My local dealer was nice to let me bring my own cd's and listen to the Aerial acoustics 8B, but I did not buy them from my dealer because of the price difference between Bill low's (Audioquest owner) and my local dealer, plus bill's speakers were internally wired at the factory with Audioquest kilimanjaro silver wire. According to Aerial the upgrade is $3,000 US dollars to much to tag along with full retail of $7,000 US dollars. And off course my local dealer got mad at Me for buying the speasker but after I explain the situation they somewhat understud My position, anyways now to the sound; First impresion was not good the sound stage was not as wide as I head it and the hi frequencys were metallic.
A quick call to bill revealed some intresting information, the speakers were practically brand new and in need of break in according to bill there were used very little in his research facility.
After two weeks of break in, the hi freq. got smoother and more detail, the reproduction of the female voices was uncanny. But what about the sound stage?, well that took a little time to dial in but at the end I had that wonderfull life size sound stage that I heard at my local dealer.
This speakers are very picky with toe in, so experiment with them till you are satisfied with the results. You will be glad you did, the sound stage is very three dimentional and the depht is spectacular, My friend jump from the couch and wen outside of the room looking for the hidden vocalist in the hallway He could not believe the sound was coming from beyond the walls.
The sound integration from top to bottom is as good as it comes you can't distinguish witch driver is reproducing the sound as it should be for a speaker of this caliber, the mid range is rich in texture and harmonics with no apperent hint of grain or brightness, ther low frequencys are very good but I will like them to go a little dipper in the low freq. region. I had some intresting comments from friends referring to the size of my room been the culprit in this matter. My room is 10 by 12 or 12 by 14 and 8 feet cealings. Don't get me wrong this speakers will go down and the low freq. are very deatil and musical.
For now this is what I got, but I'm looking forward to next year wen we put our house for sale and buy a bigger one with a bigger music room. And by the way My wife loves our hi end system we have a calendar in the door were we alocate listening time for Her and Myself and all of my wife friends that had seen the speakers they all have positive comments on the finish and the looks of the aerials. The speakers are finished in Santos Rosewood and have a pair of stands. All this brigs the price of this pair to $10,000 us dollars, there are a lot of speakers out there so please listen first, as far as I'm conserned this are my cup of tea and We will enjoy them for years to come.
Happy listening and enjoy the music!!!
Pete at pmc@ecpi.com
Associated gear Jeff Rowland model 6 monoblocks Jeff Rowland Consumatte EAD T-7000 W AT&T fiberoptic EAD DSP-9000 III balance Audioquest Caldera bi-wire Audioquest Python balance Mac wire power cords (Sigma) Exact power 2000 ac regeneration unit Sanus System rack CF-55
I think you owe the local dealer more than an explanation other than "it was cheaper elsewhere." It is one thing when buying used or rare equipment that the dealer simply doesn't have. If we all do that then there will be even fewer brick and mortar shops as we have know. I am no angel but try to support my local dealers. One suggestion would be to acquire new ICs and speaker cables from the guy. Once they know you are a true loyal buyer they give you a better price , at least that's what local guy does.
Good Suggestion and yes I bought more than the items you mention like two racks other speakers, speaker wire I even took a friend there to purchase several items for his home theater, but @ the end the employee @ the shop had a not so nice attitude, He was all ways kind of rude even if he did not really meant to be, just that kind of guy. Oh boy looking @ the list of associated equipment, my system has change sooo much wow. I was not the only one that felt like that I met another audiophile a few years back and he mention the same thing a just say about the dealer, not so good attitude and kind of arrogant.
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