Aerial Acoustics Model 9 Loudspeaker

The latest offering from designer Michael Kelly delivers the goods

Scientists say that we’re not supposed to anthropomorphize objects, which is a fancy term for ascribing human qualities to things like cars or computers. But in the case of the Aerial Model 9 loudspeaker, it’s pretty hard to resist that temptation. Like its designer Michael Kelly, a veteran loudspeaker builder, the 9 is tall and slim, and reserved but surprisingly powerful.

I can say this with some confidence because when I first met Kelly I was slightly apprehensive. Would he have the strength to help me carry the two imposing boxes containing his new babies into my living room? Not to worry. Kelly easily helped me heft the not-inconsiderable weight of the Aerials into my room. Similarly, I wondered, at first glance, whether the Model 9s with their relatively small drivers would be able to pack a punch. Score another one for Kelly. They delivered the musical goods in spades. Although it’s imperfect, the multi-driver tower Model 9 represents a big advance over the venerable 10T, and I would rank it among the most enjoyable loudspeakers I’ve heard. The Model 9, which is the little brother of the 20T, is an extremely coherent speaker that doesn’t err to any extreme. It’s calm, controlled, unflappable, simply a pleasure to listen to. It does very little to the signal, but that gives you the chance to tailor the sound to your liking.

The first thing that leaps out at you is how much shrewd engineering went into the Model 9. Kelly has gone to some lengths to keep the front of the speaker as narrow as possible. This not only helps the speaker disappear quite nicely, but also, as he explained, helps avoid reflections. He’s also created a deep cabinet to control resonances. The cabinet itself is extremely inert to avoid, as much as possible, colorations that impinge upon the sound. Of course, it’s impossible to eliminate resonances completely, but the Model 9 goes a long way toward accomplishing that goal. Kelly is a big fan of using spikes to tighten up the bass; he has constructed a special base for the loudspeaker and also supplies footers in case you have delicate floors. If you do, use ’em. The weight of the loudspeaker will plunge the spikes through hardwood. Kelly, like many other speaker designers, also uses a port that fires downward onto the floor for more constant loading.

When Kelly set up the speakers in my living room, he was far from satisfied. The bass was boomy and the sound got aggressive when we turned up the volume. He was frustrated. I wasn’t. My usual space for listening is in the basement, which was being gutted. The living room was almost a perfect square, about the worst area you could devise for a stereo. What’s more, the speakers weren’t really broken in, which compounded matters. After I ran them in for a week, they began to sing (notice that I said “began”—it takes hundreds of hours before they’re really ready for primetime). Later on, I moved them downstairs into the basement, where they went from sounding good to superb.

Having lived with planars for such a long time, I was eager to hear the raw power of dynamic drivers. The Model 9 did not disappoint. Whether I was listening to Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, or Lil’ Kim, the speakers displayed excellent authority. Drum and cymbals came through with pop and sizzle, driving the music forward propulsively. The splendid linear character of the speaker meant that no one frequency spectrum overshadowed another, particularly on rock, which could reach deafening levels on the Aerials with no sense of strain.

One reason that the speakers played so effortlessly was that they are quite high in sensitivity at 90dB. There’s something to be said for a higher-efficiency loudspeaker—I had the volume about half of where I usually do on the big Magnepans. After experimenting with both tubes and solid-state, I ended up running all tubes on the Aerials. The combination of the Messenger preamp and the VTL 750s on the Aerials was sublime. The midrange was creamy and luscious without being bloated. Listening to the Aerials, I was riveted by their combination of detail and smoothness. I came away in disbelief, not only of the quality of the amazingly musical products VTL makes but also of the neutrality of the Aerial loudspeakers. They provided a translucent window into whatever equipment preceded them.

So well did the speakers image that you can hear precisely when a singer has shifted a few inches from the microphone. This isn’t the kind of thing that I obsess about, but it does let you know that the speaker is doing a great job on overall image stability, which, in the case of the Aerials, was rock-solid. The soundstage itself is not forward with the Aerials—it hangs right between the speakers and can billow into a vast canvas, when a recording calls for it. The crunch of an orchestral string section playing fortissimo had an undeniable heft to it that made it sound achingly close to the real thing. When you hear that kind of dynamic oomph come out of nowhere, it has a jump factor that’s always a thrill. Ears aquiver, I almost shot out of my seat when I heard it.