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Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Jean-Marie Reynaud Poseidon 250 Powered Sub Speakers by mtconcape@aol.com

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REVIEW: Jean-Marie Reynaud Poseidon 250 Powered Sub Speakers

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Model: Poseidon 250 Powered Sub
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $1500
Description: Powered sub with remote adjsutable volume and crossover
Manufacturer URL: Jean-Marie Reynaud
Manufacturer URL: Jean-Marie Reynaud

Review by mtconcape@aol.com ( A ) on May 09, 2004 at 08:57:26
IP Address: 152.163.253.34
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Four years ago I first reviewed the Offrande loudspeakers most favorably noting only that the last half octave of base was missing. Since that review I have listened to these speakers for many hundreds of hours and have not heard any speakers at anything under four or five times the price which I consider to be discernibly superior or even as good.

This review, however, concerns that last half octave of bass. To supply that last half octave I tried a number of subwoofers in the $1200 to $2500 price range - ACI, M&K, Velodyne, Hsu, to name only those I listened to for extended periods of time. None integrated as well as I hoped. There was always either the sense of a crossover gap or of a subwoofer presence. Finally, I tried JM Reynaud’s Poseidon 250 and got exactly what I was looking for. It is a powered sub with remote volume and crossover controls. These features I consider absolutely essential for integrating the sub with the main speakers. As to the physical measurements, it is a cube about 16 inches a side, weighs about 25 lbs and has 250watts/4ohms amp with 0.1%THD. At nominal power the distortion is 0.061% at 4ohms. Frequency response is 19-170 Hz. The 210mm driver is side-firing. The finish is the same light cherry as the Offrandes and is as beautiful crafted.

Measurements can’t tell the story however. This Poseidon sub integrates seamlessly with the Offrandes and never calls attention to itself. Of all the subs I auditioned, it is by a considerable margin the most ‘musical.’ Besides the Chesky Brahms 1st, Dvorak 9th, and Beethoven 4&7 CDs - the ones I use for standard repertoire performance as well as sonic excellence - I check things out with two other CDs to reveal bass performance.

One CD is the Dutoit Pines of Rome (London) which has that 22Hz pedal about 4 minutes into the Pines by the Catacombs and the other is the Bach Organ Favorites CD (Sony) with E. Power Biggs on the Busch-Reisinger organ at Harvard. The 22Hz in the Pines is as low as anything I’ve got and the Poseidon reaches all the way down without any strain or booming. On the Biggs CD, the Passacaglia and Fugue in C has repeated runs up and down the lower end of the scale and I use this to check for the presence of a hearable crossover notch or hump of some kind. Again, the sub did its work flawlessly. There was no sense that it was taking over at some point from the Offrandes. Just a continuous flow of low frequency music. Only the Poseidon 250 has passed these tests for me. Chamber music and jazz have a “you are there” quality I only hear otherwise at live events. Plucked bass or cellos have an immediacy as good as the real thing.

I suppose it makes sense that a manufacturer’s own subs integrate best with his main speakers. It probably has something to do with how the designer, Jean-Marie Reynaud himself, voices his speakers generally. Whatever, my search for a sub that makes music and doesn’t intrude on it is over.


Product Weakness: none noted
Product Strengths: Seamlessly corssoes voer ewith JMR Offrandes, most musical sub I've heard


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Blue Circle BC24/28 Monoblocks
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Blue Circle BC 3 Despina
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Metronome Technologie CD2V
Speakers: JMR Offrandes (main)
Cables/Interconnects: Monster to sub,Kimber Timbre interconnects, Signal Cabel to Offrandes
Music Used (Genre/Selections): symphonic and chamber, acoustic jazz
Room Size (LxWxH): 20 x 16 x 8-12
Room Comments/Treatments: some tapestries
Time Period/Length of Audition: 3 years
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Panasonic 5510 AC regenerator
Type of Audition/Review: Home Audition
Your System (if other than home audition): N/A




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Topic - REVIEW: Jean-Marie Reynaud Poseidon 250 Powered Sub Speakers - mtconcape@aol.com 08:57:26 05/9/04 ( 2)