winno
Member
A few years ago now, I was introduced to panel speakers through some Apogee Calipers at a hi-fi show in Auckland, NZ.
Since then and after listening to various panels (Magneplanar, Audiostatic, Martin Logan, etc) I have always wanted to own panels. Apogees came up a couple of times but I couldn't afford the amplification that was required to drive them properly. My short time with some Maggie SMGa speakers at home left me unimpressed, but I think that was more an amp and speaker synergy issue at the time.
I became involved in the industry for a few years and almost purchased some Martin Logan SL3s. Alas, the timing and circumstances weren't quite right and the SL3s were put out of my mind. I had more recently auditioned the new Electromotion speakers from ML. These are much more affordable at nearly half the cost of the Aerius. But a regular favourite of mine over the years has always been the Aerius. It was well suited to the smaller to average sized rooms I've had, was relatively easy to drive, and it just sounded right and balanced.
When a set of the Aerius i came up for sale recently, and for what was effectively straight swap for my lovely Aurum Cantus Leisure II stand mount speakers, I jumped at the chance.
Yes, I got them very cheap but there were issues I knew I'd have to deal with once I got them home;
* The serial number indicated that they were made in May 1998. That makes them 15 years old and I know that the coating on the Mylar doesn't work so well when older. Many owners report a softening of the sound on their panels with age, sometimes one panel is worse than the other.
* My panels had the original Mylar recoated but it wasn't done properly.The coating was applied over the diaphragm portions that were stuck to the spars on the stators. It's supposed to only be applied between the spars. Not a biggie anyway as the original factory coating is applied across the entire film anyway from what I know.
* One diaphragm was damaged at some stage and so the Mylar was cut out of the very top of one panel above the top spar.
* There were wrinkles at the top and bottom of the film.
* There was some MacGyver (dodgy) wiring done to run the signal to both sides of the rear stator panel. It looks like tonearm lead out wire - very thin indeed.
* The stator halves were not stuck back together securely and the front halves were mixed left to right so the spars on each speaker didn't align properly.
* The enclosures were knicked and scratched in places.
Despite these issues, the speakers actually sounded very good off the end of my Chinese integrated valve amp (better in my view to the newer Electromotion, if you can believe that - more weight down low and a smoother mid and treble, perhaps at the expense of the EM's outright detail) but I had some work to do in fixing them up. I love doing this though and I'm not afraid to tackle less technical jobs in the quest to repair and/or improve something. I'd previously changed all the audio op-amps in my Sony cdp-XA5ES CD player for Burson fully discreet modules and loved the result.
I have big plans for these speakers that include;
* New 6 micron German made Hostphan film diaphragms (ML factory film is 12 micron Dupont Mylar) and coating (thank you Rob @ ER Audio in Western Australia for a full refurb kit - copper foil tapes, diaphragm tensioner, glues, etc)
* Full capacitor replacement with Mundorf Polypropelene M-Caps and M-Cap Supreme bypass caps (thanks to Soundlabs Group in Sydney)
* A full rewire with Kimber 4TC internally to replace the cheapie Monster Cable already in there. I'll also be replacing the factory Kimber PBJ interconnect style lead to the stators with heavier Kimber 4TC.
* Internal woofer enclosure treatments with Dynamat and sTp panel deadening.
* Stator support strengthening and rear diffraction treatment
* A respray in hi-fill textured paint in black for the cabinets and maybe something special for the wood trims that run down the front edges of the speakers.
I've been taking pictures of things and will post these up as I get the chance.
More updates of progress soon.
Since then and after listening to various panels (Magneplanar, Audiostatic, Martin Logan, etc) I have always wanted to own panels. Apogees came up a couple of times but I couldn't afford the amplification that was required to drive them properly. My short time with some Maggie SMGa speakers at home left me unimpressed, but I think that was more an amp and speaker synergy issue at the time.
I became involved in the industry for a few years and almost purchased some Martin Logan SL3s. Alas, the timing and circumstances weren't quite right and the SL3s were put out of my mind. I had more recently auditioned the new Electromotion speakers from ML. These are much more affordable at nearly half the cost of the Aerius. But a regular favourite of mine over the years has always been the Aerius. It was well suited to the smaller to average sized rooms I've had, was relatively easy to drive, and it just sounded right and balanced.
When a set of the Aerius i came up for sale recently, and for what was effectively straight swap for my lovely Aurum Cantus Leisure II stand mount speakers, I jumped at the chance.
Yes, I got them very cheap but there were issues I knew I'd have to deal with once I got them home;
* The serial number indicated that they were made in May 1998. That makes them 15 years old and I know that the coating on the Mylar doesn't work so well when older. Many owners report a softening of the sound on their panels with age, sometimes one panel is worse than the other.
* My panels had the original Mylar recoated but it wasn't done properly.The coating was applied over the diaphragm portions that were stuck to the spars on the stators. It's supposed to only be applied between the spars. Not a biggie anyway as the original factory coating is applied across the entire film anyway from what I know.
* One diaphragm was damaged at some stage and so the Mylar was cut out of the very top of one panel above the top spar.
* There were wrinkles at the top and bottom of the film.

* There was some MacGyver (dodgy) wiring done to run the signal to both sides of the rear stator panel. It looks like tonearm lead out wire - very thin indeed.


* The stator halves were not stuck back together securely and the front halves were mixed left to right so the spars on each speaker didn't align properly.
* The enclosures were knicked and scratched in places.
Despite these issues, the speakers actually sounded very good off the end of my Chinese integrated valve amp (better in my view to the newer Electromotion, if you can believe that - more weight down low and a smoother mid and treble, perhaps at the expense of the EM's outright detail) but I had some work to do in fixing them up. I love doing this though and I'm not afraid to tackle less technical jobs in the quest to repair and/or improve something. I'd previously changed all the audio op-amps in my Sony cdp-XA5ES CD player for Burson fully discreet modules and loved the result.
I have big plans for these speakers that include;
* New 6 micron German made Hostphan film diaphragms (ML factory film is 12 micron Dupont Mylar) and coating (thank you Rob @ ER Audio in Western Australia for a full refurb kit - copper foil tapes, diaphragm tensioner, glues, etc)

* Full capacitor replacement with Mundorf Polypropelene M-Caps and M-Cap Supreme bypass caps (thanks to Soundlabs Group in Sydney)

* A full rewire with Kimber 4TC internally to replace the cheapie Monster Cable already in there. I'll also be replacing the factory Kimber PBJ interconnect style lead to the stators with heavier Kimber 4TC.
* Internal woofer enclosure treatments with Dynamat and sTp panel deadening.
* Stator support strengthening and rear diffraction treatment
* A respray in hi-fill textured paint in black for the cabinets and maybe something special for the wood trims that run down the front edges of the speakers.
I've been taking pictures of things and will post these up as I get the chance.
More updates of progress soon.