Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Energy Loudspeakers Veritas V2.1 Speakers by Jon L

Model:	Veritas V2.1
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1000.00
Description:	2 way bookshelf
Manufacturer URL:	Energy Loudspeakers
Manufacturer URL:	Energy Loudspeakers

Review by Jon L on February 15, 2002 at 13:14:10
IP Address: 162.119.232.100

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for the Veritas V2.1

My main speakers (custom $10K Quintessence Acoustics) are in for for driver upgrades, so I am borrowing a pair of Energy Veritas V2.1. Since this is pretty much the best you can buy at a "mass market" store such as Good Guys or Circuit City, I thought I would let people know how they sound.
FYI, my reference custom speakers are two box/side actively biamped design. Top box with Focal TC90 tweeter and Focal 7K series midbass, usually crossed over at 100Hz via Bryston crossover. Also, I used to own the Energy Flagship Veritas v2.8 a long time ago.
The V2.1 needs at least a week to break in, before which the 6.5" "aluminized polypropylene" woofer sounds bloated and slow. Tweeter is remarkably sweet from the get-go. Rated sensitivity is 89dB, which is about right in comparison. The aluminum tweeter looks like the same one used in their $6K V2.8 flagship I used to own and sounds about the same, too, which means great!
V2.1 reminds me a lot of sonic signature of their previous model C-2, sharing that warmish midrange with bass leaning towards full/rich than tight/lean. Tweeter sounds awesome, detailed, sparkling, smooth. This tweeter sounds about as good as the Focal unit, which is saying a lot. The 6.5" mid/bass unit, however, is no good IMO. Even though it's "aluminized," it is really a polypropylene with some aluminum-color coated on. When you tap it with finger, you get that unmistakable dull thud of plastic. Yuck! Poly cones usually sucks detail and life out of midrange, and this one is no exception. The great tweeter and the poly cone is a total mismatch in quality, and you can tell. You get beautiful highs with warmith, smooth, but not-very-detailed midrange. Bass is OK for such a unit, but that bass-reflex ported design makes itself known with a bit of bloat and lack of ultimate control.
Above comments look kind of bad, but you have to remember this is $1000/pair retail commercial speaker. I'm mentally comparing them to the $6K V2.8 and $10K custom speakers. The cabinet looks beautiful, and make no mistake, this thing can make some gorgeous music. Male vocals especially sound excellent, with appropriate amount of chest and warmth. Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Leonard Cohen all sound fabulous and convincing. Female vocals fare less well due to a bit of lack of detail in upper-mids, but well-rendered nevertheless without any spit, harshness, sibilance. Synthesized, electronic music does very well for some reason, the V2.1 not exacerbating artificial sounds' sterility.
Don't expect Wilson bass, but the 6.5" woofer does pretty well here if not asked to do too much. Upper/mid midbass is pretty well-defined with appropriate warmth, but low midbass can sound too "flabby" with the port puffing and huffing. FYI, I played some early 80's Dio (remastered) last night loud, and these speakers were able to do them justice within limits, taming the nasties while having credible midbass performance. Bravo.
Their bigger brother V2.4 is similar but costs $1500 and is a three-way design, sporting an aluminum dome midrange. This could potentially alleviate the lack of detail in mid/upper mids, but I don't know if it's a good idea to go with a more complex 3-way at this pricepoint. The aluminum dome on my Veritas 2.8 did tend to have a bit of metallic uppermids...
All in all, I speaker I can recommend heartily for those willing to spend $1K or less on brand new speakers. FYI, I used my VAC Ren 30 30WPC triode amp for the review, which played loud enough for 99% of listening.

Product Weakness: see above
Product Strengths: see above

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	See member system
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	na
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	na
Speakers:	na
Cables/Interconnects:	na
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	na
Room Size (LxWxH):	na x na x na
Room Comments/Treatments:	nan
Time Period/Length of Audition:	na
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	na
Type of Audition/Review:	Home Audition
Your System (if other than home audition):	na

Product Weakness:	see above
Product Strengths:	see above