New Speakers ... Can't Stop "Listening"

Shame I can't post images. So looking at the Stereophile review for the Perspectives, and the data at Madisound, the crossovers are entirely different. 

One of the main results appears to be the lowering of the tweeter / woofer frequency with the JA. The kit crosses around 3 kHz, the JA around 1.8 kHz. In order to support this, you need steeper crossover slopes so that the tweeter gets cut off faster. JA appears to use 18 dB/octave (3rd order) while the kit uses about 10 dB/octave (closer to 2nd order). 

If you knew a little about crossover design you could attempt this without using a magical crossover though. Also, there are some overall differences. JA's tweeter is tuned a little bright, and they deal with a slight hump of the drivers around 1 kHz which the kit does not. 

So, will they sound exactly the same? Probably not, but high quality parts with different directions were taken. Fun place to get started in DIY. 

Best,

E

I have owned the Pulsars and now have a pair of Perspectives.  Wonderful speakers. As far as kits go, you do not understand cost accounting and, without a direct comparison, have no idea as to whether they sound as good as the JAs. Good luck if you ever want to sell them used. 

I am am willing to pay for the overhead, quality control and intellectual property that goes into the Joseph Audio products. 

@markalarsen 

I think you have a wonderful perspective! 

And yes, selling kits used is a B, but on the other hand, you did not invest that much to begin with. 

Direct comparisons matter a great deal, and it is horribly unfair to designers at JA to attempt a side by side, spec only based comparison. 

Still, you should build a kit once in your hobby lifetime, you would learn a great deal, no matter which kit you build. 

Best,

E

I don't think there's anything that special about JA cabinets or drivers, so to me the special sauce that makes their speakers sound so good and different from others (at least to me) is mainly the crossover.  So unless you can reproduce the infinite slope crossover design JA uses and implement it correctly with the specific drivers and cabinet being used (to me this is the real value added), you might make great sounding speakers but I seriously doubt they'll have that certain JA magic.  I know I can't do it, so some day I'll be happy to cut Jeff Joseph a check.  But I agree that building speakers would be a very worthwhile, educational, and fun exercise that I'll definitely give a shot at some point (probably after we boot the kids out of the nest).

The discussion or perhaps digression around the kits and similarity of the drivers was not intended to imply that folks who buy "designer" high end speakers are being ripped off. Building these kits is work and takes patience and tuning them to taste is an acquired/learned skill. And it takes a special type of person to go the DIY route, just like changing your own oil in your car or replacing windows in your home. Will you save money at the end, probably yes. Will you know what you're going to end up with, probably not.