System #56 (Aerius i)

[Marcello]

Hi Lugano

Sorry for my delay replying your question. I didn't have access to a computer the last few days.

Yes, I have to say there is an improvement using the ceraballs. It is just for my ears maybe and I can't totally exclude a "placebo"-effect. The step forward was not huge but still hearable. I feel just a little step more "in" the music, there is just a little bit "more" music I get from the speakers. It is worth the price of CHF 40 each, I think.

Our house is build very massive and so I thought about connecting the speakers to the floor since a while. I talked about spikes with the guy in the store and they gave me a try with the ceraballs. I kept them without comparing them to spikes.

The weight of the Aerius speakers are close to the limit for the ceraballs. The producer don't recommend the ceraballs for speakers, they recommend the bigger, stronger and more expensive cerapuc or carabase. But they were too much for my feeling in comparison with the speakers price and all the tree types work at the same basically. I think the caraballs make a good job under the Aerius i.

Greetings from Schaffhausen to the "bello Ticino".
Marcel

 

[Marcello]

latest pictures

Hi all,

added more and current pictures to my member system.

Happy new year....Marcello

 

[Nielsen]

WOW, really nice ! Love your equipment rack, is it a specific brand ?

 

[Marcello]

hi nielsen

Thank you for the kind words.

The rack is tailor made. Last summer, after we have ordered a new table for our dining room from a joiner, we decided to go with the same type of wood for the rack. This because in our house the ground floor with kitchen, living and dining area is all open. Table and rack are made of walnut tree. For the design of the rack I first made a sketch and the joiner optimized the proportions and so. We are very happy with the result, sad thing is I can not name a brand.

Marcello

PS: My wife an I visited your beautiful country three years ago, we did a very nice trip on the Hurtigruten MS Vesteraalen from Kirkenes to Bergen

 

[Marcello]

Hello everybody......

It took a very long time since my last reading or posting in this great forum! Let's say it in the words of the eagles "I never broke up with this hobby, i just took a forteen years vacation". It was all a question of priorities (family, job....) and alternatives (mechanical watches.........).

During the last two years then, the time spending with serious listening increases again. And some ideas concerning adds and upgrades were knocking on the door immediately .......

Unfortunately I can't remember how to change the System Showcase in this forum, so i just use the regular post-function to restart: It's no longer an Aerius i-System, it is an Ethos-System now. What else to say?

The central unit is a LINN Akurate DSM (Pre, Phono-Pre, DAC and Streamer) i bought as demo. I have added two monoblocks ROWEN Absolut Mono. So that is the actual amplification.

As source i mostly stream the music from Qobuz. For the music i like to own, i bought a REGA P8 turntable with the REGA Apheta 3 Cartridge. And still (but rarely used) the REGA Planet 2000 CDP is installed, connected optical to the LINN DAC.

And then, as i wrote it in the beginning, the ML Ethos I picked up used, but from the original and licensed dealer with an extra 6-month-warranty. Likewise in charge is the VELODYNE sub.

Very, very happy with all this!

Have a good time and stay healthy, greetings from Switzerland, Marcello

 

[Steelhead]

Beautiful shots and a nice clean setup.

Sweet setup Marcello

 

[Marcello]

a few more actual pics….

p

 

[Marcello]

….and forgot the Sendy Audio Aviva headphones…..

 

[mentorron]

Have you tried moving the Ethos to nearer the edge of the carpeting ? This might give you more soundstage depth and less of a bass near-field reflection off the hard tile floor. I like the M-Ls at least a meter from the rear wall, especially when it just a flat reflecting surface. I have wooden bookshelves behind my Aerius. They are about a meter from the shelves (measured from the mid-point of the stators): wish I could move them out a bit more but that's the footpath to the kitchen ;-)

P.S. Love the Alps, especially at 3020 meters !!! Sad that I'll never get there again (this was taken August 4, 2013) !!!

 

[Marcello]

thx metorron

Nice picture from the top of the Titlis! So you are at least one step in front of me, I saw a lot of our swiss mountains, but never stood on the Titlis until now......

Because the listening area is our living room too, everything is a question of negotiations within the familiy . So moved the Ethos' a few inches more away from the wall already, we will see were it ends......

Marcello

 

[Marcello]

 

[mentorron]

I'm estimating your panels are about 0.5 meters from your wall (1.5 floor tiles). Closer to a full meter would be better, but if you can't, you can't. Here are the recommendations from my M-L Aerius user manual. I have played with positioning ever since I had them, a cm farther here, a cm there; angled in more/out more. I think I have it the best that I can in this room now. I get good depth and width. I use Paul Simon's Graceland album using the tracks with Ladysmith Black Mambazo choir singing for that, mostly. The sound stretches far beyond and behind the speakers left to right.

 

[Marcello]

.....standing at 0.75 m yet (middle of the panel)..... not the best - not the worst....

 

[Marcello]

One of my favorites to check out sound quality, played in vinyl:

 

[mentorron]

.....standing at 0.75 m yet (middle of the panel)..... not the best - not the worst....

OK, 0.75 meters is more than the minimum 2 feet (0.60 meters), so you are within the recommended distance to the wall behind the speakers. I spent about 2 years experimenting with toe-in, and that was the hardest to settle on. Too much or too little seemed to affect the flatness of the treble response, but just adjusting a bit, then sitting down again to listen made it hard to know what I had achieved. After listening to many recordings (all classical), I feel that "just" being able to see a tiny bit of the inside cabinet walls of the woofers is just right in my room. Enjoy your listening !!!

 

[Marcello]

Update… three ads over the last months:

Changed the rack to a closed model.

Did the Utopik PSU-upgrade for the LINN Akurate DSM.

Added a ROWEN PT 2000 Power Transformator.

Greetings from Switzerland, Marcello

 

[Marcello]

And here are a few pics.