Aaron Magnus
AV Home Theatre
Loudspeaker System
Magnus by
name and with
a big sound
that befits this,
Aaron’s latest
proves potent
By Gavin Womersley
Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine
54
audition
equipment review
Vital Statistics
Dimensions:
280 x 918 x 390mm (ATS-5)
Weight:
14kg (CC-240)
Price:
$3,339 (complete system)
Distributor:
Betetec Industries Pty Ltd
17 De Havilland Cresent
Ballina, NSW 2478
Telephone:
(02) 6686 0277
Facsimile:
(02) 6686 0285
Website:
www.spot.com.au/aaron
A
little over a year ago
Audio & Video
Lifestyle editor, Nic
Tatham, went up to
sunny Ballina on the
northern NSW
coast to visit the
home of Aaron loudspeakers. He found
a raft of high quality test gear, the
second largest anechoic chamber in
Australia and production facilities with
the very latest of technologies. Basically
everything needed to back up arguably
one of Australia’s biggest loudspeaker
manufacturers.
Betetec Industries, a.k.a Aaron, is
definitely not a backyard operation - it’s
one of, if not the best selling brand in
Australia. Almost all of the speakers are
sold locally and are aimed squarely at
the affordable end of the market where
demand is greatest. The speakers for
review here represent my first
experience with the brand. All are
available separately but together form
the Magnus surround system. The value
of the complete system totals $3,339.
The system consists a pair of large
floorstanders called the ATS-5’s, a large
centre speaker called the CC-240, a pair
of small bookshelf speakers called the
ATS-1 and last, but by no means least, a
large subwoofer called the SUB-240.
I guess the first thing that struck me
upon the opening of the speaker boxes
was the elaborate warnings and details
concerning speaker damage that each
speaker contained. After reading the
material provided I am sure that even
the least technical person would come
away with a profound understanding on
the dangers of certain music and the
specific circumstances that may lead to
speaker damage. I can only fathom that
this has been done in response to past
problems with customers unsure of the
situations that can cause speaker
damage and unsure about whether such
damage is covered under warranty. It is
possible that the sort of people who
want a ‘big’ sound for a relatively small
Reproduced with
permission from
Audio & Video
Lifestyle magazine
Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine
55
Technotalk
Product Type:
AV loudspeaker system
Driver Complement:
See text
Impedance:
6 ohms (all models)
Sensitivity:
93dB (ATS-5)
92dB (CC-240)
89dB (89dB (ATS-1)
Frequency Response:
28Hz-23kHz (ATS-5)
55Hz-23kHz (ATS-1)
35Hz-23kHz (CC-240)
20Hz-200Hz (SUB-240)
Amplifier Requirements:
30 - 200 watts RMS (ATS-5)
20 - 100 watts RMS (ATS-1)
30 - 160 watts RMS (CC-240)
Cabinet Finishes:
Wood Grain, Mahogany or Black
Ash vinyl veneers
Technotalk specifications and recommended
retail prices are supplied by the manufacturer
sum (and expect the speakers to handle
abuse), may often buy Aaron
loudspeakers?
Whatever the case, the second thing
that struck me on unpacking the
speakers was their size relative to their
cost. I say this for none of these
speakers are expensive but all are
indeed large impressive looking designs.
The mains are $1,199 while the rears
and centre speaker cost $499 and $599
respectively. The sub is $1,099 on its
own. The fit and finish on the speakers
is of a high standard that I did not
expect to find at these price points.
All the review samples came in a very
light Beech vinyl finish which Aaron call
Wood Grain, or there’s Mahogany and
Black Ash finishes. The subwoofer
comes in Black Ash.
Starting with the 3-way ATS-5
speakers, I found a formidable looking
speaker with two 8-inch (200mm)
woofers beneath the midrange unit and
the silk tweeter. Pleasingly the speakers
came with spikes and biwireable speaker
terminals. The cabinet felt a little light
for its size and rapping on the cabinet
brought a slightly hollow sound but
otherwise it seemed an impressive
speaker for the money. The big centre
speaker seemed even more impressive
with its 3-way design, biwireable
terminals and substantial 14kg weight.
The rears were of a similar standard of
construction although they had only
standard speaker terminals.
The same family of drivers has
obviously been used throughout the
Magnus Series. The imposing sub with
its twin 10-inch (250mm) woofers with
inverted dust caps, is a ported upright
design with the single large port facing
the rear. It is also a well-featured sub
and has all the important connections
and controls - the only thing missing
was a crossover bypass feature to let you
run the line-level signal into the sub
without going through its filter circuit.
This is not a must-have though and
most subs at this price don’t feature it
either. I placed the main speakers just
inside my own my larger Celestions, and
they ended up around 60-70cm out
from the wall and toed in slightly. I then
placed the rears on top of my own
floorstanding rear speakers and the sub
went near the corner of the room
adjacent to the right front speaker.
After letting the speakers run in for
a couple of days I then started to listen
seriously. The main speakers much to
my surprise imaged beautifully. A lot of
less expensive speakers don’t image that
well but the drivers used for the
midrange and treble must have been
built to pretty exacting tolerances, and
the same for the enclosures themselves.
My favourite imaging test track on my
Audioquest BluesMasters CD was
reproduced without fault. Treble clarity
was good and the theme from the
soundtrack of Jerry McGuire came
through with an enjoyable pearlescent
Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine
56
Opinion
The ‘Opinion’ expressed here is that
of the reviewer, summarised in the
form of a 5-star rating system, and
should be considered as an integral
part of the full contents of this
Audition Equipment Review. As
such, each category should be
judged on its own merits and not
necessarily used as a comparison
with other equipment reviews in this,
or other editions of Audio & Video
Lifestyle magazine.
Shocker
Average
Good
Excellent
Perfection
“The CC-240 has to be one of
the best centre speakers I have
heard for its price. It is clean,
tight, is able to handle huge
swings in volume...”
Performance
Build Quality
Compatibilty
Value For Money
½
ring when the triangle was delicately
struck. When pushed with a variety of
other material, such as treble heavy
trance music, it started to sound a little
harsh when compared to the tweeter in
my Celestions. This could be ignored
however, as no-one buying this sort of
loudspeaker is going to compare them
with designs costing much more!
The midrange was competent
enough, although in my room at least
the lower midrange sounded a little
thin. Male voices definitely sounded
slightly ‘lighter’ on these speakers than
on most I have heard. This colouration
was noted in the presentation of music
with which I was very familiar such as
the Hell Freezes Over version of The
Eagles’ Hotel California. At least there
was no shortage of dynamic power on
tap in the midrange as heavy rock at
substantial volume was reproduced
cleanly. Bass was somewhat less than I
expected for a speaker the size of the
ATS-5 but still plentiful and of good
quality. The kick-drum from the 1970’s
track from Silver Convention’s Fly,
Robin Fly had all the impact you could
ask for. Synthesisers heading down into
the low frequencies carried remarkable
heft for a speaker of the ATS-5’s price. I
heard bass right down to 33Hz in my
room at my normal listening position.
The CC-240 has to be one of the
best centre speakers I have heard for its
price. It is clean, tight, is able to handle
huge swings in volume without apparent
effort and to top it all off goes quite
deep as well. Its size makes it unsuitable
for many. For those who don’t have the
room Aaron makes a much more
compact centre.
The ATS-1 rears acquitted
themselves very well. These are very
good value at their price and are a good
sonic match for the other speakers.
Their dynamic ability is particularly
impressive. I played a variety of music
on the rears alone in normal stereo to
determine their worth and found
surprising fullness of sound. Build
quality is no less solid than the other
speakers in the series.
I found the subwoofer a bit of a
mixed bag with music. At high listening
levels, the lower frequencies produced
considerable port noise and playing my
usual assortment of organ music found
the sub wanting for really deep bass.
Playing less demanding music like the
Eagles’ Hotel California or modern pop,
brought a very impressive performance
from the big sub with plenty of quality
output.
Switching to classical, my Telarc CD
recording of the Imperial March theme
from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
with its big bass drum sounded great
and made me look forward to enjoying
some movies with the Aaron. The sub is
rated at 20-200Hz but with no mention
of whether those figures were at ±3dB
or 10dB. Without such a figure, 20-
200Hz means little. In my room at least
I got strong door rattling output down
to about 32Hz with the response drying
up after that.
Movie time. This is after all a
surround speaker package so movies
should be the final test of the Aaron’s
mettle. It is here that they excelled. The
centre speaker cranked out the sudden
snap from the sparking ember in the
fireplace in chapter eight of The
Haunting at THX Reference Level
without any dynamic compression. My
own centre speaker (also a 3-way
design), could not have done a better
job - even at three times the price. The
mighty depth charge scenes in U-571
played at full Reference Level only
brought forth clean thunderous volleys
from the speakers. Loading the X-box
games Halo and Return To Castle
Wolfenstein (both in Dolby Digital 5.1),
brought multichannel mayhem without
strain or complaint as various things
exploded and mighty weapons were
fired upon the countless evil hordes.
Subtle soundtracks did well too. The
unnerving use of creepy noises in the
surrounds in the Mothman Prophecies
was convincingly reproduced.
I do not know exactly what Aaron’s
mission statement is, but after having
lived with this system for a while, the
concept of value for money repeatedly
kept popping up in my mind for some
reason. At the price where many
manufacturers are giving you cute little
systems for smaller rooms Aaron has
one that will do justice to the most
potent of blockbuster Hollywood DVD
soundtracks.
While I found these new Aarons
competent music performers, the
Magnus system clearly sounds its best
with movies. Therefore, I’d recommend
this home theatre speaker system to
anyone with a decent sized living room,
who’s after a full-blooded sound and
not wanting to spend a fortune on it
either. AVL
Ancillary Equipment: Rotel RCD-965BX
Discrete CD player, Rotel RSP-985 AV
preamplifier, NAD 208 THX &
Parasound HCA2003 power amplifiers,
Toshiba SD-2109 DVD player, Toshiba
46WH08 Widescreen rear projection
television monitor
“This is after all
a surround
speaker
package so
movies should
be the final test
of the Aaron’s
mettle. It is
here that they
excelled.”
/
