Aerial Acoustics 7T
JLeeMD -- Thu, 11/10/2011 - 11:34
I recently took delivery of a pair of Nero (Ferrari metallic black) 7Ts. I have a small-medium sized room with a minimalist 2-channel system (Levinson No.512 SACD/CD player, Bryston 4B SST2 amplifier, and Audioquest WBY cables). My last 4 speakers were the Paradigm Signature S2v3, Usher Audio Mini II Diamond, Dynaudio Confidence C1, & the B&W 805 Signature.
I am posting my impressions here as this is a new speaker that Kirk Midstkog in TAS called the Most Significant Product Introduction at CES 2011 and there are, as of yet, zero reviews available. TAS & Stereophile reviews are forthcoming.
Hopefully, the 7Ts will be my last speakers (!). These speakers seem to have no weaknesses. Transparency is exceptional with stunning resolution, especially in the midrange. They throw a big 3-D soudstage populated with palpable images. Bass is extended with impressive weight yet is agile with gobs of timbral detail. The best part: these speakers infuse music with a dynamic life which makes listening to music engaging and involving. All told, these are the most transparent and realistic sounding speakers I have ever owned...or heard. $9850 is too low.
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Interesting. Why did you shy away from the rather popular Wilson Audio Sasha W/P, btw?
http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product_sash.shtml
With your Levison SACD, Bryston 4BSST2, and Audioquest cables, it would seem like the natural audiion choice!
Also, with your past experience of B&W, Dynaudio, and Usher, why did you shy away from higer-up models, within those lines?
Was the B&W 802 diamond not to your liking, given $9850 is too low a price?
Or an old model like the Dynaudio Evidence Master?
http://www.dynaudio.com/int/home_loudspeaker_systems/evidence/evidence_m...
I understand the value of low prices. Right now, I am enjoying a Nikka from the Barrel Whisky. It was 1/3 of the price of a Nikka 21 year old Japanese, as I was looking for something much older/better (25-50+ years), and could not find it in store, I settled for something unknown and cheap. The inital impression was terrible, and much worse than Jonnie Walker Blue (bland but enjoyable), for example, but 1/2 way through the bottle, I am enjoying the warmth.
Did you get a chance to listen to higher up the line Ushers at that price point?
http://www.usheraudiousa.com/products/loudspeakers/dancer-series/cp-8571
At less than $10,000 pair, I quite like the sound of Fidelity Acoustics RFM-3's, much bettering the Wilson Sophia 3 in fidelity, resolution and refinement (reiterating the same point re: distorion in audio)
http://www.fidelityacoustics.com/RFM3page.html
This harks back to my enjoyment of the old ProAc Reponse 3.5, from the last time I enjoyed Bryston amplifiers (4BNRB or pre-NRB days).
Speaking of which, did you give the ProAc Reponse D38 a listen? ($8000)
To my eye, the Ariel Acoustics 7T looks remarkably like a PSB Synchrony One!
http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/synchrony/Synchrony-One
How much better does it sound?
My room is small-medium in size so Kirk Midstkog's observation that the Aerial 7Ts work well in small rooms was an important consideration for me. Moreover, he is usually restrained in his choice of words even when it is obvious he really liked a product, but I could tell from his CES Show Report and recent TAS's Buyer's Guide that he was very impressed by this speaker. His TAS review is now out and this clearly is the case. I do not have the option of auditioning any of the speakers you mention above. Therefore, the opinions of trusted reviewers is a big part of my due diligence. My comment about the price was to make the point that the 7Ts are good value, not that I wanted to pay more!
Heartiest congrats, J Lee, for finding your last set of speakers. I believe speakers are the most difficult components to fit into a system and a room. I found my last speakers in a pair of Vienna Acoustics The Music after a purchase inspired by JH's enthralling review in the pages of TAS. With these final speakers, I ain't looking back. Each time I switch on my system, The Music never fail to deliver. And it is all aboput synergy. If you are lucky enough to find speakers with no weaknesses, albeit relative to your system and listening experience, then all other options or considerations are moot because any alternative may not gel quite so well. And after years and years of listening, I assume you have been in this hobby long enough, you will know when the right one comes along. Enjoy!
Thank you. I agree that speaker-room interaction can be a major impediment to good sound. Because my room is small-medium in size I have gravitated towards 2-way standmounts. The Ushers provided full-range performance but seemed to lack the transparency and palpabilty of the 2-way standmounts. The Dynaudios offered near full-range performance but dynamically it seemed "slow." The B&Ws offered excellent transparency but the tweeter was, at times, painful. The Paradigm Signature S2s were the best of the rest but its bass extension was limited. The S6 or S8, of course, would rectify this limitation. The Aerials are keepers because they combine the best characteristics of some very fine speakers and, more importantly, because of their ability to infuse life into the music.
I'll wager that the 7Ts will be a game changer for Aerial Acoustics. BTW, I've read nothing but stellar reviews of The Music. And they look georgeous! Congrats.
As the Aerial 7Ts break-in, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the 7Ts are on a whole different playing field than every other speaker I've owned in the past. Previous upgrades netted incremental improvements: when I upgraded from the B&W 805 Signatures to Dynaudio Confidence C1s, I gained low frequency extension but lost a sliver of transparency. When I upgraded from the Dynaudios to the Usher Audio Mini II Diamonds, I gained more low frequency extension, more PRAT/transient fidelity, and cleaner treble performance but lost another sliver of transparency. When I upgraded from the Ushers to the Paradigm Signature S2v3, I gained a significant dose of transparency and dynamic range but, not surprisingly, lost quite a bit of low frequency extension. Upgrading to the Aerial Acoustics 7T, I heard substantial gains in transparency, dynamic "life", imaging focus and palpibility, low frequency performance, midrange resolution, and soundstage width/depth/height. All told, the Aerial 7Ts outperform every other speaker I have owned or heard by a margin I could not have imagined. They bring the musicians into my room to a extent I never thought possible. If you told me I upgraded from $5-10k speakers to one in the >$20k category, I would be ecstatic based on the unexpected degree of improvement! Remarkable speakers. $9850 is too low.
Important update: the Aerial 7Ts need at least 300 hours before they sound smooth, fluid, musical, engaging. At 100 hours, one can appreciate its sonic prowess but it needs another 200 hours before it really "sings."
JLeeMD,
I am very pleased that your taking a chance on buying a $10k speaker, partly based on my TAS coverage, has worked out for you! I admit to feeling a bit of pressure when I had heard about your 7T order without an audition.
Your comments about the 7T's sound and break in requirements completely agree with my experience with the review samples. I still use them as my main reference and have become even more enthusiastic about them the longer I use them.
FYI (not that your Bryston 4BSST2 amp would be remotely considered ready for an upgrade in the context of your system), in case anybody else is considering the 7T and a good power amp to power it, an excellent pairing power amplifier is either the Gamut D200i stereo amp, or—if you can swing the $26k price tag—the Gamut M250i mono amplifiers. Simply a marvelous match!
Happy listening,
Kirk---
Kirk Midtskog, Contributing Writer - The Absolute Sound