*** The Official APERION Thread *** - Page 3

I have 3 of them (6.1). I really like them. They do a great job of producing an enveloping sound field around me without being able to pinpoint where the sound is coming from (which is what I wanted).

Mike

I have 633T's with 634VAC and 522bipoles. I started with an HK AVR for the surrounds and center channel while driving the 633s with my HK Citation 22 amp (200W/ch). I have since upgraded to a Sherwood Newcastle Pre-pro and added a Monster 3250 3 channel amp for the mains and center (250W/ch) and am now driving the surrounds with the Citation 22. The upgrade to the Newcastle pre-pro and Monster amp was a noticeable improvement over the HK AVR. I would give the pre-pro most of the credit but the 6 series Aperion's seem to love the power I am sending them. Overall I am very impressed with this setup and will not be upgrading anytime soon.

My next upgrade will be a subwoofer replacement and then I will add rear effect channels to complete a 7.1. I am pretty happy with my current Velodyne sub (F1200) so it may be some time before I replace it.

JD

I need advice!

I have a 15' x 15' x 9' space, however 10' of one wall is open to a space that is about 40' x 20' x 9'. We sit about 11 feet or so from the TV, and I'm wondering if a pair of 532-LR's and a 533-VAC along with a subwoofer is enough for a front end. I'm trying to go small in order keep my wife happy, but I'm also pretty picky about the sound, particularly for music.

I'd be most grateful for any input from those of you who have experience with these speakers.

Thanks!

I am not familiar with the 532-LR's but the 533VAC is an excellent center channel. Only you can be the judge in this case as the adjacent space is huge. My current dedicated theatre (18'x24') was once part of an open finished basement which was 34' x 48' overall. I can tell you that even my previous Infinity Kappa towers (which were huge) could not come close to creating a decent playback level even with lots of amplification. The other issue is you need to produce such high SPL levels that sound bleeds into all areas of the home, which is annoying.

This is a perfect opportunity for you to take advantage of Aperion's 30 day trial. I would order the 532LR's and see how you like them. If they sound good to you after 3-4 weeks then keep them. If you think they lack something or do not fill the room with sound then step up to the 633T's (which I have and really like). I have a feeling that you will be impressed with the 532's specifically if most of your listening is for movies.

The more difficult challenge you will have will be choosing a subwoofer. The adjacent opening will be tough to overcome. You should look at SVS and HSU. The current HSU VTF-3 Turbo would be a good choice for that space. They currently sell for $899 direct from hsuresearch.com.

Hope this helps in your search,

JD

Thanks jdskycaster. The 633-T's were among my first choices, but my wife vetoed them (along with fairly long list of other towers) immediately. But I think I will follow your advice and just order the 532-LR's and see how they work.

Any particular reason you don't recommend the Aperion subs?

How far were you sitting from your Kappa towers?

The primary reason I do not recommend the Aperion subs is that of preference for a subwoofer manufactured by a specialist. A subwoofer performs a very specific function for home theatre and is one component which does not have to be matched or mated to other parts of the system. A great sub is a great sub and it will work with any manufacturers speakers while at the same time adding a critical element to the HT experience. Oftentimes a subwoofer is at the end of the budget chain and many people try to cut corners here. Both HSU and SVS specialize in subwoofer design and both sell direct over the internet. They both also offer very good advice in which subwoofer to choose for a specific environment and will also take a look at your room layout (if you send them a drawing) and recommend the proper placement for best results.

HSU and SVS are not the only specialty manufacturers but both offer very high performance for the dollar designs. They are both worth a look at the very least. Give them a call and discuss your room layout and size and also tell them what primary speakers you are using.

When I had the kappa's I sat approx. 17 feet away from them. Now that I have a dedicated room and am using the Aperion setup with the 633T's the front row seats are 14 feet and the second row seats are 18 feet away.

Let us know how your 532 audition goes,

JD

Thanks again jdskycaster.

Hi All,

Thanks for creating this thread. I asked about Aperions a while back and got no reply. My family room is about 13x13x8 (feet). I have the following speakers:

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...&class=Speaker

Any of them worth saving while I consider upgrading to the Aperions? For sure I will replace the front L/R/C speakers with 5 series Aperions. What about the rears and subwoofer? Thanks.

Long time lurker here, mostly search and scratch my head at the overwhelming volume of info here .

Well, nice to see I have a virtual home on the AVS forum; I've had a set of Aperions for about 4 years now.

My setup is 6.1 w/ the 532s all around, 532 Center w/ a 12" Aperion Woofer (could be a 10", will have to check it's been so long, lol) for 6.1. I'm pushing it with a Yamaha HTR-5560. Samsung 5067 DLP.

I've never been 100% satisfied with the sound of music through this system, it seems to lack some warmth or depth. For that reason, and the fact that my Sony DVD-S500 ancient but solid DVD player won't do a lot of the DVD-/+Rx formats I'm upgrading to a new Oppo and retiring the old clunky 5 disc CD changer.

This upgrade and the sound has prompted me to look into new receivers, I'm down to Denon or Pioneer Elite. But the Aperions stay! I hope to move to a new house with a proper media room in a year or so and will be getting the 633Ts for L/R.

Anybody running the AVR-2807 or Pioneer VSX-82TXS through a similar setup? How's the sound on music?

Just ordered my 532LR book shelf speakers! I was hesitant to do so for a while, but the 30 day in home trial, 10 year warranty, and price sealed the deal! I auditioned Klem's, Klipsch's, and B&W's. I was so close to buying the B&W 600 Series 3, but was a little disappointed with the enclosure.

Now that I have somewhat of a reference of what sound quality can be achieved for a 2.1 system at this price point, I can home audition these speakers. I really like the Aperion approach, I must admit. The no tax, no shipping, 30 day trial, almost sounds to good to be true, doesn't it?

I love order email notification too:

"Thank you for your order! Or should we say congratulations?

We think you made an excellent choice. We're proud of our products, and firmly believe you'll thoroughly enjoy them..."

Eagerly anticipating their arrival... drool ;-)

Are the 533-T floor standing speakers a huge improvement compared to the 532-LR bookshelf speakers?. Also, should I get four 532-LRs (2 surround and 2 rear for 7.1) or three 534-SS dipole/bipole speakers (2 surround and 1 rear for 6.1). BTW this is mainly for watching movies.
Lastly, what are the differences between the 533-PT and the 533-T
Thanks

I suggest posting on the receiver pavge & asking for a warm receiver. I've heard that the Onkyos and Outlaws tend to be warm. I don't recal hearing anything one way or the other on the two you mention.

I ordered the 533T's a few weeks ago, but unfortunately they are back-ordered until March 16th! Stinks! Oh well...

I got my S-10 sub and 533-VAC center too. Just hooked them up last night and had a nasty case of "ground loop" buzzing from the center...After 2 hours of debugging I figured it was the grounding issue from the new sub...Seems like my old Velodyne it was replacing used a two prong power connector, the high quality Aperions were using a 3 prong connector. I solved the issue with getting a new grounded power strip to use with the sub and the issue was gone.

The ones these speakers are replacing are the first generation set of B&W 602's. I must admit these Aperions blow both the Velodyne sub and B&W center channel away. I am so impressed by the build of the speakers, the simple rap of the knuckles test on the speakers immediately tells me that my old setup used some cheap ass fiber board.

As for your question about the 532's...I would recommend getting floor standing speakers over bookshelf anyday for your R/L's. The main reason being better speaker response, and you are going to place your bookshelfs on stands anyway, might as well get the full size towers. I also went with the 533's instead of the 633's because of the smaller footprint.

The main difference between the 533T and 533PT is that the PT's have their own subs built in. This would mean that you would not have to buy a separate sub for this set of speakers. However, for a dedicated home theater setup likes yours I would recommend getting the 533T's and the sub. I think overall you will get better bass response as well as midrange.

May be I can share my recent experience on bookshelf v/s floor standing speakers. After doing some browsing on the net i found a local dealer who sold Revel and B&W speakers. Yes both under one roof ! Last weekend i took the chance to go over and listen to these fine brands. This dealer (for a change) had speakers playing in individual rooms and not in open spaces like is typical in most other speaker shops. Each room had a 2 or 3 kinds of speakers and some acoustic treatments on the walls. In one room was the acclaimed Revel performa m22 bookshelves ($2200/pr) and right next to it was its big brother the floorstanding F32 (about $3500/pr i think). The friendly and kind salesperson played some music for me on both speakers. No doubt the F32 played the lower frequencies that were not much audible on the m22s. BUT !! Thats a big one... i felt the bass was not coming in cleanly. The music was simply nicer to listen to on the bookshelves inspite of them not playing lower. After a couple of other trials I came to the conclusion that the bookshelf + sub was a better way to go than the towers. The towers simply cannot match the clean bass delivery from a sub... due to the typical single or dual 6inch (roughly) drivers handling bass in most towers. Although at first hearing I liked the F32s over the M22s due to bass..after switching a few times i was convinced that it was better if the F32s didnt try to reach low. Initially I thought may be I am not "audiophile" enough to spot the sonic improverments of the more expensive F32s which had twice as many drivers. But then... i listened to the B&W 801D. What a great evening that was! . And these floor standing speakers are $20,000/pr ! When i heard the music through these i could tell these speakers were truly reaching low and cleanly and also had the thump. Guess what ? These gigantic speakers have a huge 15inch driver to play the lows.. Suddenly it all fit in my head.... no wonder the bookshelf+sub combo was so much more pleasant than the towers by themselves. Now the other consideration is how about tower + sub.?

If you cross over such that the towers dont do the lower freq, and if the towers use the same midrrange drivers as the bookshelves.. then you are spending money excess on the drivers that you wont use... Now if you choose to use the tower to do the lower freqs in addition to the sub... then you are getting two very different kinds of output for the same freq range simulataneously... doesnt sound like a neat idea.

Caveat... I havent heard the Aperion towers. I have 532s in front and 422s for surround. and an S12. I am considering upgrading 532s to the 6series bookshelves sometime in the future.... in hope of midrange improvements.

Thank you for your excellent detailed response rosh.
What you said makes sense perfect sense and sound almost too good to be true. Does anyone else agree with him?

Come to think of it, the PTs however may be a very different beasts.. i feel ...since they have a built-in powered sub and one tweeter + one midrange. No drivers being pushed beyond limits. Each one dedicated to its rightful task. It is somewhat like buying 532s along with couple of S8 subs.... but much cheaper.

I imagine these should be able to deliver bass cleanly. Makes me feel that 633PTs would be the next product to develop on the Aperion's product portfolio.

As Aperion subs have shorter warranty period.. the PT overall might get you the full warranty since its not a sub ?

Since I havent heard the towers or the PTs ... all this is merely theory. Use your own head (and the pair of ears that came with it) :-)

I agree and disagree with Rosh. In my experience I have found that towers (with plenty of clean power) sound better for music than a bookshelf with subwoofer combo. I also think this may be the case because it is more difficult to setup and calibrate the bookshelf/sub combination. I also agree with the fact that a good set of bookshelves paired with a capable subwoofer can create excellent sound when properly setup and calibrated. I just prefer floorstanders.

At the end of the day I do not think there is a winner or loser here. A lot depends on personal preference which takes into consideration many subjective aspects such as overall sound quality and aesthetics.

JD

Hey Terry,

If it is the size of a floor standing speaker that is earning you that veto, consider the 533-T. It was created for just such a situation where the bigger soundstage and improved midrange performance of a floorstanding speaker is desired, but space is at a premium. These 533-Ts take up a little less real estate than the 532-LR on a speaker stand. To be fair (because I AM an employee of Aperion and we all absolutely despise 'adverposts'-) there may be some other good options in a floorstanding speaker with a diminuative cabinet size. In fact, check out Definitive Technology's new Mythos line. They offer a very slim tower with some impressive specs and a very cool 'art deco-ish' appeal to it. I'm a firm believer that, when it comes to audio, there is usually a path to a mutually beneficial arrangement. Of course, I'm known for being rather foolishly optimistic Good luck and have some fun in your search for the right speakers for you.

Thanks for your thoughts drgroovee. It's not so much about floor space as it is about appearance...she just doesn't like the look of most towers, including the 533-T. However, she loved the Mythos towers -- until she saw how much they cost. We've considered other similar towers from Energy, Athena, etc., but I'm not into how they sound.

I'm still considering the 532-LR and the SVS speakers (she likes the silver finish) and the Hsu MBs (although I have to admit the Hsu HBs are butt-ugly, at least in black. Why does everyone like black so much?).

My system includes the 533PT's along with the 533VAC, 532's, and S8-APR sub woofer. I run them through a Harman Kardon 7300. The PT's are set to large and the rest small with a crossover at 80. In essence I have three 8'' sub woofers and it noticeably makes a difference in low end and fullness of sound.

I cannot comment on a comparison to the 6 series but I am very pleased with the PT's and my system overall.

As with many, I researched my speaker upgrade carefully and I am satisfied with choosing Aperion. My previous setup was a BOSE cube arrangement (that I have used for 10 years) and there has been no looking back....The only caveat has been the wife acceptance factor. She loves the cubes....

Been using Aperions for about 6 months now. I have 533PTs for my FL and FR. 533VAC in the center. Surrounds are in ceiling, 632IC. Talk about a good WAF (my wife likes cubes too). In ceilings are almost invisible. The PTs are in fact rather small towers and not very intrusive. I'd have an S12 if it wasn't for the WAF of a big box sitting out in the room. As it is, the PTs two 8" subs provide very nice low end for HT in my room. The 632ICs required some adjustment (they have bass and treble level adjustments in each one, you can aim the tweeters). PTs set to large, others small. Don't recall the crossovers, but I set the IC a bit higher than the others. Receiver is a Denon 2807. (The Audyssey worked well for me.) I listen to a lot of music and the 533PTs are IMHO very good musically and a great compromisefor HT and music. Surround music formats (SACD) sound wonderful.

So bottom line is the 533PTs are great for me. With the 30 day tryout, I figured I couldn't miss if I wanted to change. I may still add a sub one day.

hmm. I havent previously noticed people mixing ported and sealed subs. Going by aperion's descriptions of the subs...the sound from the S8APR should be somewhat different than the subs built into the PTs. The S8Apr is a sealed design for fast response (better for music). The subs in the PTs have a ported design....so they should go lower and but not have as fast a response as the S8APR. Theoretically one should hear a "composite effect" by mixing the two differents kinds of outputs in the bass frequences.

I will be an interesting comparison for you to make.. play some good full range music on the 532s+S8APR combination.... then with PTs + no additional subs. Joss..if you do this ... do let us know your impressions.

I experimented with different sound formats and switching my sub off and on. Some observations:

1. I used a Diana Krall DVD-Audio that has some some really nice bass. When I turned off the sub it had a noticeable impact on the sound. I lost some bass definition and the sound wasn't as "full". This is not to say that the PT's did not generate a decent amount of bass--they did. It just sounded better to my ears with the sub being used.

2. Constantine HDDVD: This has a nice TrueHD Dolby soundtrack. As above, it just sounded better with the sub engaged.

3. War of the Worlds: Though a standard DVD this still has a decent soundtrack with all the mayhem going on. The experience was the same as above.

In conclusion, the S8-APR sub works well with the PT's. The bass is seamless. I have not noted any sound differences with one ported and the other not. This combination works well for me (three subs are a nice mix!).

On another note, I purchased a single 534 SS surround speaker today to round out my system to a 6.1. This speaker joins the 533 PT's (front) , 533 VAC (center), 532's (surrounds), and S8-APR sub woofer.

A question I do have that I could not find in my manual for my Harman Kardon 7300 receiver is: Does it matter which back surround I hook to, left or right?

This is gonna be fun...

Joss. The right way to peform this comparison is to A/B switch between a S8 and a S8APR while the L&R channels are being driven by the PTs.

your question regarding the back surround... if ur HK is a 7.1 then you have to tell ur HK receiver that you have 6 speakers and not 5 or 7. Try both ouputs one at time ...if u dunno which one... one will produce sound and the other wont.

I have 532 LR, 532 VAC, S-10 sub, 422 surrounds for 6.1 setup. I've been happily rewatching all my movies, and hearing all the nuances I've never heard before from the "have no clarity" Onkyo speakers that were replaced :-)

I watched "Echo Dance" scene of House of Flying Daggers numerous times. That was the scene I watched in my cousin's house that prompted me to inquire about his Aperions. Needless to say, I'm very happy I hear the same details as I did then.

Hello all. I posted this on the Aperion thread, but figured I'd get more feedback here. Thanks!!


Hello Aperion owners, first time poster here

My wife and I are shopping for new speakers and I stop at different places to listen to speakers as much as I can. This past weekend, I stopped at Magnolia to hear Klipsch reference. We recently bought the promedia speakers for the computer and I was pretty impressed, so I thought I'd check out their "high end" line in consideration for our upgrade. I was very disappointed. It sounded pretty thin and lacked that soundstage where you can close your eyes and hear the instruments at different locations throughout the room. I told the sales rep what I though, and switched the speakers over to a brand called Vienna. He put on the Eagles, and there it was.... the thick layered sound stage, with full rich sound. The Vienna's used "hand coated" silk dome tweeters. Granted, these Viennas were 3500 a pair, and one should expect a big increase in sound quality compared to Klipsch. I was wondering if there is anyone here who could comment on the sound stage of the Aperions? I want extended detailed highs like a lot of aluminum domes offer, but I really want the huge sound stage too. We were also considering Energy RC series. Depending on what Outlaw comes out with later this year, I may go with their electronics (if they can keep up with the HDMI 1.3, lossless formats, etc.). If not, maybe Marantz or Denon. My room is 18x23 w/9 ft ceilings. Also, if someone from Aperion could tell us the high frequency roll off of these speakers, that would be great.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

Paul

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For a huge soundstage in music the 633 T are best , a pair is about a third of the cost of the Viennas you saw....if you go into the Aperion web site you can see some configurations that will suit you and you can get an idea...also do a live chat while in there and you will get to speak with a rep and ask any questions you may have about the speakers