Energy Veritas Users...Please fess up!!! (1 Viewer)

[Terry.P]

I'm currently ready for an upgrade from my existing system of Boston Acoustics VR14 Center, V35 Mains and VRS Pros Surrounds. All of the speakers in my current setup are THX certified and are really HT driven. While I enjoy the sound during HT they are not very musical and I am looking for set that is more versatile for Music, HT and SACD.

I demoed the Energy Veritas 2.3, 2.0C with the 2.0R today and was very impressed with both music and HT multi-channel sources. I have oportunity to start picking up the Energy pieces at a very substantial discount which is only way I can consider buying the beautiful ensemble to begin with.

I know that the Veritas line are primarily a music driven speaker. Does anyone have any experiences with the line when it come to HT sources. I'm especially curious about feedback on the center channel V2.0C. The rear surrounds need no introduction, they are extremely flexible for HT and Music and sound great.

Any feedback from Veritas listeners would be greatly appreciated. Based on the aggressive discount that I could get on speakers should I be looking or thinking about other speakers? My budget is roughly 2-2.6k for 5 speakers.

Please feel free to PM if necessary.

thx in a advance.

 

[Mike Likens]

Hi Terry. I have a little experience with the Veritas line that I will share with you. I auditioned the 2.0 bookshelves in my home for a couple weeks. These speakers are highly crafted and engineered. What I found striking about these speakers are their resolution. They bring out all sorts of details in a recording - good and bad. A great recording will sound well - great. A so-so recording just so-so with all its faults revealed. They were excellent for cinema due to their resolution and dynamics.

For my tastes they are a bit forward with an emphasis in the lower treble region. I guess the best description is bright. It is the one area in a speaker that I am very sensitive too.

Unfortunately, I have no experience to relate to you on the Veritas center. I own the AC-300 which I a very happy with.

I ended up buying the C-7's instead and am very happy with their performance as well as their price. They have a similar voicing as the Veritas with less emphasis in the treble region.

 

[Terry.P]

Hi Mike,

I setup C-7's with a HSU VTF-2 for a friend that is two channel freak on a shoe string budget. I was really blown away by the midrange and upper end detail. The tweeters are really impressive. I also setup my dad's theater which is extremely small room with room with C-3's, CC-1 and a C-1 as the rear surrounds. The speakers were a tremendous upgrade from the previous Take 5's that he had before. Anyhow, these experiences are what lead me to the Veritas in the first place. You mention the 2.0 bookshelf...did you really mean the 2.1? The 2.1 does not have 2" aluminum midrange driver like the 2.2 or the other floorstanding speakers. Perhaps that was an issue with the higher end coloration that you experienced.

 

[Michael Mathius]

Terry:

The center is a great speaker for both music and hometheater. It really shines with low dialog and also give you are very nice front stage.

I have the 2.4s, 2.0C and 2.0R and I'm about to get the 2.2s and a 2.0C for my second setup.

 

[Terry.P]

The center is a great speaker for both music and hometheater. It really shines with low dialog and also give you are very nice front stage.

Reason that I am a little concerned about the center was based on my observation and demo of the channel. I was was surprised that it's only a two driver speaker with a tweeter. Energy should have incorporated the 2" midrange driver like the floorstanding 2.4 & 2.3 or like the 2.2 bookshelf. My observation in the demo was that center seemed to be "behind" from the front stage of the mains. It's presence was kind of shy compared to the robust mains (2.3's) for movie sources. The demo was at Good Guys and we didn't go into the setup of output but that was the overall impression that I had. Can you relate to my experience? I would love to hear otherwise because I was thoroughly impressed with the rest of speakers.

 

[Michael Mathius]

Like you I was suprised that the center does not have a midrange driver but the 2.4s more than compensates for that. I am very with these speakers and don't see me upgrading in the near future.

Have you read this review ?


Michael.

 

[David Barteaux]

I had the center home to demo and did not like it. It sounded disjointed with the rest of the system and both my wife and I agreed that with music the system was pretty good but movie speech did not sound natural..I am sure it has alot to do with the center's lack of midrange driver. The rear surrounds were great, and two channel music was good, but not for the money you pay. The fly in the ointment in my opinion was the less that satisfactory center channel performance.

 

[Terry.P]

I have been discusing this issue with Energy and they mentioned that they will be coming out with a new Connoseuir center C-C3. It's a 3 way, dual 6-1/2 woofer, dual 2" mid, 1" dome arrangement with a retail price of $600. It will blend nicely with verita's mains also.

It solves the horizontal lobing issue.

 

[Terry.P]

BTW, there's another user on the AVS forum, that was disenchanted with the 2.0C and decided to use one V2.2 as the center channel. He is very pleased with his current setup.

 

[Terry.P]

Heres's only negative thing I could find on the Veritas line. Everything is positive with the exception of possible center channel issues when seated off center.

http://www.guidetohometheater.com/printarchives.cgi?20

It is in regards to the center channel.

Here's an except....

If there's a fly in the Veritas ointment, it's the V2.0C center-channel speaker. I haven't spent much time recently listening to horizontal 2-way, 3-driver (woofer-tweeter-woofer) centers. Typically, however, these exhibit erratic response off-axis, usually in the form of one or more serious dips in the midrange. Depending on the room and the listener's location, the audible result may or may not be obvious.

It was obvious in the case of the V2.0C. When I was seated about 30° off the center-channel axis in System 2, the center sounded distinctly tubby on many films—most noticeable, as you might expect, with dialogue. This made male voices, in particular, sound too rich, reducing both naturalness and intelligibility. I should note that, in the current position for my center-channel in this system—below the screen and just a foot off the floor—I have heard a slight degree of chestiness from several center-channel speakers that measure well. And not all film dialogue is well-recorded; you should never judge vocal coloration using only one or two films. But when I substituted the 3-way Infinity IL36c center speaker for the V2.0C, the coloration, while not completely eliminated, was definitely reduced. The change in off-axis response was also quite audible in System 1 with the V2.0C mounted atop a 50-inch PTV, but was less serious in that smaller room.
In any event, I strongly recommend that any audition of a Veritas system that includes the V2.0C also include listening to a variety of films from different seating locations to see if the coloration I've noted will be an issue for you. Some reduction in the highest frequencies will occur off-axis with almost all speakers; listen for changes in timbre and in intelligibility in the upper bass and midrange. Well-recorded male dialogue is the most revealing real-world test. Hint: find a scene with well-recorded male dialogue and put the DVD player on A–B repeat so you can hear the same material from different locations. The results in the showroom and in your home theater won't be identical, but such a trial can tell you a lot about what to expect from this or any other center-channel speaker.

 

[Terry.P]

I just a bought a Parasound HCA-1205A amplifier. 140w x 5. It is a conservately rated amp. Is that going to be enough to drive 2.3's or2.4's upfront, 2.0C and 2.0R's? I also have a HSU VTF-3 subwoofer and will directing bass lower than 60HZ to the sub which should relieve the front stage a bit.