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Joseph audio perspectives, magico a3, ATC scm40 v2

I am deciding between three speakers for my livingroom setup:

Joseph audio perspectives (v1)
Magico a3
ATC scm40 v2

My living room area is 15ft by 24ft. I need to place the speakers very close to the back wall so i was considering closed cabinet design.

previously i was using ATC scm40v1 and enjoyed its midrange especially male vocals and live music presentation. My setup is prism sound dream da1 as DAC, conran jhonson pv5 tube pre (about to get a schiit freya plus in Aug) and still deciding on amps.

One option for me is to get the ATC40v2.

I auditioned Magico S1 mk2 and Magico S3 mk2 but not yet the A3. S1 and S3 are wonderful sounding speakers with tons of details, great 3d imaging and dynamics, but sometimes a bit too refined and analytical. I would say the mids are just different flavors in S1 and S3 compared to ATCs, but not necessarily better. Also a3’s appearance and weight are not too appealing to me.

I found a used pair of joseph perspectives for $6k. I heard good things about joseph audio perspectives. They look great and are perfect in size and weight for me. Can anyone share their experiences with sonic performance of the joseph perspectives compared to ATC40s, especially in the vocals presentation? Thanks a lot!
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yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@prof  Thanks for your reply. The perspectives are now top 1 on my list even I have no where to audition them so far. May I know which amp do you pair with them? And how do you feel about their mids/vocals presentation? My music are vocal oriented (recordings an lives) and this is the most critical department for me. 

I feel your description about the bass. Seems they have really visceral bass and still tonally balanced to be musical. Thanks! 
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yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@djones51 Yeah, if I can't find a dealer then I will probably do a blind buy like you did. They are high on my list now.
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yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@motokokusanagi Thanks for the suggestions. I have auditioned the scm19a (no tower version) and to my ears the scm40 just sounds more full. The scm19a sometimes offers a more realistic and detailed mids though. If I go for the ATC route, I was considering getting the ATC p2 amp and pair with ATC scm40 v2. How do you feel this p2+atc40 passives would stack up against the atc40a?  The atc40a is a bit pricer than the passives combo though.. Since I can only find new ones of them which is $13k a pair.
prof
3,473 posts
 

I use Conrad Johnson Premier 12 mono block tube amps (140W side).The combination works great.  The Perspectives are supposed to work well with tube amps even though they aren't very high sensitivity, due to their benign impedance which tends to stay above 6ohm.
That said, I still think the Perspectives benefit from an amp with power and control.  They sounded most "in grip" with some powerful SS amps.Fortunately one of the great aspects of the CJ Premier 12 amps is that, for a tube amp, they have excellent punch and control right in to the bass region.

The other tube amps I heard with the Perspectives were Mac.  75W I think.  Sounded amazing, though with a bit more bloat on the bottom (which could also have been due a bit to room placement at the dealer).
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yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@prof Thanks. I use Conrad Johnson PV5 as tube pre. I always found the CJ pre amps to give the best 3d sound stage and magical mids that I was looking for. I have used CJ pv10a and pv5. Both pairs fantastic with my SS amps. I use prism sound dream DA1 as DAC.

How do you feel about the mids presentation of Perspectives? Or you don’t listen to a lot of vocals in general? It would be great if I can get a sense of what the mids feel like in the perspectives using ATCs as a reference point. Thanks.
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