My son-in-law sold Aerial Acoustic speakers while sending himself through college and his love for them led me to purchase a used pair of Model 5's on ebay for $600. He knows the designer well and even offered to get my pair autographed which I found amusing.

I drive the Aerials with a Chinese 95 wpc hybrid tube amp and augment the bass with a Velodyne sub. I listen to SACD's with a modest Sony player and redbook recordings on a Chinese tubed player. I tried driving the Aerials with a Classe amp (often recommended) but much preferred the warmth of the tubed hybrid over the sterile sounding solid state.

I am most taken with the great detail and accuracy of these speakers. Their bass is nice and subdued for such a small speaker and I can listen to them all day long without the slightest bit of fatigue. Even though these are very inefficient speakers and love power they sounded much better than expected with a t-amp in my 16x16 listening room. For them to come into their own they do need wattage and sound absolutely amazing with trio jazz at one third volume. I expect I'll buy many more speakers in my lifetime but I don't expect to own another as good as the Model 5.

Superb musicality manifested in sweet, extended highs, a smooth, beautifully detailed midrange, and tight, controlled (if not terribly low) bass. Compact size, exceptional workmanship and beautiful finish.

Bass is limited in depth and power, which is not a surpirse in this class of speaker. Price is quite high (at least by my standards!) and the pricing scheme is obnoxious - any finish other than ugly basic black adds at least $400 to the price.

I've been a lover of both music and audio for a long time, and recently bought the Aerial Acoustics Model 5 speakers as part of a complete replacement for my elderly system. I am driving the Aerials with a Linn Classik integrated CD player/receiver, which I plan to review separately, and I couldn't be happier.

I listen almost exclusively to baroque and classical music ranging from small-scale chamber works to the great symphonies. My wife and kids prefer soft rock and easy-listening FM. The Models 5s handle it all superbly. The sound has a quality of ease and naturalness which I did not find in any other speakers in this price range. They combine a sweet tone with exceptional clarity and detail, which is a rare accomplishment.

I auditioned a very wide selection of speakers before buying the Aerials, and generally found that the speakers with the clearest and most detailed sound often lacked warmth and had an overly analytical quality (e.g., the Dynaudio Contour 1.1s). The warmer speakers too often lacked detail. The Aerials were an exception, offering the best of both worlds.

After much agonizing, I narrowed my choice down to the Aerial Model 5s and the Sonus Faber Concerto Home. Both speakers offered the rare combination of warmth and detail I sought. I found myself returning to those two speakers again and again; they were the only ones I auditioned that consistently made me want to listed more.

I finally chose the Aerials because of their bass. This may sound surprising in view of the comments from other reviewers, who identified the bass as a weak point. It's true that the bass is not outstandingly deep or powerful. However, because of the sealed-box design, the bass is exceptionally tight, pure and controlled. It may not shake the room with organ music or movie soundtracks, but it brings out all the nuances of percussion, cellos and other low strings. Quality trumps quantity, and relatively little music consistently goes that low. In any case, my listening room isn't very large, and I plan to add a good subwoofer eventually.

Final comments:

These are not the world's most efficient speakers and their low-level dynamics are not spectacular. It takes a bit of power to get them to open up, and they are happier at moderate-to-high volumes. They sound excellent at realistic levels, where chamber music sounds like chamber music and an orchestra sounds like an orchestra. The Aerials are rated at 4 ohms and the Linn Classik is rated at 75 watts per channel into 4 ohms - enough for adequate volume but not enough to outrage the neighbors.

These speakers may be hard to find; Aerial Acoustics is a small company and their products are note widely distributed. Try to negotiate the price; you may be able to get a break on the rose walnut finish as I did. Even with the break, they were pricey, but they are worth every cent I paid and I'd buy them again happily. If my experience is any guide, you won't regret buying them.

Similar Products Used:

Owned: KLH 17, EPI 100, 3D Acoustics satellite/subwoofer combination, KEF C45 AR 17, AR 15

Auditioned: Sonus Faber Concerto Home; Linn Katan; Linn Ninka; Dynaudio Contour 1.1 and Audience 52; B&W CDM1 NT; B&W CM2 and CM4; ProAc Tablette 2000; others too numerous to remember.

THE Aerial Acoustics MODEL 5; NOT ADVERTISED OR WIDELY FOUND IN SHOPS, IS QUITE A SLEEPER. NO OTHER MONITOR SPEAKER AT ANYPRICE EXCEPT PERHAPS FOR THE TOTEM MANI-2 , SOUND A SWEET AND AS PURE. THEY SOUND MUCH LIKE THE HIGHLY ACCLAIMED Aerial Acoustics 10T'S BUT OBVIOUSLY WITHOUT THE BASS DEPTH OR WEIGHT
THE $ 6,500 BIG BROTHERS HAVE. CERTAINLY NO OTHER $ 2,000 SPEAKER ANYWHERE SOUND AS GOOD AS THESE DO.

This is a report on a comparison audition I did at a local stereo store between the Joseph signature model and the Aerial Acoustics Acoustic Model 5, a similarly sized and priced speaker. Audio Research 45 wpch integrated amp provided the power, and a parasound 1500 CD player was the source. The store used MIT interconnects, but I didn't get the model. The room was acoustically treated; the speakers were on stands well out from the back and side walls. Test material was a live recording of Keith Jarrett's trio, a recording of a classical soprano, accompanied by piano, Tracy Chapman's blues number, Just Give Me One Good Reason" from "New Beginnings" and the Chicago Symphony/Solit recording of Beethoven's 9th, made in the late 60s and re-issued on CD.Both speakers are excellent. The Aerial Acoustics has a fabulous top end, but has a slight mid-bass emphasis that I did not care for. Both speakers have excellent imaging and convey a great sense of depth in the recordings.
The Joseph gets my vote because it handled the congested fourth movement of the symphony (solo vocal, choir, orchestra) well. The Joseph's rendition was what I would call "coherent." The Aerial Acoustics did not; the sound was just not clear.
Both of these speakers deserve an audition, if you're looking for monitors and are willing to spend $2K.
Caveats: with tube amps and fancy speaker cables with r/c networks attached, you never can be sure you're hearing the speaker and not the amp and cables. The mid-bass fullness I heard could have been the result of a particular interaction with that amp and cables.
The Aerial Acoustics was a very satisfying speaker, and I was surprised that it did not do well with the symphony. Since the electronics were modestly powered, it is possible that the amp was going into mild clipping with the Aerial Acousticss but not with the Josephs. The Josephs are 1 dB more efficient, and tube amps don't clip abruptly and obviously like solid state equipment. However, when I was doing the comparison, I attempted to have both pairs of speakers play at the same level.
But on that day, with that equipment and this listener, the Josephs sounded better.

I have to disagree mildly with my colleague from Ohio. I auditioned these speakers at a local hi-end shop in comparison to Joseph RM7-Si Signatures. The amp was an Audio Research CA-50 45 wpch integrated amp, with MIT interconnects and speaker cables. Sorry, can't recall the CD player that was the source. Speakers were on stands 3 feet from back wall and may seven feet from sidewalls in acoustically treated room. Music was live jazz (Keith Jarett trio), symphonic (Beethoven Sym #9), studio blues (Tracey Chapman) and classical soprano with piano accompanyment (Cecilia Bartoli). The Aerial Acousticss have a very smooth mid-range and an extended top-end, just a little sweeter than the Josephs. They have a slight emphasis in mid-bass that doesn't quite conceal their weakness in lower bass. Imaging and so on was the equal of the Josephs. They want power. With the final movement of the 9th symphony (orchestra, chorus, soloists), the Aerial Acousticss and the CA-50 ran out of steam at a moderately loud volume level. The Josephs did not. At the same price, I would take the Josephs more accurate and slightly deeper bass, and higher efficiency, over the Aerial Acoustics's slightly sweeter top end. With the Aerial Acoustics's being more expensive, the decision, IMHO, is a no-brainer. If the Aerial Acousticss didn't have the mid-bass bump, the decision would be tougher.

If you think poorly of this speaker you need a ear check up. smooth with the ability to play any kind of music. If you insult any product that Aerial Acoustics makes your not an audiophile, it's that simple.

Hard, flat, and dry sounding. I auditioned this speakers with orchestral music and was not impressed.

I purchased the Aerial Acoustics 5's on Jan15.Right out of the box they sounded good.But after a week of breaking in WOW.The high end is SWEET and detailed.The sound stage is wide and deep.My speakers prior to these were the Paradigm studio 100's.These are good speakers but with to much mid range color.The mids on the Aerial Acoustics's are clean and neutral.The bass is pretty incredible for a small monitor.Not good enough for DVD movies.But my Velodyne CT120 sub more then makes up for that.I can listen to a lot of music without the sub, an be very involed and happy for hours.But they do need a sub like any other SATS.My Paradigms are in the garage until I sell them.When i moved these big heavy speakers I was thinking how could these small speakers I have in my listening room now possibly replace these Monoliths?? But the Aerial AcousticsS most definetly have.Equiptment=Rotel power amp=Onkyo 919 ac3 reciever=Audioquest Emerald inter connects=Tara Labs Space & time speaker cable BI WIRED=Rega Planar3 turn table=Music Fidelity e624 CD player. Tony In VINO LAND NAPA CA

Anyone that has a pair of these babies, I recommend
that you BI-AMP them if you get a chance! *Incredible*
improvement in pretty much everything, same sweetness
but more clarity and presence esp on vocals and
solo instruments, the "mid-bass hump" which used
to bother me too is gone. Recordings that used to
sound too laid-back are now alive and vibrant, these
now sound
like a different class of speaker than before. Other gear: CAL Delta transport,
Monarchy DAC 22B,
McCormack TLC (active mode with this amp/speaker
combination), two Creek a42's, Synergistic interconnects
and (ahem) Radio Shack speaker cable.

(OK, OK, so the speaker cable is lame, but the Creeks
only take bananas and who has a good set of those
lying around these days? They'll get good cables as
soon as I decide on a permanent set of amps!)
A word of caution to
anyone thinking of trying these out, these speakers
really do demand the best out of everything else
in the system, or they won't give theirs! Get good
stands (factor the cost of the Aerial
ones into the purchase price, they're worth it),
and the more transparent the
electronics the better these will sound (unlike some
other speakers which get bright and shrill). Next up for
me is cleaner amps and (maybe) a sub-woofer --
you won't get gobs of bass from these, they're
a sealed-box mini-monitor! Finally and of course considering my tastes in music (baroque and chamber),
I feel I can award these what they deserve:

Brought these home today to audition against my recently purchased Sonus Faber Concertinos. The Aerial Acoustics 5 is much more tonally acurate through the midrange, and the top end is sweet and extended. this is the first small monitor under $3k(with the exception of the Dynaudio 1.3 I heard last month) that reminds me of my Senheiser 560 headphones. It makes the B&W 805 and Vienna Acoustics sound like they're played through a metal tube.
Now, I have to decide if my budget will allow me to spend the extra thousand to go with the Aerial Acousticss, and take the Concertinos back. The Concertinos have a nice forward midrange, but compared with the Aerial Acoustics (and my Sennheisers) , the midband is a little off, and the high end is rolled off, especially with cymbals. The female voice, piano, sax, they all sound a little timbrally uplifted. The bass is not critical for me, since I am using a REL StrataII sub, though the Aerial Acoustics has a prominent mid bass.

The Sonus will be better with a wide range of varying quality TV, CD and DVD sources, since it is very forgiving in the top end, while the Aerial Acoustics will far surpass it with well recorded sources.