I've not knowingly heard a pair of Amadis, but , but might be able to add a bit of perspective anyways as I have Parsifal Encore's. Before purchasing the Parsifals, I listened to the Finn and Rienzi as well. My feeling was that the Finn didn't quite fit in with the family sound - which I'd categorize as coherent, rich & detailed. The Rienzi and Parsifal, though, were quite similar in character to my ears. The Parsifal just has much more scale and a deeper bass - basically, it sounded like a bigger, bolder version of the Rienzi.
My guess is that every step in Verity's ladder is similar - if you like the Leonore, you're likely to LOVE the Amadis, as long as your room is big enough for them.
One thing...make sure that the speakers are well broken-in before you audition. It'll be hard to do, but I'd stay away from your dealer's showroom for a few weeks after they get the speakers in.
Also, to comment on 4musica's mention of the Silverbacks - if you have a Devore dealer near you who stocks Silverbacks, do give them a listen. In my area the top-end Devore that's available is the Nines, which is a great speaker, if a bit drier and lighter sounding than the Verity's (don't know if the Silverbacks maintain that characterstic, but would love to hear them). I personally have a preference for a richer sound like the Verity's for serious listening, but I'd imagine that anybody who likes one, will like the other. |
For this much $$$, I'd wait...a few months is nothing compared to a lifetime of listening! When I did my search, I took several months and listened to everything available in my area, listening to most of my favourites more than once. The speaker shopping experience can be fun, enjoy it and take your time!
Don't be too concerned about not having Devore's around - just listen to what you DO have around. Most of these companies are small and have incomplete distribution chains, so it's impossible to hear everything.
And know this...if you wait for 2 months, then hear the Verity's, and decide that you like the Burmester's better...you'll be far more confident with your choice than if you choose before hearing the Verity's. You wouldn't have posted this thread otherwise.
I'll keep my ears open at the Montreal Salon Son & Image next weekend - there's usually a lot of Verity speakers around (being that they're a relatively local company), so I'll let you know if I get a chance to hear some Amadis. |
Reading that comment from Stereophile, I know which room that was (since Verity speakers all pretty much look the same, I sometimes don't know which one I'm listening to). It was a bigger room than most others, but not that large in absolute terms - it's just that most manufacturers had small rooms with huge speakers, so in comparison this room looked far more logical.
What I remember from that room was that it was the first time I'd heard a hard-drive-based server system through a DAC sound absolutely world class. Prior to this, I had only hear those systems sound somewhat lacking in liveliness - but in this room I learned that with enough $$$, hi-rez server/DAC can be absolutely top notch.
It was definitely one of the best rooms at the show, but so was the room with a Leben integrated and a Devore 3XL...it was the rare case of a system that fit well with the room it was in.
This year's Montreal show is just a week away now! |
So I was at SSI this weekend, and heard a LOT of good sound. Unfortunately, the Amadis weren't on show this year - there were Sarastros in 2 separate rooms, and both were excellent - the room where they were paired with the new Nagra 300B integrated amp was mind-blowing, probably the best in the show. A big part of the wonderful sound was the fact that they were (a) playing real music and (b) playing it at a comfortable volume, which nonetheless did a great job of filling the big room with music.
The Burmester room also sounded fantastic - but unfortunately, the only music on display in the room was the Burmester demo CD - a CD designed to sell Burmester gear. So it was a bit hard to determine what was what...but the sound was incredibly smooth, rich and detailed throughout the frequency range.
The Devore Orangutans also sounded wonderful in a much more modest system with a Leben integrated amp.
Basically, all of the above are excellent choices, and it'll come down to personal preference. |
Based on the 4 different Verity speakers I've heard, I'd say that there is definitely a house sound. But, I would disagree that the differences are insignificant.
I found that the Rienzi is noticeably better than the Finn - even if they have very similar specs, the Rienzi has much better detail retrieval and richness throughout its bandwidth. Tonally, the Rienzi much more closely matches the higher-line Verity's than the Finn does.
The Parsifal retains the basic tonality of the Rienzi, while offering (again) enhanced low-level detail retrieval and richness due to its world-class mirange. Another big advantage over the Rienzi is that it's really a full-range speaker (down to 25 hz) that is equally adept at all parts of the range, and that difference is easily noticeable. The Parsifal just sounds much bigger than the Rienzi.
The Sarastro, IMHO, is a different beast than the Parsifal...not better or worse, just different. It's a high-efficiency design that excels at playing music at low volume levels - the Parsifal, while still excellent at low-level listening, is more of a dynamic and "exciting" sound - which makes sense based on the expected amplification of each speaker. The Sarastro has an incredible smoothness to it that is very beguiling...but it may need a bigger room to maintain this ease/flow.
I've never (knowingly) heard the Leonore, but my local dealer has told me that they usually don't recommend that model (and they don't stock it for auditions). They prefer Rienzi or Parsifal in terms of what they do for the $$$. With a dealer, YMMV, but based on what I'm reading here, it sounds like others may agree with him.
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Soniqmike...to my understanding, "incremental benefits are not great" is the same thing as saying that the differences are insignificant. We're talking pedantics here. But if there's a significant difference to the comments, then we can let the readers determine that.
Back on topic...I would say that IMHO, the Leonore's main role is to be a high-efficiency design of a speaker similar to the Rienzi, so if you don't need that enhanced efficiency, the Leonore is a poor value at nearly double the price of the Rienzi. But, I say this looking at specs only and not having heard the Leonore in the flesh, so take that for what it's worth. But of the 3 Verities I've heard (Finn, Rienzi, Parsifal), the difference is notable and easier to grasp than some other brands that I've heard when moving up the line. |
Jeff,
One thing I should point out...the difference between the Parsifal and the Sarastro that I noted may not be entirely attributable to the speakers. Keep in mind that the Sarastro's were being powered by a 300B tube integrated by Nagra - I'm powering my Parsifals with a far punchier, less exotic amp in the Ayre AX7e. So conclusions can really only be made on one system vs. another. Of course, the speaker is the most significant contributor to the sound...but the amount of drive present can certainly be traced to the amp as well.
For better or for worse, Verity does seem to be going in the high-efficiency direction...all their recent models are higher efficiency than what came before (or are just all-new high-efficiency models). As such, I'd expect the Amadis to sound more like the Sarastro - by the specs it's just a Sarastro for a smaller room and a soft-dome tweeter in place of a ribbon.
I agree about preferring my speakers in a 2-channel setup to be full-range (or as full-range as possible). I prefer the experts to design the crossovers, and not to mess with it myself. For those who are happy to get involved with crossovers though, some $$$ can be saved by getting subs with cheaper speakers - you could just get Parsifal Ovation monitors for a lot less money than any Verity full-range system, and add a pair of subs.
The Burmester B30 is the one I heard at the show last week - it sounded very good to me, but I wouldn't classify it as being any more or less "fun" than the Sarastro - both were phenomenal speakers, among the best at the show and better IMHO than the more expensive MBL's that were on display. Neither seemed to lack for fun nor for critical listening, their differences being as much driven by the different amplifaction each was using as anything else. |
