RJ, how goes the battle with UPS and the seller? Are they taking care of you properly?
No news, Dave. All the people I've dealt with have been darn nice, but nice doesn't put the speakers in my livingroom. I expect I'll have more to report later in the week.
AverageJoe and I sort of A/B'ed one 7B against one of my JBL S312s. I hate to say much because it was a spontaneous, ill-prosecuted comparison. But based upon just what we heard, the JBLs were not embarrassed by the 5X more costly Aerials. The Aerial needed a better placement and more power available to it. It had a cleaner top end but less extension. This latter finding must be placement or power related because the 7Bs are spec'ed at 34Hz - 20kHz, +/- 2dB. The S312s are 35Hz - 20kHz, +/-3dB. Hopefully we'll be able to do some serious 2-channel comparisons later. My hope and intention is that the Aerials are sort of like JBLs on steroids...a bit more dynamic and a bit crisper.
That is the sound I prefer, and I think I may have a winner. But are they worth the money? That remains to be seen.
Your comments about the ERAs and Dyns are interesting and cause me to express a couple of random thoughts. Joe and I talked at length about this issue, as he recently got a new set of speakers for his HT. I have said this before, and the audiophiles will snicker in contempt, but I must say that there is NO SUCH THING as a speaker UPGRADE. It's all lateral, my comparison comments above notwithstanding. Speakers are all, not only different, but subject to biased ears/brain links. I don't care if they are made of concrete and are completely inert or are open baffle, cheap or expensive, or measure any which way but loose. They are just DIFFERENT, not better or worse. It's all in what you prefer. They are so subjective and there are so many variables in the delivery of sound to the listener in his/her listening space that any talk of loudspeakers being "in a different league" or "an upgrade" is really irrelevant to reality. (Cabinet quality, or speaker aesthetics would be an exception to the rule.
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