Digital Trends

Aperion Audio Intimus 422

July 10th, 2005 | by Yongki Go

Intimus 422-LR

The 422-LR satellite speaker houses a 1" dome silk tweeter and a 4" polypropylene midrange driver in a sealed enclosure.  It is magnetically shielded, so it should not be a problem to put it close to a CRT television.  The speaker terminals are of a good quality, five-way binding post type.  The 422-LR was clearly designed with placement flexibility in mind.  On the bottom of the speaker, four small rubber feet are provided.  Three threaded holes are also provided, two on the back and one on the bottom, which make it easier to mount the speakers on the wall.  When not in use, these holes are covered with rubber plugs.  The drivers are protected by a detachable cloth grill.  The 422-LR speaker is smaller than your average bookshelf speaker; it's almost more of a mini-speaker.

Aperion Audio 422-LR Satellite Speakers

Intimus 422-C center channel speaker

The 422-C center channel houses a tweeter flanked by two midrange drivers, all of which are of the same types as the ones used in the 422-LR satellite speaker.  This is a relatively small center channel and therefore should be very easy to accommodate.  It also shares other features found in the 422-LR, such as five-way binding posts, rubber feet, a detachable grill, and threaded holes for easy mounting.  Both the 422-LR and 422-C speakers feature the company's patent-pending HD-X3 crossover technology, which flattens the speaker impedance to improve the speaker frequency response and efficiency.  A more detailed description of this technology can be found in Aperion's website.

Aperion Audio 422-C Center Channel Speaker

Intimus S-8 subwoofer

The Intimus 422/S-8 system is comprised of four 422-LR satellites, a 422-C center channel, and an S-8 subwoofer.  The S-8 subwoofer is rear-ported with an 8" polypropylene driver and powered by a 100 W class A/B internal amplifier, which is equipped with line level inputs/outputs, low pass continuous crossover adjustment, phase switch, and a detachable power cord.  This subwoofer is supported by four 1" high square feet, which are also threaded, should additional spikes are needed (also supplied).  This subwoofer is relatively small, and therefore placement should not be a big issue for it.

Intimus S-8 Subwoofer

Intimus S-10 subwoofer

Besides the complete 422/S-8 system, Aperion also shipped the Intimus S-10 subwoofer.  The S-10 subwoofer can be considered the big brother of the S-8.  It shares much of the S-8 design elements, but with a larger driver, a larger enclosure, and a more powerful amplifier.  The S-10 uses a 10" propylene driver driven by a 200 W internal amplifier.  In addition to the S-8 features, the S-10 also has high level inputs/outputs and continuous phase adjustment.  For a rather big subwoofer like this, the ability to adjust the phase continuously is a valuable feature, because moving it around may not be easy and practical.

Aperion Audio S-10 Subwoofer w/no Grill