So has anyone had a listen to these ...... i recently sold the speakers that were in my lounge because even though the Ikon 2's are large stand mounters they tended to get lost in my lounge which is a pretty large room (4.5m x 8m) so i started looking for a set of speakers to replace these
the idea was to get a budget set of speakers but basically they needed a large set of front speakers for the large room and floorstanders seemed a pretty good idea ..... so my buddies over at Govan Mani recently received some stock of the Cambridge audio S series ..... so at this stage i decided to go and have a closer listen since they were fairly largish ie the s70 floorstanders were way bigger than the Ikon 7's and then the entire set was available at around R8k which is a decent price for a 5.1 set ie they could give me similar deal to this
http://www.ultrasound.co.za/cambridge-audio-s-series-speaker-system
so the plan originally was to use the S70 floorstanders as fronts and obviously the centre channel would remain as the centre channel and then to use the S20 as surround backs for the 7.1 (wall mounted) and get a pair of S30 as rears at a similar price to this link
http://www.ultrasound.co.za/cambridge-audio-s30-bookshelf-speaker
so this would have given me a complete 7.1 system (with my current AV receiver) at a very affordable budget level ..... as luck would have it the store is a decent size so when i went in for a listen it would easily provide me an idea of how this system would do in the largish room ..... and the problem for me was that it was only fair performance ie it would have done decently given that i was downgrading in a big way but they would definitely get lost in my big room and be a bit on the lean sounding side which would be good for movies ..... not so much for music ....... then at that point the Aero range was mentioned
then as luck again would have it i managed to get a listen to the Aero 6 floorstanding pair ...... as well as my searches for reviews on the internet led to this particular photo here
and the thought that ran through my head was "i could live with a room that looked exactly like that" which is now leading to me investigating these speakers a bit further
this is what the aero series centre looks like
and two pairs of these bipoles could easily complete an awesome 7.1 setup as long as you have a relevant subwoofer to complete the setup
the above pair of Aero 3 rears are bipoles but these are wired so that they could be biamped with either side receiving a different signal from different amp channels by removing the bridging links between the binding posts so they could work as bipole with the bridging links in place OR dipole by adding a little cable in parallel with the rear speaker cables but connecting the second parallel set of cables out of phase so i could go dipole in the rears and bipole in the rear surrounds/surround back and the the third alternative if theres only one pair of these is to keep them as regular rears but connect the rear amp channel to the ones facing toward the front speakers and then connecting the surround back channels to the sides facing the rear wall to give you a 7.1 effect from 5 speakers
then i also learned that the same importers actually do the Golden Ear Technology Triton speakers but im resisting the temptation of looking into that because the entry level pair of floorstanders would cost as much as the complete 7 of the CA Aero's and it would mean i stay in stereo which in such a large room would be a total disadvantage for movies even though it might lead to improvements for music ...... but i would really prefer a stereo system to be in a dedicated listening room which my lounge could never be since i need it to remain a lounge so im still sticking to the plan of the surround setup
lots of investigation and pricing to do but if these can be obtained then im considering giving them a go in the same Walnut colour you see in the pictures because it would still be reasonably budget ie not totally way out there price wise even though its a lot more than i initially wanted to spend but i might just manage to scrape this deal through if i manage my finances carefully
the idea was to get a budget set of speakers but basically they needed a large set of front speakers for the large room and floorstanders seemed a pretty good idea ..... so my buddies over at Govan Mani recently received some stock of the Cambridge audio S series ..... so at this stage i decided to go and have a closer listen since they were fairly largish ie the s70 floorstanders were way bigger than the Ikon 7's and then the entire set was available at around R8k which is a decent price for a 5.1 set ie they could give me similar deal to this
http://www.ultrasound.co.za/cambridge-audio-s-series-speaker-system
so the plan originally was to use the S70 floorstanders as fronts and obviously the centre channel would remain as the centre channel and then to use the S20 as surround backs for the 7.1 (wall mounted) and get a pair of S30 as rears at a similar price to this link
http://www.ultrasound.co.za/cambridge-audio-s30-bookshelf-speaker
so this would have given me a complete 7.1 system (with my current AV receiver) at a very affordable budget level ..... as luck would have it the store is a decent size so when i went in for a listen it would easily provide me an idea of how this system would do in the largish room ..... and the problem for me was that it was only fair performance ie it would have done decently given that i was downgrading in a big way but they would definitely get lost in my big room and be a bit on the lean sounding side which would be good for movies ..... not so much for music ....... then at that point the Aero range was mentioned
then as luck again would have it i managed to get a listen to the Aero 6 floorstanding pair ...... as well as my searches for reviews on the internet led to this particular photo here
and the thought that ran through my head was "i could live with a room that looked exactly like that" which is now leading to me investigating these speakers a bit further
this is what the aero series centre looks like
and two pairs of these bipoles could easily complete an awesome 7.1 setup as long as you have a relevant subwoofer to complete the setup
the above pair of Aero 3 rears are bipoles but these are wired so that they could be biamped with either side receiving a different signal from different amp channels by removing the bridging links between the binding posts so they could work as bipole with the bridging links in place OR dipole by adding a little cable in parallel with the rear speaker cables but connecting the second parallel set of cables out of phase so i could go dipole in the rears and bipole in the rear surrounds/surround back and the the third alternative if theres only one pair of these is to keep them as regular rears but connect the rear amp channel to the ones facing toward the front speakers and then connecting the surround back channels to the sides facing the rear wall to give you a 7.1 effect from 5 speakers
then i also learned that the same importers actually do the Golden Ear Technology Triton speakers but im resisting the temptation of looking into that because the entry level pair of floorstanders would cost as much as the complete 7 of the CA Aero's and it would mean i stay in stereo which in such a large room would be a total disadvantage for movies even though it might lead to improvements for music ...... but i would really prefer a stereo system to be in a dedicated listening room which my lounge could never be since i need it to remain a lounge so im still sticking to the plan of the surround setup
lots of investigation and pricing to do but if these can be obtained then im considering giving them a go in the same Walnut colour you see in the pictures because it would still be reasonably budget ie not totally way out there price wise even though its a lot more than i initially wanted to spend but i might just manage to scrape this deal through if i manage my finances carefully
