New Joseph Audio Pulsar Graphene 2

Prejudice is a very useful tool in life but sometimes, especially in audio, it can blind us from seeing what we may actually be ardently searching.

The Pulsar 2's according to Joseph Audio's website feature "a newly developed precision cast Graphene coated Magnesium cone long throw woofer". 

A few years ago this statement would have set several alarm bells ringing (sorry!) in my head. Until recently I had never heard a metal driver which sounded entirely natural or life-like - and I had heard a few, including some highly acclaimed Vivid Audio models. 

However having recently listened to various Bluetooth speakers using metal drivers I can now appreciate some of their strengths, especially in areas such as clarity, precision and lack of overhang.
Some of the vocals coming through my Tribit X Sound Go Bluetooth speaker were at least as clear as I'd heard on any loudspeaker previously.

Dare I say it, the clarity of diction was as good as that on my Tannoy Berkeley speakers which I believe feature a metal tweeter crossed at 2kHz.

This leads me to conclude that perhaps state of the art metal drivers, at least magnesium ones, have finally kicked ringing artefacts into touch for good, whilst retaining all their usual advantages.

Perhaps this is finally a genuine step forward in the development of loudspeakers? Hopefully it's also one that will eventually trickle into more widespread usage.

There you go, one prejudice now replaced by hopefully a more accurate one.

cd318

I believe that, in the right hands, the problems with metal drivers were mitigated long ago.  In fact, it was Paul Hales' Transcendence series of speakers in the late 90's, using the Seas drivers of the time,  that ameliorated my "fear" of metal drivers.

I'd never heard sound so smooth, so utterly grain free and timbrally beautiful as when I encountered those speakers (I ended up with the Hales T5 floor standers, now gone, but I still own the Hales T1 and T Center channel speakers using the same seas drivers, similar to the Josephs, and they have this purity.  I find the Joseph speakers improve on this with some greater dynamics and clarity).

Righto...

So today I dropped in to my JA dealer (who sold me my pair of original Perspectives a few months back), for a listen to the new Perspective2Graphene.

Before I get to that: taking user reports and show reports all together, the consensus seemed to be "stronger, tighter bass, more refined and resolved midrange and highs, though most of the changes noticeable in the bass.
I love my Perspectives, though of course no speaker is The Perfect Speaker for me. For instance, I know I’d also love the fuller, bigger, richer sound of the Devore O/96 speakers as well. And my Thiel 2.7s are also a bit richer/fuller sounding toward the top end as well.

Since I’d consider upgrading my Perspectives to the graphene version when I have the money, I had a couple of concerns: Did the bass change so much that it would now overwhelm my room? My current Perspectives are just on the edge of doing this sometimes, though most of the time they are well controlled and I love the bass quality.
Also, the new Perspectives measure flatter in the high end vs the uprising highs of the original. I wondered if possibly the descriptions of "smoother, more relaxed, easier on the ears" may have resulted in a darkening of the tone, less airy. And would they be a bit reticent dynamically in the upper mids/high frequencies?

Unfortunately one aspect I could not get a handle on was the bass performance. The speakers were hampered by being too close together and too close to the wall behind them, making the bass sound overwarm and exaggerated on tracks with deep bass. So that was a bummer to not get a good handle on that.

But aside from that, when the music wasn’t exciting the room bass nodes, the bass was nice.

What I heard generally speaking was, yes, what seemed to be a somewhat more refined, resolved, clearer sound. The clarity and cleanliness and that grain-free quality was remarkable. I heard bits and pieces, say an acoustic guitar part in a familiar mix etc, seem to be more vividly resolved and tonally separated in the mix. And the high end weren’t at all dark sounding - they kept essentially the same tonal signature of the original. But it just felt like the level of resolution and clarity had taken a step forward. This was especially evident in some tracks with layered electric and acoustic guitars where the highs were realistically extended, grain free and very present. The layers of shimmering harmonics heard between all the guitars and the guitar strings were the best I’ve heard. The sound had a sense of "luxuriousness" in it’s ease, clarity and gorgeous tone of each element in a mix.

To make sure they could rock I spun Rush’s 2112. The sound was rich, full and very punchy. All the track elements super clear and separated, and the tone of Geddy’s bass and especially Alex’s guitar, electric and acoustic, were rendered with a upper midrange/high frequency beauty...the guitar tone just shimmered with more complexity than on most speakers.

Also, the electric guitars did seem a bit thicker and more substantial than back home on my Perspectives (this is where my Thiels give a bolder presentation in the upper mids with electric guitar). Not sure if this was a trait of the new speakers, or the large Sim Audio amps driving them.

Back home, spinning several of the same tracks on my Thiels (currently in my system), the Thiels were as usual a somewhat richer, thicker sound, with very dense, round imaging, very organic and relaxing, but also dynamic. The main thing missing in the Thiels vs the Perspectives is the exquisite refinement of timbre up in to the higher frequencies. They miss that gorgeous sparkle and aliveness of the Perspectives. I love the Thiels’ bass which is both super in control, but dense and punchy. But the Perspectives (my Perspectives anyway) bass has even more roundness and punch/kick toward the listener, which makes bass guitar and drum kits (kick drum especially) feel more impactful and "in the room."

Anyway, my hour-long demo of the Perspective2s left me with the impression that they are a slightly more refined version, which seem to retain what I like in my Perspectives. I’m a bit haunted by some of the sound quality I heard today so I’ll certainly consider upgrading my Perspectives when I have the money. Though for me the jury is still out about the bass quality.

Thank you for the mini review and comparison. I have never heard the Perspective so I cannot make a comparison but the Perspective2 I heard had zero flaws for me in Jeff’s room/setup at the show. 
Maybe being too close to the wall caused that issue for you. 
I really think that if I can buy the Perspective2s one day, I would be set for life in the speaker department. 

prof

"..the Thiels were as usual a somewhat richer, thicker sound, with very dense, round imaging, very organic and relaxing, but also dynamic. The main thing missing in the Thiels vs the Perspectives is the exquisite refinement of timbre up in to the higher frequencies. They miss that gorgeous sparkle and aliveness of the Perspectives."


I wonder if that difference might be, at least partially, down to the use of aluminium drivers in the 2.7s against the magnesium drivers of the Perspectives.

In any case I have also noticed that exquisite timbre in the higher frequencies, (perhaps 5-8kHz?) that most metal drivers seem to bring, along with an almost crystal clear leading edge speed which can make other drivers appear slightly blurred in comparison. It’s not night and day, but it’s there.

Of course, as you found in your response to the differences in comparitive bass reproduction, all loudspeakers seem to present a balancing act of various strengths and unfortunately unavoidable compromises.

Even so, it’s still those strengths we all ultimately strive for.