Aeris speakers amp

- falconquest
Aeris speakers were finally delivered yesterday. Woo Hoo!
I had 25-30 year old Focus and PSA 250 Delta amps. I bought the M700's after one of the 250's decided to quit working. I hooked up the M700's and at first thought they sounded pretty good. After living with them for a time, a harshness and sibilance on the upper end really started to bug me. I think it was compounded by my room but at any rate I started out trying to solve the issue. As the midwoofers seemed to be the worst offenders I inspected them and could tell there were a few problems with a couple of them and I decided to replace all the upper drivers. With help from Brice at Legacy, I bought and replaced all the drivers. End result was better but there still was a quality on the upper end I didn't care for. Enter the PL Evo 400 preamp. It did soften up things a bit (and the triode mode was good for some recordings) but it still wasn't where I wanted it. Enter the PL amp. Biamped the speakers and had better results but still not completely pleased. The M700's seemed to do a good job on the lower end as I had added an attenuator to control the boominess somewhat. I finally decided that the room was all that was left to fix. Ordered the Aeris, sold the Focus, and sold the M700's. I just didn't feel the M700's were for me. Made the upper end sound sort of sterile and not engaging. My opinion is at this time a class D amp is not for me. I liked the smaller package and they do pack some power but found the musicality missing as compared to the old 250's and the PL. As class D continues to evolve I might give them  another shot down the line.

Set up the Aeris yesterday evening and I must say that in my limited listening to them so far, I was completely blown away. Best sounds I've ever had. I have not put the PL preamp into the mix yet and haven't really driven the PL amp hard. So far I'm impressed with how the PL has driven them but am suspecting monoblocking  another PL may be needed, try a different tube amp with more power, or might go back to SS. I will take a few weeks or so to decide what direction to go.

Happy listening with those Focus! I always felt they were good speakers....

@steveindy I'm glad the Aeris are working out so far. The PLs are great amps I just wasn't sure if it matched properly. Great news!

  To answer your question, I have sold the Goldenear References and the Mcintosh gear. I bought some Dynaudio Evidence Temptations and JC 1 monos. I wasn't displeased with the Goldenears but the Temptations are at another level. They like lots of power though.

@bubba12 
Wow, some speakers you got there! When you move up you really move up. I bet they do eat the power....... 
Since I don't have the M700's anymore I might buy a used SS amp just to see how it does compared to the PL.

happy listening!

I have had these speakers for a week now and must say they sound amazing. The setup was a snap and the wavelet room correction is just what I needed. I also appreciate the contour function and utilize it on some recordings. I tried out the PL preamp but after switching back and forth to the wavelet as a preamp, I found that the PL muddied the waters somewhat. The mids sounded almost the same but the upper end wasn't as resolved or detailed and the soundstage seemed somewhat collapsed in comparison. Out with the preamp....
At this point in time while I feel the sound is quite good with the PL, it seems to run out of gas a bit and sounds a little "sluggish" especially at higher volumes. Was considering another PL to run mono but I have started to come to the conclusion that SS might be a better match.

Amps that I have been looking into are:
JC1+
Coda 15.5
X250.8
XA100.8
XA160.8
Not sure if the Pass Labs XA series would return sound enough sound quality for the leap in price but they do seem to be highly regarded. 
Any input or opinions would be appreciated.

Well......
After much research, I decided to get a Pass Labs x-260.8 from Reno HiFi. Kent at Pass Labs and Mark at Reno were very helpful. My reasoning:

Bipolar vs. MOSFET...... I've heard the description of the two as Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up. Not sure if that is really as valid today as in the past but one thing I do know is that I desire a slightly warmer than neutral sound as I cannot stand much sibilance especially in female voices. Past A/B amplifiers I have had seem to have some degree of this characteristic. Legacy Audio used to voice their speakers with Coda (and may still) so that synergy was appealing to an extent. I feel the passive speakers they produced with the big woofers and multiple drivers could avail themselves of the high current available from the Codas. The partially active speakers that Legacy is now producing certainly shouldn't require the amount of current as in the past. The bottom end of the Aeris is drive by 1000 W of class D with a crossover at 80 Hz. The cross over is provide electronically by the Wavelet DSP/preamp so no passive crossover needed. This also means only frequencies above 80 Hz are provided to the upper end (with passive crossovers) for the 10-inch woofer, 8-inch mid, and the two ribbons. I would assume this would reduce the back EMF and current needed. From reading about the different amplifier designs, I seem to come down on the MOSFET side.
Class A..... I chose to try the X-260.8 for a few reasons. Cost vs return is always a factor as I wanted to try the amps while minimizing potential expenses if they weren't for me as compared to the more expensive XA line. The 260's have more available Class A power and I figured it would give me a pretty good taste of the flavor to decide whether to move over to XA-160.8.   I am also hoping the higher slew rate will be a benefit in the speed and detail. With my speakers I would expect to consistently run in class A. I couldn't find a review on these amps ( only one on the .5 series) but most of the comments about them on discussion boards were very positive. I kind of took other reviews and extrapolated them over to the 260's. Could not find much in used sale histories but don't know if that was because of happy owners or just few being sold. I get the feeling these might be some under-known or under- appreciated amps. Besides, I just like mono-blocks, be it actual or psycho-acoustical perceptions, I don't know.
I've had the amps for a few days now and I must say I was quite surprised how great they sounded out of the box with minimal warm-up time. I didn't want to lose the smooth midrange from the PrimaLuna and on the first song I played, it was evident that the Pass improved the mids immensely. The soundstage is larger and more realistic. The upper end is more detailed and clear with no hint of sibilence. It was like a veil was lifted and the speakers were allowed to open up and show what they could do. I stayed up half the night listening to them with no fatigue whatsoever. I am quite happy with my choice and will take the 4 months that Reno HiFi allows for trade- up to decide on the 160's.

Happy listening!