Reference 3A Grand Veena Loudspeakers in piano black ($1000US Extra). Considered one of the world's great speakers. One of Harry Pearson's favorite speakers, these are in as new condition.
These perform well out of their price range.
I have ordered much more expensive speakers (very hard to get better than the Veena)so will consider trades of gear I can resell if in mint condition.
http://reference3a.com/images/43775_eprint.pdfListening to music through the Grand Veena should go on and on. Suffice it to say, this is a superb loudspeaker that is a keeper at its price point. With its relatively compact enclosure and small footprint, it is an excellent fit for a small or medium sized room. It is shockingly good at integrating its five drivers, which go dynamically low and exceedingly (airily) high. When care is taken with associated equipment, the Grand Veena brings new meaning to the term “Tutti”; that Italian word for directing orchestra members to play all at once. Even on such a “Tutti,” where a good recording brings out a complex maelstrom of sounds and colors, the Grand Veena is capable of capturing each individual musical voice and thread (its nuances, dynamic shading and individual space), as well as conveying the Whole musical picture. And that, (like listening to Elliott Carter’s rich compositions containing many a “Tutti”) is something special indeed.
New Grand Veena is a tall, slender tower housing five seamlessly integrated unique drivers. The front baffle is tilted back at a critical angle and the drivers are positioned precisely for correct time alignment and sound wave propagation. The multi chamber cabinet provides isolation to avoid interference between the drivers operating at different frequency ranges.
Achieving a coherent phase response has always been an utmost priority for us and a design criterion with all ourloudspeakers. Carefully assembling the drivers with correct parameters and choosing a more direct signal-path design option, along with critical placement of the perfectly pair matched drivers allows us to achieve this goal with our Grand Veena. They project harmonically rich, clear and expansive soundstage images and offer fatigueless extended listening sessions.
Our own hand-built 7" (170 mm.) main driver is hyper-exponentially shaped and covers a wide range of the music evenly. Utilising advanced materials and techniques the driver is designed to not require crossovers and it is coupled directly to the amplifier. The potentially harmful effects of crossover components are removed from the path so the musical signal arrives at the driver uninterrupted and intact. Every tiny musical detail is tracked precisely and immediately.
Two powerful 8" (21mm.) long excursion bass drivers are used for extended low frequencies. Very stiff and light cones of Fibreglass and Kevlar in honeycomb construction are used to eliminate driver break-up modes. Rigid cast metal driver frames are used to ensure mechanical integrity. A unique acoustic device is constructed internally to absorb excess pressure generated by the enclosure's standing waves to avoid interference with the driver's motion. With only a quasi-second order low-pass filter, low frequencies are tuned to extend flatly down to 36Hz. while significant information is still realised at even very low 20Hz.
A very accurate high frequency driver with an optimally shaped silk dome diaphragm and a low frequency resonance at just 590Hz. has been chosen. It integrates seamlessly with the direct-coupled main driver. With a low mass voice coil and a copper Faraday-Ring in the motor it is very well behaved even at very loud volume levels. Simply connected with just a capacitor as the high-pass filter to protect it from low frequencies, it projects a smooth, detailed and spacious treble.
An unusual design feature of Grand Veena is the very special ultra high frequency exciter by Murata Co. It is a 12mm. diameter ceramic dome unit, which radiates in spherical motion unlike the conventional piston motion of all others. The very fine ceramic dome actually expands and contracts dispersingextreme high frequencies from above 20 kHz to about 100 kHz. to a very wide acoustic field. Although its' presence is not easily detectable with conventional means, it promotes better perception of a spacious soundscape and surprisingly better definition at even lower frequencies than its' actual operating range.
SPECIFICATIONS
Efficiency: 90 dB. 1Watt/meter.
Frequency response: 36Hz - 20 kHz (+/-) 3dB.
Up to 100 kHz high frequency extension.
Bass loading: F3@ 36Hz., tuned port,
quasi-second order, -15dB at 20Hz.
Impedance: 5 Ohm (+/-0.5 Ohm).
Power handling: 200 Watts RMS.
Phase: Almost constant at 10 degrees @94dB, wide band.
DIMENSIONS
51" (129cm.) high,
10.3" (26cm.) wide,
19" (48cm.) deep at base,
6" (15cm.) deep at top.
Weight: 75 Lbs. each.
