The Aries Cerat Aurora is one of the most ambitious loudspeaker designs ever created by Stavros Danos. Developed alongside the flagship Contendo II, the Aurora combines innovative horn technology, active bass and meticulous time alignment to produce a loudspeaker capable of reproducing music with breathtaking realism.
The Aurora is a three-way, semi-active horn loudspeaker comprising an actively driven bass system, a tractrix horn midrange and a horn-loaded dipole ribbon tweeter. Every aspect of its design has been developed with a single objective: to recreate the dynamics, scale and effortless flow of live music while preserving the tonal beauty and naturalness for which Aries Cerat is renowned.
Unlike conventional loudspeakers, the Aurora employs a unique bass module machined from solid aluminium, with each enclosure housing four 12-inch woofers arranged in a hybrid open-baffle configuration.
Radiating in a full 360-degree pattern, the bass system interacts with the listening room in a fundamentally different way to traditional box loudspeakers. By reducing room boundary interactions and enclosure colouration, the Aurora delivers bass that is exceptionally powerful, articulate and naturally integrated into the music.
Each bass module incorporates its own dedicated 250-watt amplifier, allowing the passive horn section to be partnered with everything from low-powered single-ended valve amplifiers to the finest solid-state designs.
At the heart of the Aurora is a bespoke tractrix midrange horn incorporating Aries Cerat's distinctive swirl termination.
This unique geometry has been developed to minimise diffraction at the horn mouth, resulting in a presentation of exceptional openness and coherence. The custom compression driver, inspired by the legendary Western Electric 555 but extensively re-engineered for modern performance, delivers remarkable dynamics while preserving the natural tonal character of voices and acoustic instruments.
High frequencies are reproduced by a custom RAAL true ribbon driver operating as a dipole and loaded by its own tractrix horn. The result is extraordinary speed, delicacy and extension without sacrificing body or musicality.
One of the defining characteristics of the Aurora is its meticulous time alignment.
The bass system, midrange horn and ribbon tweeter are all acoustically aligned so that the music reaches the listener as a coherent whole. Rather than relying on digital processing, Aries Cerat achieves this through careful mechanical design, extensive measurement and passive analogue crossover techniques.
Every listening room is unique.
Aurora incorporates an external crossover with app-controlled adjustment, allowing key parameters to be optimised for both the listening environment and personal preference. Importantly, these adjustments are achieved through carefully selected passive analogue filter networks rather than DSP, preserving the purity of the signal path while providing remarkable flexibility.
The Aurora is unlike any loudspeaker we have encountered. It possesses the scale, dynamics and effortless presentation expected from the world's finest horn systems, yet combines these qualities with remarkable tonal beauty, coherence and refinement. It is one of those rare loudspeakers that makes reproduced music feel startlingly close to a live performance.
The Aries Cerat Aurora is one of the most ambitious loudspeaker designs ever created by Stavros Danos. Developed alongside the flagship Contendo II, the Aurora combines innovative horn technology, active bass and meticulous time alignment to produce a loudspeaker capable of reproducing music with breathtaking realism.
The Aurora is a three-way, semi-active horn loudspeaker comprising an actively driven bass system, a tractrix horn midrange and a horn-loaded dipole ribbon tweeter. Every aspect of its design has been developed with a single objective: to recreate the dynamics, scale and effortless flow of live music while preserving the tonal beauty and naturalness for which Aries Cerat is renowned.
Unlike conventional loudspeakers, the Aurora employs a unique bass module machined from solid aluminium, with each enclosure housing four 12-inch woofers arranged in a hybrid open-baffle configuration.
Radiating in a full 360-degree pattern, the bass system interacts with the listening room in a fundamentally different way to traditional box loudspeakers. By reducing room boundary interactions and enclosure colouration, the Aurora delivers bass that is exceptionally powerful, articulate and naturally integrated into the music.
Each bass module incorporates its own dedicated 250-watt amplifier, allowing the passive horn section to be partnered with everything from low-powered single-ended valve amplifiers to the finest solid-state designs.
At the heart of the Aurora is a bespoke tractrix midrange horn incorporating Aries Cerat's distinctive swirl termination.
This unique geometry has been developed to minimise diffraction at the horn mouth, resulting in a presentation of exceptional openness and coherence. The custom compression driver, inspired by the legendary Western Electric 555 but extensively re-engineered for modern performance, delivers remarkable dynamics while preserving the natural tonal character of voices and acoustic instruments.
High frequencies are reproduced by a custom RAAL true ribbon driver operating as a dipole and loaded by its own tractrix horn. The result is extraordinary speed, delicacy and extension without sacrificing body or musicality.
One of the defining characteristics of the Aurora is its meticulous time alignment.
The bass system, midrange horn and ribbon tweeter are all acoustically aligned so that the music reaches the listener as a coherent whole. Rather than relying on digital processing, Aries Cerat achieves this through careful mechanical design, extensive measurement and passive analogue crossover techniques.
Every listening room is unique.
Aurora incorporates an external crossover with app-controlled adjustment, allowing key parameters to be optimised for both the listening environment and personal preference. Importantly, these adjustments are achieved through carefully selected passive analogue filter networks rather than DSP, preserving the purity of the signal path while providing remarkable flexibility.
The Aurora is unlike any loudspeaker we have encountered. It possesses the scale, dynamics and effortless presentation expected from the world's finest horn systems, yet combines these qualities with remarkable tonal beauty, coherence and refinement. It is one of those rare loudspeakers that makes reproduced music feel startlingly close to a live performance.
