Aerius i - newbie query

[Doogle]

Hi good folks of this great forum. I am Barry from Cape Town, South Africa, and have just acquired a set of Aerius i at a good price, but with an unknown history! Elec are from March 1999, and panels from Jan 2002.
I am running them via a Prima Luna Prologue 3 preamp into two Antique Sound Labs Monsoon II valve monoblocks.
Been listening for a couple of days now, have read nearly every thread on this forum, and tried to do a lot of research into ML's and their idiocyncrisies.
Gave them a good vacuum and played around with placement, but they still sound rather boomy and lifeless, with very restrained mids and highs and diffuse soundstage. The stators seem quite clean, with no major spotting.
Here's the thing - had some non-audio friends round last night, who have no idea of stats and were fascinated with the dipolar effect of sound coming out of the rear of the panels. One commented that the sound coming out of the rear was nicer than from the front. Thought he was kidding, and in fun, turned them round the wrong way with the fronts facing the wall.
Hell, they sounded MUCH better, with much cleaner mids, and tops , with more punch and less boomy bass!!!!! And more focussed image.
Now, would this indicate that they are dirtier than I thought and need a shower, or is there some problem with the way the panels are wired in that they "pull" instead of "push" when a signal is applied????
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! BTW, there dont seem to be any parts of the panels that are not producing sound - its spread evenly.
Thanks and once again, thks for the forum.
Rgds, Barry

 

[MotorToad]

They're not going to be dirty on one side and not the other, and even if they were it would affect the output the same. What you're hearing is changes in room interaction.

At my last house my Sequels sounded like a bass machine, I was shopping Aeriuses... Aerieii.... smaller speakers because I didn't think I'd ever tame the bass. In this house, going from hardwood to cheap cheap carpet, I'm dying for some more thump!

 

[TomDac]

I agree with MotorToad that what you're hearing is related to room dynamics.

Please tell us the following:

1. what are the dimensions of the room?
2. how far are the speakers from the back wall?
3. how far are the speakers from the side walls?
4. how far apart are the speakers from each other?

The sound waves that come out of the back of your speakers ("rear wave") will bounce off the wall behind the speaker and send sound waves into the listening area. This is the single most important thing to know when getting familiar with dipolar speakers such as MartinLogans and it's the easiest way to ruin the magic of MLs.

Moving the speakers away from the walls and putting something behind the speakers such as a tapestry or plants will help disperse the rear sound waves.

Post the answers to the questions above and we'll help you pinpoint your problem.

Regards,



Tom.

 

[Doogle]

Hi folks and thanks for the replies.

I have a very awkward room - there are no front walls, the speakers have to stand in front of a wall unit. The room measures 3,9 metres (13 ') x 4,8 m (16'). On the left are windows, covered by a light voil curtaining, and on the right is the entrance hallway and open plan kitchen. The rear wall is unplastered facebrick. The floor is tiled, but mostly covered by a carpet, and there is a sofa and two chirs with a coffee table in between.

Please ask for any more info.....

Regards, Barry

 

[TomDac]

YIKES.

If that were my room, I'd be looking for some new speakers.

 

[Doogle]

Tom, I bought them for a silly price basically to play with, experiment with, refurbish and maybe sell again, so I don't have a problem. It's all in the fun of audio! Maybe it would be better to be looking for a new room!!!!!! LOL

 

[TomDac]

Definitely if you have another room to "play" in, I would start there.

I love that room, btw - very clean... just not good for your aerius'.

 

[miles ahead]

If there's no way you can move your seating area closer to the rear walls,you'd probably be better off with stand-mounted monitors. Any speaker-ML or otherwise-that has to be listened to while pressed against chairs as those in the picture are- will be seriously compromised. Maybe a setup that had monitors positioned ON a wall might be an acceptable solution...

 

[Doogle]

Actually, its not as bad as it looks........ the angle of the pic may be a little misleading. I am actually VERY happy with my Jamo's and when I listen seriously, I bring them in amd forward - they have a great soundstage and all the PRAT I like. Just thought I'd like to experience the ML sound - pity I can't really do them justice.....

 

[Doogle]

Well folks, thought I'd bring you up to date on the Aerius i's. This past weekend I dismantled the speakers, resprayed the cabinets, stripped the black rails and restained them a cherry colour, showered the stators and let them dry for 36 hours, fitted some feet to the cabinets, and reconnected............
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!! they sound awesome now.... the panels have come alive! Nicely balanced sound, no bass heaviness and lots of clean transparent attack! I am over the moon..... now I can hear what all the ML addicts rave about.
Rgds, Doogle