Aerial Speakers for Music and HT

Rather than get involved in the debate, i will just share my own experience. I have several HT systems, one of which is Aerial 7b and cc3 with Bryston and Lexicon amp and processor. I am extremely pleased with it, espeically in the ht mode, which gets most of the use in this system. The subs are sunfire btw. I would say that the Aerial has a sound quality-as do virtually all speakers-but with the right power and the right front end, I do think they are quite refined. The other HT setups use Thiel and Totem, and while they are all quite a bit different in character, I do enjoy them all. I have found the Aerial to perhaps lack a little "air" at the top, but that is it, and it is a minor quibble.

I own a pair of 10t's in santos rosewood with stands. Fit and finish are second to none. Bought them used at less than half price and find them to be an excellent value for music and occassional ht. I only have a 2 channel setup with a subwoofer.

The 10T's are an excellent full range speaker sonically just slightly on the warm sweet side of life. The bass (depending on the amp) fast, deep, and taught.

Of course, every now and then there is a piece of music(whether classical, pop, jazz, folk, etc) that goes to the lowest lows. Hence the subwoofer. I would highly recommend them.

But no doubt about it, they want as much power as you can throw at them. They are low in sensitivity at 86db @ 4ohm.
To maximize their value, you might consider an amp in the 250 to 500 wpc (8 ohm) range.

If a new amp is in your budget, then you may want to consider the new McCormack DNA 500 a 500 wpc ss amp for $6k. I own the McCormack DNA-2 LAE amp (300 wpc @8ohm) and am impressed daily by what I hear.

IAR (Intern'l Audio Review) rates the new McCormack DNA-500 as the best ss amp in the world. Based on their previous rating of the DNA-2 LAE, I wouldn't doubt it.

Other than agreeing with the majority of respondents here, the only thing I'd add is that apart from the larger financial commitment to a minimal-compromises combined vs separate 2ch system, the major reasons for their separation is the different seating/placement/room treatment issues you would want to optimize both. But in my opinion and experience, a system that can handle music well can also handle movies with aplomb.

A good compromise. The Sonic Frontiers Line series preamps have a 'SSP bypass' mode. With this, you can have a first class stereo only system, and a HT system in the same room using the same front speakers.

I can't help it. I have to point out that the reason so many expensive home theaters are so gimmicky and puerile is that people hire guys like Keriadmus to design them. I don't doubt for a second that 10,000 watts of class h power makes for great dinosaur stomps and rocket launches, but is that all you want from your HT? Does that convey even 1/10th the emotional timbre of the foreboding score of Jaws or the fatalism of the theme from The Godfather? Or the finger snaps in West Side Story? Or Stanley screaming "Stella" in Street Car Named Desire? When I watch pulp films like Godzilla, then M&K might be better, but when I watch Amadeus or Stop Making Sense or anything with emotional substance, I want my 10T's and Sim W-5's or Classe Omega's. Every time. When I puruse Audio Video Interiors, I am always amazed at the nice look, big budgets and almost universally crappy sound of these "professional" systems. I think the HT industry is headed the way of quadrophonic because long term these systems are boring. Venting over.