Need Speaker Opinions please

I have heard the Aerial 7A, and the 7B. The add mentioned in the previous posting, to my knowledge, may actually be for the 7"B", instead of the 7"A", which retailed for less than the stated retail price of $4k. Unless the original owner sprang for some exotic finish, that is. Both are excellent speakers, the 7A has been discontinued (sadly)but is a 2 way using a 7.5 (I think) driver for mid and lows. The 7B is on the Aerial website, so you can research that for yourself. Anyway... You have what I consider to be a medium sized room, perhaps on the large side of that, but that is only opinion. In a small room, a speaker like the Meadowlark Shearwater, with a 6.5" driver in a transmission line scheme, could provide all the taught, tuneful bass any non headbanging person might need. In a medium sized room, (Mine is 14' by 18') The Meadowlark Shearwater (also excellent) with it's Scan Speak 7' driver might be a little (just a little, mind you) on the light side for the bottom octave (20-40hz), but would probably be ok for the non bass head, but would excell in the smaller room. I own the Hales Revelation 3 loudspeakers. They are a 3 way, 10 inch bass driver, 4 inch mid, and a 1 inch ti tweeter. If you like rock music, these may be the speakers for you. They sound very neutral, and have a presentation that is fabulously real. They retail for $2100, and are a steal. Check out www.audioreview.com, go to speaker reviews. They were at the top end of my budget, and I love them. If I had more money, I would have bought the Meadowlark Heron-i in a New York Minute, with a 3/4" tweeter that blows the other Meadowlarks away, a sweet midrange driver, and 2 7' bass drivers. These speakers are awesome. If I had a budget of $5k, I'd check out the Meadowlark line,especially the Heron-i, the Audio Physic Virgo's, and everything else they make, the Hales Transcendence 3's (very nice)and the Revelation 3s(My Revelation 3's are great, and you should definately check them out. If you like them, you would have $3k for another preamp, amp, or maybe even some really good interconnects or speaker cables-NEVER SKIMP on these!) But like I said, they are NOT the best speakers in the world (just the best at 2 grand) and last but not least, check out ProAc, and Joseph Audio (Jeff Joseph is a great guy, and will ship you a pair, pre paid of course, to audition in your home. If you could position your speakers 9 feet apart, and about 10 feet from your listening position, you may need to look no further than the Dunlavy SC-III. Bob at Avalon AV in Medford NJ sold me my Hales, and he is a class act. He also carries Dunlavy and Meadowlark. As far as Audio Physic goes, I cant seem to locate a nice dealer..... (Hmmmmmm.) Anyway, this is an important decision, so dont let some snooty salesperson tell you what to buy. Trust your ears first, your heart second, and your check book last. Happy listening. Joe

You have what I believe is a medium sized room. There are many, many speakers which should work for you in the $4,000 range. Given your amp you can choose between efficient and not so efficient speakers. Perhaps the Genesis APM-1 that is on auction now would work for you. The current bid is about $3,000, and these have a built in powered subwoofer which will give you all the bass you need. As for the Dunleavy speakers, if you shop carefully you should be able to get a pair of IV's, which are much better than the III's (the Dunleavys will work best if you are able to put them along the long wall). The only problem is that the Dunleavy's are very large, more than six feet tall and so if you have an WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) problem you may want to make sure that they will fit your situation. The full sized Merlin speakers with BAM may work as well and these can be purchased for less than $4,000 used. You may also want to try out the Hales, which may be the sound you are looking for. If you have a cooperative wife you may like the sound of the Maggies, you can get the 3.5's (a wonderful speaker and a steal right now often under $2,000 because everyone wants to upgrade to the 3.6's) The latest version of this series, the 3.6's, can be had for less than $4,000 new and, even though the 3.5's are a great speaker, are a definite improvement, especially in the bass. I also agree that you do not want to cheap out on the speaker wire. The wire you use should depend significantly on the amp and the speaker combination you are using. Good luck.

If you really want to rock, then full size floor standers are the way to go. Take a look at the ad here on audiogon for the Tyler Acoustics A-12's. They have two Eminence 12" woofers, (the same as in the Legacy Focus), plus two 7" Peerless 7's and a Vifa 1" tweet. Rated 20Hz~20kHz. Full list is only $2950 in real wood veneer finishes (four oaks, maple and walnut), and they weigh about 125lbs each! They room shown in the ad was at a customers house, and is 8H x 15w x 33d. He is driving them with a pair of Carver Silver 9's at 575 watts per side, and at the seated position some 15 feet away, they were pumping out 112db, with NO signs of breakup, and still had plenty of room to go. I'll be happy to forward you the owners e-mail address if you'd like to ask him his opinion on them. Just drop me an e-mail and I'll get you some more information. Happy hunting! :-)

Talon Audio makes a line of speakers that have completely floored me. I am in NJ. www.delveaudio.com 973-812-6717 oliver

The Avalon Eclipse and Arcus are both GREAT speakers; however, they won't play at ear crushing volumes. I listen to alot of rock, but also jazz, blues, and classical and my Eclipse's are the best I've had in my system BY FAR!! If you have a good high powered amp (preferably tube, though good solid state works also -- McCormack DNA2 works very well), you cannot beat these speakers for $3600 used. I also owned Martin Logan ReQuests (not good for heavy metal, though ok for other rock), Mirage M3Si (pretty good head-banger speaker -- plump bass/midbass and fairly forgiving highs), and Aerial 10T's (great bass, though not as well integrated with the mids and highs as the Eclipse and not as good at soundstaging. Still the 10T's are much better than ML ReQuests or Mirage M3Si). If you really just want to jam most of the time, try one of the older BW 801 models(used under $4000) and mate with a high powered solid state amp. They can rock with the best, though they need alot of juice to come alive.