News

Melville, NY–based manufacturer Joseph Audio announced September 1 that the company was "pleased to accept the 'Best Sound at Show' award as determined by the votes of attendees" at the Home Entertainment 2001 event held in May at the NY Hilton. "We're deeply grateful that so many at the show felt that our RM33si Signature at $7500/pair was worthy of such an honor," said company president Jeff Joseph.

Joseph Audio won 8.2% of the vote, with second place picking up 5.4%. That award went to a system consisting of components from Burmester Audiosysteme, Nordost, Vacuum Tube Logic, Wisdom Audio, and Conrad-Johnson Designs.

This year marked "the first time a relatively affordable speaker system beat out competitors costing up to $120,000/pair for the top spot," according to the acceptance statement issued by Joseph Audio. Based on its more expensive sibling, the $20,000/pair Pearl, the relatively compact (41" H x 16" D x 8" W) RM33si features the newest "Infinite Slope" crossover network, with "optimized transfer functions for each of the drivers." Set up by Park Avenue Audio, Joseph's NYC dealer, the award-winning system included Cardas Audio cabling, Classé Audio Electronics, Marantz SACD player, and the Spj La Luce turntable.

"Most people go to these shows to see the largest and most expensive systems available; therefore, those are the systems that usually draw the most attention. But somehow the RM33si's sound won the hearts and minds of the listeners," Joseph commented, "Many of our presentations ended in spontaneous applause. Clearly, visitors to our room heard something that made us number one." The complete results of the vote can be seen in the September issue of Stereophile, while the RM33si loudspeaker is reviewed in the forthcoming October 2001 issue.