Cnets thoughts on the Aperion Verus Grand Bookshelf

[brianedm]

Aperion Audio's gorgeous Verus Grand bookshelf speaker | The Audiophiliac - CNET News

 

[KEW]

I found this paragraph surprising!

The sound was clear and very pure, but the speakers didn't make a lot of bass. The stereo soundstage was broad and wide open; the Grands' refined sound is aimed at a more "audiophile" buyer than the other Aperion speakers. Still, I felt that for home theater use the Grands really need to be partnered with a subwoofer, like Aperion's Bravus II 8D ($499), but if you're only going to listen to music the Grands might make enough bass on their own. I also auditioned the Grands with our older Aperion 8-inch sub, and the speakers sounded like big towers. Ah, but the current Bravus II 8D sub would bring the price for the speaker and sub up to around $1,100, and for less dough I'd rather listen to a pair of Intimus 5T tower speakers ($950 per pair). The Verus Grand bookshelf speakers are beautiful, but without a sub I don't think they make a lot of sense.

I generally expect a better BS speaker paired with a sub to outperform a lesser tower speaker. Any ideas on this?
I'm certain that, while the 8" Aperion sub (F3 at 33Hz) is not a heavy duty sub, it has more bass that the Intimus towers with 5-1/4" woofers (F3 at 55Hz). I would expect the Verus Grande BS (F3 at 59Hz) to be superior in the mid and upper ranges.
I think you would still want to add a sub with the towers, 4 Hz between 59Hz and 55Hz is not enough even for mainstream music IMHO.

Am I just giving too much thought to statements on audio gear made by CNET?

 

[Steve81]

Am I just giving too much thought to statements on audio gear made by CNET?

Probably. I mean, it's Steve Guttenberg; he's not exactly the most competent reviewer in the land.

 

[ridikas]

Yay!!! Another micro speaker with a 5" woofer on the market. How exciting

 

[zieglj01]

I for one, did not gain much from that review.
However the Verus Grand, looks to be a good speaker.

 

[Adam]

Yay!!! Another micro speaker with a 5" woofer on the market. How exciting

Yay!!! Another car with four wheels on the market. How exciting.

 

[agarwalro]

Theres more substance in the 'Bose Sound Innovations' infomercial on QVC.

Its more of a disservice to Aperion than anything else.

 

[brianedm]

Theres more substance in the 'Bose Sound Innovations' infomercial on QVC.

Its more of a disservice to Aperion than anything else.

I tend to agree. Steve Guttenbergs reviews are generally crap IMO. Still thought some people would be interested though

 

[monkish54]

I for one am not a fan of Steve...he represents all the things that make audiophiles foolish. BLEH.

I watched his video interview on HT Geeks. Watch his after you watch Andrew Jones', Kevin Voecks', Sean Olive's, and/or Flooyd Toole's. They have done great things for the industry and loudspeakers in general and it shows. He on the other hand, is completely anti-accuracy (not just measurement..read some of his other stuff.) and silly, IMO.


I am pretty confident Steve doesn't know much about loudspeaker design.

 

[Nuance AH]

^ To be fair, comparing Steve to the others you mentioned probably isn't fair. But yeah, I'm not a fan of him at all.

 

[monkish54]

^ To be fair, comparing Steve to the others you mentioned probably isn't fair. But yeah, I'm not a fan of him at all.

No, it's not fair at all. I don't really expect him to be like those guys...

It really boils down to the fact that, from what I have read, he knows little of which he talks, and he talks as if he is an authority. He convinces people that accuracy is a bad thing. If you want to be anti-measurement, that's fine. I obviously don't agree, but I can understand that. To be totally against accuracy..and convince others to be against it as well, is kind of a slap in the face to the guys listed above. All the hard work they have done to improve accuracy and tech in loudspeakers and Steve convinces people (in stereophile even!) that accuracy is unattainable and a silly goal without even understanding the science behind loudspeakers. It just rubs me the wrong way. I don't really have any ills toward the guy or anything, I just very strongly disagree with him.

 

[Steve81]

^ To be fair, comparing Steve to the others you mentioned probably isn't fair. But yeah, I'm not a fan of him at all.

Comparing to the likes of Toole, Olive, et al is of course very unfair; still, I'd daresay any number of forum members here could probably do a much better job than Mr. Guttenberg. The three user reviews of the SB13-Ultra done here are of infinitely better quality than this review for example (at least IMO).

 

[monkish54]

The music is what we're here for. If it were perfectly reproduced, would we enjoy it any more? Or would we be happier if our speakers and/or electronics smoothed over the sound's rougher edges?

Why wouldn't we enjoy it anymore? I have never heard someone say they weren't going to the symphony because it has rough edges...

Maybe it comes down to this: Making gear that's more accurate and/or measures better isn't the same as making better-sounding gear. Today's best gear can play louder, with lower distortion, and has wider bandwidth than the best of yesteryear's "Recommended Components." That's true, but a hi-rez file of a new recording can't match the bloody realism of a 1960 RCA Living Stereo LP played through a well-set-up turntable, 1980s-era electronics, and a pair of Quad ESL or Klipschorn speakers.

We must have missed some essential aspects of sound reproduction. I have no idea what those aspects might be, but there has to be more to the pursuit of ultimate fidelity than eliminating or reducing imperfections. We need to learn more about capturing and reproducing the gestalt of music. Analog may be far from perfect, but it still seems to convey more of that hard-to-define stuff that brings recorded music to life.

This is what annoys me so. "I like my LP more than your CD..it is more pleasing to me"..."There must be something absolutely wrong with sound reproduction! I don't know what it is, and I don't like measurements so I won't find out that way...but I know something is terribly wrong here.."

Obviously that isn't a direct quote from Steve, but that's what I feel he is saying in the above. We may disagree about some aspects of sound reproduction, Nuance, but I have never heard you say you like speaker A more than B and therefore sound reproduction is going in the wrong direction.

 

[KEW]

Wow! What a tool!

Today's best gear can play louder, with lower distortion, and has wider bandwidth than the best of yesteryear's "Recommended Components." That's true, but a hi-rez file of a new recording can't match the bloody realism of a 1960 RCA Living Stereo LP played through a well-set-up turntable, 1980s-era electronics, and a pair of Quad ESL or Klipschorn speakers.

Maybe whenever he listens to the old gear and 50 year old LP's, he gets flashbacks to when he used to be able to hear properly!