Hi celery. I just realized that this thread is about the Parsifal Encore, so I'll try to start a thread about this upgrade now. See ya there. You should probably repeat your post there to kick it off. Thanks. |
The new passive upgrade is a great change to an already strong CDP. I have had it for a while now with the new parts and I stand by my original views. It adds more bass...more soundstage dileniation and it fleshes out the nearfield reproduction. At first I thought it made the player more forward. Now I am begining to think that the soundstage has added another dimension. Good luck with your soldering gun. |
Celery, You use the EMC-1 MKII also? I just switched from Discovery Essence to SPM XLRs, and Red Dawn to SPM on the Verities. More illumination of the stage. I use Aleph P and Aleph 2 monos.
I just received the parts to install the latest "UP" mod for the EMC-1 MKII. Find me later re impressions. Cheers. Ernie |
Wonderful speaker. The Bass is NOT sluggish if properly set up. In fact, I would say it is extremely tight, fast and accurate. They are a little tough to set up however. I have owned both the Fidelio's and the Parisfals. Both were very light in the lower registers but after careful placement and room changes (double sheet rock on the back wall where they rear fire) the issues have been eliminated. Funny that Subaru switched to SPM. I use Valhallas and find the match to be superlative. The resulting sound is fast and liquid. I presently run them with Bel Canto EVO's mono blocked and the EMC cdp as my front end. I have found nirvana for a long time. The midrange is to die for. The foot print is wonderful and the cabinets are top notch. The people at Verity are wonderful and have been very helpful. My local dealer, Hi-Fi Sound was instrumental in my new audio pablum. Go listen to them. |
It's me again. According to their website, Passion Audio in Encinitas carries Verity Audio speakers..... |
I replaced my Thiel CS-7s with Parsifal Encores, and have been very pleased with them. They don't dominate my room the way the Thiels did, they're not as hard to drive, and they are NEVER fatiguing to listen to. I'll admit that the Thiels may have the last little bit of bass authority compared to the Parsifals, but in daily use listening to music I do not find the bass deficient or slow.
I now have a completely tubed system, which I certainly couldn't do with the Thiels, and cannot recommend these more highly. I found the difference between them and the Fidelios quite significant, but actually preferred the Fidelios' sound to the Thiels.
Now I have to sell the Thiels...... |
I second the enthusiasm for the Parsifal: I several times have heard a pair driven by SCD-1 and Cary pre&: very appealing. Also heard a pair driven by Thor cd and Atma-Sphere: also lovely.
I was so impressed I purchased a pair of Fidelios, which had very similar sound, except for that little bit of upper and lower extension and authority (I went to a sub and that took care of the low-end).
Now, I recently took delivery of Pass X2.5 and X250, Audio Note 3.1x cdp, and Piega C-8 LTD. I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't listen to Piegas. I have found the speakers I'm going to live with for a long, long time. My wife, one hour after set-up, for the first time showed interest: she came into the room with a handful of her cds---and listened for quite some time, a huge smile on her face (she also loves their look). With Pass, it is a marriage made in audio heaven. The "C" msrp, btw, is similar to the Parsifal's. (And the cabinetry...Wow! Mine are one solid piece of aluminum). |
Ernie- I don't much care what the woofer is suppose to do, I have heard them in 4 different rooms(including my own) and I still feel that the bass is sluggish- and I know I am not the only one who thinks that. And as I said before I don't think it is a short coming, I attribute that charachteristic to why it has a lush, rich and involving sound.
Goone- With your gear and music preference if you can afford them, it really seems like the speaker for you! The bass is better with solid state then it is with tubes from the listening sessions I have had with these speakers. Enjoy :) |
thansk for all the responses my gear including pass lab x250, bat vk30se, cary source I am not a rock fan or listen to very loud at all current owning 803 nautilus just looking for something is better softer sounding and smooth romantic listen to a lot of vocal and midrange. I had a chance to listen to the jm lab mezzo and sophia prefered the sophia over jm lab due to the sophia was more involving, also just curious about the size of the parsifal encore for such a small speaker how do they sound and what is similar sound speaker out there also listen to the dynaudio line they are ok but nothing to strike about. |
Tireguy et al: the 250mm 4 ohm woofer Verity specced from Dynaudio was chosen primarily for its incredible speed!
Perceptions of slowness are completely room-related, when the Encore is configured with a rear-firing bass module.
Believe me, when the woofer is set up front-firing, in a nearfield triangle, the bass is very nearly as fast as the Encore's 'stat-like 130mm midrange! As normally configured, the Encore (and Fidelio) absolutely require boundary support. As I have mine 10' out from the front wall I had to flip 'em around. Then I discovered nirvana!
Two best friends of mine who play pro standup jazz bass are
completely pleased by the bass presentation of these Puppy-killers. One is also a guitar pickup manufacturer, and the other a Steinway rebuilder, so these guys have ears, too.
But the most profound attrinute of this speaker is its coherent, natural, ultraquick midrange, sourced from Edgwind Skaaning in Denmark (retired ex-head of Scanspeak and Dynaudio). This remarkable driver is so clean in behaviour that it's run without a crossover! So acoustic crosses are at a low 150Hz and jigh 5kHz. Hence the remarkable coherence...even in the nearfield.
The afore-mentioned woofer really acts more like a sub, and is flat in my room to 30Hz, usable to 25.
The 28mm custom tweeter extends quite flatly, so although it's quite forgiving of room placement, it's VERY revealing of upstream artifact.
I ran mine with Red Dawn for two years, living with a tiny amount of transient leading edge slight "clickiness" that I thought was due to Redbook limitations (even with my EMC-1 MkII), yet was pleasantly surprised to very readily find that even the most minor deviations fron neutrality disappeared when installing Nordost SPM cables. I now use SPM XLRs on the CDP too, but have to balance they're increased "inner lighting" of the soundstage with a bit less forgiveness of less-perfect software. It's all about balance and tradeoff.
I probably won't replace any components in my system soon (including the Aleph P and 2 monos), but I'm sure that my Encores are here for life! They completely transformed my hitherto increasing boredom with recorded music into an active affair again. I notice that I've bought 150+ CD this past year...rather than the 10-20 of previous years.
If you can score a pair of demo Encores for under $10k don't blink!
I MIGHT look at Sophias and Revels, too, and maybe the new Joseph? Have fun, and pay great attention to your other componentry, as the Encores will reward you with all positive steps. |
You can't go wrong with those wonderfull speaker! I have the chance to live in Quebec, Canada at about 4 street of Verity audio (where they assemble the speaker) And one day I went there to make a visit of the factory and the guys where nice enough to let me listen to their test system with one pair of Parsifal Encore ( which they told me that they where assembled the day I went there and where not fully break-in) the amplifier where the Nagra VPA mono with a DCS Delius/Pucell Upsampler dac combo and clearaudio Master reference turntable. And let me tell you that this where one of greatest listning moment of my life.
I have personnaly JMlab mini-utopia and are still thinking of changing them to Parsifal ( if only I had the money...) |
In there respected price bracket they are among the finest speakers available- you can get better but your gonna pay for it! I have listened to these speakers in a few different rooms for an awfully long time, and well.... they are very intoxicating, and have a very elegant appearance. I think there are possibly better speakers out there for the same or less money depending what you like to listen to and what other gear you use. I have heard these speakers with an Accuphase A/50v and Tenor 75wI amps and both worked wonderfully(you can use either solid state or tube, just make sure they are on the same level as those speakers). I don't think these speakers are the right speaker if you like listening to rock music at loud volumes, also if the last few octaves are VERY important to you, you may want to consider other options. I have never listened to electronic music/techno but I can't imagine it having the impact and dynamics it should with that kind of music. The parsifal is a very easy to listen to speaker, a hair slow in the bass(even what is there) but some folks really love that sound! What gear and what do you listen to? then I will offer more of my opinion on these wonderful speakers. Cheers! |
