Rockport Mira VS Verity Parsifal Ovation

I heard from my local Rockport dealer that they will be releasing a 2-way floorstander soon aimed primarily at the Asian audiophile market where living spaces are generally much smaller, like in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Seems they are targeting the same market as the Magico V3. Not sure if this is the same as any of the models already mentioned.

Sorry to be a voice of dissent and not to pour cold water on anyone's choices, but I heard the Aquila recently and I was not impressed. I think there is something to be said about bass cancellation with the woofers mounted on the sides and pointed at each other. Like Madfloyd said, even though he was listening to the Miras, I found the highs of the Aquila to be very bright and prone to distortion on certain material. In general, the tonal balance was very lean. Mids were an issue as violas sounded like screechy violins, almost paper thin. For $45K, I think you can do much, much better.

And no, the Ankaa sounds nowhere near as good as the Wilson MAXX3, and certainly does not better it in any respect, that is some serious crack-smoking talk.

Dylanhenry...the new 2-way your dealer is referring to is called the Alya. Stereophile and Soundstage.com have reported on the new speaker from their coverage at CES.

As for your impressions concerning the Aquila speakers, I am once again surprised by your description of what you heard because Rockports sound anything but lean, shrill or bright. Do you remember what was driving the Aquillas and how large the room was that you heard them in? Was this at a show or in a dealer setting or at a friend'd home? Just curious. Thx

I heard them at the dealer's. Trust me, I wanted to like them as I've always heard good things about Rockports and wanted to hear for myself. I would have preferred to listen to the Arrakis or the Altair, but they only had the Aquila set up. The demo room wasn't big, perhaps a tad less than 300 sq.ft., and the speakers were spaced out around 8 feet apart and around 10 feet from the back wall. Sources included the Clearaudio Statement turntable and a high-end $10K CD player which I forget the make. As for the amps, they might have been Gryphon, though I'm not completely sure. What I remember was that they were 400W Class A monoblocks. This was a dealer that sold exclusively Rockport speakers so I don't think components were an issue.

Have you actually heard the Aquila yourself? If your listening experiences are referring to the Mira, that's an altogether different speaker than the Aquila. From my experience, it's generally not advisable to lump a manufacturer's whole line of speakers together, such as "Rockports sound...". Then again, I haven't heard the Mira, but then with them being priced a third of the Aquila, it would be surprising if they outperformed them.

"I've been playing with the Chesky test CD's (Best of Chesky Jazz #2, "Height Test" and "General Image and Resolution Test") and I can't get the height to extend beyond 65% up and the imaging doesn't go all around me on that monkey test (if you know that track). I wonder if this has anything to do with lack of sidewalls."

This is a good CD. I have all three volumes and they are great for testing the imaging of your speakers. For the height test, that one is really difficult for a speaker to image properly. As they say in the CD, it's more of a test of whether the microphone can capture that height information than the speakers. Having said that, my system does a decent job of it. I think this test also exposes the weaknesses of speakers with the tweeters way above ear level, like the YG Acoustic Anats. There's simply no way a speaker like that can accurately portray height information with its drivers aligned like that. I listened to that speaker recently, not using this disc, but with the Sheffield Drum Record. While the imaging was very holographic and quite convincing, hearing the high-hat 6 feet above ground was a bit disconcerting and by no means "accurate".

I think this track would be a good test for someone using front height channels on Audyssey DSX or one of those formats. Very possibly you could get very realistic height imaging using the matrixed height channels.

The "General Image and Resolution Test" is great too. I love how the tribal sounds come right at you until it sounds like they are right beside you. In my set-up, I can hear the shakers right beside my ears, and slightly behind it as well. I had to double-check I didn't have the Dolby PL IIz on in my pre/pro. It literally sounded like it was coming from my surround speakers.

If that's not working in your set-up, it could be the lack of sidewalls, but there shouldn't be that much reflection off the sides of a well treated room anyway. How toed in are your speakers? If the drivers are pointed right at you, that may be part of the problem. The most I would toe in speakers (if using a triangle set-up) is 15 degrees max. A good pair shouldn't need that much for pinpoint imaging.

From what you write, sounds like you have one of those Asian-style apartments with no walls between your living room, dining room, study, etc. While technically it is all "one" room, it's probably advisable to only treat the area that you are listening in as the "room". In that case, what are the dimensions of the listening portion of your "room". Also, when you say it's in a trapezoid shape, do you mean the walls don't meet at a 90 degree angle? Depending on the angles of the walls and how well your room is treated, there could have a major effect on the imaging, which may not be all negative. Are you using any acoustic panels or bass traps, etc.?

I don't see why you couldn't get the full wrap-around effect on the "General Image and Resolution Test" even in your situation, granted your speakers are capable, once you've figured out the ideal speaker placement in your room. The cool thing is its fun to experiment!

Get off this VS THEY ARE TOTALY DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!