Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Escalante Design Juniper Speakers by jonbee

Model:	Juniper
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$7000
Description:	2+ way standmount
Manufacturer URL:	Escalante Design
Model Picture:	View

Review by jonbee on September 30, 2012 at 19:19:04
IP Address: 98.225.22.34 Add Your Review
for the Juniper

"What a beautiful sounding speaker!"
That was my first reaction to the Escalante Design Juniper stand mounted speakers. The whole story is not that simple, but this first impressions has a lot of truth.
The designer behind Escalante Designs is Thiery Budge, who previously designed several of Wilson Audio's famed speakers, as well as Talon Audio's first round of products. I once owned a pair to Talon Khite standmounts, and I must say they were a strange sounding speaker to me. The range up to 3khz. or so was very nice, then the top end just dropped out. I remember my reaction when I heard them - "What were they thinking? Where's the top end". They didn't last long in my home. Other reactions to the other Talon models was decidedly mixed.
Budge founded Escalante Designs, with all models using a patented compound dual woofer system superficially similar to isobaric, but with a compensation circuit in the woofer system to tie the woofers together. The Juniper is the "baby" of the line. Fremont and Pinyon models share the very pricey top end Scanspeak ring radiator tweeter, while the Juniper shares 6.5" dual woofers and size with the Pinyon, but uses the cheaper top Vifa ring radiator tweeter. The speakers I have are the earlier version; around 2007 both the Pinyon and Junipers switched to different woofer drivers.
The Escalante line has had some very positive reaction, as well as some criticism, but I've been somewhat intrigued by them. When a pair of the original version of the Junipers came available for peanuts I snapped them up.
There is very little press on the Juniper. Audiophile Voice had a review, which I haven't seen, and that's about it.
Escalante uses a very dense MDF in the cabinets, and these 18x13x9 speakers weigh 51 lbs. ea. Mine are finished in a textured black paint very similar to Merlins. The sides have an irregular inlay that looks like glass covering about half the area. They have very nice Cardas connectors. They arrived packed in wooden crates that weigh 30 lbs. ea. They look very similar to the Pinyons, pictured above, but with a black tweeter face.
So- more about my reaction. Escalante claims their patented woofer system is very much faster than any others, and I wanted to test that claim. Upon first hearing, the range from 45 hz. or so up to ~2khz., has dynamics, focus and accuracy that is very, very good. The midrange is commendably flat, detailed and natural. Of the speakers I've owned, the midrange resembles that of the Merlin TSM-MME which I had in this system last year, and that is high praise. Liquid, natural and convincing, with great depth, instrumental separation, and harmonic correctness.
And then- there is the top end. This is where some deliberate "voicing" comes into play. Thiery Budge seems to be of the school of thought that many speakers are too bright, and that a live concert hall event simply doesn't sound as bright as most speakers' presentation of a recording of that event. I have experinced that myself. I live 8 blocks from the venue of the Seattle Symphony, and live performances there, in any seat, are always softer sounding "on top" than the wonderfully recorded Delos CDs of performances recorded there, played through well engineered conventional speakers. In any event, both the Talons he designed and the Escalantes have a shelved down top end.
That said, compared the the Khites I owned, the Junipers are less shelved down. It is notable that there is a +2db tweeter level switch on the back of all the Escalante models. I only used the +2 db tweeter positon for all listening, but I have read reviews of other models where the listeners do prefer the normal position. The normal position had too much recession in the highs for my taste, however.
Aside from the shelving down of the top end, the detail and definition on top is excellent, without any trace of hash or harmonic imbalance. It is very clean and natural, although missing the "airiness" I'm used to from my ribbon tweetered speakers.
The other stong point of the speaker is the coherence of the sound. I've never heard a better integrated multi-way speaker.
Even in the near field (I use these in my office- 4-5 feet from my sitting position) it is impossible to hear any separation of the sound as coming from 2 sources, and the sound itself is totally cut from one cloth tonally and dynamically. This is a very refined sound.
I own two very fast, high resolution stand mounts for comparison- $5000 MSRP Volent VL-2s and $4300 Selah Audio Tempestas. I changed venues for these comparisons to my living room system.
Both the Selah and the Volents go notably lower on the bottom end, comfortably into the mid to upper 30s, while I felt the Junipers drop off below 45 hz. Up to around 2 khz. there are more similarities than differences. While I would not say the Junipers were faster in any way than the others, they certainly kept up. They seem very flat, whereas the Volents have a bit some emphasis to the midbass. The Selahs and Junipers did not. All 3 have very good spatial rendering. Of the 3 the Volents
have the most energy on top, with a bit of emphasis in the mid treble. The top of the midrange of the Junipers also seems a little tame compared to my references. Piano has a bit more body and less percussion. Saxophones are smoother, with less "reediness" than I think is on the recordings. Of the three, the range from the upper mids on up belong to the Selahs, where the combination of 2" Accuton mid and RAAL tweeter is astonishingly open, detailed, coherent and flat. The Selahs are about a third larger than the other two, yet sound much larger, more like a floorstander. The Junipers sound the smallest, largely due, I think, to the recessed top.
I find it difficult to stay in "analysis mode" when listening to the Junipers; I'm distracted by the draw of the musical presentation. I give them very high marks for that. In the nearfield of my office speakers with a hot or gritty top end are hard to take for long and the Junipers are a very comfortable choice for this role. Although not as incisive on top as the Volents I had been using there, I slightly prefer the Junipers for this use. At no time do I feel the need to stop listening to them and go back to another speaker. On their own terms, they sound very engaging indeed.
At $7000 retail they are expensive, too much so by my reckoning, but there is real quality to be had in these, and they are worth a listen.
Pricier Escalante models with the top line tweeters may have a more energetic sounding top end, and the newer woofers may or may not be better.
At current used prices, which are a fraction of retail, these are an attractive option, depending on taste.

Product Weakness:	No low bass; polite on top. Expensive.
Product Strengths:	Very musical, natural, detailed and coherent. Very engaging sound.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Hypex N-Core 400
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Bel Canto PRE3
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Music server to Eastern electric Plus DAC
Speakers: review
Cables/Interconnects: AZ Samadhi, Zu Essence, etc.
Music Used (Genre/Selections): lots
Room Size (LxWxH): 17 x 20 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: two walls of glass- eats bass
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PS audio Power Plant Premier
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Hypex N-Core 400
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Bel Canto PRE3
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Music server to Eastern electric Plus DAC
Speakers:	review
Cables/Interconnects:	AZ Samadhi, Zu Essence, etc.
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	lots
Room Size (LxWxH):	17 x 20 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	two walls of glass- eats bass
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 week
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	PS audio Power Plant Premier
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner