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Joseph audio perspectives, magico a3, ATC scm40 v2

I am deciding between three speakers for my livingroom setup:

Joseph audio perspectives (v1)
Magico a3
ATC scm40 v2

My living room area is 15ft by 24ft. I need to place the speakers very close to the back wall so i was considering closed cabinet design.

previously i was using ATC scm40v1 and enjoyed its midrange especially male vocals and live music presentation. My setup is prism sound dream da1 as DAC, conran jhonson pv5 tube pre (about to get a schiit freya plus in Aug) and still deciding on amps.

One option for me is to get the ATC40v2.

I auditioned Magico S1 mk2 and Magico S3 mk2 but not yet the A3. S1 and S3 are wonderful sounding speakers with tons of details, great 3d imaging and dynamics, but sometimes a bit too refined and analytical. I would say the mids are just different flavors in S1 and S3 compared to ATCs, but not necessarily better. Also a3’s appearance and weight are not too appealing to me.

I found a used pair of joseph perspectives for $6k. I heard good things about joseph audio perspectives. They look great and are perfect in size and weight for me. Can anyone share their experiences with sonic performance of the joseph perspectives compared to ATC40s, especially in the vocals presentation? Thanks a lot!
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yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@cd318 Thanks for making the thread and my speaker hunting process going forward. : )
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@yuhengdu_tiger,

You're welcome. Those Joseph Audio Perspectives do look great and might just be worth the extra DSP effort.

With a bit of luck those 2 windows behind will help. Perhaps different port liners/ bungs could too.

Best of luck. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
If you do get the Perspectives play around with them before trying any DSP. I was listening to Sgt Pepper earlier and while it's not known for being bass heavy it will surprise you when McCartney's bass shines through. I haven't had a lot of speakers B&W, Paradigm  few others but the Perspectives just sound right?? I  stream an album of old Turlough O'Carolan played on single piano and the timbre sounds realistic. Not like a piano is on the room with you as I've read people claim they hear, IMO it would be to loud , more like you're sitting towards the back of a theater. I'm not very good at explaining, sorry, but if you get to hear them perhaps you'll understand. Even  a little tweaking with DSP it doesn't interfere with their sound. I could tell from my before and after plots I'm not doing that much with them mainly below around 200 hz. Anyway hope this helps.
yuhengdu_tiger's avatar
yuhengdu_tiger OP
87 posts
 
@djones51 Definitely! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Now I am intrigued even more by the perspectives! Do you know how much it will cost for upgrading the perspectives to perspectives 2 graphene? I emailed joseph audio but have not heard back yet.   

I just auditioned the magico a3 today. It is less clinical sounding than the s1/3. I think the imaging is still very good as of the s1 and s3 but not as much detailed as them. The presentation of mids are similar for sure. Very good speed and transients. I don't know if it is the room set up or not, but the midbass and vocals sometimes are not separated enough and I almost feel it is a boomed bass mixed into the vocals at time. I started to miss the mids of ATC 40s.

For now I want to say I am narrowing down to joseph perspectives and atc scm40 v2, or atc scm40 actives. 

I hope I can audition the Joseph perspectives somewhere. Do you know if they have a dealer near bay area, CA? 
prof
3,438 posts
 

The Perspectives have among the most engaging, fun bass of any speaker I've heard.  It just has this beautiful combination of richness, tightness, punch the air reach-out-and-feel it.   It's one of the reasons I fell for the Perspectives.  I'm not a bass head, but the Perspectives did all the audiophile goodies of transparency, detail, tonal realism, but unlike many they don't sound too polite or buttoned down.  Fun music with funky or driving bass just boogies.  They are dancable. 


I admit I'd want to not screw with it too much via DSP if I could avoid that.  Fortunately I don't have to in my room.
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