Verity Lohengrin II Loudspeaker

Jacob Heilbrunn has posted a review of the Verity Lohengrin II loudspeaker at The Absolute Sound. His conclusion:

Apart from a single-driver loudspeaker, no moving-coiling design is going to achieve complete coherence. But I didn’t hear any gaping holes in the Lohengrin II. Instead, I was most impressed by the ribbon tweeter, which endowed the Lohengrin II with its most special characteristic. The amount of air and the cavernous size of the soundstage really are quite impressive and can be ascribed, I suspect, to the ease with which the ribbon is working at 6kHz and above. No doubt those listeners who don’t like ribbons in general will likely not be persuaded by the Lohengrin’s treble reproduction, which is very neutral and may even be ever so slightly pitched toward the mids and treble. I myself may be partial to this sound because I’m accustomed to the Magnepan ribbon, which may extend even a little higher than the Lohengrin’s. It’s also the case, I feel obliged to note, that the Magnepan 20.1 produces a taller soundstage and even more air around the instruments. But the planar design, almost by definition, lacks the dynamics and palpability of a moving-coil design, not to mention the superbly precise imaging of the Lohengrin. The Lohengrin will reproduce pretty much every last jot and tittle on a recording, which, in some ways, is a kind of scary experience. Some listeners will find this kind of verisimilitude addictive; others may find it to be too much to handle…

Which raises the nettlesome issue of cost, which I usually don’t really touch on in reviews, figuring that it is not my job to decide what is and isn’t an appropriate expenditure for someone else. All I can say is that what is expensive for one person may be chump change for another. If you’re temerarious enough to take the plunge, then I suspect that you’ll find that the Lohengrin II isn’t cause for buyer’s remorse but prolonged elation.

You can read the full review here.

It is interesting that Jonathan Valin did not get tapped for the review. The Lohengrin II is the top of the line Verity loudspeaker and costs $89,995 to $100,000, depending on type of finish. Ordinarily, it is in the price range JV lays claim to.