Joseph Audio Pulsar speakers

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Just got a pair to audition. Don't like the MBL 116's in my new living room. Doesn't work with the rest of the furniture, etc. Time to look at something smaller that plays big.

Anyone had any experience with this product?
 

Folsom

VIP/Donor
Oct 25, 2015
6,024
1,490
520
Eastern WA
They sounded ok at an audio show. But I was expecting more.
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Thanks Folsom for your observation. Audio shows and good sound? From my experience, somewhat of an oxymoron.
 

leyenda

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2011
222
115
948
Listened to the Pulsar at dealer's. Sounded very nice but not mindblowing nice. I did not recall it to sound that big, but a very proportionate and enjoyable sound. I have listened to 116 before and can imagine the Pulsar to sound more open with delicate midrange. Does this match your experience?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
I liked them. Aren't you worried about the bandwidth limitations coming from your MBL's. Maybe the Joseph Perspectives might be a better fit. The footprint isn't much larger. They will surely play bigger than their little brothers.

What amps are you using by the way Dude?
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Jack, the JA speaker has a fair amount of low end so bandwidth is not necessarily the problem. Amp is the Pass Labs 250.5.

Leyenda, soundstage size is the issue. Given the omni nature of the design, the MBL's really "energize" a room unlike a monitor size dynamic speaker and sound quite big.

My main issue is that I really want a smaller speaker that can get close to the soundstage size of the 116's. Don't know if it exists.

Thank you both for your constructive comments.

Best.

Gordon
 

jjaudio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2017
13
2
68
Bay Area,CA
www.jjaudiosolutions.com
Just got a pair to audition. Don't like the MBL 116's in my new living room. Doesn't work with the rest of the furniture, etc. Time to look at something smaller that plays big.

Anyone had any experience with this product?

I personally had the Pulsars for about 2 years. Was happy with them in a small room. Tried the Pranafidelity Bhava speaker and it was so much better than the Pulsar. Has so much more weight and authority-plays big. Its a 2 way but has 2 woofers. Another one to consider is the Marten Duke 2.
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
After some substantial auditioning, decided to buy. They are perfect for my current needs.

Will likely add an REL T7i subwoofer (or two) in the near future.

Thanks for all the input.
 

COF

Well-Known Member
Sep 29, 2017
150
126
148
Dude!

I was so interested in this thread I just joined the forum to add this comment :)

I'm really curious to hear more detail from you in terms of your impressions of the Pulsars.

I'm in a similar situation. I have a wonderful large set of Thiel 3.7 speakers (and some others) that are ergonomically and aesthetically a bit big for my room. Sound-wise they work perfectly - my room acoustics are great and the speakers are incredible. But if I can downsize a bit it would work better in the room aesthetically. So I've been on a speaker search for months now testing all sorts of different models, seeing if I could find something smaller that would still sound big enough for me. And like anyone here I'm picky as hell - for me an accurate, beautiful timbral quality to voices and instruments come first, and after that dynamics, soundstaging etc. The problem is the Thiels are so great, even more expensive speakers are letting me down when I audition them.

Then I heard a demo of the Joseph Audio Pearl 3s at a show and I was amazed not only by the clarity, but by the gorgeous tonal quality to voices. It was special. So I hunted down a Joseph dealer, and first auditioned the Pulsars. They were terrific, but since they also had the floor-standing Perspective models I decided to check them out. Whoa! THOSE babies really grabbed me - I felt they had an even more impressive midrange, but with a fuller, deeper sound, with great texture in the upper bass region. I home auditioned the Perspectives and in most aspects they blew me away. They are really the only speaker that made me think I could let go of the Thiels and I'd be trading up in some aspects of the sound.
My ears hear with the Josephs what other have said about them: an amazingly liquid sound due to what seems like a super low noise floor, just pure sound that comes out of a black background. "They are quiet between the notes" as one person put it. They are super clear, with zero hash to the sound, and seem to just nail the sound of voices and instruments. One of the best midrange tonality I've heard in a speaker. All that, and they are both very compact and perfect sized for my room, and among the nicest looking speakers I've seen.

So at this point I'm saving some pennies for the Perspectives, unless some other speaker shows up to take their place.

And, BTW, I also own MBL speakers - the stand mounted 121 version. They share to my ears similarities to the Joseph sound - liquid, incredibly refined in how they present detail, and able to reproduce a rainbow of timbral sounds convincingly.
They just don't go quite as low as I want for a main speaker (and I hate subs), so I just throw them in the system now and then, marveling at what they do.

Anyway, I was going to suggest you check out the Perspectives since they will give you that bigger sound, yet at a size even smaller than the Pulsar with stands. But it seems you settled on the Pulsars which is great, and I'd love to hear more about it.

Cheers!
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Hi COF,

Agree with you regarding the sonic qualities you describe. I really wanted a small monitor type speaker and this, I believe, will fit the bill. As expected, they do some things better than the 116's and some that are not. My "overall" feeling at this point is that I can live with and be satisfied recognizing the aggregate differences. And this before I've done some serious tweaking.

Have a new pair in piano black arriving next week along with some target stands with upgraded options and 50 pounds of lead shot. I assume this will be better than my current arrangement which is the monitors (at the recommended height) placed on open backed wood chairs sitting on Mapleshade brass cones. For the moment, they are very responsive to small adjustments which, to me, is a very good sign.

I will wait for my new pair to break in and optimize the placement with the new stands. Once I've done that and made some additional room adjustments, I will make a decision on the REL sub.

Thank you so much for your post and your interest and welcome to WBF.

Best,

Dude
 

COF

Well-Known Member
Sep 29, 2017
150
126
148
Hi COF,

Agree with you regarding the sonic qualities you describe. I really wanted a small monitor type speaker and this, I believe, will fit the bill. As expected, they do some things better than the 116's and some that are not. My "overall" feeling at this point is that I can live with and be satisfied recognizing the aggregate differences. And this before I've done some serious tweaking.

Have a new pair in piano black arriving next week along with some target stands with upgraded options and 50 pounds of lead shot. I assume this will be better than my current arrangement which is the monitors (at the recommended height) placed on open backed wood chairs sitting on Mapleshade brass cones. For the moment, they are very responsive to small adjustments which, to me, is a very good sign.

I will wait for my new pair to break in and optimize the placement with the new stands. Once I've done that and made some additional room adjustments, I will make a decision on the REL sub.

Thank you so much for your post and your interest and welcome to WBF.

Best,

Dude

I hope you will return at some point to say how you are getting on with your Pulsars.


BTW, I noticed this thread, with no replies in the last 3 days, has stayed at the top of the forum. That suggests an almost deserted forum, activity-wise. Is this forum usually this slow?
 

C.A.P

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2010
139
17
363
I hope you will return at some point to say how you are getting on with your Pulsars.


BTW, I noticed this thread, with no replies in the last 3 days, has stayed at the top of the forum. That suggests an almost deserted forum, activity-wise. Is this forum usually this slow?

Having Two posts and coming out of the gates swinging is not the best way to garner help or answers.. Now I too have at times been a tad callus by my fingers .. That being said .. This forum is not your usual gin mill audio forum where you have 100k members of 98 k of useless information... Its Quality here not Quantity..

I have posted where its been 3 responses but those three were exactly what I was looking for ...
Welcome by the way ! Gordon will I'm sure chime in as he is a great wealth of sharing knowledge ..
 

COF

Well-Known Member
Sep 29, 2017
150
126
148
Having Two posts and coming out of the gates swinging is not the best way to garner help or answers.. Now I too have at times been a tad callus by my fingers .. That being said .. This forum is not your usual gin mill audio forum where you have 100k members of 98 k of useless information... Its Quality here not Quantity..

I have posted where its been 3 responses but those three were exactly what I was looking for ...
Welcome by the way ! Gordon will I'm sure chime in as he is a great wealth of sharing knowledge ..

I didn't mean to "come out swinging". It's just unusual for any forum I can remember posting on for there to be no activity at all for days. I've seen various forums go on downturns where it seems everyone is leaving and, well, the traffic flow tends to look like this. I just didn't know if this was the norm, which is why I asked.

I've read lots of excellent threads here, some wonderful discussions, so I'm glad to hear there is still interest in the forum.

Anyway, I'll try to contribute when I can. I'm still hunting around seeing if I can find anything smaller, but satisfying to replace my Thiel 3.7s. I'll report if I hear anything great.

Thanks for the welcome!
 

COF

Well-Known Member
Sep 29, 2017
150
126
148
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.
 

C.A.P

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2010
139
17
363
Good information.. If I had to get a stand speaker it would be TAD micro .. loved their sound at Axpona
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,126
651
1,200
Alto, NM
Hi Chris,

Good to hear from you and hope all is well with you and family / friends. Stands arriving today and my new Pulsars tomorrow. Have also ordered 2 - 25 pound bags of lead shot for the stands. All should be up and running next week. Hope the dreaded "break in" period is short. FWIW, MBL's sold in two days.

Gordon
 

C.A.P

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2010
139
17
363
Keep us posted on the journey .. I am playing with Wilson's now.. I have a set of Sophias and Watt3.. Sophia are warm throw a HUGE stage and the Watts are detail and placement orientated.. Not for everyone but boy do they image.. Im waiting to replace the tweeters from the known resonance fiber Focals to the Ti coated as to calm them in a way..


Hows the warm retirement treating ya ?
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing