Magico A3 vs. Joseph Audio Perspective vs. Spendor D9

@freesole

You’ll find detailed descriptions from my auditions of the Magico A3 and Joseph Audio Perspectives in my thread here (along with many other
speakers):

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/contemplating-devore-speakers-and-others-long-audition-report...

Yes, the JA speakers are notable for their "disappearing/soundstaging/imaging." It’s one of the things people remark on over and over when you see show reports, and it’s certainly the case - images just do that "floating as if no speaker is there" thing really well. And they sound much larger than they are (they are quite small floor standing speakers).

As for the bass, the JA speakers are surprisingly big, rich and punchy in the bass. They aren’t spec’d as low as the Magicos, but you don’t feel you are missing much. I actually love the bass quality of the Perspectives - it has this beautiful tone and texture to it, and they are fun speakers in terms of giving that "punch" to the sound. That said, they CAN sound a bit "porty" without careful set up or the right amp (that is, just a bit more puffiness in the lower bass). Then again, I didn’t find the bass of the Magico A3 impressed me too much with it’s tightness in the audition I had. It went low, but it didn’t really "groove" for me, like the Joseph speakers or the Devores. But, that’s just one guy’s audition of the Magico A3 (though I really put them through the wringer with tons of music).

Again, the main feature to my ears with the JA speakers is a lack of grain - they sound, as Fremer said in his review of the Pulsars - "unmechanical" in a way few other speakers sound. The purity of voices comes through, and instrumental timbre, like few other speakers I’ve experienced. They are a fascinating combination of "warmth" in the mids/lowermids/bass and "speed, transparency." Everything I hear on them makes me just want to keep listening.





As for the Spendors, I’m really not in a position to say much at all. I only remember hearing some jazz where the sax sounded alarmingly clear, present and natural. And some R&B where I noted the drums had nice punch, guitars very clear and crisp, and an overall very low sense of coloration. They just seemed more together, neutral and more "real" sounding in many ways that much of the other set ups at the same show didn’t quite match. As I have had plenty of listening time (though years ago) with the older classic Spendor models (and I own Spendor LS 3/5s) I was a bit surprised by the Spendors. They definitely sounded like a more modern take on the Spendor sound - the older sound being a bit more soft and comfy, the new sound being more forward with a more vivid sound and "alive" with transients (picking guitar, drums, etc).

FWIW....

@prof Loved reading your thoughts here. It is those comments about the Perspective that have me so intrigued despite not being able to listen to them before purchasing. That tone and the ability to immersiveness is something that I am looking for in a speaker. The A3 did it very well on certain tracks. The D7 was good but not spectacular in that regard but did everything else very well (again, I would expect the D9 to be better in almost every way other than in the highs). 

It sounds like your Perspective's are keeping you very happy. I only wonder how they would sound on a 48W tube amp... 

I heard the D-7s at Hawthorne in your area last summer. Loved them.
I heard the JA Perspectives at RMAF in Oct. Joseph had the worst
location in the whole show-a dead end in separate wing with few
big names. I went back twice. Those speakers are so beautiful sounding.
Saw no A-3s there or D-9s. Big disappointment . Going to see family in LA over Thanksgiving. Also visiting a 2nd gen. Audio store in Monrovia
after our "goat hike" outing Friday-don't ask. Has A-3s and D-7. Interestingly the sales manager offered to arrange a listen to his personal D-9s. Now here is a guy who has done a lot more listening/comparing than I can. He feels the A-3s are more accurate but less warm to the ear.

@firstnot I was at Hawthorne listening to the D7’s yesterday! In your opinion, between the D7’s midrange/high signature and the Perspective’s, what would you describe as the difference?

I would expect the midrange signature to be fairly similar between the D7’s and D9’s but could be wrong without having heard the latter.

Agreed with the A3’s. I don’t think I have heard a more accurate and clear speaker. I also would not describe them as warm by any stretch. They were "warmer" with my tube amp driving them but not quite the warmth I have heard on my current Ascend's or the D7's. 

freesole,

I'm just offering insight on the JA Perspectives mostly because it's hard to find people with much experience listening to them aside from hearing them at shows.  And since you (and others) have heard the Magicos, I don't think giving my own long impression here would be add much.


I don't own the Perspectives. I was taken by them when I auditioned them over a year ago and wondered if they might replace my big Thiel 3.7 speakers, so I had a couple day home audition. They blew me away, but so did my Thiels. I decided I couldn't give up the Thiels and instead I'd just add the Perspectives to my "collection." Saved up for a long time for the Perspectives. Once I just about had enough I figured I'd survey the speaker landscape of other choices to make sure I'd be making the right choice on the Perspectives. Hence my long speaker audition thread.

But that also had me re-auditioning the Perspectives again to compare with all those other speakers. So I have a lot of "audition time" with them. (I don't own them simply because a financial requirement arose suddenly that made my purchase impossible for the time being).

Anyway....

As for lower powered tube amps, I've heard them sound excellent on 100W tubed Mcintosh amps.  People raved about the Perspectives in a recent show, powered by the Doshi tube amps, 65W.

I never got around to testing them on my older Eico HF81 tube integrated (14 side), only on my CJ tube amps, 140W.

As for warmth in the sound:  the JA speakers have a "warmth" in the mids/lower mids/upper bass but it's not necessarily in the sense of "big, round, lush."   It's not that kind of emphasized lower mids warmth, or the Big Fat Midrange sound you get with many wider-baffle speakers like Harbeth, or especially Devore "O" series speakers.   The Devore speakers, for example, give the midrange Big Fat Weighty sound.

The JA speakers sound more linear, and do have something of that "narrow profile speaker" sound, so bigger speakers will present a sax that sounds bigger.  But they nonetheless have a richness right were it needs to be in the warmth area, and a particularly "human timbre" richness where male voices have that richness you want, and female voices sound particularly superb.


The main difference in character I think you'll find in essentially neutral speakers like the Magico, Spendor and Joseph are, to my ears, that smoothness inherent in the Joseph speakers, the lack of grain.  This allows them to have extended highs, crisp transients, like you might expect (to use cliche) from metal drivers (even though they use a soft dome tweeter).  Cymbals sound really "metallic" and with great individual character, rather than bursts of white noise.  But the lack of grain to the sound makes it unfatiguing to listen.  (In fact, the lack of grain/hash can sometimes lead the JA speakers to sort of sound a bit "darker" than some other speakers, even though they are pretty linear and extended through the high frequencies.  Though they can of course sound too bright in the wrong situation too).  It's a subtle difference, but if it grabs you, it grabs you, and it's why I preferred the JA speakers even over the Magicos.

When I listened to the Magico speakers, I heard tons of detail and sonic information, that really made instruments sound individual and holographically rendered.  But they just didn't do for me what I get as soon as I play anything through the JA speakers.  There's almost a hair-raising-on-the-arms sensation of "wow, that is what a piano, a voice etc" actually sounds like!   It's not so much "sonic detail that allows me to differentiate everything" in a sort of intellectual way, but more like the fact that different materials, metal cymbals, horns, wood instruments,  steel strings, gut strings actually SOUND like they are made of those materials, and less like a homogenized timbre.  


I'm a bit of a tonal/timbre nut, so that's why the JA speakers really grab me. 


But...we all tend to focus on different things, and in that way "hear" differently when we are shopping for speakers.  So you could feel different than I do in comparing the three brands.  (Though, I would say, that my own impressions of the JA sound line up with what seems like a constant theme from users and show reports - usually the remarks center on their timbral precision, soundstaging, and dynamics).

Though, again, even though the Perspectives punch well above their small size, I would think if you want an even more authoritative sound, in terms of frequency extension and presentation, the Magicos would likely do that more.  (And maybe the Spendor 9s, though I haven't heard them in a while).