Aperion Forum

Hey all. First post.

I just brought home a set of VGTs last night. My office is down the street from Aperion, and I have been waiting like everyone else for the next shipment. Matt called me about a set of A-stock returns they just received, and was cool enough to hang out after work until I could show up to take them home. 

$1528 into the back of my car. I believe they have 2 more sets…

I am a former recording engineer, with a ton of big album credits back in the day, so my concept of good/bad is perhaps a bit more specific than most. My tastes tend toward flat and precise, rather than pretty. I'm the guy obsessing over counting the number of early reflections on a kickdrum, or the ability to hear the studio gate closing on a buzzing guitar track, rather than how big the bottom end is and such (for whatever that is worth).

I set them up in my big live living room next to a pair of B&W CM9s and a set of PSB Synchrony 2s that I have been auditioning, plugged into my Marantz 7005. No Audyssey engaged.

First impressions: these are an absolutely amazing set of speakers. They are very, very flat, and have remarkable detail and imaging. Despite the increased range of the B&W tweeters, the Aperions are far more precise, and have spectacular imaging. Their ability to localize a transient to a point in space, rather than just to a region, is something I have not heard outside a studio control room, at least not to anywhere near this level of precision.

Next to the B&Ws (+$1500), the VGTs had a far more accurate response curve, as verified by my RTA, with none of the cabinet resonances at around 300hz that were so prominent in the B&Ws (one of the least musical frequencies known to mankind). Despite the B&Ws being linear to 22Khz, their imaging was disappointing next to the VGTs, with significantly less precision.

Next to the PSBs (+$2000), the VGTs were almost in a dead heat. The curve, depth of the sound field, and imaging seemed almost identical, however the VGTs had a slightly greater degree of detail despite being a bit less sibilant at around 15k. The VGTs were also somewhat more holographic, and had a better capacity to present a center image than the synchronys.

I put them up against my trusted Meyer HD1s (industry standard powered reference monitors, $8k when still in production), and found that they held their own against these as well. This, I must admit, truly blew my mind.

Unlike virtually every pair of audiophile speakers I have tried, I feel like I may actually be able to mix on these.

Bottom line, these are the best purchase I have made in years.

Now if I could just figure out how to turn off the italics…