Joey ^(pair)

Punching above their weight…

With the Joeys, we employ bass-midrange units with cones that are made of very strong aluminium alloy and further strengthened by radial ribs so that they remain pistonic (do not break up) in their passband and then we constrained-layer damping.  Together with excellent motor and suspension systems, the ensuing low distortion allows the listener to hear tonal structure in bass notes, again resulting in greater realism of the reproduced music – and not just some homogenised version.

The tweeter a has a ceramic-coated aluminium-alloy dome that combines the exceptional detail of a metal dome with the smoothness and non-fatiguing characteristic of ceramic with a superb high-frequency extension of high-strength of aluminium-alloy. It has a copper cap to reduce voice-coil inductance and so minimize phase shift. And it has a saturation controlled motor for extraordinarily low distortion. The result is crystal clarity throughout its treble without hardness or confusion.

The measurements of the Joey 12s are shown in the graph to the right.  The frequency response (FR) is very flat at +/- 2dB from 60 Hz to above 10 kHz so maintain the tonal accuracy of your music.  The total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 0.1% (better than some amplifiers!) from 250-8000 Hz, rising to less than 1% at 70Hz where the bass excursion is a maximum (and the distortion is mainly innocuous 2nd order) so you hear your music more clearly as it was recorded.

The crossover circuits have also been improved to give a seamless transition between these drivers operating over their best ranges so there is no sudden change in tonal character with frequency as can occur with some loudspeakers.  They use air-cored inductors, improved ‘Supreme’ polypropylene capacitors and low-inductance wire-wound resistors to minimise their distortion.

The Joey cabinets that are designed and manufactured in Australia have very rigidly constructed with 19 mm panels and 25 mm baffle with internal bracing to minimise panel vibrations and resonances. The internal walls are non-parallel to reduce internal reflections and so standing waves – resonances in the internal air column that smear the sound in time.  And LEGEND’s unique elasticated grille that just wraps around the baffle eliminates diffraction from the grille which would affect the tonal balance and imaging.

Thus with all these distortion-reducing techniques, the Joeys are very faithful to the signal fed to them both in the time and frequency domains. With well-recorded music through high-quality front-end electronics, the Joeys will sound just ‘like being there. In other words, a mini-monitor with true “high fidelity/faithfulness”.

For reviews including Joeys please click here and here.

Frequency Response & Distortion

Finishes – real wood veneer