Aeon i vs. Aerius i

[rhom]

Hi Everyone, I am a new member but have been an audiophile for a long time. I prefer to listen to both analogue and digital format music on two channel systems. My tastes range from pop hits to Diana Krall/Jane Monheit to small ensemble classical music. I especially like vocals, including classical choir music. In the midrange, I value high resolution, accuracy and speed. The ability to convey a credible 3-D soundstage is also important to me. Moderate volume levels prevail at my house. My listening room is 15' deep and 22' wide, no problem with positioning planar speakers 4' out from the wall.

I listened for an extended time to a pair of Aerius i speakers, though not at my house, and was very impressed. Much better treble dispersion than my former Quads (ESL-57s). However, several have mentioned that I should also listen to the Aeon i model. Unfortunately, these MLs are also discontinued and therefore hard to audition.

For those of you that have owned and/or have auditioned the Aerius i vs. the Aeon i models, could you please enlighten me as to what I may be missing? After reading my preferences above, any recommendations as to current ML models that I should audition?

Thanks!

Rick

 

[eknuds01]

Hi Everyone, I am a new member but have been an audiophile for a long time. I prefer to listen to both analogue and digital format music on two channel systems. My tastes range from pop hits to Diana Krall/Jane Monheit to small ensemble classical music. I especially like vocals, including classical choir music. In the midrange, I value high resolution, accuracy and speed. The ability to convey a credible 3-D soundstage is also important to me. Moderate volume levels prevail at my house. My listening room is 15' deep and 22' wide, no problem with positioning planar speakers 4' out from the wall.

I listened for an extended time to a pair of Aerius i speakers, though not at my house, and was very impressed. Much better treble dispersion than my former Quads (ESL-57s). However, several have mentioned that I should also listen to the Aeon i model. Unfortunately, these MLs are also discontinued and therefore hard to audition.

For those of you that have owned and/or have auditioned the Aerius i vs. the Aeon i models, could you please enlighten me as to what I may be missing? After reading my preferences above, any recommendations as to current ML models that I should audition?

Thanks!

Rick

I am an Aerius i owner and I have listened to the Aeon i at a high-end store recently. I was in the market for a new amp, and we auditioned all Rotel gear through the Aeon i. I believe Mit cables were used for the interconnects and speaker cables. I can't recall if special power cords were used, but the Aeon i was very good sounding. If I am not mistaken the Aeon i has nearly the same chassis as the Aerius i aside from a tweeter and bass port in the rear of the Aeon i.

I obviously can't give you a direct comparison, or review, of these speakers since the listening rooms and associated electronics were very different. I thought the bass was a little light when I was listening to the Aeon i speakers, but again, that might have more to do with the room than anything else. Once the amp was warmed up, the Aeon i sounded fantastic.

If you like the Aeon i, you would really love the Vantages and/or Vistas. Most would say the Vantages are even better because they have powered woofers. If the Vantages are a little pricey, give the Vistas a shot and see if you like them.

You have lots of options here and the opinions differ on the Vistas vs the Vantages. The latter is perhaps less taxing on your amp with the powered subs. I think you can't go wrong with either one, but if you can afford the Vantages and match them up with musical sub (grotto, depth, depth i, etc) that is stellar combination. But I wouldn't overlook the Vistas. Definetly give them a shot!

Erik

 

[Craig]

I've owned Aeons for a few years and recently had an opportunity to listen to a pair of Aerius i's in my own system for a couple of weeks. I found they were very close in sound to the Aeons. I've heard the Aeon i's but not in my own system. I would expect the Aeon i to be a slight improvement over the Aerius i's since it's a little more refined with the newer microperf panel and aluminum woofer. It also has a tweeter on the rear of the cabinet for better high frequency dispersion. However, most owners mention they turn the tweeter off for 2 channel listening. The tweeter is probably more useful in an HT application and I think that was the intent of the design.

 

[coolcobramatt]

I had thought of buying the Aerius i but found my Aeon i's and bought them instead. I am thinking of selling them to go with a sweet deal on some ReQuests. If your interested pm me (sorry for the shameless plug ). Check out my system for pics.

 

[jjay]

I owned the Aeon 1 speakers for 6 months before I upgraded to the Vantages. If price is not a concern, the Vantages are a large step up in bass quantity and quality. The surprising thing to me was the step up in quality in the panel. The Aeon 1 is a nice speaker if mated with a quality sub, I use the ML Grotto. The Vantage is a step further.
Jim

 

[rhom]

The surprising thing to me was the step up in quality in the panel.
Jim

Hi Jim,

Thank you and everyone very much for your comments. Would you please be willing to elaborate on exactly what improvements you are hearing in the Vantage panels vs. your former Aeons?

Thanks again!

Rick

 

[jjay]

When I originally switched from the Aeon 1 speakers to the Vantages I was disappointed with the bass I was getting out of the Aeon 1 speakers. Many Aeon 1 owners use a subwoofer with them. The Vantages have no problem with bass since they come with powered woofers. My surprise was that the Vantages panel was more revealing than the Aeon 1 panel. This panel on the Vantages and Summits I believe are a new design than previous Martin Logan speakers. This is just my own experience with the ML Vantages. There are more informed people on the forum that can describe the new panels on the Vantages and Summits better than myself.
Jim