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Top Ten E-Mail Interactive Interview-
Top Ten E-Mail Interactive Interview
Interview by Todd Warnke
At Soundstage! one of the most enjoyable facets of my job is the communication with industry designers and company presidents. I have found most of these people to be sincere, eloquent and passionate. Their desire to improve the status quo moves and improves the High End as much as our desire to find better products does. I have also found many of these individuals to be very open and responsive. The need to share their ideas and goals runs deep, and discussions can become very involved and quite exciting. It is for these reasons that we bring you interviews with these industry officials.
One of the more interesting recent stories in the High End has been the relatively swift rise of Joseph Audio. Their little two-way stand-mounted RM7si ($1299) has garnered many rave reviews and comments. Their patented 120 dB crossover has also attracted a large measure of attention. Their line encompasses 3 more speakers, each using the 120 dB slope. They are the floor-standing two-way RM20ti ($2099), the three-way RM30si ($3999) which we should have in for review soon, and the statement RM50si ($5999), which is about the finest speaker I've been privileged to hear. I met Jeff Joseph on line several years ago, and several months ago had the privilege of meeting him face to face. He brings an intense passion to what he does, as well as a sincere desire to elucidate the Joseph Audio ideals. Friendly, personable and articulate, what follows is an e-mail interview with Jeff. We followed out 10 question format, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
It all really began back in 1981. I was working part-time at a now-defunct hifi shop in Vestal, New York. A local audiophile told me about EA Labs speakers, made by Richard Modafferi. He told me that they were the best speakers he had heard, and they could only be found at Leonard Radio in New York City.
In late 1983, I moved down to New York, and took a sales job with Harvey Electronics. And there in "Studio B" were Richard's speakers-only at this point they were being made by JSE. Now I could finally understand why that fellow back in Binghamton was so enthusiastic about them! I had been reading the "underground" press for some time at that point but until I heard these speakers I really had no idea about some of the terms they were using to describe the sense of realism -- imaging, soundstaging, timbre, definition. Now it all made sense. These speakers handily blew away everything else in the store, and JSE rapidly became the number one line at Harvey.
I went to my first CES show in 1985 and met Richard Modafferi. As the years passed, JSE ran into problems, and Richard finally pulled the license and retired.
I continued working at Harvey where I managed a store for 2 years, and became Director Of Sales & Merchandising -- working out of the corporate office. Richard & I stayed in contact and I managed to persuade him to come back out of retirement and let me bring "Infinite Slope" back to market. I would not dream of entering the crowded arena of loudspeaker companies without Richard Modafferi and Infinite Slope technology. Infinite Slope gives us a tremendous advantage over conventional speaker designs -- and as listeners become more & more demanding this advantage becomes more apparent. This was an opportunity I couldn't walk away from. Not only am I the exclusive licensee of Infinite Slope, but I got Richard Modafferi thrown in as Chief Engineer! Not a bad deal!
Infinite Slope is the name of our patented crossover technology. One of the roles of a crossover is to divide the sound between the drivers (woofers, midranges, tweeters) in a speaker system. Most crossovers are very gradual in their transition from driver to driver. The slope of the crossover refers to the steepness of the crossover's rolloff just above or below the crossover frequency. 6 dB/octave is a very shallow slope crossover. 12 dB/ octave is steeper, and 24 dB/octave is steeper still. Our crossover, while not truly Infinite in its slope, at 120 dB per octave is sufficiently steep to realize the benefits of the theoretically impossible to build Infinite Slope!
Those benefits can be rather significant in higher performance speaker systems. We're able to lower the tweeter's crossover point without risking distortion or failure. We can silence a woofer before it begins to "break up." We can reduce Wave Interference down to inaudible levels.
Wave Interference is a serious problem in multi-driver loudspeakers. When Stereophile publishes vertical response families you can see the dramatic effect it has on the system's sound. After Richard Modafferi had left McIntosh Labs-where as Senior Engineer he had designed the MR78 tuner- he started investigating loudspeaker design (along with another distinguished Mac alumnus- Mile Nestorovic -- they shared a patent on bass loading.) He found that even if he used excellent drive units, he still ran into trouble when assembling those drive units into complete speaker systems. The drivers would interact with one another and could only be optimized to one listening position. Even then, the off axis response, much rougher due to the wave interference, would still reach the listener's ears through room reflections. The crossover transition area was broad and easily identifiable. He reasoned that if he could minimize the interaction between the drivers in the speaker system he would have a better speaker system- free of wave interference effects, and with broad listening area. Even for a filter expert such as he, it was formidable design challenge. If you tried to build a very steep crossover using conventional circuit topologies you ran into many additional problems -- loss through the large number of components required, ringing and phase problems. Richard had to find another way to realize the Infinite Slope without creating other problems. After many attempts he finally came up with a simple circuit that delivered the desired cutoff without damaging the sound. Now the theoretical benefits of Infinite slope could be realized in a real world speaker system. We've refined that invention even further optimizing phase through crossover, impedance, and amplitude response.
One striking quality of Infinite Slope speakers that surprises some audiophiles is the sense of coherence. You don't hear a woofer and a tweeter or a "woofer-midrange-tweeter" - the sound is well-integrated and seamless. This takes careful system engineering. You can't just say our speaker is better because of one invention- the potential is there, but you must make the right choices in every area-- drivers, cabinet, and crossover, to realize the potential.
Phase Coherence is not assured by the slope employed. There are other mitigating factors such as the driver's phase response and position where your measure the speaker. Even those that emphasize phase coherence as a marketing or engineering goal can only achieve it at one point along the vertical axis of the speaker. You end up with a design that is very fussy in regards to room placement and highly sensitive to listener position. You might as well get a pair of headphones! We do get the drivers working in-phase through crossover, without any phase discontinuities.
I think the fact that the crossover region is so small also works in our favor. As you have heard for yourself, the steepness of our slope makes the speaker more coherent, not less so. It is true that you can hear any driver errors more distinctly that would normally be masked by the crossover overlap, but you'll also hear the source more cleanly as well. And once you correct those errors, the sense that you're listening to speakers disappears. When you've spent a good deal of time perfecting a loudspeaker design it gets difficult to stop listening critically and just focus on the music. It can be very frustrating, because the music is the thing that drives us to make these components and if you can't focus on the music then something is wrong. Once the speaker "gets out of the way," I know we've got a finished design.
I knew you would get to the M&M's. While setting up for the Hifi '95 show, I was fooling around with M&M's - I put a few on each RM7si, stuck a few to the ceiling.
The whole thing was a joke! I was having fun with those who endorse discs n' dots n' such. During the show people would ask about the M&M's, and I'd move them around, make up some story about each color. "Red is for Living Stereo Shaded Dogs". "Green is for CD, while Blue is reserved for DVD."
When thing would get too SERIOUS at the show, I'd frown, go up to a speaker and swap a couple of M&M's. Everyone would laugh, and the tension would be broken. This hobby is about fun, and I dislike the attitude that some people put forward that their products are sooo superior because of reasons only they can comprehend. That attitude drives normal people away from this wonderful business. I want to bring people INTO this business, not drive them away!
I can't take credit for the following analysis: I got it from Peter Sabin who was with Bang & Olufsen at the time (now he's got his own business: ps.comm).
The market is divided into 4 segments. There are those with a high interest in technology and a high interest in music. Those who have a high interest in music and a low interest in technology. Those who have a high interest in technology and a low interest in music. And finally those who are not really interested in either.
The first group is pretty typical of high-end manufacturers and professionals. We love music and we love the cool technology that brings it to us. We are a small but fanatical group that is obsessed with all things hifi. We buy most of the better equipment, and the marketing efforts of audio companies are aimed right at us.
Then there's the group who loves music but couldn't care less about the system it's played on. Musicians figure prominently here- they can get into a music performance without needing the more complete illusion that good hifi can provide. Or they simply have never heard a good system. This group goes to live concerts, but seldom will visit a hifi store.
The high technology lovers who don't care about music? Used to be the guy whose record collection was the 1812 Overture, and 3 Direct-Disc LPs with the grooves only worn on the 30 second excerpt that showed what his system can do. This has changed -- this group is now busy with the fun tech stuff going on in the world of computers, and is now refining their home theater's ability to fully render the footsteps of a dinosaur. If they venture into a hifi shop it's for Home theater or a set of in-wall speakers.
Then there's the largest group. Those who have little interest in music or the technology of music systems. They buy their stereo from a Sam's Club or a Sears. It's probably a mini system with a 6 disc changer for $199. The built in timer clock flashes "12:00" "12:00" all day long. Or they own no stereo at all. Yet this is the largest potential market.
I think that we as an industry must change our focus from the first group to the 2nd and 4th groups above. The best way to do this is to emphasize the musical benefits of a good hifi system instead of the technology that so many within these groups find confusing and intimidating. It's easier to move people towards musical interest than it is to get them interested in the technology.
Dealers are at the front lines of the industry, and the most successful ones have learned to make better audio accessible to their clients. Rather than getting bogged down in excessively technical discussions, they focus on the musical value of a given system.
We also need to design components that deliver the goods sonically without making demands on the user. For our part, we make our speakers very easy to drive - so if someone is upgrading a step at a time, they can even run our speakers with a receiver without difficulty. Our speakers are also less demanding in terms of placement within a room. Since the speaker elements do not interact with one another, the sound is consistently clear throughout the whole listening area, not just one sweet spot. There was a fellow on TAN (The Audiophile Network, an audio only BBS you should really check out) who announced that he had discovered the "sweet spot" for his speakers. The poor guy had to sit ON THE FLOOR in front of his couch. Most normal people wouldn't do that, and they shouldn't have to.
To sum up: We need to focus on the love of music and make products that allow people to connect with their music simply, elegantly, and without fuss.
And speaking of music, what are your personal 10 favorite albums? I've seen the inside of your travel case of CD's and it looked pretty tasty.
Well, you might have noticed that my travel case holds 100 CD's, so choosing just 10 is pretty hard.
Nevertheless::
Damn: there's ten and I still haven't included: Prince, Bonnie Raitt, Bill Evans, Little Feat, Lyle Lovett, kd Lang, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, Bach, Miles, Mingus, Billie Holiday, Ella.
I give!!!
Now on greater controversies. Where do you stand in the vinyl/CD and tube/solid-state debates?
While I have a large number of CD's that I use for evaluation, I prefer the sound I get from my VPI TNT! (not always, but often!)
As for tubes, I've been listening to them a great deal lately, but there's several solid state amps that I like. I need to work with each at some point in the design stage.
When I want to convince myself that we've got the greatest thing since sliced bread, I'll hook up a tube amp, when I want more precision I'll opt for the solid state.
I listen to voices to make sure they sound natural- speakers tend to create vowel colorations that I find especially annoying. Tonality is very important as well- do the instruments sound natural? When listening to solo piano do some notes stick out? Are the violins sweet or harsh? Dynamic linearity is also very important- if a system lacks linearity, the sense of dynamic contrast can be reduced, robbing the music of it's immediacy and impact. Bass definition is another priority - I want the bass to be clean, not boomy. You should be able to tell a plucked bass instrument from one that is struck or bowed. But ultimately, I need to be able to forget about the equipment and focus on the musical performance. If that is happening, I'll just forget about dissecting the performance of the system.
I'm very proud to be part of the High End. The people who work in this industry really have their hearts in the right place. Very few of us are here to make a fast buck - it's the love of music that brings us to this line of work. We yearn for the magic of music reproduction and we constantly strive for the best possible performance. How many other businesses are based on making something as perfect as can be, rather than making it cheaper? We want to hear every detail in our treasured recordings as fully and naturally as possible. We want to immerse ourselves in the musical experience as fully as possible. We want a 'private audience' with Miles Davis. We get a special thrill when we gain more insight and understanding of the genius of our favorite artists.
There are also some people who have gone "the extra mile" to help us out. People like George & Colleen Cardas (Cardas Audio), Mary Cardas (Classic Records), Bob Rullo (R&G Audio), Chris Sommovigo (Illuminati) Steve Rowell (Audio Classics), Dennis Yetikyel (Park Avenue Audio) and Harry & Sheila Weisfeld (VPI). These manufacturers and retailers for me, define what is "right" about our industry, and I've benefited greatly from their advice, experience and generosity.
Go out and hear music live. Support music education for our children. Studies have proven that kids that know music do better in traditional subjects as well. Better yet, make your own music! Learn to play piano. Get a guitar. Buy a digeridu!
Wanna e-mail Jeff Joseph yourself? He can be reached at: josephaud@aol.com
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