Cambridge Audio Aero 2 – Aero Dynamics (Part 2)

However, those used to the spectacle of kicking, crashing and banging budget boxes will be disappointed – they’ll accuse the Aero of being too polite, of not having enough bite. And they’ll say it is ‘boring’ because it doesn’t ‘kick asses. Listen carefully, however, and it does – as the 6 in driver in the Aero shifts a good deal more air than most 4in-equipped rivals like the Q Acoustics Concept 20. It shows itself better able to withstand the rigors of powerful modern music such as Kanye West’s Say You Will. Even in a medium to largish listening room, you can really feel the electronic percussion hit home. There’s a fine sense of solidity, plus the ability to go louder with less compression apparent. The thing is, though, that there’s no big, lumpy peak around 100Hz that gives so many small stand mounts an apparently big, bossy showroom sound (along with the one-note bass to match). Instead, the Aero 2’s low end is smooth and devoid of trickery.

The Aero 2’s low end is smooth and devoid of trickery.

The quality of the treble is excellent; Genesis’s Robbery, Assault and Battery has some lovely hi-hat and ride cymbal work and the Aero 2 shows how smooth and delicate it can be; there’s no sense of grain or coarseness from the BMR, and it spreads out around the room beautifully. However, sometimes a little extra bite would be nice; it’s almost as if the unit is over smooth and it almost doesn’t seem right on a budget speaker whose first job is to entertain. It’s an odd remark to make perhaps, but certainly with subtle high-quality front ends this speaker can almost sound that little bit too refined with thumping rock music.

The Aero’s drivers are, of course, bespoke; the BMR is the very latest fourth-generation unit – which designer Dominic Baker says is newer than the BMRs in any other commercially available loudspeaker currently on sale, some of which are still running first-gen designs.

It’s a different matter with classical, of course, where the Aero soars. It delivers a large-scale sound on the Berlin Philharmonic’s rendition of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, with an accurately rendered orchestra floating in space. Violins are amazing to behold, as they’re right where normal two-way speakers crossover, yet with these little boxes you get a wonderfully balanced and phase-coherent sense; they hang in the recorded acoustic with total assuredness, and sound raw and realistic yet never grate. Lower down, cellos grumble menacingly, yet these speakers seem to have plenty in reserve when the music reaches a crescendo; I’ve heard many pricier designs sit on transients and compress things much more. Overall, you get a refined and natural sound completely unexpected at this price.

On test

A sensitivity of 90dB is claimed for the Aero 2, but our measured figure of 85.9dB on pink noise indicates that this is substantially optimistic. Nominal impedance is quoted as “8ohms compatible”, but the modulus drops to a minimum of 3.4ohms at 138Hz, making a 4ohm nominal figure more appropriate. Impedance phase angle is also quite large at low frequencies, so the EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) falls to 1.6ohms at 98Hz and 1.9ohms at 171Hz, making the Aero 2 quite a challenging amplifier load overall, although at higher frequencies the Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) driver is benignly resistive. Frequency response, measured on the BMR axis, was flat to within ±2.5dB and ±2.8dB respectively for the review pair, 200Hz-20 kHz – an excellent result for a passive speaker.

Pair matching over the same frequency range was less good at ±1.6dB, but below 15 kHz the disparity reduced to less than ±1.0dB. Diffraction-corrected near-field measurement recorded a bass extension of 57Hz for -6dB ref 200Hz – fair for a speaker of this size – but showed the upper bass to have a peak of about 4dB at 100Hz. The cumulative spectral decay waterfall was clean, with fast initial energy decay across the spectrum and well-suppressed resonances.

How it compares

The direct rival to the Aero 2 is Q Acoustics Concept 20, which sports a very robust, well-damped cabinet that’s a good bit smaller than the Aero, plus a 25mm polyester dome tweeter and a 125mm mid/bass driver, crossing over at 2.9 kHz. The result is a lovely sounding speaker with a smooth, musical sound – in many ways similar to the Aero – but it isn’t as seamless across the midland, and doesn’t have the clarity at higher levels. This is likely down to the Aero’s larger 165mm bass driver, and the fact it needs to do less work as it crosses over so much lower. The Aero compresses the music less at high volumes, and drives larger rooms with ease.

BMR tech

Conventional moving coil drive units act historically at low frequencies, with the diaphragm moving as a rigid whole. As frequency increases, two undesirable things happen: the acoustical output becomes confined to a progressively narrower forward angle – an effect known as ‘beaming’ – and flexure in the diaphragm results in resonances rather dramatically termed ‘breakup’, although no physical damage occurs. The Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) is a cleverly elaborated form of moving-coil driver, which overcomes these problems using a flat diaphragm with carefully placed annular masses. The end result is a drive unit with an unusually wide pass band – from 250Hz to well over 20kHz in the Aero 2 – with considerably less beaming and better controlled resonances.

Conclusion

Just in case you hadn’t noticed then, I love the new Cambridge Audio Aero 2s; they’re an exotic little loudspeaker that’s simply not built in quite the same way as its rivals – and for good reason. The result is an extremely open and seamless sound at the price, one that shares more with a high-end electrostatic than a cheapo box speaker, in some respects. Still, such sophistication will not be for everyone – some might find them a little lacking in ‘bite’; such people are well served with many other designs! Go and hear the Aero 2 if you can then, and don’t be put off by the staid looks, because the nature of its engineering is precisely the reverse.

Cambridge Audio Aero 2s is an exotic little loudspeaker that’s simply not built in quite the same way as its rivals – and for good reason.

Our verdict

·         Sound quality: 5/5

·         Value for money: 5/5

·         Build quality: 4.5/5

·         Ease of drive: 5/5

·         Like: Superbly smooth, open, seamless sound; musicality

·         Dislike: Looks are a little on the bland side, but that’s it at the price

·         We say: Brilliant small stand mount engineered for stunning sonic

·         Overall: 5/5