Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Joseph Audio Pearl 2 Speakers by Socrates7

Model:	Pearl 2
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$28500
Description:	Reference Class Floor Standing Loudspeaker
Manufacturer URL:	Joseph Audio
Model Picture:	View

Review by Socrates7 on December 26, 2010 at 08:34:10
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for the Pearl 2

Excerpted from Audiograb!

It shouldn't be a shock when I say that these are great sounding speakers, and I'll confess that I've spent (too many/not ever enough) hours enthralled by their sound. My notes from my last listening session were uncharacteristically cryptic, but the words I do find there are: effortless, extension, holographic. I guess I was busy. Anyway, let me unpack each of these.

First up: effortless. What I mean by this is that everything seems to hang together really well. Nothing stands out; the coherence between top and bottom was totally seamless -- there wasn't any bump, lump, or push in any frequency that I could hear. The sound was big when it was supposed to be, delicate when it needed to be, and very believable.

By extension, I mean rather straightforwardly that the bass was big, tight, and clean and the treble was extended and pure and without grain or etch. As high or as low as I wanted to go, we went, and there was no boom or bloom (great room!) and nothing that kept me from turning up the volume and sitting back and tapping my toes in some approximation of the beat. I should note also that the mids were just lovely. Voices were seductive and realistic. Louis Armstrong's vocals on Satchmo Plays King Oliver were actually shocking. I don't have this LP, but based on that session, I'm getting it pronto.

Holography: Sound-staging on these speakers, in this setup, is among the best that I've heard. Anywhere. On any speakers. Jeff put on a classic album I'm ashamed to admit that I've never actually listened to: Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms (never too late!). On this album I heard some truly remarkable sound staging -- I've never heard wall-to-wall extension before, and it was incredible chasing instruments and movements across the performance stage. Interestingly, the sound of the speakers was very good even when I stood up and moved around. Yes, the sweet spot was really magic, but sitting off to one side was still fantastic, even with each speaker toed in fully to point directly at my ears.

Did I mention I want these things in a big, ugly kind of way?

At 86dB efficient, you'd think these speakers would be hard to drive and would require some seriously high-powered solid-state amplifiers to open up. You'd also be very wrong. The Luxman amplifier we were using is only 60 wpc. Yes, it has some serious balls for all that, and even though the output doubles into lower impedances, the Pearl 2s only dip to 6ohms. While this might not scream "tube friendly", it certainly shouldn't scare any tube owners off. But for those of you wondering about the gloriousness of Class A solid-state, the 60 wpc Luxman was more than enough to rock the house and do so with style, class, and no hint of clipping.

Which brings up an interesting (and related) issue -- the Pearl 2s like to be loud. Some of this is to be expected as the sensitivity is only middling and giving the volume knob a bit of a goose will of course bring the SPLs up and better in line with their more sensitive brethren. But that said, I still found myself reaching for the remote to tweak up the volume a bit more and ended up with a comfortable listening volume that was just shy of really loud -- and louder than my "normal" listening volumes. It may be that they're just easier on the ears, but Jeff says that the Pearls don't really open up till you turn them up, and my own experience agrees. And as the volume creeps, so does the grin on my face -- and so too does any thought of doing anything else, except listening to the music. Interesting feedback loop, there.

So, time for a word or three about listener fatigue. You don't find much discussion of this in Stereophile these days (if you ever did), but I'll submit that some of the most highly regarded audiophile speakers in the world are also some of the speakers least listened to by those that actually buy them. That is, what reviewers may key on -- detail, separation, &c -- are not necessarily the kindest to your latent ADD inclinations even if they're doing things that are interesting to write about. When I read reviews, one of things I look for is a focus on key words like 'detail', 'retrieval', 'separation' (and a few others), which says to me that the speakers are doing something worthy of attention, something notable even, but not necessarily something that is good for enjoyment of the music being played. Worse, it's often something that is as irritating over the long run as a harsh or pushed high-end, a muddy bass, or a recessed mid range. Anyway, back to listener fatigue. With the Pearls, I don't have any. In fact, it's ludicrously hard to do anything else but sit there, turn up the volume, and get lost. These speakers are terrific time sinks, so if you have a busy lifestyle and need to accomplish a lot of things on a regular basis, don't get them.

Are the Pearl 2 speakers the ultimate in detail or speed? No. Your typical electrostat isn't going to start getting itchy with the Pearls in the room. Ditto with efficiency -- ratings in the mid 80's have got nothing on a Lowther or a horn, and while a 6ohm minimum is great, there are speakers in the Zu Audio stable that are looking for 16 ohms. Further, I'm also quite sure that you can find speakers with a more specific or more expansive sound stage. And yes, I know of a double-handful of speakers off the top of my head that have a deeper reach in the bass.

But I can't think of one set of speakers, of all those that I've mentioned (even obliquely) that does all of the things together as well as the Pearl 2s do and none that I can think of that I'd rather spend the day with. Think triathlete, rather than gold-medal champion in only one sport. These speakers do everything very, very well, and that level of performance, seen in one place at one time in one set of speakers is, in my experience, unique.

I have to say something about the price tag. At $28k, it's up there with some of the big boys. And yes, while it can (more than) hang with them, I'm not sure that that is the point. Why do any speakers cost this much? Is it rarity or expense of the parts? Development time & effort? Marketing costs? Well, sure, all of those things go into the price of any product, but that's not it. At this level, the final determiner will be demand and more specifically whether or not the market will support that price given that performance. Apparently, there is a market at this level -- witness the well-received offerings from Wilson and Avalon. But pricing an offering based on a targeted market niche instead of tying it (even loosely) to cost makes rational discussions or understanding totally fluid and completely beyond my ken.

Look, if you can afford that price tag, you really need to hear these speakers. Not only do they sound spectacular, they actually look the part, and I have consistently preferred their look and sound over the Avalon or Wilson speakers that they compete with.

Personally, I just wish they were less expensive because if they were, I'd own them.

For the complete review, click here: Audiograb!

Product Weakness:	Not the last word in speed, efficiency or bass response -- but may be the best all-a-rounder available.
Product Strengths:	Coherency, Holographic, Effortless

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Luxman M-800A
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Luxman C-800
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Dr. Feickert Blackbird, Luxman DU-80
Speakers: Joseph Audio Pearl 2
Cables/Interconnects: Synergist Research Apex
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Jazz, World, Pop, Rock
Type of Audition/Review: Dealer Demo

Amplifier:	Luxman M-800A
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Luxman C-800
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Dr. Feickert Blackbird, Luxman DU-80
Speakers:	Joseph Audio Pearl 2
Cables/Interconnects:	Synergist Research Apex
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, World, Pop, Rock
Type of Audition/Review:	Dealer Demo