Aerial 10T Owners and Anyone that can help

In most preamps 0db is wide open. It is your amp that is shutting down. If you continue to overdrive the amp, you will damage it or your speakers. When you bridge your amp, in most instances you are not as able to deliver as much current. You may be doubling or quadrupling it's power but the power supply is still the same size. Believe me, you can not have too much power.

Thanks Rwwear -

What does it mean if the Marantz MA-24 is doing the same thing at close to the same levels? Larger amp?

D

You want to hear the 10t's sing? I've had all the so called big power hitter amps on mine, up to and including the Classe M-1000 monoblocks. What's there now?..........
Levinson 33H. Best I've heard, 33's would probably be even better, however the 33H were FAR superior to the Classe's 1000W at 8 ohm output. Remember, Levinson claims 150W at 8 ohm for 33H, IMHO, much more.

beemer

You said earlier that the Marantz was only 30 watts per channel and even though it is class A, it still hasn't enough power to play at full volume.

Call Michael Kelly at Aerial and he will review the specifications of the associated equiptment and tell you if there is a mismatch .

I cannot imagine why anyone would want to listen to Madonna at excrutiatingly loud volume, but to each his own. You are asking much more of your amps than they are able to deliver. The amps when clipping are producing a square wave, which the amps can live with, but you run the risk of blowing one or more of your 10T's drivers. No, there is no such circuit in the Aerials that would cause such a sound, just the sound of the amps clipping. The 10Ts are capable of very loud and dynamic volume if you want to do that to your ears, but you need to consider much better amps. Big Classe amps bridged mono would serve you well at a reasonable price. Take care of your ears though. Those you cannot replace!

I made a mistake, at 4 ohms, it is 47WPC into Class "A".
I assume this means it is much higher into another class?
How does this work?

Dan

Simple, your amps are clipping. Your amps do not have enough high current for the very low efficient 4ohm 10Ts. You are going to damage the speakers and amp by forcing it to do what it can not do. Simple, like the others are telling you. Get some high current muscle amps behind the 10Ts and let Madonna rip. OOch I own the 10Ts and use a Classe ca300. I would say that this is the starting point for the 10Ts. Your Citations do not even double down fully at a 4ohm load. The 10T is dipping around 3ohms. You need a bigger higher current amp. Call Michael at Aerial, nice man, he will help ya.

Dan, I own the Aerial 8's and drive them with two CA-150's in mono and am very pleased. I have friends with the tubes and they consider the difference in using the two amps makes a substantial improvement. Naturally, I agree and feel the power and warmth of the sound is excellent. I also believe that the cables are very important. Also, call Mike Kelly and he will be very helpful.

Dan, I helped a friend set up his 10T's and we tried two amplifiers, the Rowland Concentra 2 and the Bryston 7BST monoblocks. The Rowland was very good, but did not quite have the muscle of the Brystons. The top end of the Rowland was more open and pure however. The 10Ts need a lot of power. A 150 wpc is necessary in a small or modest room. Large rooms with vaulted ceilings will need more power. The Brystons at 500wpc are good choices. The Classe's mentioned earlier are also good choices. The Rowland too is great if your room is not huge. Just remember, this speaker is hungry for power and needs to be fed well. Jallen

I wanted to thank each of you for your help. After several attempts with different amps, Citation 7.1, McIntosh MC-352, Marantz MA-24's, California Audio Labs CL-2500, and the Bryston 4B, (which all clipped) I have found the solution! No clipping, incredible clean mids and a top end that does just sing with a bottom end that DOES NOT STOP, the 4 channel Citation Audio 7.1 in a BIAMP configuration!
I had been bridging this amp which was probably a large part of the issue here. The amp is 210 x 4 into 4 ohms, and plays ever bit of it! The imaging is far superior, but not sure if it from NOT running it bridged or if it from the benefit of BIAMPING, but I FOUND IT!

Thanks so much for all of your help. I also have a call into the Aerial, Mike Kelly, to verify my hearing/sanity.
(really to be sure I won't blow the midrange and/or tweeter with this power.

Again, thanks for all your help and insight, it is threads like this that allow suggestions to be sought, issues recognized, and problems solved!

Dan