Audio Engineering Wizard: Stavros Danos & His €265,000 Aries Cerat "Sirens" Speakers

Welcome to another episode of Sound With David Hyman. Today, we are stepping inside the mind of a true audio genius: Stavros Danos, the founder, owner, and lead designer of Aries Cerat. Live from the High-End Audio Show in Vienna, I walk into a room that completely blew me away. In a world full of ultra-high-end audio, it's rare to hear a system that makes me stop in my tracks—but this one did. We are looking at "The Sirens," a staggering €265,000 speaker system featuring inverted back-chamber horns, open-baffle force-canceling woofers, and field coil drivers running on their own constant current power supplies. Before founding Aries Cerat, Stavros was an aeronautical robotics engineer. In this interview, he breaks down the extreme physics, materials, and phase-alignment technology that go into building these zero-vibration masterpieces. We also take a full tour of the room's jaw-dropping electronics stack, from the Pink Faun Ultra server to a custom turntable Stavros designed himself. 👇 EQUIPMENT FEATURED IN THIS REFERENCE SYSTEM: 🔊 Speakers: Aries Cerat "The Sirens" (Modified D'Appolito MTM, Inverted Horn, Field Coil Cone Drivers, Open Baffle) 📻 Crossover / Power: Aries Cerat Field Coil Power Supply (Constant Current) + Class-D Subwoofer Amps 🎚️ Digital Interface: Aries Cerat Homerus Stack 🌐 Streamer/Server: Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra Audio Server ⚡ Amplifiers: Aries Cerat Flagship Monoblocks & Smallest Amp (Protos / QuintEssence) 💿 Analog: Aries Cerat Hermes Phono Stage & Custom Hand-Built Turntable/Tonearm by Stavros Danos ⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS (Jump to your favorite section): --------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 - Introduction: The Best Sound at the Vienna High-End Show 01:10 - Meet Stavros Danos: From Robotics to High-End Audio 02:09 - Introducing the Sirens (€265,000 Loudspeaker) 02:42 - Modified D'Appolito Array & True Inverted Horns 03:16 - Why Field Coil Drivers Need Constant Current Power 03:52 - Open Baffle Woofers & Force Cancellation (Zero Vibration) 04:26 - 5-Axis CNC Machined Wood & "Liquid Pearl" Finishes 05:32 - Physical Time Alignment vs. Crossover Group Delay 06:52 - System Electronics: 4-Channel Sub Amps & Field Coil Power 07:31 - The Stack: Pink Faun Ultra, Homerus DAC & Monoblocks 08:09 - The Hermes Phono Stage & Custom Aries Cerat Turntable 08:29 - 🔊 Listen to Adagio for Strings and Organ in G Minor 🔊 Berlin Philharmonic 10:58 - 🔊 Listen to Moon Light On Spring River 🔊 Zhao Chong 12:57 - 🔊 Listen to So What 🔊 Miles Davis --------------------------------------------------------- 🧠 KEY AUDIOPHILE CONCEPTS WE COVER: • Force Cancellation: Why the woofers are mounted in an open-baffle cross-braced configuration to completely eliminate structural vibration, meaning the speaker doesn't have to dampen resonance because none exists. • Field Coil Drivers: Why true field coil advantages can only be unlocked when they are fed by conditioned, constant current (or constant voltage) rather than acting as standard magnets. • Inverted Horns: Using an inverted back chamber to perfectly absorb the driver's back wave as efficiently as possible. • Time & Phase Alignment: How the physical layout acts as a single horn, combined with a crossover designed to maintain custom group delay perfectly aligned to the listener's exact seating distance. If you enjoyed this deep dive into the absolute peak of extreme hi-fi audio, please drop a LIKE, leave a COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more incredible system tours! #AriesCerat #Audiophile #HighEndAudio #HornSpeakers #DavidHyman #HiFi #StereoSystem #PinkFaun #TubeAmps #FieldCoilSpeakers #ViennaHighEnd