantabile Jubile

I received the Cantabile Jubile in great shape. The retailer said that there had only been about 20 hours on this demo pair.

Thus far, I have about maybe 110 hours on it. The manufacturer encloses a little manual states that it suggests 50 hours to sound good, and then 150-200 hours to fully break in.

Indeed, at first, everything sounded stiff and the top end was very bright, and could get etched, cluttered, and shouty when pushed.  As the speaker has continued to break in, the midrange on down has greatly relaxed and become more expressive. With more midrangey material on down, the sound has become very liquid and relaxed, yet still quick.

But the top end of the Jubile right now, while better than when it started, continues to be overly bright and shouty when pushed, as well as tight. I hear it with higher pitch male and female vocals, as well as massed strings and especially with massed brass (such as Tower Of Power type stuff). It's almost like two different speakers at this point. With music that is predominantly in the midrange on down being very relaxed. I absolutely hear the potential greatness of these speakers. Music which features the top end, however, still sounds tight, constricted, and sometimes etched and shouty.

I know that the design of the speakers, with its 2 and 1/2 way design, allowed the tweeter to go lower in the frequency range that normally done. But it seems as if the tweeter might be taking much longer than the two lower frequency drivers to break in. When I'm hearing something like acoustic music, or chamber classical or jazz, this speaker is sounding lovely. But from the top end of the midrange on up, when pushed, things start to collapse. And I can even hear certain frequencies just suddenly jump out as, say, a saxophone running up a scale. Certain overtones will just jump out. When an instrument or voice (or percussion) jumps out, it pushes that part of the frequency response to jump out and push the instrument out, and it can be unpleasant.  It's better than it was when it started, but I'm wondering what others' experiences might have been with breaking these in?

By the way, my Castle Edens, with the same equipment upstream, didn't have this overly bright or shouty issue. The whole soundstage is placed deeper than with the Castle Edens, my previous speakers, the latter creating larger and more forward images. JM Raynaud, within that same manual, suggests not to be concerned about system matching until reaching that 150-200 hour break in period. I want to be patient, but again, I'm wondering what others might have experienced with these in their break in period.

Thanks,

Jeff

I’m listening to my Cantible Jubilees right now being driven by a Pass xa30.8, and they are smooth at all frequencies.  Give them a bit more time.  BTW, what amp are you using?

Be patient as I didn't find the "recommended" break-in time to be nearly enough with either the Abscisse or Bliss Jubiile"s.  If you said earlier I don't remember, but what is the rest of your gear and cables.  

You'll have to hope your brain "breaks in" to the sound ;-)

Best of luck!

(I've liked the various JMR speakers I've auditioned).

My amp is the Pathos Classic Remix, a tubed hybrid. Certainly not a bright sounding amp. The speaker cables are bi-wired silver Grover Huffman cables. Note that I didn't have this issue with the Castle Edens using the same equipment upstream.

There's certainly a lot of musicality going on. The rest of the frequencies, from the midrange on down, have gotten less tight and more expressive. The speaker is quite liquid when not pushed. The speaker sounds natural and engaging. But when pushed, the top end gets tense and hard, and sticks out from the rest of the presentation.

I'll say this, in that when I first got the speakers, the top end sounded really confused, no focus at all. That is not the case now. It's pretty concise. It's just not relaxed. It's like I'm almost listening to two different speakers with certain kinds of music. With the tweeter taking on more of the frequency response, it seems to be taking longer for the frequencies they're handling to unify.

From the next room, I can hear the life in these speakers. It sounds like real music being made. But I can occasionally hear the hardness up top when pushed. With such ease coming from the rest of the speaker, it makes the top end stick out at that point.

Thanks for the input!