They're very well designed and the build quality looks excellent. In fact I see no way of even opening them up! They have a very conventional box speaker sound.

As far as an Electrostatic system goes, they lack everything that a traditional ESL has. Although they are better sounding than most conventional speakers, the way the diaphragms or panels are made differs dramatically from others that have wires running across the membrane. These have to most primitive type that has a perforated (holes punched in a sheet) metal cover that acts as the energy source. This reduces the output dramatically. With such a large surface area I expected the panels to be quite efficient and have the ability to play much lower than panels that are ⅒th their size. Specs say they play to 800Hz, from my tests done on JansZen 5x5" panels, they made it to 660Hz before they rolled off to nothing quickly. The overall sound is good but compared to other panels they lack that ultra real right there sound. They do have better horizontal dispersion but there's no pinpoint accuracy that's part of the ESL experience. I suspect the curving has a ill affect on the rear waves and might even work better if it was blocked off entirely the rear waves are supposed to reflect off the rear wall 1 cycle and meet with the front waves back in phase to give that sense of depth and imaging they are so famously able to do well. It may be due to age but other panels I've owned were made in 1959, 1967 and 1971 while these are from the 1980s, so it shouldn't matter. From what I've read Martin Logans have a 15 year life expectancy which I found odd but I can't say that's true for all panels they make. I can't complain that much since I got them at a fraction of the cost of previous ESLs and I didn't have to do any work on the power supplies or change out the woofer (it could use an upgrade but it's not imperative as others are) to make it enjoyable. There's a reason why other ESLs sell for much more, I guess you have to be able to compare them in person to understand the difference between their design. If you can find these for around $300 I would recommend testing them before buying but if they are fully working and have no weird sounds I think you'll be getting a great deal. They do have a nice look and take up a small amount of space . Don't expect them to play very deep and have any type of punch to the bass. It's there but it lacks that all important feel that strong deep bass provides to make the overall sound become more realistic while filling in those very low vibrations that will bring meaning and complete the music with the original sound

These are extremely well balanced speakers that can accurately reproduce the low level detail that creates a convincing sense of instruments in a real acoustic setting. Because of the electrostatic design there is no dome tweeter beaming.

These are not well suited to for very high listening levels.

For more than 11 years I am very pleased with the ML Aerius i. Very fine and wonderful loudspeakers which are giving a very 'live-like' and neutral performance. Some say that the ML Aerius i needs a sub. I don't agree on that. Only if you are used to listen to clean and full bass below 30hz without any drop in DB, yes, than a sub is useful.
Beware of the fact that this loudspeaker is very critical about the amp, although ML is trying to beleive us something different. Because of the very low ohm's (somewhere 1 ohm !!) and only 89db, a lot of amplifiers do have problems with this loudspeaker. If the combination is not good, the Aerius's do not produce enough bass, the sound is to hard and not enough dynamics. Also loudspeaker cable is very! important.
But, when it goes right, the ML Aerius's are wonderful. Don't even think about t to replace them by the current models. That's not because the current models might not be good, but the Aerius i perfoms still very, very good!

the aerius i are still going strong . had to send the back panels in to martin logan because the dynamic expansion chip was burnt out in one speaker .

other than that , i love these speakers . quick , clean sound . with a seperate sub , they handle any genre of music .

positioning is crucial with this speaker .

dobrvecer
Ovde e ABE DECKO (sase)
Jas se razocarav od muzikata ne ja biva vise iam vakvi zvucki i ke gi sitnam za djabe
Ke idam negde u planina nek si ebe se mater
Iam i Lambi pojacala i tie ke gi sitnam za djabe
Dajte nekoj denar da moze da se kup nekoja ovcva
Ajt

quick clean sound .

rich and deep .

pure and complete .

distortion free .

must run a sub w system for right sound .

bought these aerius i speakers used . not sure what year they are . running them through sunfire 300w x 2 channel amp and sunfire tube pre amp , gray power conditioner that the preamp and marantz cd player plug into : amp goes directly into wall at the same outlet as the conditioner . . xlr interconnects and stage wire with z connectors . sunfire has seperate current and voltage outputs for each speaker . i have these speakers bi wired , with the voltage output to the to the cone and the current output to the membrane . i have a paradigm 12 inch independently powered sub connected via speaker level input , directly to the lower posts on the logans .

very very touchy regarding positioning . once you find the right spot youre in for a treat .

you would be surprised how good this system sounds . this is my first pair of electrostatics , and i was worried about the mid range mostly .

these speakers must be run with a sub woofer . you adjust the woofer phase and frequency way down , with the volume just up enough to make a noticeable presence . running the sub from the speakers helps to pick up some additional mid range signature from the music ( or so i was told : i dont see how that would work / it does work really well though. )

this is the music that pounds really well on this set up ..........

no doubt

pink floyd division bell

paul simon songs from capetown

all dire straits

camron

t.i.

im not a big rap fan , but my friends are and it all sounds amazing on the logans .

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burnt the crossovers and shattered the tweeters on my energy towers .

glad i did .

- Aesthetically pleasing - VERY pure sound - Extremely detailed - Wide soundstate, very room filling - Extremely gentle to the ears, very little ear fatigue.

- Very finicky about placement. Careful assessment of the room should be made before purchasing these speakers. Very rewarding when configured properly. - Bass is modest, not powerful. Subwoofer REQUIRED. - Not exactly efficient speakers, a strong amplifier is highly recommended. - Sweet spot is more limited. You sacrifice having a broad listening environment for precision. Its a toss-up.

I've always admired ML speakers since a kid, these speakers look as good as they perform. I tend to like brighter speakers, such as the older Infinity products that used Emit tweeters, but the ML's do a great job producing clean sound that is EXTREMELY gentle to the ear. The MLs are very neutral, so neutral that they have a cold and electronic sound to them. I wont say its a bad thing, its just a characteristic of the speaker. After playing around with them, I think the MLs have a very studio monitor-esque sound. I give these speakers 3 stars for value and 4 stars for performance. I think there are a lot of speakers that can meet and/or exceed the performance of these speakers, but nonetheless -- the ML's are top performers and overall, excellent speakers.

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Older Infinity, Klipsch, Polk, Dahlquist products.

Midrange ,Midrange and more Midrange, Soundstage deep and open

Bass performance ;lacking in integration and openess in the lower freqs

This is a review of the Aeons.Since these are the closes in size I will put it here.Well the aeons midrange is magical.The soundstage was vivid and I felt as thou I was on stage at the venue.The clinging of the glasses as the waiters served people in the audience was amazing!The amp used was a Adcom 5802 and a Sony cd player as the source ,can't remeber the model number.The bass was decent...If I had any complaints,this is where I wasn't satisfied.Some people say that sealed enclosures are better.Well not to my ears it seems to sound muffled and congested.Calling attention to itself everytime the music called for some bass.The integration of the driver and the panels were a little annoying,but maybe with some experimentation I could live with them.I will admit, they beat the pants off the Maggies that were setup in the same room!I have grown used to the box speakers better integration and bass performance.I guess there's no free lunch .No speaker is perfect and to get more of one thing you will have to give up another!All in all I loved the speaker for it's strengths.Now I need to find some Innersounds with TL designed enclosures .Which yields better integration but a much smaller sweet spot...Oh Well here we go again!

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Soliloquy,Maggies,Paradigm,Sonus Faber,Deftecs,Meadowlarks,Vienna Acoustics,PSB,and a few others

Holographic Imaging, Lifelike sound

Weak bass, Limited placement options

First let me say that these speakers are not for everyone due to the need to be placed at least three feet away from the back and side walls to sound their best and the need for good amplification/source components. They also have very limited low frequency response and should be augmented with a "good" subwoofer. With proper placement (lots of trial and error with toe in and distance from wall boundaries) I've got them to sound better than most any other speaker I have ever heard close to their price range(including some $5000+ speakers). They really exel at reproducing a holographic presentation in front of the listener. I've had fun having friends listen to my system for the first time and seeing their jaws drop, wondering how two speakers can just disappear, leaving the performers playing in the room with you. I now have a complete Martin Logan surround system and the sound is unbelievable. Even my wife comments on how "real" it sounds. I highly recommend these speakers and believe most listeners will like them if heard properly set-up with good amplification/source equipment. My system: Martin Logan Aerius Martin Logan Cinema center channel Martin Logan Script surrounds Audio Research LS3 preamplifier McCormack DNA .05 amplifier(modified RevB) CAL ICON II cd player(powerboss mod) Linn Axis turntable & Goldring cartridge Lehhman Black Cube phono preamp Paradigm Servo 15 subwoofer Denon 3200 receiver for processor and to drive center and rear channels(works suprisingly well)

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Spica,PSB,Dunlavy,Paradigm,B&W,Magnepan

Uncolored reproduction of sound. As neutral a speaker as you can possibly get.Especially good for listening to Jazz or Classical. If you love strings, this is the speaker for you. Very sensitive speaker-doesn't require tons of watts to play well.

Not the best rock-and-roll speaker. Bass is okay, but metal-heads should stick with Cerwin-Vegas, or JBL.

I'm very happy with the Arieus. I've had mine for several years now, and am still impressed with it's clarity and neutrality. Stringed instruments make this speaker sing! You haven't heard a piano reproduced right until you've heard it on an Arieus. Soundstaging and instrument placement are also spectacular.I still think this is the most accurate speaker on the market. The Arieus isn't cheap, but is worth every penny.