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Aerial Acoustics 7T: WOW!

I haven't checked kidney prices recently but I think you'll have a bit more funds to offset used prices in today's depressed used audio gear market. ;)

I picked up the 8's, with the 8B crossover modification, in December. I found them on their website over Thanksgiving and went down to the store on the 30th. After A/B'ing them with a pair of Vienna Acoustic Strauss speakers, I placed a deposit on them to have them held and taken off the display floor. I picked them up the next week.

Here's my audition thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=559330
 
McFool said:
I haven't checked kidney prices recently but I think you'll have a bit more funds to offset used prices in today's depressed used audio gear market. ;)

I picked up the 8's, with the 8B crossover modification, in December. I found them on their website over Thanksgiving and went down to the store on the 30th. After A/B'ing them with a pair of Vienna Acoustic Strauss speakers, I placed a deposit on them to have them held and taken off the display floor. I picked them up the next week.

Here's my audition thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=559330
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Yes, Echo's site is where I saw them. In September I moved up to Seattle, but I still check their website frequently. They still have the Viennas listed. I enjoyed your audition thread, BTW.

I will take you up on the invite to go hear the 6T's when they show up at Fred's. Sounds like a good excuse to get back down there. We'll have to grab a beer and a ham sammich somewhere.
 
Aerials are not uncommon in the Carolina's for whatever reason. Two stores in my area sell them and I recently auditioned the 20T's with CJ gear. Gorgeous speakers.

I owned a pair of power hungry Model 5's for a couple of years. Drove them with a Classe amp of 100 watts but they still needed more. They're the reason I got out of the power race and into HE speakers and flea amps.
 
This is part of a post I recently published on a thread about ADS 1590's.

On of my ultimate A/B comparisons would be to compare the ADS L1590s to one of Mike Kelly's latest designs. This should really show how far speaker design and materials have evolved. I'm sure that Mike has "evolved" as well. FWIW-look at this review of the Aerial Acoustic Model 7T. Same basic layout as the 30 year old ADS 1590s but the bigger story is the specs at the end of the review. http://www.stereophile.com/content/a...7t-loudspeaker

Aerial Acoustics Model 7T specs:
Frequency response: 28Hz–25kHz, ±2dB; –6dB at 23Hz.
Impedance: 4 ohms nominal
Power requirements: 25W minimum, >100W recommended
Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m.
Weight: 96 lbs
Dimensions: 44.5" (1130mm) H by 9.7" (245mm) W by 15.3" (390mm) D (height includes base).
Manufacturer: Aerial Acoustics Corporation, 100 Research Drive, Wilmington, MA 01887
Price-$9850

Compare to:
http://sportsbil.com/ads/l-1590-brochure.pdf

All of these specs are nearly identical to the 30 year old ADS 1590's except the price!! I paid $2200 per pair in 1986. If you take inflation into account, I'd consider the old prices to be in the same league wiht teh new prices. $2200 was 1/3 the cost of a decent car in 1986. Ten grand is around 1/3 teh price of a decent car today. If any ADS fans are reading this thread you have to be smiling a bit and wondering what the Aerials would sound like compared to the old ADS design. People on AK wax philosophically about whether the old designs are competitive with the latest designs. This is one of the best possible tests that I could ever come up. Same designer/same configuration/nearly identical specs/30 years of science/engineering/materials and experience by one of the best known and highly regarded speaker designers of either era. It looks like Mike Kelly is shooting for the same type of buyers that he was targeting 30 years ago.(That was meant as a compliment.) I don't know if anyone else in the ADS community noticed the striking similarity in specs. I may start a thread about this for the ADS fans on AK. It would be an interesting listening experience.

This would also make for an interesting part of an interview with Mike Kelly.

PS- No one buys speakers based on specs. I realize that specs are just an indicator for the buyer. I never heard of anyone that liked speaker X better than speaker Y but chose speaker Y because the spec sheet looked better. However, specs are very important to the engineer/designer.
 
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Dual Aerial/ADS owner here...8Bs and 1230s. I really enjoy both, and honestly the 1230s manage to do a few things better IMO though I've never had the chance to compare both in the same room with the same equipment.
 
virii01 said:
Dual Aerial/ADS owner here...8Bs and 1230s. I really enjoy both, and honestly the 1230s manage to do a few things better IMO though I've never had the chance to compare both in the same room with the same equipment.
Click to expand...

Hey!! We can help you move them into the same room on the same gear!

ROADTRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Party in Nebraska! Party in Nebraska!

Who has a bus???
 
I've currently have 710's in one room and have had 1290's in the living room in the past. The Aerials image much better than the 1290's could ever dream of. As much as I've enjoyed my time with ADS, the Aerials are in a different league.

There have been several threads comparing new vs older speaker designs. My opinion is that some of the biggest improvements in modern speaker design have been in imaging, and in being able to create more bass with a smaller speaker. The Aerial comparison to ADS towers is a great example.

It sure would be fun to hear them in the same room, all the same.
 
Aerial Acoustics 7b here and I love them. Everything you guys are saying is true. Such great speakers, I'd love to eventually move up to the 7t and 10t.
 
I've owned the (original with updated tweeters) Aerial 7s for several years now and was hard pressed to find another speaker that had all the positive attributes of the Aerial line. Sometimes I think I should get Aerial 5s or something smaller to fit my room but when I listen to them it's hard to give them up!

They require really good upstream electronics however (they are very hard to embarrass even with painfully expensive amps/sources).

Happy Listening!
DeeCee
 
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