[pawsman]

After spending months looking for a replacement for my pair of 15 year old Sound Dynamic 300ti's (one of the best budget speakers of all time, IMO), I came across Selah Audio on Audio Circle. I noticed Rick Craig uses the highest quality drivers, and the speakers seemed to have very good build quality, so I decided to audition a Demo pair of the Sealed Veritas. I was very impressed with the dynamics, Imaging and midrange purity, but I needed a little more bass extension, so I ordered a new pair of the Ported Veritas in Cherry. I listen almost exclusively to Classical music, I have a smallish/medium size room, and my system consists of: Sony transport/Benchmark DAC 1/NAD 326BEE preamp/Emotiva UPA-1 monoblocs/Emotiva cabling.  My impressions as I played through a number of my reference CDs are as follows. The ported Veritas are quite a powerful, dynamic speaker for a 2-way monitor, with good bass coverage for most orchestral and classical piano music. When sitting down and listening to the Wagner/Solti "Ring" cycle (London 414 100-2, 15 CDs)  you realize you got into this hobby for moments like this. These speakers re-created the magic of a Great Performance (and great recording) and let the artistry and music shine through. Wow!! This analog recording was made in the late 50's/early 60's and it's one of the highlights of the London Catalogue. John Culshaw, the producer, pulled out all the stops to make this one of the most famous classical recordings ever. And the Ported Veritas do it Full Justice, with great dynamics, midrange purity and imaging. A few highlights: the end of Gotterdammerung, with blaring brass and soaring soprano, and Siegfried's Funeral March. The Raal Ribbon tweeter is smooth and detailed, never bright or etched, and give the highs a very pure sound. Many of my reference CDs are Keith Johnson recordings on the Reference Recordings Label. One of the best for orchestra is "Exotic Dances from Opera" (RR-71CD), on the opening cut "Dance of the tumblers" with the strings having great realism, and Hall ambience being very well reproduced. This has a very "Live" sound and is one of the most realistic recordings of an orchestra I have. About 12 seconds into the 2nd track "Dance of the Seven Veils" (from Salome) there is a dynamic "explosion" that The Veritas reproduced very well. With a rather low sensitivity, these speakers can handle a LOT of CLEAN power. On another CD, "Mephisto & Co." (RR-82CD) track 4 "Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky, there's a lot of brass and dynamics, which the Veritas handle with aplomb. In this piece (and Pictures at an exhibition), Mussorgsky really bared his Russian Soul, and the Veritas communicate this essence very well. Possibly the greatest of all film composers, Bernard Herrmann was represented on Chandos 10577 "The Film music of Bernard Herrmann" with "Concerto Macabre" for piano and orchestra (track 4). Herrmann can set the mood with a few chords and gestures (it's really amazing how he does this), and the Veritas do a great job of reproducing the (very close up) piano and tremendous orchestral dynamics, and communicating the mysteriousness of this piece. Finally, a piano recording of "Pictures at an exhibition" by Mussorgsky with Byron Janis (Mercury 434 346-2) is one of the best recordings of a piano I've got. Tremendous clarity and resolution with a lot of high frequency air and dynamics. Again the Veritas perform with flying colors. Bottom line: I'm thrilled to have a speaker of this quality, with world class drivers, at a very reasonable price. In my smallish/medium size listening room, they reproduce large scale orchestral dynamics and classical piano very well. They compare with the best Monitors I've heard (i.e. Joseph Audio Pulsars and Sonus Faber Extremas) for a fraction of the price. Thanks for a great pair of speakers, Rick!

[poseidonsvoice]

Nice review. Rick has awesome customer service 

Anand.

[pslate]

Pawsman, great to hear things worked out so well But I'm not surprised, I love my ported V's. For others out there, I am also using Emo power with good results, in my case the UPA-2, instead of the mono blocks. Happy listening!!! 

[pawsman]

Addendum to my original Post:
After living with the Ported Veritas for 3 months, I'm even more impressed with them. The Scanspeak Illuminator Mid/Bass is, in some ways, even more impressive than the RAAL Ribbon. The bottom end dynamics are amazing for a 2-way monitor; unless you have a large room or a Home Theater setup, you probably won't need a subwoofer. Orchestral Dynamics and Bass response leave nothing to be desired in my smallish/medium size listening room. The one area I neglected to mention in my original posting was midrange performance with solo vocals. In a word, it's phenomenal; the best I've heard this side of an Electrostatic. Listening to "The Great Ladies sing Gershwin" on Excelsior Rebound 440 060 2780 (all cuts licensed from Verve Records), the voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Shirley Horn singing the Gershwin songbook are right there between the speakers. The individual nuance of timbre and vocal idiosyncrasies that make each of these voices so unique, comes through shockingly well. And the RAAL ribbon gives you the high frequency air/ambience that makes the recording sound so real. I listen to a lot of classical piano music; the RAAL ribbon excels with this. With most dome tweeters (even soft domes) the upper ranges of the piano can sound bright and clangy. Not so with the RAAL; it gives a more natural, organic presentation that is more like the real thing. The ubiquitous resonance that most domes have is completely gone with the Raal. Great Job, Rick!

[jonbee]

I think the midrange performance of the Illuminator is overlooked. I'm not surprised it works so well in a 2-way.

It also allows the Tempesta to use the 2" Accuton mid rather than the 5", which then give superior perfromance crossed over to the RAAL without audible penalty.

[Rick Craig]

Paper cone woofer version (Scan-Speak Illuminator) ships this week to NY...

[pslate]

Hi Rick,

The differences must be small since they measure so similarly, but are there any impressions that you can share of the Verita with the paper Illuminator?

Have a good weekend & enjoy the superbowl 
Paul

[Rick Craig]

I didn't compare the two side-by-side but the paper version maybe has a slightly more forgiving presentation - not a huge difference though. Resolution was excellent.

Making plans to be in the Chicago area at end of April to drop off some arrays to a reviewer there. 
As a Colts fan it's tough to see the Patriots playing in Indy for the trophy!

Hi Rick,

The differences must be small since they measure so similarly, but are there any impressions that you can share of the Verita with the paper Illuminator?

Have a good weekend & enjoy the superbowl 
Paul

[GaryB]

Rick,

As you know I'm considering matching a pair of sealed Veritas with a Tre CC variant which uses the paper-cone Illuminator midrange driver.  Might the paper-cone midwoofer for the Verita, rather than the metal-cone version, be a slightly better match sonically for the midrange driver in the CC speaker or is it pretty much a toss-up?  And does the 4 ohm paper-cone Illuminator midwoofer work as well as the metal-cone version in the smaller sealed Verita enclosure?

Thanks.

[Rick Craig]

Sorry for my late reply. The sonic character is not just a result of the cone material but also the suspension and motor. That said, the paper cone version of the woofer could easily be substituted.

Rick,

As you know I'm considering matching a pair of sealed Veritas with a Tre CC variant which uses the paper-cone Illuminator midrange driver.  Might the paper-cone midwoofer for the Verita, rather than the metal-cone version, be a slightly better match sonically for the midrange driver in the CC speaker or is it pretty much a toss-up?  And does the 4 ohm paper-cone Illuminator midwoofer work as well as the metal-cone version in the smaller sealed Verita enclosure?

Thanks.

[GaryB]

Thanks, Rick.  I'll pursue this further with you when I'm ready to order.