Reference 3a vs Verity

[matt_zak]

So, I live in Riyadh, KSA and have very few speaker lines to audition. At first I had planned on traveling to Dubai and various other areas near Saudi to listen to speakers but now do to my impatience I've narrowed it down to these two speakers. The reasoning is that out of all the speaker brands I've sold, owned and demoed over the years these two brands have that "it" factor to my ears. The trouble is, I haven't personally heard these two models.

Have any of you guys/gals had the opportunity to audition either the Reference 3a Grand Veena or the Verity Rienzi? If so what are your opinions on them.

I know there are MANY other brands out there to choose from, however, these two brands just have that certain appeal to me (and the wife too ).

[cmalak]

Matt...I have not heard the Grand Veenas so can't comment on the comparison but can heartily recommend the Verity line. I have heard the Rienzi, Fidelios (no longer being produced), the Leonore (successor to Fidelio) and the Parsifal Ovations. All Verity designs have a very clean midrange, decent, punchy and articulate bass and extended clean treble, lending music that sense of air and sparkle around instruments and vocals. They image quite nicely and present a wide and decently deep soundstage. All Verity speakers are are fairly sensitive and tube friendly (if you wish to go down that route, although with your MFA5Cr you will have ample power to drive anything). The only knock on them is that they use a very wide bandwidth for the midrange driver (they prefer to do this because this is where most of the musical content is) and so they sound very coherent because of that but they also beam more than usual so they have a narrower sweet spot than other speakers that have more traditional crossover points. That's the only negative I can think off. Otherwise, they are very nice speakers and good value for the money (at least here in the US...don't know local pricing for you). Hope this helps.

PS: Tottenham is doing alright but ofcourse by saying this I will jinx the game with Blackburn tomorrow

[matt_zak]

Well, I ended up going with the Verity Rienzi's with the makore finish. They should hopefully be shipping by the end of this week. The dealer and I are trying to find the best way to ship them over here.

Man I can't wait. Going from the junk Jamo's to the Rienzi's will be like moving from a Civic to a 911 lol.

[cmalak]

Congrats and enjoy them. Let us know how you are making out with them.

[matt_zak]

Well, it took a month to finally get them here. The dealer and I had to go through a lot of shipping companies to find the best way to ship them and finally decided on one that was not too terribly expensive for air freight and they only took 5 days to get from the states to Riyadh.

Customs was a "fun" experience and I'm glad my coworker came along as a translater or I'd still be at the airport running around and trying to explain to them what a stereo speaker is. In the end about 10 customs agents had to sign or stamp the waybill lol.

So, anyway, the Verity Rienzi's have been setup in my system for about a week now. First impressions are WOW. They are simply amazing for such a "little" 3-way speaker. The dynamics are very impressive. The midrange and highs are exactly what made me fall in love with Verity years ago when I auditioned the Parsifal's. It's not even worth comparing them to the Jamo's that were hooked up before. The Verity's are simply in another league.

Over the next couple weeks I'm going to do some playing around and listen to them with the woofer's facing forward and rear firing and with and without toe-in.

Pictures will be coming soon.

[schaefer11]

Congratulations on the new toys.

There is a plus side to the shipping hassles you went thru. Because it is such a pain, you will be more inclined to enjoy what you have rather than scratching every upgrade itch that comes along! I see big $$$$ savings in your future because of that!

[cmalak]

Matt...i knew you would love them. They are great speakers. Enjoy them in good health. Down the road, you may want to see how they sound with tube amplification (maybe your dealer can lend you some options to try at home). They are tube friendly and should not need much more than a mid-power tube amp to drive them nicely.

PS: Keeping my fingers crossed for the game at Man U this Sat

[chessman]

[matt_zak]

Ok, so I suck at taking pics lol. Here are a couple pics of my system.





Couple notes...The wife and I did not hang those two hideous pictures on the wall lol. The villa came that way :confused-13: We have a painting being framed to go on the wall thank God. Finally, don't choke at the crappy power strip, hopefully I'll be ordering a new PPP in the next month or so.

[cmalak]

Very nice Matt...it's all looking very good. I am sure the Rienzis are kicking butt. How big is your room and how far apart are the speaker from one another and the listening position? Have you experimented with toe in?