Floorstanding loudspeakers — Joseph Audio PROFILE

The Profile is the most affordable tower in the current Joseph Audio catalogue, placed below the Perspective2 Graphene and the Pearl Graphene. Designer Jeff Joseph, whose company is based in Melville, New York, first presented it at CES in January 2014 together with the Prism stand-mount, at a price of USD 6,999 per pair. Both models were created for buyers who cared about quality but worked to a budget and found the Pulsar monitors and Pearl2 towers too expensive. The Profile was announced on the Joseph Audio site in September 2014 as a coming tower, and the brand featured it as a new model at CES 2016.

Key specs that matter

The Profile is a two-way design. Its crossover is a parallel network of the Asymmetrical Infinite Slope type set at 2 kHz. Joseph Audio specifies the response within 2 dB from 39 Hz to 20 kHz over the listening window rather than on axis alone. Impedance is 8 ohms nominal and never drops below 6 ohms. Height is 991 mm, width 178 mm and depth 305 mm. Each speaker ships at about 21.3 kg in its own carton, and the stands are boxed separately at about 5.44 kg each. Finishes offered for the pair include black, white and burgundy red.

Engineering and use context

Like the Prism shown alongside it, the Profile has an enclosure whose side walls are subtly profiled so that no two panels run parallel. Its front baffle matches the width of the Prism stand-mount. The crossover is assembled from specially selected parts, and every network is tested and individually calibrated to match the original design prototype closely. Joseph Audio states that the steep filter slopes limit acoustic interference between the drivers in the crossover region, keep distortion low and preserve wide dynamic range. The acoustic outputs of the two drivers stay in phase throughout the transition band. According to the maker, this lets the Profile hold the same balance across a wide horizontal and vertical angle, unlike conventional designs with low-order filters. The brand says its precision drivers are manufactured in Norway. The asymmetrical filter concept is a patented Joseph Audio circuit.

Pairing

Joseph Audio describes the 8 ohm rating as a true 8 ohm load, which in its view makes the Profile less critical of amplifier and cable choice and a good partner for many more amplifier types, tube units among them. The company does not publish a sensitivity figure for any of its loudspeakers.

Alternatives

The Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene is the next tower up in the range, using two 5.5 inch graphene-coated magnesium woofers in a 915 mm cabinet.