Joseph Audio Perspective2 vs Harbeth SHL5+

@soix I was a little underwhelmed at first because the dynamics and scale were missing. I kept blaming my amp, only to realize that one of the connections was loose. My speaker cables have bananas one both sides and the Perspectives only take spades. I was using the supplied (Cardas) spade connectors but didn’t realize that one of the banana connector was loose. Once I fixed it, the amp is driving the speakers like a champ. Despite the low sensitivity, the impedance makes the speakers suitable for a lot of amps -- including my Qualiton a50i. Right now, I’m totally satisfied with the performance, albeit, I have to use my REL’s to get the bottom end to be impactful.

The matching stand/platforms that you see in the pics were custom-built for the Perspectives by the previous owner. He has put many layers in the stands for better vibration control. He was kind enough to let me have the stands at no extra cost. I love how they match the aesthetics of the speakers.

@prof I will share my impressions in detail over the weekend, but let’s just say that the Perspectives have met exceeded all my expectations, and then some more. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that they are superior to the SHL5+ in every aspect -- including vocals, which was a surprise to me to say the least :) I think it’s fair to say that the Perspective’s real competition is the Harbeth 40.x and not so much the SHL5+.

I have them placed 4 feet from the front wall, 2.5 feet from side walls, and about 9 feet from the listening position. After tweaking with positioning for a bit, there are absolutely no issues with bass.

You were spot on with your analysis! These are by far the best speakers that I have owned. I will write some more in the next few days.

@ghdprentice Thank you for your kind words. I have to say I'm somewhat envious of your ARC gear. At some point next year, I also plan to start upgrading to ARC separates -- but very, very gradually so it goes unnoticed by the spouse :)

Those stands look great.  Love your amp BTW.  Jeff Joseph has told me his speakers do well with tubes (except obviously the flea-watt type) so I guess I’m not surprised.  Glad you’re so happy!  Color me jealous. 

Sounds good arafiq !

Two things I forgot to mention about when I owned the Harbeth SuperHL5plus:

For some reason I could never get them to image with much depth.

I’ve always valued soundstaging and imaging (though tone/timbre above that), my room supports fantastic depth of soundstaging, and all the speakers I’ve owned have achieved this. But I could never get more than a somewhat for-shortened soundstage with the Harbeths, which was frustrating. Even if I moved them closer to nearfield.  My Thiel 2.7 and Joseph speakers do wall-melting depth of soundstaging in comparison.

Also, I just remembered that I actually briefly, just for kicks, drove the Perspectives with my old Eico HF81 14w integrated tube amp. And it sounded gorgeous. I don’t remember having any particular sense of the speakers running out of steam with those amps, though the bass was a bit more rich and loose, which was the sound of those amps on every other speaker I had as well.