Speakers :
Aern Speakers:
These are our hybrid speakers with an MTM arrangement with woofer pair. The Aern has a QuasiPoint Planar high frequency unit , paired cone mid woofers with traditional pair of cone bass woofers and a ported bass enclosure.
Frequency response: 40 Hz. to 20 kHz
Efficiency: 90 db.
Lowest impedence : 4 Ohms.
Recommended power amp rating : 100W
How to get Optimum performance :
These speakers are designed for a 17 x 12 room and slightly larger room with a 8 ft ceiling. Smaller rooms will gradually decrease the spatial acoustics and impact the soundstaging and the tonal balance of the Aerns. Larger rooms will image and soundstage better. However the tonal balance will change slightly and the highs will ten to start dropping off if the room is larger than 26 x 18 ft. Rooms with cathedral ceilings may sound better and more 'open' as the delay times of the high frequencies will be longer.
Setting up the speakers:
We recommend at least 4 ft from the sidewalls to the nearest side of the top baffle closest to the wall. Also we will need at least 3 ft. from the rear wall behind the speakers, measured from the front of the top baffle.
Next the speakers will be set around 7 ft. to 9 ft.from the front plane of the top baffles to the listening position. This will form an approximate triangle with the speakers and listening position. The speakers will be about 8 - 9 ft. apart. This is the sweet spot for critical listening.
Room treatment can give even more gains in imaging and stability as well as tonal balance, depending on the the actual room itself and the items located within the room.
Lastly, the speakers will need to be toed in towards the listener - a good start point is to toe the inside edge of the top baffle in by about 1/2 inch. The distance using a measuring tape will read 1/2 inch between the outside edge and the inside edge to the rear wall. ( Assumption is that the rear wall is parallel to the speakers..). Experiment toeing in the speakers by about 1/4 inch increments until you get the best imaging and soundstage width and depth. You will get an intuitive feel for this after a few adjustments and will soon find the best adjustment for the room.
Caution: if the toe in is excessive.. ie like the drivers facing squarely to the listening position, all depth layering will be affected.
These speakers can easily provide a listening level of over 100 dB at the listening position. Any prolonged listening at a sound level of 70 dB at the listening position may start to damage your hearing. Damage to hearing is possible after 2 hours of exposure to levels at 80-85 dB. Damage to hearing is possible in about 50 minutes of exposure at 95 dB, with hearing loss possible after only 15 minutes at 100 dB.
" Please protect your hearing. I almost never listen at levels above 80 dB average sound level. The Aerns work linearly within this range and are transparent enough to recreate whatever is recorded being played back. It was my goal that the Aerns would be transparent enough like the Magnepans and have that solid, hit in the chest bass. It will allow you to instantly hear whatever is upstream of it. One of the pet peeves of this audio hobby is the constant search for that 'magic' component - be it cables, stands, electronics, etc. that will make the entire system gel, and thus become 'magical'. These speakers will allow you to get you to the point where everything is upgraded before it ; the source ( streaming, vinyl or digital.), the interconnects, the preamp, power amp, and the speaker cables. And if at this point, you still want to make the leap and take your system to the next level, you will probably be at a point in your life that $20k speakers will no longer be a dream but an real option. These speakers will get you to that point. Enjoy!" -
- E. Walter J.