Sound stage & detail.

Size and price.

Have had my ML Aerius i speakers 4 years. They are great on all types of music and HT, never fatiguing, great sound stage with proper placement, incredible detail. Depending on your preference, some will want more bass. Best value/performance combo in ML line. Am writing in response to previous review looking for relatively inexpensive rears. Might want to try Boston VR M50 in black oak. I bought a pair for the fronts in a second room system. One day decided to try with Aerius in rear "just for the heck of it". The best non-electrostatic I've tried to date. Blends well, probably due to the tweeter more than anything else. Good placement options (stands, wall, shelf). See reviews on this site under Boston Acoustics.

Similar Products Used:

No other electrostatics. Definitive Technology ProMonitor 200, Bose 501, Boston Acoustics VR M50, Celestion and others.

very clear & neutral, with a huge soundstage

Lack of deep bass, very sensitive to proper placement

I have owned these speakers for a little over a year and have been very happy with their performance. They sound phenominal with classical music, creating wide and deep soundtages. I have also listened to a fair amount of metal and rock with these speakers and have never been diappointed. Metaliica DVD-A: Logans never sounded stressed or fatigued, even at very high volumes. My biggest problem/source of constant research is trying to find the best mulitchannel amp to drive these speakers in a 5 channel system. B&K 7250 sounded flat and weak so I exchanged it for a 300w x 5 Earthquake Cinenova Grande amp which happens to sound much better. Aparently a lot of logan users (including the company's president and co-founder) go with the Sunfire Cinema Grand or the Bryston 9B. I'm very curious about how these speakers would sound driven by Conrad Johnson MF2500 or the new Classe CV500. My newest project is to try and match fairly inexpensive rears for surrround sound/dvd-a playback (i.e. Mission m71, Studio 20's, or NHT Super One). It's too bad ML doesn't make a less expensive rear (Scripts are about $1600). Some dealers have advised that B&W/ML combos work well. Any thoughts? Round up- These speakers were a steal at $2000 and can be had for much less on audiogon. ML has an incredible line and, with the Aerius i's, has created an affordable speaker that shares many of the same charicterics of its much more expensive breatherin. Speakers can be a little light on the bass, so I would definately recommend a sub. Highly recommended. Associated Equipment: Classe SSP-30 Preamp Integra DPS 9.1 DVD/DVD-A Earthquake Cinenova Grande Power Amp Monster Power 5000 conditioner Audiogon Viper Interconnects Analyis PLus Oval 9 Speaker Cable Infinity IL120 Subwoofer ML Logos Center Mitsubishi RP HDTV

Similar Products Used:

Mirage, B&W, Revel M20, M30,

Mid and upper range clarity, soundstage is excellent.
Appearance

The woofer is a little slow compared to the mid and highs.

The ML Aerius is one of three speakers that I would recommend to my friends. Since last time I checked I haven't won the lottery the Aerius are at the very top end of my budget. The other two manufacturers I would recommend are Magnepan and for the very budget minded listener Paradigm.

I auditioned most of the ML line and found the Aerius to sound the most natural. I would have to agree with the other posters that vocals and solo instruments in the mid-range are extremely well reproduced.

The value rating is based on price/performance.
The overall rating is based on musicality.

clarity, spatial resolution, mid-range to die for, sound staging, appearence, price/performance ratio...etc..i can go on forever

bass shy, very very very narrow sweet spot, need careful placement, works better if the room is narrow.

I've listen mainly to mini-monitors when i was looking around for a pair of speaker that goes well with my krell Kav-300i and Kav-250cd. after a month of searching n auditioning(i always borrow speakers from dealer to audition at home, more accurate this way for me) i settled with a pair of dynaudio audience 50 which is a very accurate speaker with good low end punch for it size, but about a week later when i listen to a pair of N805's, they blow me away with their 3D sound stage. so i trade in my A50 for a pair of 805's. couple weeks later when i listen to aeriusi, i bought it right away. cuz i never thought u can get a GOOD floorstandng speaker around $2500. The sound stage of these speaker r amazing. also their tonal balance r very neutral, no hint of exaggeration at any frequency. after these speaker ill never go back to conventionals at least not for a while. i know there r a lot of conventionals that r better but they will cost u more than $3k. i can confidently say this is the best speaker under $3000. of course listen for urself.. it all comes down to personal choice.

system:
cd: Krell KAV-250cd
amp: Krell KAV-300i
interconnect: cardas golden reference XLR
speaker cable: cardas quadlink-5c (double-run cable)

Similar Products Used:

B&W N805, Dynaudio audience line, NHT2.5i..etc.

Midrange, imaging, soundstage

A little shy in the bass department

I fell in love with the Aerius i after listening to several of my favorite recordings by Holly Cole, Jules Shear, Ani DiFranco, Ron Sexsmith, and Keb Mo. Extremely pleasing for vocal oriented music. If the bass is well recorded in the music it shows up well but if it is not well recorded it can be less than punchy.

detial is unreal.sound stage very sweet....

none bass could be a little more but it is awesome for my room

Well I will Make it short and to the point. They are really awesome speakers from top to bottom.Isold my 802s and I ended up buying these speaker and I can honestly say the martin logans blow my 802s away... In every way except the bss. but the amount of bass is perfect for the size of the panel.well taking my info into consideration you should buy them providing you have good equipment. If your equipment Is not good at all stay away because the logans let you hear your equipment.Have you ever heard the saying the speakers dissappeared??? well this is the first time I ever owned a pair that did good luck. If you want to buy a pair call the guy I used he is the most honest salesman I have ever delt with his name is bob his number is 315-451-2707 tell him Dan sent you and he will try to give you a fair deal if he can. Ialso bought My theta miles from him never had a problem he shipped all my stuff it was all perfect. good luck.
associated equipment
Mark Levinson 335
Theta Miles
Transparent Music Link Ultras

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b&w 802 series3 matrix

fantastically accurate

amplifier-sensitive

When driven by an amplifier they agree with, these speakers deliver a stunning sound, with wonderfully clean transients, a holographic image and accurate soundstage, and adequate bass. A bargain at the price, especially in the US. Make sure you audition them with valve amps, e.g. Audioresearch.

Detail, imaging, soundstage

WOW!! this speaker is so amazing. I think ML hasrealized how good it is and now upped the charge on the aeon because they know people will pay more to get a pair of these. The Aerius i is by far the most amazing speaker I have ever had the opportunity to listen to. Even speakers costing three times as much do not seem to convay the emotional involvement that these will. Furthermore I listen to everything from hip hop, to techno, to Classic rock, and it does each justice. No need to say more.

Similar Products Used:

Talon, Thiel, B&W, snell

Natural and grainless

Bass extension and partnering

These speakers are a fantastic bargain. I could have spent much more, but there was a "wife acceptance" factor involved. In fact I was looking at spending 2 or more times what the Aerius i cost. But the Aerius i was so uncoloured and musical it won out easily. I have a pair of Thiel 2.3 speakers at my beach house and I feel the Aerius i betters them in some most important ways.

But these speakers are only going to suit you if your listening pleasure is natural acoustic recordings. If you need ground-shaking bass, soaring electric guitars and cutting rim-shots to make your music, then look elsewhere. For natural acoustic recordings, listening to these speakers will spoil you for any dynamic speaker.

The biggest weaknesses are bass and set-up/partnering.

Bass just does not go deep enough. Add a good sub-woofer and even the sound of cymbals will improve due to the added soundstage bloom. Try it, because you will be amazed at how seemingly bass-less recordings possess critical bass information about the acoustic envelope. Then take the sub-woofer away and you will notice a thinness and recessed nature that you did not hear before.

Unless they are well set-up it would be easy to be underwhelmed by these speakers. The thing you must do is spike them as securely as possible, otherwise you lose a lot of detail. And do not partner these cheap speakers with cheap electronics. A good valve amp is virtually a must.

The sound from the panel is superb

The bass is fairly musical but sounds very different to the panel

I trialled the Aerius' one week ago, and the Ascents two days ago.

The sound from the Aerius' panels is superb. If there is a flaw, it is that the mids, especially around the female voice, are *over* emphasised in clarity and perfectness, so that the song does lose a little balance whilst at the same time sounding absolutely fantastic. The voice ends up dominating the music, rather than being part of the music.

This is bad, per se, but it does show you how superb the speakers sound. You hear the voice *perfectly*; if you've not heard a panel speaker you can have no idea just how alive the sound is until you do.

The big problem with the Aerius' is the bass.

The bass unit is fairly musical, but it just sounds *so* different and seperate from the panels it's unpleasent.
With a weaker amp (120 watts) the bass is rolled off and unintegrated with the panels, with a powerful amp (500 watts) it becomes so present and forward and boomy it ruins the sound from the panels.

The Ascents solve the bass problem completely; the sound from those speakers is one pure whole and is quite wonderful.

All in all, I can only recommend the Aerius' - despite how wonderful the panels sound - if you listen to music which is light on the bass. If you do, you'll be in heaven.

Similar Products Used:

Martin Logan Ascents, Magnepan SMG3a