A bit more on the Joseph Audio Perspective speakers: As I'd mentioned, the Joseph Perspectives were the best so far. Such a gorgeous midrange. The bass was actually one of the things that I liked at first, and through much of the audition. It has a density and texture that is quite satisfying. Set up in my room, the did a great disappearing act, with excellent soundstage depth, rivaling the bigger Thiels. (Much better than the Harbeth SuperHL5plus speakers I tried after). They sounded a bit tonally darker than the Thiels, but still with a lively top end that was even more refined in it's own way. Image sizes and the sense of the body of instruments and voices were, understandably, a bit reduced vs the bigger Thiels. Imaging wasn't quite as tight as the Thiels - the Thiels are champs in that regard. The Perspectives struck me as being slightly less dynamic and yet slightly more dynamic than the Thiels, depending on what I concentrated on. The Thiels sounded overall more forceful - an acoustic guitar strummed hard, for instance, would project with more body and forwardness. But in terms of the micro-dynamics, all the variations in the dynamics of, say, someone hand picking acoustic or classical guitar, the Perspectives sounded more varied and alive in that regard.
The main thing that struck me was the harmonic purity of the sound - a velvety dark "background" which allowed the really distinct timbres of bells, saxophones, strings, voices, to shine through with their own distinct timbral quality. In other words, with the Perspectives I could pick things out of a complex the mix due to the timbral differences being obvious, whereas for most speakers (Thiels included in comparison) it's the soundstaging and imaging that helps unweave the instruments from one another. The Hales speakers I used to own (Transcendence 5) and the ones I still own (T1 monitors) are a touchstone for me, because they have always been champions at reproducing a rainbow of timbres, with a complete lack of hash. In that respect, they have the same tonal virtue as the Perspectives. And I wonder how much is due to the fact the Perspectives use a newer variation of the same Seas magnesium cone mid/woofers. Something about those drivers....However, they are a bit more lush sounding, but also less alive in terms of dynamics, leading edge transients. The Perspectives have overall more clarity and texture than the Hales. In fact the Perspectives, like the Pulsars, have a really special tweeter, or at least beautifully implemented. The sound of drum cymbals, for instance, are so convincingly clean and "metallic." Though I don't really think you can pre-judge the sound of a speaker by it's drivers, to the degree any cliche is true that metal dome tweeters do metal sounds, e.g. cymbals convincingly, this is the most convincing performance with metallic instruments that I can remember from a soft dome tweeter. More convincing than the metal drivers in my Thiel 3.7s.
I had one main reservation: by the end of my home audition I thought I'd begun to notice a bit of "puffiness" to the bass, port-noise-type bass I guess. I only had so long to try to dial them in so I'd hope I can achieve better.
I also, at one or two points, thought I heard something of a resonance interfering with a certain range of female vocals. Rarely, but seemed there a couple times. I don't know if that would change with more experimenting.
Anywhere, there you have my take for anyone interested.