Well, the Rienzi speakers arrived a few days ago and setting them up, woofers rearwards, as per the instructions, I settled down to listen.
Imaging is good, but not as good as my Reference Rhapsody loudspeakers (reference fidelity components), nor was the immediacy, or naturalness. They sounded a little forced and the bass a little boomy.
The good points: excellent build, very strong bass for their size (in a 20ft long room they showed no bass weakness in extension...way more than enough).
I gave it several hours as they had been, after all, in transit for a few days and the drivers probably could do with a little loosening up. Similar result but sounding less strained.
Quick re-read of instructions for recommended placing which suggests having them out from walls by 0.62 times the ceiling height which in my room placed them 4 1/2 feet into the room, so they do need free space. A little toe-in and I sat down to listen. Way better. Improved front to back imaging and left to right. The speakers did that disappearing thing quite well.
Bass was much better integrated too with no notable boom BUT it was niggling at me that it sounded not quite right. Two issues...it was sounding out of phase to the rest and secondly, the bass texture wasn't great (I find this with a lot of pint pot drivers trying to do a job of a big 'un).
The bass is terrific for the size and to get the best, they really need turning up to realistic listening levels. Things improve no end then. Bass texture improves too although still not as natural as my Rhapsodys (which only use an 8 inch driver).
Next experiment was to turn the bass units facing front. Immediate improvement in texture but still a little compromised in this department. Speakers moved back and spaced a bit wider (9 feet away and about 7.5 feet apart, now 2ft from rear wall). In my room, this is where they all started coming together.
A quick switch of amps to a Leben valve integrated, taking the Albarry SS monos out of the mix and wow, what an improvement in imaging and finesse/detail! The Veritys to my ears preferred the Leben valve amp, and I suspect would prefer any valve amp. I did an impedance curve sweep with Daytons excellent little DATS gizmo, and whilst the impedance curve resembles the alps with these speakers, it never drops lower than 6 Ohms where it matters, and with an undemanding phase angle, so they're an easy valve load.
Listening to classical was a real pleasure with the Rienzis. Whats more, for a not-too sensitive speaker, they did fine at lower volumes too, especially with a valve amp driving them (operating in low power mode in Class A which goes some way to explaining that). They are one of those landmark items that really do encourage you to re-visit your music collection raher than sit listening for faults in the hifi. real music makers!
I can guess that in very small rooms of say 3m by 4m, the Rienzis might be on the edge of being too much bass-wise. In slightly larger rooms of say 5m long, I'd guess they'd be fine providing ceiling height wasn't too low. For smaller rooms, perhaps the next model down would be good.
All in all, I am delighted with them. Al speakers are a compromise, but these seem to compromise less than many and the compromises they give (not the last word in bass texture, although speed and bass timing are good, especially front firing) I can live with. There is a little upper mid hardening when used with SS amps which is notable on vocals but this becomes barely apparent when a valve amp does duty.
My advice for anyone considering the Verity Rienzis and having room sizes between say 15 to 25ft long and perhaps 10 to 15 feet wide is buy with confidence. They do rock, vocals and classical with equal aplomb and are easy on the eye. Placement is quite critical though and you will have to play around with them.
My ancillaries for this brief review:
Sources: prototype CDP (not allowed to say which one!)
Garrard 401 with Nagaoka MP-500 fitted to a Hadcock arm;
My own homebrew speaker cable;
Albarry M608 Monos plus Albarry AP11 preamp;
Hagerman phonostage;
Leben CS600 valve amp (35w/ch)
Hopefully this will give a bit of an idea/encouragement to those considering Verity Rienzi speakers. They're good.
