Aerial 6's lighter in the low end than the 7b's...

I owned the Model 5s (wonderful speakers, by the way), which only go down to about 70hz. I called Aerial and spoke with Michael Kelly to discuss how to extract a bit more of the lowest octaves from them.

During our conversation, he told me that the BEST speaker in the Aerial lineup (as far as imaging and overall musicality are concerned) is the Model 6. He said that, while this would be very unusual, the best setup would not be the 10T, but instead the Model 6 paired with their subwoofer. He did caution against using just "any" subwoofer as most so-called subwoofers do not truly extend deep enough to be considered subwoofers. It's very unlikely that a consumer would buy a $3,000 speaker and pair it with a (almost) $4,000 subwoofer. For that kinda' jack, they'll just go for the 10T. But it does make you stop and think. (I feel the same way about the Revel Gems with the Revel sub instead of the Salons.)

Anyway, I thought it was interesting. I've listened to the 6 as well as the 7 and felt that the 6 was more musical overall. Even still - I liked the Model 5 the best. The new 5B has been re-designed to accomodate multi-use duty in HT applications - higher sensitivity, higher SPL capability. It's a sad sign of the times.

I own the 6's and find them very satisfactory in the bass area; my radio shack SPL meter gives me flat response with the 6's down to about 35 Hz (aside from room interaction - see below). As always with bass, it really depends on your room. Look at it this way - we can presume a lot of "science" goes in to balancing a speaker of this price and from a respected designer. How much "science" went into your listening room? The point is that the variables your room presents is probably always a much larger factor in performance than the variables even cheaper speakers present. My room has a huge "suckout" at 60 Hz and a bloat at other frequencies both higher and lower that drive me nuts. I don't think that different speakers in my room would solve anything. Anyway, I highly recommend the Aerials - for one 7 inch driver, bass is really good, tight, and accurate down to the specified LFE. I can tell you that of the other speakers I have owned, PSB Gold i's, B&W Matrix 802 III's, NHT super 2's (yeah, I know, not fair), the Aerial has by far the best quality (the B&W's were close) though of course not the lowest. NOW, having said all that, I wish I had the 7b's for my room which is 13 X 22 - but I will not exchange them because I know I will be moving to a smaller house soon. So for a small room, definitely the 6's...

I agree with the previous remarks. I own the 10T's and find the bass to be defined but never bloaty. They are very amp sensitive, meaning, they need a lot of power to show off what they can do; some very nice tube amps were auditioned and I found they just didn't have what it takes to make the 10T's shine. I mention this because the amps I tried did make the bass seem 'boomy' and ill-defined. (I do not have the bucks to acquire 300 watts of pure tube power which is the minimum the 10T needs.) I suspect that the other Aerial line requires a fair amount of power.

I also believe Aerial makes great speakers, and they will let you know what is happening upstream. I would advise you to take note of the rest of the system before judging any speaker. I recently heard an "all tube" system with some very exotic cables/interconnects and it sounded so harsh and "solid state" I couldn't believe it. Audio is a 'black art'--who can say what combination works well for every ear? It's not easy to audition any components; it requires a fair amount of listening to various combinations, but in the long haul, it's worth your dime.

I have Model 6's and the bass is about right, though maybe a touch heavy on some recordings with a lot of electric bass. Acoustic bass in jazz and classical recordings is good. Having the port in front helps a lot. What I am dissatisfied with is the lower midrange. It is too slight relative to upper midrange to give a good sense of the singer or instrument being in the room. For example, a piano is weighted toward the sound of the hammers and away from the sound of the cabinet resonance. This may be because the bass is relatively louder (?) and masks the lower midrange. Get a trial pair if possible and bring them home to try; these qualities are very subtle in an otherwise nicely balanced product. Tube electronics can help, but don't forget the 6's require near to 100 watts, so triodes won't work.

I'm not a boomy bass fan but I am a fan of good solid musically defined bass. In my opinion, there's simply too much musical information in the lower regions to simply overlook regardless of the type of music you listen to. I own a pair of Aerial 10T's and really enjoy them especially in the lower bass regions. Very tight and defined.

But as usual, it depends greatly on the amp you are driving your speakers with. An under-powered amp or an amp that produces a loose low-end never helps.

I've listened (not critically) to a pair of 6's and 7b's. The 6's were breaking up tremendously on some lower passages of a classical music piece at less than half volume. The 7b's would definitely be advantageous if your room is bigger than a closet and your amp is greater than 100 wpc. IMO.

A 'dark' sound could mean that there is a dis-proportionately greater emphasis in the mids, mid-bass, and/or bass regions than in the higher regions. Some may say a 'dark' sound is the result of the high frequencies rolling off a bit prematurely.

As you probably know, Aerial makes pretty decent speakers. If they have a dark sound, it usually is ever so slight and may even benefit you when listening to a poor regarding that would otherwise make your ears bleed.

In the review you speak of, chances are the reviewer's equipment is what was giving the impression of a 'dark' sound. 'Dark' can sometimes be attributed to some to many tube amps and pre-amps as well as some solid state equipment.

If you're really bent on getting the 6's, you might even try listening the Aerial Model 5's first.

-IMO