[JackD201]

Verity does make very good loudspeakers and to me the Parsifal is the "sweet spot" of their model line-up. The 25 to 30 G segment is the battleground of specialist loudspeaker manufacturers so the competition is stiff. I'd put them in the top 5 of all I've heard and choosing between these five to me would be a matter of taste and synergy with existing upstream components. It looks like your retirement will be a very enjoyable one. Congratulations Dave 

[jimdgoulding]

I have not heard those Maggies but I would think any panel speakers are going to need some good old woofer help in the first octave.  I got a pair of big Sound Lab 'Stats that I augment with 4 subwoofers (Duke's Swarm) to play Symphonies in my mother's house.

Dad gum, Wood, your mother accept callers?

[Feanor]

As some posters here have implied, not all classical music is the same.  Large-scale orchestral works, opera, and some choral, especially of the Romantic, Late- and Post-Romantic eras has huge dynamic range -- think of those crescendos where the tympany and every other instrument plays the same note fortisimo a the same time. 

On the other hand chamber music, (which I listen to a lot), has much more in common with acoustic Jazz.  Also, Classical era orchestral, (think Haydn & Mozart), especially "HIP" performances, is much less demanding than the above Romantic stuff in terms of the huge dynamics.

Speaking of Magneplanars, first, these are what I've got and love; see my setup here.  Maggies are certainly among the great choices for acoustic music in general. With adequate amplification they do justice to all but the hugest Romantic-style crescendos.  Well there is an exception: the smallest Maggies, the MMG and maybe MG 12, just won't do it uless you use suwoofer set to a high, say 80 Hz, crossover, (both low and High bass).

[Construct]

Some of my favorite classical reproductions are on speakers designed for larger scale.  Avalon eidolon, B&W 801, larger Kharma ceramique, vandersteen 5.  Speakers of this caliber don't just have the displacement to communicate weight, they also have the articulation. 

[Aom-Uom]

Hi,
I unreservedly agree with those recommending the Magnepans, they exhibit the main desirable loudspeaker properties:
Large membrane surface area
Low membrane weight
Nearly pure ohmic impedance
Dipole radiation
Low distortion

Especially notable is their ability to provide high-resolution reproduction of complex music signals. State-of-the-art technology.

[Construct]

Hi,
I unreservedly agree with those recommending the Magnepans, they exhibit the main desirable loudspeaker properties:
Large membrane surface area
Low membrane weight
Nearly pure ohmic impedance
Dipole radiation
Low distortion

Especially notable is their ability to provide high-resolution reproduction of complex music signals. State-of-the-art technology.

I like (at least)  the 1.6 and a sub for classical.  The 3.6 with a sub would be nirvana for me.  They put you IN the music.

[Aom-Uom]

Construct,
maybe you should start saving for a pair of 3.6...
 

[Construct]

Construct,
maybe you should start saving for a pair of 3.6...
 

I have considered it...I already have the sub for it.  But:  I'd need a suitable amp as well.

[Aom-Uom]

I already have the sub for it.

OK, otherwise this one should do it as well.

[Aom-Uom]

...or this:

[Construct]

OK, otherwise this one should do it as well.

Either that's a portable room partition or perhaps ye olde Maggies?

[Construct]

...or this:

I'd like to see a review/measurements of that.  Interesting.

[Aom-Uom]

These are INFRAPLANAR subwoofers, constituting a perfect match to the 3.6. I wouldn't bother much with measurement data, it´s unlikely that you will find any better.

[Feanor]

I have considered it [Magneplanar MG 3.6] ...I already have the sub for it.  But:  I'd need a suitable amp as well.

How does 350+ wpc into 4 ohms for US$400 sound??  I'm building one based on this kid, (here).  I'll report when done.

[steve k]

How does 350+ wpc into 4 ohms for US$400 sound??  I'm building one based on this kid, (here).  I'll report when done.

I'm using one of these on the bass panels of my Maggie IIIA's and a 120wpc Class D on my mids/highs. I'm interested to hear your opinions when you're up and running.
steve

[Folsom]

I honestly doubt that driver size or speaker type plays any more of a role for classical than anything else... I believe you will find the same features.

The thing is that when it comes to classical we all have an idea of what we feel about very large venues and scaling of sound due to multiple instruments playing at the same time that vary in size themselves. It is less subjective as to what they would sound like than the common rock, country, and other things. We just know where as with the other music it is all personal taste, different equipment, blah blah blah...

I do however firmly believe that larger drivers (more drivers help but not the same) make anything sound more believable, especially high efficiency ones. The reason might be the amount of resonation coming off the cone at particular pats of the music in the attack and decay - that are not very measurable but take up space per say - are larger and size and give a believability to the music not only in projected size but sound as well. I have Horn Shoppe speakers at the moment and love them, and listen to classical... they do it fine. However nothing competes with my old 15 OB coaxials outdoors. They are so believable you could honestly confuse someone for a real concert (smaller venue) with rock but when it comes to classical a well trained ear would probably be able to pick up the lack of quantity rather than space taken up.

[ronpod]

Paul,

So is your decision still the Pluto's? Those are wonderful omni's that have mid to high integration which translate classical incredably well. Siegfried has also recently re-voiced his Orions (now Orion 3.2) to be better than ever and the violins sing quite emotionally. If you haven't heard them with the recent changes I believe they will be at RMAF2010.

[JBLMVBC]

There are either good speakers of bad speakers regardless of the music you play.

[Soundminded]

Strictly speaking I wouldn't say they do. Classical music can be enjoyed with any modest speaker just as any other genre can. When it comes to attempting to recreate what one would hear in a concert hall however with about a hundred musicians and their instruments, the demands are much greater than most any other genre. Not just the speakers but the rest of the chain starting from the source must be resolving and harmonically true lest one section be mistaken for another. Never mind individual instruments except the occasional soloist because in the hall you couldn't pick out instruments with your eyes closed anyway. When aided with sight and correlating what you see with what you hear however one can zoom in on a particular musician to a limited extent.

Musically it is also the most complex in arrangement. The system must be able to deal with wide dynamic swings but more importantly convey the interplay of instruments as most works rely heavily on these to convey their musical meanings. Sections sing to and with each other and when listening live they hit us, the audience, with ripples and waves from differing directions. There's a sense of motion from left, right, front and back that follows the conductor's every movement then followed by a sense of ambience as the notes gradually die out. It just isn't easy to do and remains undone by even the most ambitious audio engineers. Sound reproduction in my mind is like special effects in a movie. I seriously doubt CGI will ever develop a truly convincing human actor. I also seriously doubt a home system can also ever truly recreate the experience of a full orchestra in the home. Still it doesn't stop many of us from trying to attain sustained periods of suspended disbelief.

In general then, at least in my own experience, speakers or systems that excel at portraying classical music also do well with any other genre. The caveat is that these systems are normally much less forgiving of music that has been recorded with heavy compression. A reason I listen to classic rock off original LP pressings from the 60s and 70s instead of their modern digital reissues.

I hope I haven't come across as didactic in any way. It's just that when it comes to audio, classical music is what I'm most passionate about.

Cheers!

When it comes to listening to live music in a concert hall, nearly everything you hear no matter what seat you are in is due to the acoustics of the hall itself. In Boston Symphony Hall, about 89% 16 feet from the performing stage and increasingly more as you sit further back. Unfortunately this sound is not on the recording to any significant degree and there's no way to reproduce it if it were. Virtually all recordings are made with the microphones far closer to the instruments than anyone in the audience is, usually no more than a few feet away and they generally have a cardiod pickup pattern which favors sounds coming from the direction they are pointed in. The result is a very "dry" non reverberant sound compared to the real thing. The one exception are binaural recordings where the mikes are where you'd sit but reproducing it though headphones sounds like the source is inside your head and reproducing it through speakers makes it sound like they are in a tunnel and you are on the outside. I think the abilitiy to reproduce live concert hall sound is still well beyond the state of the art.

My biggest beefs with recording techniques are overly loud and shrill piccolos and highlight miking soloists when the balance engineer exaggerates their loudness compared to the rest of an orchestra.

[sounddog]

I don't think anyone posting on this topic has mentioned Salk speakers, which I can highly recommend. About 90% of our listening is classical music (my wife is a classical pianist) and we just bought a pair of Salk Veracity HT2-TLs. To our ears the Salks sound very open, detailed (but not etched), balanced and natural. Instruments just sound authentic. Bass is so good, I'm no longer feeling that I need to add a subwoofer to our system. A bonus is that Jim Salk crafts beautiful wood veneers for his speakers.