New Joseph Audio Pulsar Graphene 2

Hi Gordon,

It’s great to get an update on how those Pulsars worked out for you.

I recognize your journey from the What’s Best forum. I’m a fellow MBL owner - I still own the MBL 121 monitors. (And Thiels, and other speakers).

I think owning the MBLs is one reason why I am more inclined towards the Perspectives over the Pulsars. I already own a pretty elite-performing monitor for when I want that.

I notice that very often the emotional component of listening to the Joseph speakers is mentioned by those who hear them. I agree. I think it’s that elusive combination of sometimes hair-raising transparency and detail combined with a smoothness and richness, that makes the speakers both communicate the aliveness and directness of music while also communicating the warmth and smoothness and richness of the real thing.

I dropped in to an audio store that I was passing by today and listened briefly to the Paradigm Persona speakers (which I’d auditioned last year more extensively). Nice. Clear. Didn’t move me at all. There are certain speaker brands that, if they are playing, I simply can’t not listen. In "it" factor that seems to speak to what my brain craves. Paradigm-type speakers don’t seem to grab me in the same way. They are just to me another really competent, transparent sounding high end speaker, in a marketplace with tons of competent, transparent sounding high end speakers.

The JA speakers have an "it" factor for me, for the reasons I’ve described earlier.

I dropped in to an audio store that I was passing by today and listened briefly to the Paradigm Persona speakers (which I’d auditioned last year more extensively). Nice. Clear. Didn’t move me at all.

the acoustics of an audio store would not be the ideal place to evaluate the sound though would it?

the it factor is distortion. youre identifying a characteristic that is there on all tracks you play through the josephs. 

A true high end speaker has no identifiable characteristic. 

Few rooms are ideal to evaluate speakers. Even the homes of many audiophiles.

I can get a good gist of the character of a speaker when listening in a store, so long as the set isn’t terribly compromised. (The speakers I heard today sounded pretty much as they did in a previous audition in a dedicated room).

the it factor is distortion. youre identifying a characteristic that is there on all tracks you play through the josephs.

Funny...live acoustic music seems to have a similar "it" factor when I listen to it ;)

A true high end speaker has no identifiable characteristic.

In someone’s dream world perhaps. In reality, every single speaker I’ve ever heard, bar none, has ultimately homogenized the sound of reproduced music.

I have read every post on this thread. I have heard the Pulsars, the Pulsars 2, the Perspectives, the Perspective 2s and the Pearl 3s. I have heard the Pulsars and Pulsar 2s in a hotel room. Not an ideal environment...and they sounded really good both times. I have heard the Perspectives 2s in a hotel room. They sounded great. I have heard the Perspectives in a hotel room on two separate occasions and then in my home for the last two years. They positively connect with most listeners who hear them IMO. Beautiful full sound that resolves without edge and manages to provide instrument separation without deconstructing the musical whole. This means bands sound like bands as opposed to a collection of folks playing different instruments. Symphonies remain cohesive even as the listener can distinctly hear the different sections while  experiencing believable timbre. Voices, male and female, exhibit nuance and character that sounds realistic. Oh, and the sweet spot is not narrow--a group can listen to these speakers and not have to worry that they didn't get adequate time in the primary listening position. To do all these things is hard for most speakers. Especially at the Perspective price point. I have heard the Pearl 3s, first in a hotel room and now in my home for the last month or so. Simply sublime. Everything I just said about Perspectives but more so. The point is I haven't heard any of these three Joseph models every sound pedestrian, even in difficult venues. I'm no expert, but I have heard a fair number of speakers and read almost every sentence I can find on the internet from a Joseph listener who chose to comment on what they heard. It appears I am not alone in my assessment of this brand and the models mentioned above. Not everyone has to like the Joseph sound or the Joseph price point. But, it is rare to hear someone say that the Joseph brand doesn't deliver a rewarding musical experience while providing its owners true value.