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| Model: | Juniper |
| Category: | Speakers |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $7000 |
| Description: | 2+ way standmount |
| Manufacturer URL: | Escalante Design |
| Model Picture: | View |
| Review by jonbee on September 30, 2012 at 19:19:04 IP Address: 98.225.22.34 | Add Your Review for the Juniper |
"What a beautiful sounding speaker!"
That was my first reaction to the Escalante Design Juniper stand mounted speakers. The whole story is not that simple, but this first impressions has a lot of truth.
The designer behind Escalante Designs is Thiery Budge, who previously designed several of Wilson Audio's famed speakers, as well as Talon Audio's first round of products. I once owned a pair to Talon Khite standmounts, and I must say they were a strange sounding speaker to me. The range up to 3khz. or so was very nice, then the top end just dropped out. I remember my reaction when I heard them - "What were they thinking? Where's the top end". They didn't last long in my home. Other reactions to the other Talon models was decidedly mixed.
Budge founded Escalante Designs, with all models using a patented compound dual woofer system superficially similar to isobaric, but with a compensation circuit in the woofer system to tie the woofers together. The Juniper is the "baby" of the line. Fremont and Pinyon models share the very pricey top end Scanspeak ring radiator tweeter, while the Juniper shares 6.5" dual woofers and size with the Pinyon, but uses the cheaper top Vifa ring radiator tweeter. The speakers I have are the earlier version; around 2007 both the Pinyon and Junipers switched to different woofer drivers.
The Escalante line has had some very positive reaction, as well as some criticism, but I've been somewhat intrigued by them. When a pair of the original version of the Junipers came available for peanuts I snapped them up.
There is very little press on the Juniper. Audiophile Voice had a review, which I haven't seen, and that's about it.
Escalante uses a very dense MDF in the cabinets, and these 18x13x9 speakers weigh 51 lbs. ea. Mine are finished in a textured black paint very similar to Merlins. The sides have an irregular inlay that looks like glass covering about half the area. They have very nice Cardas connectors. They arrived packed in wooden crates that weigh 30 lbs. ea. They look very similar to the Pinyons, pictured above, but with a black tweeter face.
So- more about my reaction. Escalante claims their patented woofer system is very much faster than any others, and I wanted to test that claim. Upon first hearing, the range from 45 hz. or so up to ~2khz., has dynamics, focus and accuracy that is very, very good. The midrange is commendably flat, detailed and natural. Of the speakers I've owned, the midrange resembles that of the Merlin TSM-MME which I had in this system last year, and that is high praise. Liquid, natural and convincing, with great depth, instrumental separation, and harmonic correctness.
And then- there is the top end. This is where some deliberate "voicing" comes into play. Thiery Budge seems to be of the school of thought that many speakers are too bright, and that a live concert hall event simply doesn't sound as bright as most speakers' presentation of a recording of that event. I have experinced that myself. I live 8 blocks from the venue of the Seattle Symphony, and live performances there, in any seat, are always softer sounding "on top" than the wonderfully recorded Delos CDs of performances recorded there, played through well engineered conventional speakers. In any event, both the Talons he designed and the Escalantes have a shelved down top end.
That said, compared the the Khites I owned, the Junipers are less shelved down. It is notable that there is a +2db tweeter level switch on the back of all the Escalante models. I only used the +2 db tweeter positon for all listening, but I have read reviews of other models where the listeners do prefer the normal position. The normal position had too much recession in the highs for my taste, however.
Aside from the shelving down of the top end, the detail and definition on top is excellent, without any trace of hash or harmonic imbalance. It is very clean and natural, although missing the "airiness" I'm used to from my ribbon tweetered speakers.
The other stong point of the speaker is the coherence of the sound. I've never heard a better integrated multi-way speaker.
Even in the near field (I use these in my office- 4-5 feet from my sitting position) it is impossible to hear any separation of the sound as coming from 2 sources, and the sound itself is totally cut from one cloth tonally and dynamically. This is a very refined sound.
I own two very fast, high resolution stand mounts for comparison- $5000 MSRP Volent VL-2s and $4300 Selah Audio Tempestas. I changed venues for these comparisons to my living room system.
Both the Selah and the Volents go notably lower on the bottom end, comfortably into the mid to upper 30s, while I felt the Junipers drop off below 45 hz. Up to around 2 khz. there are more similarities than differences. While I would not say the Junipers were faster in any way than the others, they certainly kept up. They seem very flat, whereas the Volents have a bit some emphasis to the midbass. The Selahs and Junipers did not. All 3 have very good spatial rendering. Of the 3 the Volents
have the most energy on top, with a bit of emphasis in the mid treble. The top of the midrange of the Junipers also seems a little tame compared to my references. Piano has a bit more body and less percussion. Saxophones are smoother, with less "reediness" than I think is on the recordings. Of the three, the range from the upper mids on up belong to the Selahs, where the combination of 2" Accuton mid and RAAL tweeter is astonishingly open, detailed, coherent and flat. The Selahs are about a third larger than the other two, yet sound much larger, more like a floorstander. The Junipers sound the smallest, largely due, I think, to the recessed top.
I find it difficult to stay in "analysis mode" when listening to the Junipers; I'm distracted by the draw of the musical presentation. I give them very high marks for that. In the nearfield of my office speakers with a hot or gritty top end are hard to take for long and the Junipers are a very comfortable choice for this role. Although not as incisive on top as the Volents I had been using there, I slightly prefer the Junipers for this use. At no time do I feel the need to stop listening to them and go back to another speaker. On their own terms, they sound very engaging indeed.
At $7000 retail they are expensive, too much so by my reckoning, but there is real quality to be had in these, and they are worth a listen.
Pricier Escalante models with the top line tweeters may have a more energetic sounding top end, and the newer woofers may or may not be better.
At current used prices, which are a fraction of retail, these are an attractive option, depending on taste.
| Product Weakness: | No low bass; polite on top. Expensive. |
| Product Strengths: | Very musical, natural, detailed and coherent. Very engaging sound. |
| Amplifier: | Hypex N-Core 400 |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Bel Canto PRE3 |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Music server to Eastern electric Plus DAC |
| Speakers: | review |
| Cables/Interconnects: | AZ Samadhi, Zu Essence, etc. |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | lots |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 17 x 20 x 8 |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | two walls of glass- eats bass |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 1 week |
| Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | PS audio Power Plant Premier |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
I managed to obtain a copy of 2006 review in The Audiophile Voice by Ron Nagle.
The price of the Junipers until 2007 was $5000/pr. With the new woofers (and cabinet veneers) in 2007 the price went to $7000. My pair is the earlier model.
Mr. Nagle, as well as the publisher of the mag were very taken with the Junipers. Interestingly, while extolling the imaging, soundstage clarity, and harmonic naturalness and noting the lack of deep bass, he was not troubled by what I hear as a modest lack of top end energy. In fact, he preferred the flat tweeter position, while I only use the +2db position. Matchups and tastes rule.
His summary of the speaker does map well to mine, though. I said they sounded beautiful. Here is his summary:
"Picture a stormy night, a soft comfortable easy chair and an excellent glass of wine. You let yourself be immersed in the sound swirling all about you, let’s choose a string ensemble and imagine that it is performing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” The tonality is clear and just a bit warm; like the wine, it is the perfect compliment to an evening when life is good."
Flowery stuff, but I do find myself drawn to them after a long day. They are not the most precisely accurate monitoring tools, but the sound is very enticing. If they cost $3000, I've give them a bigger thumbs up, but since they are so unknown, used prices are very cheap when they appear. This makes them an outstanding buy if the flavor is to your liking.
I have found that cable rolling can mostly alleviate the top end softness. Anti-ICs, which are very detailed but a touch bright in my ribbon tweeter systems, work very synergistically to bring more top end energy to the Junipers while maintaining the wonderful naturalness. Likewise Zu Libtec speaker cables. Needless to say, matching with laid back ancillaries may not work well. With all, though, the warmth and coherence is a constant.
Edits: 10/10/12 10/11/12
Hi Jonbee,
Escalante seems to have fully disappeared and the information on these speakers are inexistent (aside from your review).
I just bought a pair second hand and now need to source a power amp to pair them with. Would you have information about sensitivity and impedance?
Would you have any recommendation on what type of amp these require?
Do you still have The Audiophile Voice? Is there anyway you can take a picture of the review and post / send over?
Thanks a lot
Serge
Nice review! I owned the Escalante Freemonts for about 8 months and thought they were the worst speaker I ever owned! Just couldn't get them to sing, sold them after the 8 months for over. $10,000 loss!!!! Live and learn.
and the drop off at the top of the 6.5" woofers' band, it is hard to see how the 12" woofers in the Fremont wouldn't have even more issues at the top of the woofer, despite the hard dustcap. The very uneven response in the Fremont measurements in Stereophile seem to point that out. Escalante is not currently in production of any models, it seems. While I like the Junipers very much for my purposes, they come in at third place of my 3 speakers overall, with the others being much cheaper at retail.
I would like to hear the later model Pinyons, but not at $10k!
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