what replaced your Aerial 7B speakers?

IF you can get a deal on a used pair of Joseph Audio Pulsars, they do bass and everything else too. But if you like the way the Aerials are voiced, I wouldn't rule out a subwoofer- there are a million of them out there. Another choice would be Von Schweikert speakers or Egglestons
which get piano right. Stay away from super-resolving speakers IMO.
They reveal the wrong cable or the wrong- well everything. Accurate yes.
Pleasant to listen to? Exciting for 30 minutes, then annoying. Again, my opinion. But Aerials are supposed to be pretty great speakers....

Vandersteen 3A Sigs.

I would like to try the treos. you just can't find them used.

Are you using the Sound Anchor bases and have you tried to move your 7B’s back a little to the  wall? I use a Pass X250 with Wywires cables with Alex’s biwire jumpers with the + lead of the speaker cable on the bottom and the - lead on the top then jumpers. I find the bottom end  on my 7B’s to be outstanding. The configuration of the jumpers make a noticeable improvement  along with the Sound Anchor bases really make a difference. How far off the back wall are your 7B’s?

So, if you have $4,500 to spend on your system, are your 7B’s really the weakest link? I struggle with the idea of changing out my 7B’s except to maybe the 7C’s but I’ve never heard a pair, but my bet is they’re great.

I also find the bass to be excellent in my 7Bs. It is not boomy, it is very tight and precise.

I would also strongly agree with what adg101 said about wall position. I have found, in two different rooms with these speakers, that they need to go a little closer to the wall than conventional room set-up would suggest.

As a new audiophile it took a while to figure this out since everyone says to get them way away from the walls. I thought they were a little bass deficient until I got it right. I’ve spent a lot of time positioning them which is no easy task since mine have the heavy OEM bases and spikes. The sweet spot for mine is about 1.5 feet from the side walls and about 2 feet from the back wall. I know that sounds like sacrilege but I wouldn’t ditch yours until you try.

Mine are also bi-wired and driven by 250w (Proceed HPA2).

Edit: When I was struggling with this some folks suggested a subwoofer. I brought in a large B&W but did not like it. Tried it again once I found the speaker's sweet spot and liked it even less.

I thought I had found my sweet spot. I suppose I could try moving them again. Right now they are positioned as follows: 7' apart which makes them 26" away from side walls. they are 30" from back of speaker to wall. I remember getting them closer to the wall and they seemed to lose some openness. To get the speakers off the floor I use outriggers that I bought from soundocity. could you tell me what speaker wires you are/were using?

I bought a pair of Aerial 7bs a few years ago and moved them out the door in two days. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Oz

I am using Transparent Super Bi-Wire. I'm guessing they are 10-15 years old.

@ozzy62 Everyone has their own measure of SQ and what they like in a speaker. And even though they are old the 7Bs were extremely well reviewed in their day and compare well with much higher end speakers.

And the OP's original question is what did people replace their 7Bs with...so you are in a unique position to answer that question. ;-)

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/952/index.html

Not sure what ozzy62 was using for an amp but the 7Bs really need 200 watts min. and I found 250 is still better.

I use a single run of Wywires Silver then biwire at the speakers with same jumpers. Can’t speak for your outriggers but I did look into those but went with the ones AA recommends which are the heavy Sound Anchor bases. 

adg101, were the Sound Anchor bases you have sold by AA or are they aftermarket?

The ones that came with mine were sold by AA with the speakers. They weigh 30 pounds each. The spikes were missing on mine so I made my own.

I know which ones you speak of. I had them with my aerial 8s. these are not like those.

The bases AA sold as an option were made by Sound Anchor. When I called AA they no longer stocked them and they got me in contact with Sound Anchor which they made a set for me at the original price. Same ones as on this link.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/full-range-w-sound-anchor-stands-2017-10-05-speakers

If you’re not using spikes it does make a difference for the better.

Yeah, if you're happy with everything and just want an improvement in bass, if I were you I'd get a good sub and some kind of integration device.  Something like an SVS SB2000 sub and DSpeaker anti-mode 2.0 will get you full-range, quality bass nicely integrated with your room and speakers for not too much $$$. 

To get better bass without sacrificing other areas you may need to spend a little more.  The first thing that popped into mind was Joseph Audio Perspectives...
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9c5ga-joseph-audio-perspective-monitors?refsource=hifishark

Or maybe Vandy Quattros, but they'll be above your price range too.  Best of luck. 

Or better yet, the sub to match with a pair of 7B’s... the AA SW12 maybe.

Or better yet, the sub to match with a pair of 7B’s... the AA SW12 maybe. With your size of room you may not get the bottom end you’re looking for regardless of what speaker you try. You’re room is 16’ deep so you’re going to probably be around 35hz, so not sure you’re going to get in the low to mid 20’s. You’re 7B’s can hit 35hz. I don’t think it’s the speakers but speaker placement, working on room treatment and your room size to begin with. 

My original question asked what speaker replaced your Aerial 7B speakers. I'm looking to replace mine and was simply looking for suggestions I might not be aware of. All of a sudden it went to speaker stands. I'm not going to buy speaker stands when my goal is to buy other speakers. A sub is not the way I really want to proceed. thanks for all the input.

My demo of the 7b was fast, tight  and accurate, but neutral in the bass, actually bass never brought attention to itself. I'm currently enjoying Usher Dancers. Warmer than the Aeriels but still very accurate speakers. I see the Aeriel 9 coming up around $4500 so why not grab the next pair of those which are certain to deliver much more weight. I agree with you when it comes to stereo I don't think subs can be integrated into a system successfully either. Another option might be room correction offered by multiple companies now could work.

@dpm2340  : 

" My original question asked what speaker replaced your Aerial 7B speakers."

Right. But that narrows your potential responses to just about two and one of them didn't say what he replaced his with, just that he didn't like them.

And for some of us....we haven't replaced our 7Bs with anything. 

And we're getting good bass.

If that is your goal then we are just letting you know how and why. Sorry if that was no help. I think folks were just trying to be helpful.

thanks everybody. 

For what your budget is I don’t think you’re going to find anything new or used that’s going to crush your 7B’s; now if you’re just wanting a different sound altogether that’s a different thing. Your post started out looking for a speaker with a little more bottom end and the fact is your current speakers meet or exceed what your room can produce based on the dimensions you gave - it’s purely physics. There’s a lot of factors that could be why your room can’t support the low end it’s capable of such as are you on a concrete slab or a suspended wood floor system, how are your walls constructed which there’s many variables there and are you on an exterior wall with a large window with no window treatment such as heavy fabric curtains? Do you have any sort of room treatment and is your listening seat up against the wall? Are your speakers on the long or short wall, and if on the long or wider wall have you tried them on the narrow wall? Just hate to see you sale what you have and spend the money and not get what you’re looking for. I think you’re going to discover your room has a lot more to do with this than your speakers.

If you like your 7B’s I can recommend ProAc as a line to look at. I’ve listened to many speakers over the years as I’m fortunate to live by two great stores that cover or have covered about everything out there and I’ve heard many. Today my favorite is the B&W 800D3 which although up there is a speaker that delivers unlike many I have heard at two or three times their price.

I’ll close by saying I was floored by how much my 7B’s improved when I added dedicated circuits to my system which made it obvious my amp wasn’t delivering what it was capable of to my speakers; it wasn’t my speakers but the amp that was starving. Just food for thought if you’re not running dedicated circuits to your equipment. I’ve spent a lot of time tweaking my system with cables and etc. and I’m amazed how revealing my 7B’s are with subtle tweaks. The more time I spend with them, I’m confident they’re capable of better than what I’m feeding them. 

Whatever you you end up doing, if you can keep your 7B’s  before selling to compare. 
Goid luck and keep us posted.

adg101, I’m still fairly new at this stuff. What do you mean by dedicated circuits? Do you mean your house wiring?

Yes. From your electrical panel box to your wall receptacles. If you can run a dedicated circuit so no other receptacles (wall outlets) or lights are on the same circuit/breaker to your system.

Your amp requires all the juice it can get to run to its full potential. If your amp does not get the full load it requires it will sound thin and not power your 7Bs well. The 7Bs are a demanding load and with a small amp or even a big amp not running correctly your system will sound lean with no bottom end or as some say the 7B can be too polite which it’s not; they are not giving the 7B the power it demands and sometimes it’s more than just having a big amp as I’ll explain next.

If your system is say 50ft feet from your panel you may not have heavy enough wiring in the wall, not unlikely you have 14 gauge where depending on the distance you should be at number 12 or even 10. Your system is drawing a lot amps than say a couple lights, a computer and etc. Your amp will work but it’s not performing ideally. It’s kind of the same idea of using a table saw with a small gauge extension cord that’s 100ft long. It will work but in time you will burn the motor up. That’s why they sale heavy gauge extension cords as well.

If you live in an apartment there’s probably nothing you can do but if you’re in a home it might be best to contact a electrician to see what your options are. Then next step is throw out the $2 spec grade receptacles and spend $45 or so for a Porter Port - Hubbell outlet or better. A lot of people will run two dedicated circuits to keep their digital away from the analog.

Most house electricians are going to think you’re nuts, so just ask if it can be done and what the cost is. If you show them the specs on your amp they may get it but don’t bet on it. I think you’ll get more bang for your dollar doing this than spending the money on a new set of speakers which I don’t think is where your problem is. As several other 7Bs users have noted, the 7B is cabable of very good low end.

Good luck and keep us posted as I know many users have the same problem and don’t really know it. If you think I’m crazy you could do an experiment which I’ve never tried but I bet it will work. Go to the closest outlet by your electrical panel and go to Home Depot and buy a Ridgid 10/3 extra heavy extension cord and only plug your amp into it. They sale 50 and 100ft cords so only buy what you need. Carefully unpack the cord because after your experiment you’re going to return the cord or keep it to cut up and make your own power cords for your equipment or for your table saw. Again I’ve not tried this but I wouldn’t be surprised if it works. Now if your system is right by your electrical panel a dedicated circuit will be easier but my experiment probably doesn’t make sense. It’s about dedicated circuits and what is the distance of the wiring and sizing it properly or you’re wasting your time and money. Don’t forget to buy decent outlets if you haven’t done so already.

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.

I have not done that of course. But, this is a 90 year old house that we renovated about 8 years ago.

Most of the wiring was original but was the old two prong type outlets. So when they added extra 3 prong outlets to the room they ran them from the panel and they do not share any lights etc. Just the new 3 prong outlets in this room. About 6. So I'm pretty close to a dedicated circuit.

When I'm listening the TV is off of course so the only thing plugged in and running in the room tends to be my laptop and a lamp or two.

So, not a dedicated circuit, but fairly close. Standard gauge wire and outlet of course.

I have owned the BAT and the bass can be a bit soft sounding.  I moved from Aerial 9s to LR5s (105 lb monitors) on 70 lb Sound Anchor stands and then added two, Aerial SW12 subs.  The combination of acoustic suspension (i.e., sealed box) speakers and the power and control of the SW12s have created as close to perfect bass as I have heard in my system.
Keep your 7Bs and add a pair of used SW12s on SA stands for your $4,500 and the sound will change your sonic world.

I honestly think there's more you don't like than just a bit more low-end. 
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but if you want a speaker with a 12 inch woofer or a facsimile thereof, fine. Get bigger speakers and hope they'll make you happy.  Take a long look at Egglestons, even used ones. 
They sound like music, have had nothing except very positive reviews by everyone, and go down to 19 Hz. If they don't do bass in your room, it's not the fault of your speakers. I had the Andra I and II, previously owned by the guy that sets up demo's all over the world for Wilson Audio ( a long story). He raved about them, also. Andre Previn (RIP) also had a pair. They have other models of course, a bit smaller, too. They are very well made, too- the grills are held on by invisible magnets. I can only recommend speakers I've owned. 

Egglestons are great speakers but they’re not going to offer anymore low end in a room that is 16ft deep than a pair of 7b’s. A 16’ deep room is going to go down to 35 Hz and that’s about it, which for most of us is fine because unless you’re listening to a pipe organ a full upright bass may hit 40 Hz. You could throw the largest Egglestons or whatever in there and it’s not going to change the physics of a 13’ x 16’ room. Also remember the OP is wanting to stay in around $4500. Maybe some room treatment or bass traps might be in order here.

EXCEPT DPM2340 was emphatic- he wants different speakers. Used Egglestons come up frequently and they are killer speakers, with one of the best tweeters ever manufactured, and a crossover designed by A.V. Schweikert. The driver integration is something you have to hear for yourself. They nail pipe organ music in my largely untreated living room.
I would agree the Aerials are more forgiving than some designs and are not something I would get rid of without careful thought, and I would try to audition everything I could. I have echo busters which are pretty good,
but I refuse to take all my pictures down and remove all the furniture.
I tried corner-busters and they looked like hell. One guy I know turns off his refrigerator and his air conditioner (this is Florida), has foam packing from boxes taped to the walls (real snazzy), and turns off the ceiling fan, too. Everything is suspended on little pieces of scrap wood. You can only listen for about 15 minutes before it gets so hot and humid in the room you can't stand it anymore. I have a different approach. I saved up (it took many years) and finally got to a nice level. My tastes are what they are. But when the time comes, I hate to cut corners. So maybe you spend 20% more than you wanted to originally- it might be worthwhile.
I would ALSO say that bass response is not that important, and it's really not. But then I would be hypocritical because I have a lot of pipe organ music.  

@french_fries Agreed, the Op said he wanted different speakers...but, he also gave a single fairly narrow reason that might be easily remedied. I think that is where the extra conversation has come from.

I do not listen to a lot of pipe organ music. But our church has a newly refurbished ($200,000+) 100 year old pipe organ. It is spectacular and so is our organist who I have known all my life.

I also do not have a dedicated music room and am unwilling to make our den/TV room into one by ruining its other functions.

Which is all to come around to the point that I own a good CD recording or Saint-Saenz organ symphony. And in my modest room with my 7Bs positioned properly the finale will blow you away. You can feel it in the floor and in your chest and even then it remains tight and legible and not even remotely boomy.

Before I got into hi-fi with the 7Bs I though bass meant boomy. Because these speakers are not boomy I assumed they had poor bass.

Now I'm a bit of a bass fanatic....but not in terms of boom or mechanical force. It is all about the tightness and clarity. And maybe 'speed' but still not sure what that is.

Look folks, I will BUY his speakers from him (if he gives me a good price!) because I am confident they sound good. But $4500 is a sizable amount of money, so, not being a psychologist or anything, he wants to make a change. If you bolt the speakers to a SOLID foundation and if there is a back wall behind your head, you will hear tons of bass. I had a similar dream a long time ago. I had an absolutely SUPERB pair of ADS L-810-II on stands and two things were lacking. They had limited dynamic range due to the fragility of the tweeters (they had fuses in the back which would blow to prevent damage), and #2- the bass went down to about 35 Hz. A dealer in town had B&W-801 MATRIX speakers.
The rest is history. But those ADS speakers were gorgeous, covered in real walnut, and they sounded incredible considering they weren't "studio monitors" and all that. You can't buy a pair of 810-II because no one will sell them. So sorry for the long speech, but when it's time to move on, you lose but hopefully you gain, also. 

Yep, when we want something new we want something new. And it feels more reasonable if we can rationalize the purchase and it doesn't feel so good if our rationalization proves not to be so rational...which is almost always the case with me....at least as far as my wife is concerned.

Probably better just to say "I want something new because new and different is always more exciting than what I already have".