Verity Parsifal or Magico V3 or Wilson Benesch ACT

Interesting discussion. It seems Stereophile's John Atkinson had issues with a Verity design a few years back. Can't recall the model or year but remember the measurements being the least favorable part of the review.

In my brief experience with the Verity's, under show conditions I have found the Parsifals, Sarasto and Ovations exceptional in stimulating goosebumps which is a quite involuntary reaction. Can this be measured? I'm not sure but maybe someone can take a stab. All I know is that few systems I've listened to could illicit this response. The Verity's I've found are exceptional in recreating timbre and the art of the performance. This is to say they draw you into the music. Of course this may sound trite and maybe cynical to some on the other hand knowledge in the form of measurements and what should sound right based on design principles might also lead to blindness if it is the primary criteria for speaker design.

Careful listening must have a significant role in creating speakers that sound any of the following subjective characteristics; bright, dark, recessed, pleasant, accurate, tonally balanced, real. Which is to say that not every designer is looking for or maybe even hearing the same things in musical reproduction hence all the different choices, aren't we lucky! After all the discussions I've read over the years I'm sure what we hear and value in live music, let alone reproduced, varies from listener to listener so there is no clear cut winner. The losers are the ones that don't survive the marketplace. I am unaware of ONE speaker system in audio that doesn't have at least one detractor including Vandersteen, Verity and Merlin, three of my favorites the latter I own, and isn't it funny they each sound different with their own virtues.

Dhann you make a quite lucid case for why the Verity should sound offensive and I truly appreciate your input to this discussion. If only measurements could predict how a system at a given time in a given room will convey music to a given listener. Art or science, which comes first, that might be the question. After all, which component in an audio system is more a combination of the two?

Well Dhaan, I agree that goosebumps can be gotten on specific recordings with specific gear, yes this is indeed true. The first time I remember hearing it was with a Single ended triode driving hi efficiency Swan speakers many years ago and was duly impressed. Understand mind you that this was with specific midrangy jazz and vocal recordings. Such a system would make one gravitate towards certain types of music to the exclusion of others since the sound can be so intoxicating.

I probably wasn't clear enough in that a system that can consistently stimulate this reaction with a variety of recordings and different music for a sustained period is what I was referring to. Recordings I am familiar with that I brought and not necessarily good recordings so much as great performances. I was speaking specifically of a system in a specific room that was seemingly doing everything right which is to say recreating the natural dynamics, timbre and subtle nuances that I hadn't ever heard before to this degree making the performance more believable, not a single-ended triode system for sure. It wasn't a matter of sound anymore, more the performance. This was with the Verity Parsifals and while I noted similar characteristics with the other Verity models the systems and rooms could not produce this same emotional response. Moon in the 7th sun Jupiter aligning with Mars....etc. Actually the room had non parallel walls and was larger than most of the others which probably helped quite a bit.

Marty when it comes to loudspeakers I am quite dismissive of the majority of them, especially most large systems. They always seems to do something wrong in their quest to overwhelm you with sound often missing the nuances that separate good sound from drawing one into the musical performance, maybe their interaction with rooms too small comes into play to a greater degree?

Actually I went to the show to hear the Merlin's with this particular system which was substituted with the Parsifals just prior to the show. Interestingly enough not everyone heard what I did which goes to show that while I may be convicted that my opinion is greater than everyone else that didn't hear it my way, maybe in reality it is that I was prejudiced because I primarily went to the show to hear a particular system. Actually there were numerous folks that did hear what I did not excluding some of the Verity folks.