AXPONA 2014

JTR Makes Its Mark

Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 1, 2014

"I really wanted people not to say that the electronics are why the speakers sound good, so I brought a very minimalistic set-up," said Milwaukee-based Jeff Permanian of his very first display at an audio show. Granted, his imposing, Internet-direct JTR Noesis 215RT ($7000/pair), a 3-way loudspeaker with a claimed 95dB sensitivity and impressive frequency response of 18Hz–24kHz, may not be a visual work of art. But in the company of an Oppo BDP-95, Adcom integrated, and Cardas cabling, its reproduction of Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" exhibited sufficient warmth to make me want to hear the Noesis loudspeakers in superior company next time around.

The word noesis means the exercise of reason (in Greek philosophy), and the functioning of the intellect (in psychology). (Jeff defined it as knowledge, but dictionary.com says otherwise). Exercising same, I've attributed the bit of brittleness I heard in the room to a combination of the room itself, which had more than its fair share of echo, and Adcom electronics, some of which, at least in the old days, tended toward harshness.

COMMENTS
Utopianemo's picture
Submitted by Utopianemo on May 1, 2014 - 9:14am

So you got the verb, Jeff got the noun.  It's also deeper and more mystical than that.  In contemporary Greek, the nous(the base word for noesis) is understood to be the intellect, but in ancient Greek(Eastern Orthodox Christian mysticism), the nous is the eye of the soul. Interestingly, the word also connotates silence(as in "The First Noel"); the noetic life is one of stillness and silence.  Ironic name for these beasts, which as I've heard, can play loud enough to wake the dead(without distorting).

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on May 2, 2014 - 8:26am

:-)

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