Verity Audio midrange drivers?

Mark,

Curious to know what you thought of the Finn compared to the flagship Parsifal.

Thanks.

JB

I thought that the Finn was very good and more musically engaging and acurate than the more expensive B&W 803d that I had been contemplating.

Comparing the Finn to the Parsifal is not really fair, because the Parsifal is truly stunning, and at more than three times the price they did not have to make the same design compromises to meet a certain price-point. To keep the cost of the Finn lower, certain compromises had to be made. The drivers in the Finn are Scandinavian designs made (I think) in Indonesia. All that aside, it is a very musically satisfying speaker. I thought she was wonderful and beautiful until I met her older sister - who simply took my breath away.

The Parsifal is a no compromise 20K speaker with Danish made drivers custome made for Verity Audio (the midrange was specially designed for the Parsifal by Skaaning himself, and is apparently VERY costly). The bass and midrange drivers are manufactured by Audio Technology, and the tweeter is a modified Revelator made by Scan Speak.

Much as I would love to live with the Parsifal, I think that I will have to settle for the middle sister - Rienzi. Has anyone seen or heard her?

Regards,

Mark

Mark, it sounds like the Ovation's may be out of your comfort range price wise. It is certainly out of the range of many, including myself at the moment. Your thread is interesting to me, as the Parsifal Encore brought me several years of listening enjoyment. The speaker I replaced it with, at nearly double the price, did not hold a candle to the Parsifal. I have not heard the Rienzi, but have spoken with a few who have, and compared it to the Parsifal. I can pass on the following advice based on those comments. This advice is based on the assumption you cannot stretch to afford the Leonore or a new or used Ovation. I would go with the Fidelio Encore or if you can, a Parsifal Encore. I have seen the P/E's for under 6K used, and obviously the F/E's would be even less. If it is worth anything, the Fidelio I believe are easier to drive. I have heard the Leonore, and was very impressed by it. No knock on the Finn, but if you will be using a good 60+ wpc, the Finn couldn't touch the used Encores at around the same price.

Guys the Rienzi is a Parsifal for a smaller room. If such assumptions can be made, I would say that the Rienzi is 80% the performance of the Parsifal. Dont let its small size fool you, it can create a huge soundstage with loads of low end and great timbre accuracy. Actually together with the Parsifal and the Sarastro are my favourite Verity speakers! You cant go wrong with the Rienzi, trust me on that!

Enjoy your search!

Mike

I am myself considering the Fidelio route (first version). There's no question Verity are great speakers, but they are also overpriced and I can't and wouldn't want to spend their retail price, regardless of their qualities.
The ATA flight cases for the Parsifal, for example, might be a wise marketing move but they must significantly add to the price of the speakers, which could as effectively be shipped in cartons like all other manufacturers do.
Just my two cents!