Aries Cerat

Aries Cerat is a Cypriot high-end audio maker founded in January 2010 by Stavros Danos in Limassol. Danos, who holds degrees in mechanical and aeronautical engineering and worked in aerospace, robotics and mechatronics, started building amplifiers and converters as lab tools for his own loudspeaker work, and those tools became the product range. The company is known for very large and heavy tube electronics, valve output R2R DACs and horn loudspeakers.

Range & what it's known for

The catalogue is organised in Prestige, Reference, Signature, Legacy, Limited Edition and Legend tiers. DACs run from the Helene through the Kassandra Reference and Signature and the Ithaka to the three-chassis Homerus Legend, all built on discrete R2R ladder arrays with tube output stages. Preamplifiers include the Incito S, the Impera II, the Pondera and the Ageto Ianus. Power amplifiers start with the Quindecim and the 845-based Concero 25 and go up through the Concero 65, Exsequor and Achilleas, which use the 813 transmitting tube as a directly heated output valve in single-ended class A, while the Ianus Essentia and Geminae Ianus use the company's TriodeFet hybrid stage in single-ended and circlotron form. The Genus, Diana, Protos Ianus and Aperio Ianus are integrated amplifiers, the Talos series and Hermes are phono stages, and horn loudspeakers such as the Symphonia, Aurora, Stentor and Contendo complete the range.

Who owns it and where it's made

Aries Cerat operates through Aries Cerat Limited and Aries Cerat Innovation Ltd, both in Limassol. It is fully family owned. Danos does the mechanical, electronic and product design himself and assembles, tunes and tests the critical units, with a small staff of technicians; everything is built in Cyprus.

The lineup in this catalog

Tube amplifiers, preamplifiers, DACs and horn loudspeakers (33). Roughly EUR 15,000 buys the least costly Aries Cerat electronics, and a Legend series system or a pair of Symphonia horns goes well past EUR 300,000.

Who it's for

Aries Cerat is for a buyer with the room, the floor and the budget for components that weigh as much as furniture and who wants tube electronics designed without any size limit. The Helene DAC and Genus integrated are the entry pair, a Kassandra with the Incito S and a Concero power amplifier make up the middle tier, and the Legend tier and horn systems are the end of the path.