Price Paid:  $3600.00 from Premiere Audio Video

Summary:
I bought these babies in 1996 and have not looked back. They were the first affordable speaker system I heard that could deliver the entire high end package: dymanics imaging, lifelike presence, high frequeny nuances, and realistic bass. A true bargain then and even now. They have been flawlessly reliable in the six years I have owned them, and I feel no compelling need to upgrade then anytime soon. Are there speakers out there that will deliver more of the high end? Probably, but they will probably cost more and may favor one part of the frequency spectrum over the other. I have yet to hear anything really blow these speakers away, and in most real world environments ( I'm talking normal sized living/ listening rooms here), they will perform just about as well as anything. System: VPI HW 19 Mk4 Cardas Heart Ruby Phone Cart Fidelity Research FR=64s Tonearm XLO 3.1 Sig Phono Cable Vibraplane Phone Isolation Plat Audio Research CD-1 Sony DVD-9000-ES SACD/DVD Play Audible Illusions Modulus 3a Pre-amp w Gold MC Phono board Nordost SPM interconnects 2 Bel 1001's Mk3 200 wpc amps Nordost SPM speaker cables

Strengths:
Dynamic range, full range, well balanced. No glaring colorations, excellent imaging. A true all rounder at a reasonable price.

Weaknesses:
No glaring weaknesses. Does need a 200 wpc amp, and like any true high end speaker will reveal the shortcomings of upstream components, and bad recordings.

Similar Products Used:
Martin Logan Sequels Rogers LS3/5A's

Price Paid:  $6270.00

Summary:
I love these speakers so much I am buying another pair to join the 10T''s CC5 and SR3''s I already own. I auditioned many speakers in the several months I spent auditioning speakers before deciding on the Aerials. To my ears the Aerials sounded the most natural, authentic and pleasing. Being a drummer it is important to me that instruments (drums in particular) sound accurate. I found many other high-end speakers to sound bright, harsh and clinical to me. The 10T''s sounded warm and made we want to continue listening. I never feel fatiqued after listening to my 10T''s like I did after a short time with some other speakers. Appearence: I have the Rose Walnut and I find them to look absolutly beautiful. Bottom Line for me is I couldn''t be happier with my 10T''s.

Strengths:
Natural Sweet Highs, clear natural mids, warm natural articulate lows, Beautiful Appearence

Weaknesses:
Can sound boomy if they are positioned to close (less than 2 or 3 feet) to a wall, need a lot of power to really sing.

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned B @ W, Sonus Farber, Martin Logan, Revel, Paradigm, Wilson, and many others I can''t recall at the moment. Own Klipsch Chorus and Boston Acoustic VR 965''s

Price Paid:  $2700.00 from From original owner

Summary:
These speakers were, to me, love at first note. Several million notes later, it''s still love. I first heard them...this exact pair...in the local high end shop (now closed, dangit!) and knew that I''d have a pair someday. About a year later I met the guy who bought that pair...and later he offered them to me. At the price he asked, I could just manage it...so I sold everything I could bear to part with and never regretted it. 2700 bucks with stands? Of course I bought them! (Current retail, 7700 dollars with stands, in black ash like mine) I power these Aerials with a pair of Krell KMA-160 monoblocks, which deliver up to 240 watts RMS into 8 ohm speakers, and double into four ohms and double again into two. These amps ARE big enough and authoritative enough to take 10T''s to LOUD levels. I have never pushed these very strong amps to the point of audible distortion with these speakers, but I''ve had them loud enough that it wasn''t fun to listen to any length of time, and that''s with much less available power than10T''s are capable of handling. (MIchael Kelly, their designer, says they''ll handle a Krell FPB-600, which can deliver about 950 watts per channel into 8 ohm speakers.

Strengths:
These speakers are exceptionally smooth and well balanced and no part of their performance stands out against any other, except that the bass performance does stand out only because people aren''t used to hearing bass that''s so tight and goes so deep with such power...not even with subwoofers. I have a sub that hits harder, with a kilowatt of power driving it, but the sub can''t go as deep or stay as pure as the 10T''s do all by themselves. If anyone is getting boomy bass out of these, the last thing they should blame is the speakers themselves. It''s something else that''s booming. The recording. The source electronics. The preamp, the power amp, the placement in the room. Not the speakers. No way. These are the speakers that completely satisfied my audiophile''s urge to keep upgrading. I haven''t had any slightest desire to get better speakers in the (roughly) five years I''ve had them and don''t expect that I''ll ever want to. I auditioned a pair of JMLab Utopias, driven by Rowland electronics with a Theta DaViD source, and those speakers cost four times what the 10T''s do but didn''t deliver half the performance. Utopias sound nasal and t

Weaknesses:
Weaknesses? Gee, I can''t really think of any. They''re incredible speakers that just sound like music...all the music. They''re not so clinical and sterile that you can''t enjoy your rock on them, but they''re naturally detailed and revealing in a way that lets you get into the center of the music you''re listening to. They''re fairly large, fairly heavy, and need a fairly beefy power amp to get the best out of them, but if you can provide 200 watts per channel to them, you''ve got enough.

Similar Products Used:
I''ve listened to lots of different speakers. I didn''t want to own them. 10T''s are the only ''high end'' speakers I''ve ever wanted to take home that I was able to afford, and that was from the

Price Paid:  $3500.00 from Now defunct audio sa

Summary:
When I first heard these speakers, I said these were the first "great" speakers I''ve ever heard that were priced at an affordable level. Obviously, since then many other speakers have come down the pike that can offer a blend of strengths similar to the Aedrial''s. But I don''t think I ''ll ever trade mine in. Why? Even to this day I''ve heard few if any speakers that clearly best the sound these babies produce. Sure the Avalon Eidelons are better, but they would require me to pony up $25k or more to get a marginally better sound. The big dunlavy''s (The Temptations), or any of the other super speakers are( truth to be told) simply too big for the average audiophile''s living room. The standing waves these kind of systems generate will make them a poor match for all but the most well heeled audiophile who can afford the room they require to sound their best. The Aerial''s are simply one of the best real world speakers an audiophile can buy. Related Equipment: VPI HW-19 Mk 4 turntable Fidelity Research FR-64s tonearm Cardas Heart Ruby Phone Cartridge Manual Vibraplane XLO 3.1 Signature Phone Cable Audible Illusions Modulus 3a Pre-amp (2) Bel 1001 Mark 3 Amplifiers Nordost SPM Interconnects throughout Audio Reasarch CD-1 CD player Sony DV-9000-S SACD/Progesssive scan DVD player.

Strengths:
Tonal balance, panoramic imaging, dynamic range, deep bass.

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
Martin Logan Sequels, Rogers LS3/5a''s

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Don''t own

Summary:
I auditioned these speakers at StereoDesign in San Diego while on vacation. These are perhaps the best speakers that I have heard yet. The sound and imaging are exquisite. If I had that type of money I would SERIOUSLY consider buying a pair. They are definitely worth auditioning if you like clear mid and highs and tight bass. I couldn''t find anything not to like sonically. They have the deepest bass I have ever heard -- even deeper than my subwoofer. And it wasn''t the BOOM/BOOM/whappah, bam type of bass. It was just clear, tight extension that revealed that there really was music in my recordings that low. Also, I kept saying to my sister who went along, "I''ve NEVER heard that in the recording before and I have a really good system."

Strengths:
Sound & bass extension

Weaknesses:
Appearance of tweeter/mid cabinet.

Similar Products Used:
Martin Logan, Vandersteen