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Review 2 of 2
Price Paid:
$0.00
from Avantegarde Music & Summary:
The 33LE is a recent addition to the Joseph line, having arrived on the retail scene only the briefest while ago, with little fanfare.
Technically it fills the space between the well established RM33si and the flagship Pearl. However, my limited experience suggests that it is a thing unto itself, and shouldn't be merely thought of as a souped up 33si or a scaled down Pearl.
I had the opportunity to hear the 33LE at Bob Visintainer's location at 24th street in Manhattan. Bob is an easy man to get along with, he never imposes himself, as I think he is confident that the goods will speak for themselves more eloquently than any sales pitch ever will.
The showroom is of considerable size and liberally treated with damping panels which suggests that deep bass will come off differently than it will in a typical living room, especially in the typical Manhattan apartment.
Bob matched up the 33LE with a single-ended amp, the Sophia, using one 845 output tube for 20 watts of power. If you haven't heard the best in SE amplification in the last 3 or 4 years, be prepared for a startle at how far this supposedly archaic technology has progressed.
Set up under these conditions, Bob handed me the remote and left me at liberty to play what I was inclined to, with one admonition not to play too loudly during work hours. He has neighbors, a problem all too familiar to New Yorkers.
Listening was one hour: Eduardo Eguez' Bach Lute; Glass/uakti Aguas de Amazona; Anner Bylsma, Bach cello suites performed on a Strad cello; and Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, ultradisk gold cd version.
The immediate difference between the 33si and the 33LE was "that's a darned good represenation of music" to "this is your brain on music".
The mid and the tweeter have been so finely mated that they sound like a single driver that is somewhere between a cone and a ribbon. From around 500 Hz and up, the sound is completely of a piece. I believe that the speaker was so new, and because of Bob's neighbors, the needed extended period of high volume blasting hadn't taken place yet, resulting in a midbass that needs time to open up and fill in.
However, the parts of the sound that were coming into focus had a near overwhelming intensity and impulsive power. One often hears about low frequencies having a tactile, impactive sensation against the body. This was the first time in my listening that high frequencies felt like compact punches of air. The most impossibly complex overtones that Uakti music is loaded with, glass gongs, gourd instruments strung with steel wire, things I never dreamed could be reproduced by a cone driver, border on overwhelming. When Bob concluded with Louis' St. James Infirmary, I came close to falling out of my chair. You get Armstrong in a new way when you can hear him like that.
At any rate, there is much work to be done. The speakers need a thorough break in, different amps will need to be tried out to find the optimal balance of power and finesse, and position will have to be fine tuned, how far apart, how much off the floor in at all, dgrees of toe in. My intuition is that I have heard only a percentage of what the 33LEs can deliver when ideal. Strengths:
So transparent it connects directly with your mind. Image size very stable regardless of volume. Excellent dispersion results in wide sweet spot that only gradually tapers. Easy to move around in "sweet zone". Reasonably efficient. Well designed for real world living spaces. Weaknesses:
too soon to know. Probably needs real power to fill in lower octaves. Will definitely require you to rethink your recordings and your equipment. Any colorations will make themselves known in short order. Similar Products Used:
have tried to listen to as many speakers as possible. Currently have modified Monitor and Sonus Faber. Generally prefer 2 way designs for coherence and simplicity.
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