Tube Amp suitable for Aerial Acoustic 10T's????

[Steve Wetterling]

I'm considering the purchase of a new amp to drive my Aerial Acoustic
10T's.

Does anyone have any experience with a tube amp and these speakers?
Since these are ported, relatively inefficient, and very laid-back
sounding speakers, I'm concerned that they may lack definition and
punch with a tube amp. At the same time, I've heard so much praise
about the sweetness and realism that tubes recreate that I'd love to
go tubes if possible.

Steve Wetterling
ste...@ix.netcom.com

[Jonathan Brainin]

In article <41aduh$o...@eyrie.graphics.cornell.edu>,

Based on limited listening experience at the Stereophile show in LA, both
the Baron amp from Mesa Engineering (aka Mesa Boogie) and the Balanced Audio
Technology amps sounded very good. My preference was for the BAT amps which
were used as monoblocks. However, there's one hell of a lot of tube amps
out there and others might work equally well. Michael Kelly, the designer
of the 10t's told me to use very powerful amps with these speakers. In
his words "they like a lot of power".

I've owned a pair of 10t's virtually since their introduction and found that
they have responded best to Gryphon M-100 ss monoblocks. But that's my
preference. You gotta try 'em at home and decide for yourself. Only you
can decide whether they mate better with tubes or trannies. To quote an--
in these parts--infamous audio reviewer, you gotta TRUST YOUR EARS.

Jonathan Brainin
jbra...@ritz.mordor.com

[Jonathan Brainin]

In article <41aduh$o...@eyrie.graphics.cornell.edu>,
Steve Wetterling <ste...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> I'm considering the purchase of a new amp to drive my Aerial Acoustic
> 10T's.

Based on limited listening experience at the Stereophile show in LA, both

[OLITA]

Jonathan, I currently run a pair of Aerial 10ts, I thought the only
type of amp for these speakers would be some good quality solid state
job. Recently, I auditioned a pair of 225t from VTL. After some
fiddling, the Aerials sounded sweeter than I ever thought they
could. However, as Mike Kelly says, they like alot of power! I then
went for VTL's 300 watt monoblocks with much larger Signature output
transformers. These amps are extremely dynamic in terms of bass and
midbasss presence. They are very nicely balanced all the way through
the spectrum including top end extension(flat out to 25k). As an added
bonus, they're switchable into triode operation. The larger output
transformer allows for more solid bass than the 225ts yet I still have
incredible "Midrange Magic". I'm sure there are solid state amps that
can outperform the MB300 in bass slam, but never in transparency! I
love mine!

OLITA

[AudioMaven]

Michael Kelly has shown them at CES with the ARC amps. They should
work well with tube amps as long as they have enough power because the
the speakers have a relatively stable 4 ohm impedance but are
relatively inefficient (I think on the order of 85 db). The smaller
speakers certainly sound good with the cj amps too.

[Aschaub]

I have heard the Aerial 10T with the big, Sonic Frontiers monoblocks (the
SFS-160, I think); the combination sounded very natural and much less
euphonic than other SFS/speaker combinations I have heard (including my
own ESL-63 USA Monitors) but not as resolute as the WATT/Puppy and
Spectral DMA-180 combination sitting beside it.

[Jeff Bernhard]

I recently heard the 10T's with the ARC VT130, and though I had not
enjoyed these speakers up to now, the result with the ARC was
remarkable. I have forgotten just how musically satisfying ARC tubes
can be. Stunning is perhaps the best way to describe this match. No,
astonishing. No, ... If you have the chance to hear this amplifier,
do so.

--
Jeffrey Bernhard Harris Computer Systems Corp.
Jeff.B...@mail.hcsc.com Voice: (305) 973-5496 Fax: (305) 977-5580
*** The opinions expressed herein are mine, not those of my employer! ***