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How do you troubleshoot a pair of Aerial 10Ts?

I just returned from a long drive to pick up a nice pair of Aerial 10Ts, only to be very disappointed with lean bass and thin sound. The imaging and midrange was wonderful but the low end authority just stunk. A direct A-B comparison with my Soliloquy 5.3s revealed that my "upgrade" wasn't really "up."

Not to be discouraged, I went through the usual troubleshooting which included checking all connections, verifying that the drivers were indeed working, polarity, positioning, alternate impedance taps, etc. I have narrowed the problem down to the following (assuming that there is nothing wrong with the speakers themselves):

1) My SF Power 2 needs new tubes
2) Different cables may correct this
3) A more powerful, non-tube amplifier may be in order

To all 10t owners:
Have you ever tried a comparible tube amp with these speakers? Does my story sound at all familiar?

Help.

allison2
swklein
136 posts
 
You need a powerful solid-state amplifier, preferably at least 200 watts per channel. The Aerials need a lot of power.
whknopp0713
179 posts
 
You will hear Piezo's point a lot. Few things in audio are better-settled than the 10T's need for tons of power. A dealer told me that he thought the Levinson 33's were not enough. That may be an overstatement, but if your room is big enough for the speaker to make good bass, the 10T will respond better the more good quality juice you can give it. I have a small, heavily treated room and use a Sim W-5. That's a powerful amp with a huge damping factor and my system poops out at about 105dB. It sounds great and that is pretty loud, but it's not as loud as the Boston symphony sometimes gets. In any event, these speakers are not lean or shy at all and if your room is not the culprit, then you are right to suspect the amp.
salevick
77 posts
 
I currently own the Aerial 8's which are quite similar to the 10t's. I drive the speakers with two Classe Ca-150's in mono and found that they love power. They come alive at low and high listening levels. The bass is tight and impressive. Good listening Steve
jbecker
22 posts
 
My Aerials did not come alive until I upgraded from 150 watts to 300--solid state. These speakers are not boomy--they, like so many have stated, have a real appetite for power. When they are well fed, the bass is fantastic. I also found the bass improved greatly with sound anchors under them. I have contemplated tube amplification, but I feel that I will need to spend a lot of moola on tubes to get the degree of power the 10T's crave. Good luck! And one more thing--just rested the anchors on aurios pros bearings and wow, well worth the money!
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