Verity Audio Parsifal vs. Aerial 10T

Martyk1, I agree with your comparison between the two. Both great speakers.

There are literally four generations of Parsifal. The original was introduced in 1995. The Encore was introduced in 1998-99 timeframe. In 2002, a new version of Scanspeak tweeter was introduced, and upgrade was offered to owners. The Ovation was introduced in 2005. The revealing issue that Martyk1 spoke of is no longer an issue with the new tweeter, IMHO. So if you are buying used, be sure to find out which version you are buying.

Verity is no longer offering the tweeter upgrade. But two worthy upgrades should still be considered by every Parsifal owner. One is to replace the granite sandwiched between the monitor and bass unit with the newer version used on the Ovation or Symposium's Svelte platform. Cost is around $500. The other is to get the new jumper cables from Verity. I believe these were made by Discover cables. Verity charged me $70 for the cables. To me, that's pretty darn cheap in high-end standard.

I've also had better results using BDR #4 cones under the speakers than the stock brass feet on hardwood floor. By the way, I have the version 2 Encore with all the upgrades.

FrankC

Have you made any selection yet?

I am bias, I own the Ovations and would recommended them over the Merlins. I am somewhat limited in my listening to the Merlins, however, I believe they are much more system dependant then the Ovations.

I have reviewed several pieces of gear (amps, pre, CDPs) with the Ovations and found the speakers to perform at their best with each piece.

The Merlins, so I am told, are much more sensitive to its upstream components. So, unless you get to demo at home with your gear and/or you are prepare to overhaul the whole rig, then the Ovations may be better suited for you.

Sound wise.....I just love the Parsifal Ovations and, because of the ribbon tweeter, I could only see upgrading within the brand...

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

John

The Parsifals are indeed wonderful, and can understand anyone choosing them, especially with the ribbon tweeter. The Merlins were a bit more finicky with amplifiers in the past, they defintely worked best with tubes. I still use tubes, but they worked very well with Pass SS, and other users have chimed in that the latestest interation indeed works better with SS than previous versions. You can't loose with either brand in my view, it goes down to personal taste in sound and appearance, but the Merlin significantly less expensive than Parsifals; if money is a consideration.

As stated earlier- there aren't many speaker dealers in the area to audition.

I started with listening to Von Schweikert VR-5SE's. I thought they would absolutely blow me away. I don't know how to say this politely, but I was not impressed. The higher and highest of octaves didn't sound natural. Even after I had the back firing tweeter turned off, there was a bit too much top end that didn't work for me. The midrange would get a bit muddy with deeper voiced females. This could have been the source material (more about that later). Bass was top notch.

I then hunted down a pair of Aerial Acoustic 20Ts (I was hoping to hear the Model 9). Done. End of story. Tight, not overdone bass- just perfect. Mids clean and clear- no coloration. Highs sweet and clean. I'd like to see a version of this without the ribbon, though- slightly too directional with this setup. This speaker is too big for WAF and room (as it was for the room I heard them in), but if I get 80% the sound in the Model 9 as stated by the owner, I'm in. I'm ALL in.

I have a pair of Model 9's in rosewood sitting in my office. My wife is going out of town for the weekend and they will be moved in then. Also found out my neighbor is going to be away the entire weekend. How perfect is that!

Source. Both guys used hard drive based systems to access music (one was the Memory Player and one was something like a Kaleidescope players (movies and music)). There seemed to be much too much fumbling around with them to find music, but I'm being picky.

I did make a couple of attempts to contact the Parcifal listing on Audiogon, but he never responded back. His loss, or mine? I'll know in a few days.