Best amp pairing with Aerial Acoustics Speakers?


I have some Aerial 7B's and I have been contemplating upgrading to the new 7T.  Does anyone have suggestions as to what amps pair with Aerials the best?  I have heard a lot of people paired the older Aerials with Classe, Bryston, and Theta.  But now with Theta being mostly Class D amps, and Classe having the same path forward, I wonder of that makes a difference...  

On that note, I would love to hear them with the new ATI class D amps, as well as the Levinson 532H amp. (I haven't heard the amps, but people say they have amazing midrange, which is what Love about the Aerials right now).

I have also looked way off into left field and saw a Plinius SB-301 MkII for sale here as of late...

Anyway, my questions stands.  What amps pair the best with Aerial Acoustics?

128x128jrunr
Does anyone think that the new ATI Digital Class D amps would be good with the Aerial 7b's?
Jrunr, in looking at the impedance graph measurements in the Stereophile review of your Arial 7B's it seems you are in a similar situation as I am with my Infinity Kappa 9's. Your speakers are not hard to drive on the top end but do present a challenge to drive on the low end. One solution is to horizontally bi-amp them using two different amps speced for their unique loads .

Put your money into the best sounding amp for the top end but buy a more moderately priced amp for the bottom end that can handle the higher current needs. There are many pre-owned amp options to achieve this configuration. I went with a 75 watt tube amp on the top and a high current mid-FI SS amp on the bottom with very very good results. The mid-FI SS amp sounds like crap on the top end but great on the bottom. It is much more expensive to find a single amp solution with high current that can drive the entire speaker with good sonic results. It is the mids and highs that really reveal amp musicality and imperfections so put your money there.

Your speakers, even though rated at 6 Ohms, go down to 3ohms at 400 Hz frequency. Don't make the mistake of thinking high wattage is the same as high current. If you go class D don't get distracted by all the high wattage specs. It seems that Class D is good at generating high watts but if you find a class D amp that also has high current capability under 2 ohms I would like to hear about it.


" Your speakers are not hard to drive on the top end but do present a challenge to drive on the low end. One solution is to horizontally bi-amp them using two different amps speced for their unique loads ."

That sounds like a good idea, but in practice using 2 different amps horizontal is nothing short of a train wreck. The only systems I've seen that type of setup work, was when someone was desperate to fix a problem. And even then, they should have just fixed it the right way.
"That sounds like a good idea,"
Yes, it does because it works if done right.

"but in practice using 2 different amps horizontal is nothing short of a train wreck."

My experience is just the opposite. You could elaborate on why your experience is different. That would be more helpful to OP than just saying it is a train wreck.

"The only systems I’ve seen that type of setup work, was when someone was desperate to fix a problem."

Yes, the problem is many speakers are actually two separate speakers in one enclosure. Hence, two different amps each doing what it is designed best to do. One handling the highs/mids and the other handling the lows.

" And even then, they should have just fixed it the right way."

In audio the right way is what provides the most optimal results in a cost effective manner. Sure, OP could just go out and buy a TOTL Pass Labs and that would work. But I am trying to offer a solution that I have used in many configurations that can sound just a good if done right as a TOTL high end single amp .....at a fraction of the cost.




I'm using a Bryston 14B ST to drive my 7B's and have been happy . I started with a 4B ST, but upgraded because the 4B would go into clipping mode at higher listening levels. These speakers do crave current.