Introduction of Vera Audio Coherence 12 - a high quality speaker many can afford

[Bjorn]

I'll make a dedicated thread for the 18" subwoofer later. Name is likely to become Vera Audio Foundation 18. High-end subwoofer but without the high-end price tag. Prices in the audio market now are becoming more and more silly and we don't want to partake of that. However, if we start to use distributors/shops and which may happen down the road, prices need to go up unfortunately. So I recommend buying before this.

Both the Vera Audio Coherence and the 18" subwoofers will be released this year, and the Coherence 12 hopefully within some months now. We had some unfortunate delay which have been taken care of now.

Oh, I forgot to update the choice of grill we ended up for the Coherence 12. It will look quite similar to this:

 

[Bjorn]

We're also considering a wall mounted subwoofer. Makes a lot of sense with Trinnov waveforming, Dirac Art and for homes where space is limited.
At the same time, we want to design something with high quality with proper SPL and low distortion.

Most likely we'll be using two 12" woofers with a linear excursion of around 25mm. A possible dimension is 75 (w) x 60 (h) x 27 (d) cm or inches: 29.53 (w) x 23.62 (h) x 10.63 (d).
Below is a rendering to give an impression.

 

[Bjorn]

Thank you, @Bjorn, Yes, to ask, what freq range does the lower Driver cover and is that for Phase Accuracy and Bass Extension (some Reinforcement, being low and close to the Floor)? What SPL do they deliver....

View attachment 531772

I haven't shared what Xover we're using. It's also possible to change it in case someone like to play extremely loud.

Without room reinforcement, one single speaker can reach 118 dB at 1 m distance. The woofer will go higher, but clearly the sensitivity drops at the lowest frequencies. At very highest levels, we can assume the distortion isn't very low for the planar driver. If someone needs that high level with very clean sound, a horn loaded compression driver is the obvious choice.

Personally I have yet to hear the planar driver have obvious distortion. While we have played very loud, we haven't pushed it to ear bleeding/damaging levels. We would need measurements to know for certain the distortion at extreme levels.

 

[KL....]

I haven't shared what Xover we're using. It's also possible to change it in case someone like to play extremely loud.

Without room reinforcement, one single speaker can reach 118 dB at 1 m distance. The woofer will go higher, but clearly the sensitivity drops at the lowest frequencies. At very highest levels, we can assume the distortion isn't very low for the planar driver. If someone needs that high level with very clean sound, a horn loaded compression driver is the obvious choice.

Personally I have yet to hear the planar driver have obvious distortion. While we have played very loud, we haven't pushed it to ear bleeding/damaging levels. We would need measurements to know for certain the distortion at extreme levels.

Thank you, @Bjorn, are you able to provide Klippel or equivalent measure of Vera Audio Foundation 12 or 18....

 

[Bjorn]

Thank you, @Bjorn, are you able to provide Klippel or equivalent measure of Vera Audio Foundation 12 or 18....

View attachment 532004

The plan is to send a pair to Erin. https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/

Working on some very final details and hope the cabinets with grille will go into production within a few weeks.

 

[Drengur]

Is your king still sending longboats to us as per the agreement of 1262? If so, I am looking forward to a sample! But in all seriousness, this looks promising.

 

[Bjorn]

Is your king still sending longboats to us as per the agreement of 1262? If so, I am looking forward to a sample! But in all seriousness, this looks promising.

That might have expired

I've worked with a good number of speakers for years now and measured a good quantity of commercial speakers. Together with a large horn speaker, it's the best speaker I've listened to overall. The CBT, which I've also worked with and had several demo pairs, are better as a backround speaker, but for critical listening in one spot I prefer the Coherence 12.

A planar driver like this has much lower moving mass than dynamic drivers. There's no traditional voice coil and cone.
Instead there's an extremely lightweight Kapton film, an aluminum conductor directly on the diaphragm, and a magnetic field over the entire surface.

This means the entire diaphragm is driven evenly across its whole area, not just from the center like a conventional driver.
The result is often lower IMD distortion, faster transient response, less stored energy and more “transparent” sound.

There's a very clean vocal reproduction and high resolution in micro-details which was evident in AB tests that coax drivers and dynamic driver couldn't compete with.

And we avoid the dynamic limits such a driver has by using a 12" woofer for the right frequencies.

 

[Bjorn]

Updated Sales Prices for one pair of Coherence 12 (Excluding VAT)​

With Hypex Plate Amplifier (2x250W)​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 61,600 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 62,720 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 65,960 NOK ex. VAT

Unamplified with miniDSP Flex Balanced and 2.25 m Speakon to 4-conductor cable​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 56,680 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 57,840 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 61,040 NOK ex. VAT

Unamplified with Colinear Acoustics DSP-8C and 2.25 m Speakon to 4-conductor cable​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 68,680 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 69,840 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 74,160 NOK ex. VAT

Both a full cover grille and a woofer-only grille are included with all versions.

The unamplified versions require an external 4-channel power amplifier, but include a source/DAC with volume control and remote control. The amplified version requires a source/preamplifier with volume control placed before the speakers.

 

[Uncola]

The matte walnut veneer version with hypex plate amp is:
63,000 Norwegian Krone equals 6,779.65 United States Dollar

Great price for an active endgame floor stander like this, imo!
Also very cool look with the wide baffle

 

[Bjorn]

Production will start very soon. If someone are willing to pre-order by paying 50% in advance, I can offer the following discount below. Need a quick order here! Delivery is likley to happen in August/September.

Pre-Order Offer – 10% Discount (Excluding VAT)​

With Hypex Plate Amplifier (2x250W)​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 61,600 NOK → 55,440 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 62,720 NOK → 56,448 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 65,960 NOK → 59,364 NOK ex. VAT

Unamplified Version with miniDSP Flex Balanced and 2.25 m Speakon to 4-conductor cable​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 56,680 NOK → 51,012 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 57,840 NOK → 52,056 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 61,040 NOK → 54,936 NOK ex. VAT

Unamplified Version with Colinear Acoustics DSP-8C and 2.25 m Speakon to 4-conductor cable​

1. Black piano lacquer or black piano lacquer with matte walnut veneer top panel – 68,680 NOK → 61,812 NOK ex. VAT
2. Fully veneered in matte walnut – 69,840 NOK → 62,856 NOK ex. VAT
3. Fully veneered in high-gloss walnut – 74,160 NOK → 66,744 NOK ex. VAT

 

[Uncola]

I emailed shipping questions to the info@vera email address. lol I definitely should not order these.

 

[Bjorn]

Here's some pictures of the matte walnut veneer. It's very challenging to take pictures (at least with this camera) that resembles how it is in real life, thus this only gives an impression. I would say the walnut is lighter than what these pictures portrays.

 

[Uncola]

I'm on board for the ncore plate amp version, but if anyone was considering the minidsp flex balanced version but wasn't sure what amplifiers to use with it, a 4 channel TI 3255 amplifier is available for a great price, with auto on/12v trigger on, balanced and rca input, two gain levels independant for each channel.. for a very reasonable $499 on amazon right now..

https://www.amazon.com/ALSOZONE-PAM254-Multi-Channel-Amplifier-Protection/dp/B0GHCP5M35

bjorn, also, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you wanted to use two mismatched stereo amplifiers with the minidsp flex, it could be done as long as their gain was in the same ballpark, because you could gain match them in the minidsp device console settings? or would that not work?

 

[Bjorn]

I'm on board for the ncore plate amp version, but if anyone was considering the minidsp flex balanced version but wasn't sure what amplifiers to use with it, a 4 channel TI 3255 amplifier is available for a great price, with auto on/12v trigger on, balanced and rca input, two gain levels independant for each channel.. for a very reasonable $499 on amazon right now..

https://www.amazon.com/ALSOZONE-PAM254-Multi-Channel-Amplifier-Protection/dp/B0GHCP5M35

bjorn, also, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you wanted to use two mismatched stereo amplifiers with the minidsp flex, it could be done as long as their gain was in the same ballpark, because you could gain match them in the minidsp device console settings? or would that not work?

I would check for how long duration the amplifier can deliver the rated wattages.

Yes, we use the external DSP to match the gain of different amps. But this really should be done with measurements with a mic. The gain spec of an amplifier is seldom accurate and a difference of as little as 0.1 dB can be audible.

 

[Uncola]

the alsozone amps use 3eaudio modules one pcb per channel and each has their own good sized heatsink, so I think full power output should be possible, I'm pretty amazed how affordable fully featured multichannel class d amps are now. maybe this will enable the active crossover bi-amp/tri-amp designs market to flourish

 

[Uncola]

I have two prospective gear chains I'm going to try out with the coherence 12. I use a projector that has built in google tv apps with earc and toslink output.. so I can run hdmi earc from the projector playing movies in an app, to a wiim amp ultra's hdmi earc input, then use the wiim's usb output with a usb to coax adapter I have.. for spdif digital into the master coherence 12 speaker.. then run a 2nd longer spdif cable from the master coherence 12 into the slave coherence 12. and I read the hypex plate amp's can pass volume control via spdif but no other digital input.. so it's a good thing I have two custom length spdif cables on the way now also for critical audio listening I'd use the spotify connect and qobuz connect built into the wiim, choosing songs via my phone, not the apps built into the projector

chain two is the more traditional audiophile type gear chain: toslink from the projector to a huge highend ad1865 dac I have, to a khozmo active preamp, then rca to xlr cables running from the khozmo preamp to each speaker's xlr analog input. also the dac has a built in ethernet input only streamer.

Important note: I read the hypex plate amps need spdif to receive digital attenuated volume control and to pass it off to the 2nd speaker's plate amp with the attenuation/volume control intact. that's a good piece of info to know because I think most would assume the other digital pass through's on the hypex plate amps would pass volume control but they don't. talking about the optical and AES inputs

 

[Bjorn]

I have two prospective gear chains I'm going to try out with the coherence 12. I use a projector that has built in google tv apps with earc and toslink output.. so I can run hdmi earc from the projector playing movies in an app, to a wiim amp ultra's hdmi earc input, then use the wiim's usb output with a usb to coax adapter I have.. for spdif digital into the master coherence 12 speaker.. then run a 2nd longer spdif cable from the master coherence 12 into the slave coherence 12. and I read the hypex plate amp's can pass volume control via spdif but no other digital input.. so it's a good thing I have two custom length spdif cables on the way now also for critical audio listening I'd use the spotify connect and qobuz connect built into the wiim, choosing songs via my phone, not the apps built into the projector

chain two is the more traditional audiophile type gear chain: toslink from the projector to a huge highend ad1865 dac I have, to a khozmo active preamp, then rca to xlr cables running from the khozmo preamp to each speaker's xlr analog input. also the dac has a built in ethernet input only streamer.

Important note: I read the hypex plate amps need spdif to receive digital attenuated volume control and to pass it off to the 2nd speaker's plate amp with the attenuation/volume control intact. that's a good piece of info to know because I think most would assume the other digital pass through's on the hypex plate amps would pass volume control but they don't. talking about the optical and AES inputs

Should work.
We've used a Wiim Pro Plus digitally out here with the Hypex amps and that has worked well. SPDIF worked better than Toslink because it supports higher sample rate.

Can do some more testing here with both digitally and analogue connected. I believe it will take at least 15 seconds for the amps to change automatically to another source.
From the manual: "
During the scan cycle the output will be muted (Preset LED blinking). When no signal is detected on the active input for 15 seconds the cycle will start over.

 

[MKR]

Should work.
We've used a Wiim Pro Plus digitally out here with the Hypex amps and that has worked well. SPDIF worked better than Toslink because it supports higher sample rate.

Can do some more testing here with both digitally and analogue connected. I believe it will take at least 15 seconds for the amps to change automatically to another source.
From the manual: "
During the scan cycle the output will be muted (Preset LED blinking). When no signal is detected on the active input for 15 seconds the cycle will start over.

SPDIF worked better than optical due to higher sample rate? What do you mean by “worked better”?

 

[Bjorn]

SPDIF worked better than optical due to higher sample rate? What do you mean by “worked better”?

The unit we have have didn't support higher than 96kHz via Toslink, so it didn't play all hirez files. Seems like it's been resolved in newer units.

 

[MKR]

The unit we have have didn't support higher than 96kHz via Toslink, so it didn't play all hirez files. Seems like it's been resolved in newer units.

Thanks … you are referring to Fusion malfunction with higher sample rate? In fact I have had this issue with my Fusions. Driving direct digital with SPDIF (coax) from Wiim Pro to Fusion SPDIF in to master the slave has issues to lock on bitstream if I set Wiim output sample rate to >48khz. So 96 and 192 is fully unusable. Not that 44/48 vs 96/192 is even audible, but a bit annoying nonetheless

I discovered this is issue and how to resolve via a web search …