Verity Parsifal or Magico V3 or Wilson Benesch ACT

The people at Wilson Audio are not dummies and I have no doubt that for a fraction of what they charge they could produce a better behaved speaker if they so chose

I have asked myself that same question many times. You may give them too much credit. Yet, I may be be given them too little…

Al and Dhaan,

I agree that Wilson's speakers are usually voiced this way. Did you ever wonder how they sound in a 50,000 cu/ft space? I bet the bass region falls substantially back to a more "normal" balance? I don't want to overstate the room thing, but I wonder whether Wilson voices their speakers for palatial rooms - maybe appropriate for their clientele. I've had the same question about the big MBLs.

Marty

the car analogy is interesting too.
many love to associate their speakers or even amps with car brands.
'this model is the Ferrari on loudspeakers'.
so what is the 'best' car then?
if measurements is the parameter and the only parameter, then laptimes would rule for the 'best' car. ie fast equals to best.
an F1 could so qualify as the car to which all other cars must be judged and compared to.
could be, but the thought of driving an F1 on the road to enjoy? the clutch action alone is a nightmare.

it is a human thing to compare and draw an analogy with whatever.
what is the best airplane? what is the best speedboat?
what is the best wristwatch?
it all depends on what you want to measure, judge or 'proof'.
another human thing is to get right over anything.
that is only fuelled by the ego and has seen even worldwars as a result.

a best car is the best car to your liking and driving needs.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
everything is subjective.
live music is very subjective too. a Cello on the street has a very different sound than as played in a small church.
and this difference can be measured absolutely.

we never listen to loudspeakers.
we listen to a whole gear put together, in a certain room which contributes or not to the experience.
roomacoustics is of such a great influence that any highend gear is a big compromise if not taken into account.
once listened in a truly dedicated room and you cannot go back.
like you have put on slick racing tires for the first time.

a truly good audiorig should reproduce and represent the biggest differences in recordings. and on absolute terms that's the only thing it can do.

we never listen to music we listen to recordings of music.

btw i really just love the BMW Z4 coup.
subjectively that is...

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.

Marty, your “ it is the room” solution to the problem of incompetent loudspeaker design simply does not cut it. If you are designing a speaker with a particular room in mind, how would it works in other rooms. And if your room has problems, do you fix it by introducing even more problem in the speaker? So is wrong on wrong makes right? You can always treat a room, move to a different one or build one, but you can never take a 10db boost at 80Hz, or a shelved mids and flatten it. No room will correct a disasters XO integration. You can never take out the THD these design have either. Not to mention so many other flaws that simply show a lack of basic loudspeaker engendering knowledge. If you had any idea of what it is that you are doing, you will have absolutely no reason to desing a speaker like that. Sorry, but you always going to listen to your music through a pretty dirty filter. No matter what room you are in.