Exchanged my beloved Aerius for Von Schweikert VR-1s (a transitional speaker to carry me until I saved enough to buy something better) due to smaller digs. Finally, when I was able to afford something better, exchanged them for the Dynaudios, which surprised me because in the past I had always found Dynaudios to be bright and tiring. The Contour S1.4s are not. They are amazingly balanced, offer fantastic tuneful bass and inner detail.
This is a great system: transparent, accurate, musical, velvety smooth, yet can slam with the best of them when called upon. It will keep me satisfied for a looong time
Sitting on dedicated Dynaudio stands. A fantastic speaker: nothing is etched, buttery smooth and flat, incredible inner detail, usable bass to below 40Hz in my room.
Tripp-Lite Isobar
Everything is plugged into this surge protector and noise suppression unit. I moved into a building with lousy, noisy power. Not only does it offer peace of mind, but the unit lowered the noise floor and removed a glare which was making listening tiring and unpleasant. Most worthwhile $60 I have spent on my system.
i'd definitely suggest some tubes to give add the meat you want to your aerius. i've been auditioning speakers, and so far, haven't heard anything yet to knock them out... (cain cain abby's, merlin vsm's, both excellent, but have that "box" sound... i'm spoiled by electrostats!)
I can tell you that the Harbeths meet the criteria you have named for your next pair of speakers. See my virtual system to see how I'm using mine. I call them a "windowless window" onto the music. It's as if you're seeing the music through a huge picture window, except guess what -- there's no glass in the window! The music is *right there*. Transparent and neutral, with very good imaging. I'll keep mine a long time. Haven't compared them with your other choices, though, so can't make any comparisons.
Nice system! I bet it sounds wonderful. A friend of mine owned a pair of first generation Aerius and powered them with a Cary SLA-70 Signature. They were nothing short of stunning with a 3-D Soundstage I have heard no where else. Enjoy your late night listening! I sure do...
Chris, sorry it took me so long to answer. I just haven't checked my threads in a while.
There's very little I don't like about the Aerius. What I definitely dislike are the size (visually overwhelming at about 5 ft. tall) and the space requirements (being dipolar they need a lot of room behind them). Sonically, they lack deep bass and a certain warmth, smoothness and body in the lower mids which I associate with live music. It's difficult to explain, but the closest metaphor I can come up with is that sometimes I feel like I'm listening to the skeleton of the music and not the flesh (thus the desire for "meatier" speakers in my original comments). Nevertheless, this is a very small criticism in the context of what are, in so many respects, excellent speakers.
I've auditioned the Concentra with both the Proac D15's and the 2.5's, and agree with you. They are an excellent match, and make serious music. The D15 also comes pretty close to the 2.5 in nearly all aspects for a lot less cash, but I really loved the 2.5's.
Can't wait till the economy comes back again so I can do some shopping.
I'm using the ProAc Response D15 (previously Response 1.5) together with JR Concentra II with Cardas speaker/interconnect cables give a listen IMO a very musical setup. Saw a poster describing the combo as a match made in heaven.....I wouldn't go to that extent but the JR/Proac match does produce some stunning results.
