Aerial 5T impressions

Oddiofyl! How is the imaging as that’s quite important to me too?

Michael Kelly was at Audio Video Therapy on March 4th for their annual spring Audio Show. In his demo room he was using a Prima Luna HP Integrated w/the 5T and a Plinius preamp w/a Plinius 125 A Class A amp w/the 6T. Both of these speakers are on my radar to replace my older Aerial 6's. He also had some photos of his new 25T coming out at the end of the year. Cost around $40,000. You can see pictures of the event including Michael's demo on the Audio Video Therapy Facebook page.

Would have replied a loong time ago, but I only noticed the thread today, and like someone else said...I've been so happy with them, that I stopped looking at speaker forums.

I've owned the 5T's since March 2016.  They are incredible.  I previously owned a pair of seriously underestimated NHT Classic 4's, and I was a little worried going from a tower to a bookshelf.

No worries since.  I have a huge listening room (about 12'x22', with a high A shaped ceiling), and the imaging, bass, and overall revealing but slightly sweet and smooth demeanor impress me every day.  

I compared them to a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.4's when I auditioned them, and the Aerials made the 1.4's sound all wrong.  Overly cautious and closed in comparitively.  (And, I'm a huge fan of Dynaudio speakers) I auditioned a pair of B+W 805 d3's at home along side them, and they came across as forward and slightly cold sounding by comparison, but they were also great, but WAY more upfront.

The Aerial's seem more subtle, but still present all the detail of the B+W's, but with less obvious fanfare, but counter with far more spaciousness and depth, and more dynamic range.  They go from soft to loud VERY convincingly.

They have wide dispersion, so they sound great outside the listening position.  I'm running mine with relatively modest gear, a Parasound P7 preamp, with a McCormack DNA 1 amp, and they sound lovely.

They're the first speaker I've ever owned, that I am completely satisfied with.  They just put wholly convincing music into my room.  They do all instruments correctly, both tonally and spacially, and serve all genres of music very well.  Guitars and voices...oh my lord!!!

The problem is, if I talk about them any longer, I won't stop.

But, they're great.

After a year these 5T beauties continue to deliver a sound stage of acoustically accurate music that is amazingly balanced across lows and highs.  I play them so much I’m afraid I’ll wear them out.  

My dealer let me take a pair of 5T's home for a demo back in August. I had a pair of 10 year old Aerial 6's and was hesitant from going from a floor stander to a monitor. After 4 days of A/B testing the 5T's stayed and I sold the older 6's. I don't have a big room and the speakers were more open w/lots of detail. Excellent soundstage too. I have them on some excellent stands and about 18 inches from the back wall. One thing both Aerial models have in common you can play music all day w/out any listening fatigue.