Without turning it into a long rave, I want to endorse what Steve Austin said - put these (the Aerius i's) together with a good mid-powered valve amp (in my case Kebschull 70W EL34 based monoblocks), bi-wire them (I use Tara Labs - Master on top and Reference on the bottom to save money - I've got unavoidably long runs ), add the REL Storm sub-woofer, give the speakers plenty of breathing room (at least 1/5th of the way into the room), and these speakers just disappear, letting the music speak straight to your soul, heart or gut - whatever you listen with.
And although I tend to listen to the sort of music they excel at - ie small group jazz, female jazz vocalists, and classical chamber music - every time I listen to something else (friends bring some techno or Hendrix or Liz Phair etc etc over to listen to) I find myself expecting the system to not quite measure up, and instead we're all blown away. Sure, I've got low expectations, and in most cases the friends are comparing it to their all-in-one system experience, but still...

Bottom line - these speakers are a major part of a system that reliably delivers one of the most consistently deeply pleasurable experiences in my life. And one that left me enough money to buy the software to play on it. Can't ask for more.

It seems to me that settling on a pair of speakers always comes down to deciding which compromises one can live with -- you end up giving up a bit of performance in one area in order to get desired performance in another. For those out there who would perhaps agree that the Martin-Logan Aerius i is a great performer in so many departments except for the all-important bass region, I would submit the following: try supplementing the bass of these speakers with an REL Acoustics Strata II or Storm sub. The M-L has good bass, it has tight bass, it just doesn't have a tremendous amount of LOW bass. The REL subs are made to get the same signal that the main speakers see -- the one right off the power amp outputs. So its bass character is the same as that of the speakers (the M-L in this case). You just bring up the level of bass to where the Aerius' bass just levels off, and the integration is seamless (takes a little experimentation, of course). Now, I realize this isn't supposed to be a review of REL subs; my point is that, paired with a speaker such as the M-L that does evrything else SO well in the opinion of so many, why would you pass on the M-L based on it's bass performance for something that's better at bass reproduction, but not nearly as good at everything else? Put the M-L (`$2000 list) together with the REL Strata (`$1200 list) and you've got a combination that will put a LOT of more full-range speakers costing twice as much to shame. In addition, with this combination, there are not too many types of music that wouldn't sound just right (within reason where volume is concerned). For the record, I power my M-L's with a pair of Quicksilver M-60 monoblock amps (60W per) that I wasn't sure would be enough "juice" until I tried them together. The point? You don't need oodles of wattage to drive these, just something stable. All of the above is, of course, just my OPINION, but that's the point of all this, right? ENJOY!

I like the Aerius speakers. I think for the money, there are few speakers which can accomplish what the ML's can. I see a lot of complaints concerning lack of bass; this can certainly be argued. However, in my experience with them, the material of the floor on which they stand is crucial to their low-end output.
I work in a hi-fi shop, and the floor of the store is made of concrete. Anytime prior to my bringing the Aerius home, I felt that they were very weak when it came to bass reproduction. But the floors in my house are wood, suspended by wood, and the difference was night and day. I am not a bass-head, and do not listen to heavy metal music, so that taken in consideration, I think that the bass produced by these speakers is accurate, clean, and adequate for most types of music. They don't boom, and low techno-style bass drops aren't their cup of tea. But I have a feeling this was never the designer's intent, either.

I also agree with another review listed here in that the amplifier makes a huge difference. To begin with the speaker is rated at 4 ohms and drops as low as 1.7 ohms at 20k Hz. A decent amplifier is definately needed, with an adequate power output (but that case can really be argued for any speaker, aside perhaps from Klipsch).

Insofar as the naturalness of the soundstage and instruments, I think ths is where ML speakers truely excel. I studied music for 5 years at University, and other than the fact that my degree is useless in the job market, I have gained certain personal benefits from it which I will always have .

It is no small testimony to a thing when it arouses considerable discussion or some degree of controversy. The responses from listeners to the Aerius electrostatic hybrid range would suggest to anyone who has not heard the product that the Aerius can sound very good or downright execrable. In this instance all of the critics are right.

The Aerius is a well made and exacting audio product built to price point that can provide truly musical sound if the rest of the system and the room (the most important and oft overlooked part of the audio system) are up to it. Put the Aerius in too big a room and the mid-bass will suffer. Improperly placed in a small room and you may not achieve the kinds of results that these speakers can give to you. I have a dedicated audio room and the speakers are 7' from the rear wall, 3' from the side walls and 6.5' from the listening position. Soundstaging in this setup is very, very good. Images have a palpability that draw me into the music. The bass? I have augmented the speakers with a HSU 12a subwoofer for the lower octaves, however, the midbass and bass performance of the speaker sans subwoofer genuinely conveys the excitement of the music.

If you use components that do not sing in a neutral voice--those that need to be carefully matched with speakers that will help them compensate for their tonal aberations--and the Aerius will reveal their flaws. The Aerius, within its modest frequency range is a magnifying lens. Properly set up you can hear, quite clearly, differences between sources, electronics, interconnects, AC cords, powlerline conditioners, and isolation devices .

The magic of any type of recorded music will be presented by these speakers with great speed and harmonic fidelity within their limitations. They are not a forgiving product, however, and if you hear sonic blemishes as I did in the dealer's room (an excellent example of poor setup close to the wall, other speakers in proximity and questional wiring and electronics), do not jump to the wrongheaded conclusion that the speakers are at fault. The Aerius loudspeakers can convey the essence of the music, thus, they are indeed worthy of your careful and deliberate consideration.

Set up correctly,in the proper listening room. (small with nothing but electronics) This speaker will do justice to extremely expensive gear. I could of wedged a larger Logan in my room to get more bass, at the expense of what I would call integration. These sound so good fore money, that if I were a speaker designer I would be embarrassed unless my name is Gayle Sanders.

I've owned the ML Aerius for 3 months now. I'm satisfied. My listening room is long and narrow - the speakers are positioned at one end. Not ideal. My listening post is no more than 12 feet from the speakers. Musical choices tend towards jazz (small combo), chamber music and what is now being called "aternative country" (i.e., lots of quieter, acoustical).
The Aerius do two things very well for me. I now have a full 5-foot high sound stage. Was not possible before with the close proximity of the PSB Mini-Status to the "listening seat". Also, the Aerius do very, very well with the mid-range, "quieter" types of music that I favor.

Yes, the bass is sometimes not as pronounced as I would like -however, I've decided it is very often a failure of the recording as much as the speakers. These speakers can be brutally honest about the quality of the recording. These are NOT the speakers you want if you favor large orchestral or (I expect) LOUD rock.

As with most of my life, the natural limitations of budget, living space and domestic tranquility led me to this selection. I'm not disappointed.

One personal question. Why is it so many of the reviewers around here feel that the best means of stating an opinion about a product is to attack the personal intelligence and judgment of the persons holding contrary views? What possible value does it add to the discussion? Ah, maybe I'm just too idealistic.

Not a very good speaker at all! They don't sound very natural at all, especially piano and guitar types of music. The ML-Aerius are probabry a pretty good speaker for home theater, but they are definitely not a very good speaker for classical music. But I do have to admit they blast quite well, and look very nice!

Hmmm.. reading some of the reviews here only leads me to believe that Gayle Sanders has succeeded in creating a speaker that is true to the source, or in this case.. what people have hooked up to it ! I was in an awkward position, my Mirage M3si's were overloading my living room, and my next door neighbour wasn't as crazy about them as I was ! (ahh Condo living !)
My dealer was trying to swing me into the SL-3's, knowing that I am a demanding listener, and he felt I wouldn't be "happy" with the baby Logan's.
Well, I thought that if I was losing my Mirage's .. I might as well save a bit of floor space as well, and opted for the Aerius's.
I haven't been dissapointed, only occasionally do they let me down in the bottom end, and that is something that I KNOW and ACCEPT. What I gained was a pedigree midrange and highs. Something that the Mirage's just couldn't do.
The rest of the system is Sonic Frontiers transport, all Aragon electronics (Aurum and Palladium's, D2Amk2,and tuner), cables are all Transparent.
I use a PSB sub on the bottom for home theater stuff, but not on regular music.
In my 12X21 room, they sing.. it took alot of TIME for them to break in, but when it happened.. I knew some magic had happened.
I get the feeling that most people assume that because they are at the bottom of ML's line, that they don't need exceptional electronics. Take the time to match the BEST components you can afford with them and you will be rewarded, I guess that could be said for ALL the Logan's.
Do I wish I had bought the SL-3's ?? being a bit of pig.. I think yeah.. but the extra money I saved is being put towards a Krell...and that will REALLY make them get up and dance !

I have only recently entered into the world of audio. I started with a pair of Paradigm M7 and a Rotel amp. Needless to say, the Aerius is the best investment I have made. I have yet to hear a speaker (<$10k) that can rival its imaging and soundstage, depth, etc. Although the bass may be thin, I felt that it was musically perfect (just add a powered sub if needed). I look forward to buying a Krell amp which should really bring them to life. Overall, I will be hard pressed to replace them as main speakers.

I USED TO SELL AUDIO EQUIPMENT FOR A CHAIN THAT SOLD "UPPER MID-FI TO ENTRY LEVEL HIGH END". WE HAD A GOLDEN RULE FOR SYSTEM DEMO....NO MATTER HOW MUCH A CUSTOMER WANTS TO HEAR NINE INCH NAILS, NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET THEM...WHY? BEACAUSE NIN ABSOLUTELY SHREDS ALL BUT THE BEST SPEAKERS( AND EVEN THEN THE MANAGERS DIDN'T LIKE HEARING TO MUCH DISTORTION FROM THE B&W 805'S. TO ALL OF YOU WHO SAY THAT THE AERIUS ISN'T SUITABLE FOR LOUD MUSIC PLEASE CONDUCT THIS EXPERIMENT.....FIND A SET OF WELL BROKEN IN AERIUS. MAKE SURE THEY ARE CONNECTED TO A HIGH CURRENT AMPLIFIER, GET A GOOD POWERED SUB....AND SHOW ME ANOTHER SPEAKER THAT CAN TAKE THE ABUSE OF NINE INCH NILS AND SOUND BOTH EFFORTLESS, AND DARE I SAY IT ..ALMOST NATURAL. MY OLD B&W'S WERE A BIT BRIGHTER, HAD A LITTLE MORE MID-BASS, AND THEY DID IMAGE BETTER(THERE IMAGIMG WAS AWESOME!) THE LOGANS ARE BETTER ALL AROUND( GIVEN MY CHOICE OF MUSIC-BRIAN SETZER, ECHO AND THE BUNNEYMEN, THE SMITHS, CLANNAD,THE CLASH, JOHN COLTRANE...NOTICE THAT MANY GENRES HAVE BEEN MENTIONED? THIS IS WHY I FEEL THE LOGANS ARE A GREAT ALL AROUND SPEAKER!I OBVIOUSLY OWN A PAIR OF MARTINLOGANS. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT PROSPECTIVE BUYERS ARE NOT PUT OFF BY MANY OF THE STATEMENTS ON THIS PAGE SUCH AS "WORKS WELL WITH THE BEST EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE". WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT YOU WILL FIND MANY HIGH QUALITY/HIGH COST SYSTEMS FEARTURING THE AERIUS, THEY WILL SOUND GOOD, AS LONG AS CAREFUL ATTENION IS GIVEN TO EQUIPMENT SELECTION (PLEASE NOTE THAT I DIDN'T SAY YOU HAVE TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY)
ROOM PLACEMENT IS CRITICAL
YOU NEED AN AMP WITH GUTS, WHILE A KRELL OR AUDIO RESEARCH MAY BE IDEAL, I GET SATISFACTORY RESULTS WITH AN OLD ADCOM 555II. I HAVE EVEN HEARD THEN POWERED BY A NAD INTEGRATED AMP.
YOU WANT A CLEAN PRE AMP...THIS IS CURRENTLY MY LIMITING
I ALSO USE A POWERED SUB THAT HAS A TOTALY ADJUSTABLE CROSSOVER. I SET THE GAIN LOW, AND THE XOVER POINT ABOT 38HTZ. THIS IS JUST ENOUGH TO REINFORCE TH LOW BASS.
MY SYSTEM? NOTHING FANCY
ANALOG FRONT END: ARISTON ICONII TURNTABLE W/SUMIKO BLUEPT
DIGITAL CAL AUDIO DELTA DRIVE,PS AUDIO SUPERLINK D/A (OLD 18BIT KIND)
PREAMP ADCOM 555II/AMP ADCOM 555II
MARTIN LOGAN AERIUS
M&K V100 SUB
CABLE ESOTERIC AUDIO AND MONSTER