Aperion Audio

Solid speakers, solid value

“And the 2005 award for best presentation/packing materials goes to . . . Aperion!” The Intimus speakers from this small firm in Oregon unpack from heavy-gauge cardboard cartons, then full-coverage expanded foam, then thick plastic bags — and then each speaker disrobes from a deep-blue, sateen-lined velvet sack. Ooh, how sexy!

The Short Form

aperionaudio.com / 888-880-8992 / $1,339

Plus

•Excellent two-channel imaging. •Good three-way center speaker. •Strong subwoofer. •Nice wood veneers.

Minus

•No crossover bypass on sub.

test bench

The Aperion center speaker showed remarkably uniform directivity, suggesting consistent timbre for listeners at on- and off-axis positions. The sub went lower than the others here, showing useful output (77 dB SPL) at 20 Hz and maximum output of 110 dB at 62 Hz. Full lab results

How do they do it? Simple: no retailers. Aperion sells only direct to consumers via the Web. At least some of the dealers’ cut is apparently going to Northwest box, foam, and velvet makers. There’s more: with a 5.1-channel Aperion suite you also get a setup kit including white gloves, a polish cloth, and — get this — a cheap but effective handheld sound-level meter along with a comprehensive setup guide. Now that’s added value!

The actual speakers are nice, too. They come in genuine cherry veneer or gloss-black lacquer, making them the only speakers in the group offering a real wood finish. They have solid, thick-walled enclosures and use high-quality drivers. Aperion’s Web site also touts its crossover technologies (circuits that derive separate frequency bands for woofers and tweeters), but I couldn’t really conclude that they’re doing anything truly unique.

SETUP The 532-LR front and 422-LR surround sats all have threaded inserts on both the rear and bottom panels, so they’re very stand-friendly (I used my own stands for all three systems). Aperion uses high-grade, all-metal binding posts for the connections. As with all three systems, I set up the left/right front speakers on stands flanking my 42-inch plasma set, with the 533-VAC center speaker just below and the surrounds on high wall shelves astride the listening position. I checked the supplied sound-level meter against my own: it was very accurate across most of its range, but a few decibels (dB) less sensitive at low frequencies, which would likely result in too much bass unless corrected by ear. The 10-inch S-10 subwoofer lacks a crossover-bypass switch, so I set its Frequency control wide open and used my preamp/processor’s line-level crossover, as I did for the other two systems.

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