Legacy Audio Aeris Floorstanding Loudspeaker Preview

[admin]

There is no better place to reveal a new loudspeaker than a giant event, and that is what Legacy Audio did with the release of the new Aeris loudspeaker at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival. The Aeris is a 4-way design that utilizes a new dual Air Motion tweeter (AMT), titanium encrusted 8†midrange driver, 10†midbass driver, and dual 12†subwoofers. The Air Motion tweeter is a new design that has a 1"x1" super tweeter coupled with a 4"x1" tweeter, both on the same faceplate. The dual 12†subwoofers are powered by a 750 ICEpower amp and are rated down to 16Hz. The upper portion of the cabinet is open, making the speaker a dipole design. At $15,900 the Aeris ought to be a phenomenal speaker, and considering the driver arrangement, built-in ICEamp, thick cabinet, and new tweeter, it looks like it will be.

Discuss "Legacy Audio Aeris Floorstanding Loudspeaker Preview" here. Read the article.

 

[Irvrobinson]

The number of speakers available in the $15,000-20,000 price range amazes me.

 

[whasaaaab]

Yep makes it more confusing on which speaker to buy

 

[adk highlander]

Yep makes it more confusing on which speaker to buy

Not for me. It is easy I cannot afford any of them.

 

[HifiSystems1]

AERIS was the highlight of the show fo me. There wasn't another speaker in this price range that could offer the same level of performance.

Robert Harley at The Absolute Sound thought the same. He gave the Legacy Aeris the Best Sound (highest value) award.

"The KEF LS50 loudspeaker ($1499 per pair) driven by Parasound electronics at the entry level, and the Legacy Aeris ($16,900) powered by AVM at the top end of my category."
- Rocky Mountain Show Report | The Absolute Sound

 

[3db]

Not for me. It is easy I cannot afford any of them.

What a coinkydink. I can't afford them either.

 

[Send Margaritas]

AERIS was the highlight of the show fo me. There wasn't another speaker in this price range that could offer the same level of performance.

Legacy does seem to put in substantial drivers, don't they? I haven't heard them yet, but something about them brings them to the top of my list for new mains. (On my list, ...right after: 'New Zealand', and 'Angelina Jolie')

The Aeris shouldn’t take much power to drive consider the built-in ICE amp for the subwoofers and a sensitivity rating of 95dB.

It may be just me, but I'd prefer the woofers were passive (wired independently as subs), over a built in subwoofer amp in my mains. Am I alone in that?

The Mid-woofer 10" and Mid 8" almost look like guitar speaker cones...interesting.

I've always liked the rich bass in systems with larger drivers, and I've preferred that sound. The trend seems to be towards 6.5"-5 1/4" drivers. What is the downside to using larger drivers?

95 SPL. Omg! I want to see the matching center!

 

[Irvrobinson]

The Mid-woofer 10" and Mid 8" almost look like guitar speaker cones...interesting.

I've always liked the rich bass in systems with larger drivers, and I've preferred that sound. The trend seems to be towards 6.5"-5 1/4" drivers. What is the downside to using larger drivers?

95 SPL. Omg! I want to see the matching center!

The drivers look like that because Legacy uses Eminence drivers, and Eminence products are primarily targeted for the PA and sound reinforcement industries. For durability you still see a lot of folded cloth surrounds in pro audio land, just like in the 1950s, but people who know more about it than I do say folded cloth is still great technology, and politely tell me to shut up about it if I make snide remarks.

Legacy speakers really do have sensitivities in the 95db/2.83v range. Just don't expect them to be easy loads. Legacy's designer also likes to "voice" his speakers by ear, and you either like his choices or you don't. I used to own Legacy speakers, and it took me about 10 years to find technology superior enough to get me to switch.

 

[camaraderie]

The reason for the trend to smaller bass drivers is
1. Transient response. A smaller driver= less weight=faster starts & stops.
2. Lower distortion as cones can be more rigid & have less edge flex from the center driven piston.
3. You can get just as much bass response & slam from a couple of smaller drivers that have the same sq. inches of piston area to move air.
All of the above presumes apples to apples in materials. The trick is getting absolute coherence in the smaller drivers.

I note that the AMT tweeter is a variation on the Heil AMT which dates back to the early 70's and has always been a wonderful, transparent tweeter design but is much better when used in a dipole mode as in the AMT 1B classic.
The only reason I mention it...is that Dr. Heil also invented a bass driver for the ESS Transar that tried to address the need for smaller, lighter, precisely driven bass drivers. Small squares of plastic joined to carbon fiber rods in series to produce bass.

 

[HifiSystems1]

I like it because it's an added value proposition- you don't have to spend a fortune on extra high powered amps just for the woofers because they are included. And the low end from them sounds fantastic! Apparently Legacy did a custom job on one of their bigger speakers, allowing the internal amps to be bypassed by the user if they ever purchase a second amplifier.
"It may be just me, but I'd prefer the woofers were passive (wired independently as subs), over a built in subwoofer amp in my mains. Am I alone in that?"

Gotta correct you on this one, as I recently visited the factory. They were not just voiced by ear, there was plenty of the usual test equipment there in use. Yes they are also signed off on by the designer, but it was not some shoot from the hip process. As far as using ones ear, I do think that is important too.
If you have a look at who uses Legacy, I think you'll see that they are quite popular among the people actually creating the music- Rick Rubin, L.A. Reid, Herb Powers, etc., Like everything in life, you either like them or you don't, but in a business where you can have any speaker you want, this speaks a lot to the quality of sound reproduction.
Also I have heard older Legacy speakers- they are still very good, however the new Legacy speakers are PHENOMENAL.
"The designer "Legacy's designer also likes to "voice" his speakers by ear, and you either like his choices or you don't."

 

[Irvrobinson]

Gotta correct you on this one, as I recently visited the factory. They were not just voiced by ear, there was plenty of the usual test equipment there in use. Yes they are also signed off on by the designer, but it was not some shoot from the hip process. As far as using ones ear, I do think that is important too.

Please get your facts straight. I didn't say they were "just voiced by ear", like say Tyler Acoustics, but voicing by ear is part of Duddleson's process, meaning he monkeys with the design to suit his taste. I didn't say it was "shoot from the hip" or that he didn't use test equipment. If you think tuning by ear is important, then by all means get Legacy speakers. As I mentioned I owned them for years.