Welo...had a new Mt. Vernon AE installed last week and it's night and day over the XXV! No more grunts, rotisserie grinds and tinkles causing distractions in the room...the elephant has been tamed! If this were a perfect world I'd add some dynamic speed regulation to the AE's heat exchange blower. It tends to hunt for a sweet spot at times mimicking the sound of gusting wind. In addition, my wife is visually impaired and a nice big on-off button (switch?) would be helpful instead of the thermostat dance. Not complaints...just new user observations.
We still think the XXV is a better looking stove (and it never failed us) but the refinements of the AE more then offset the looks. It's almost like all development stopped on the XXV when Harmon was purchased and a "good enough" attitude was adopted.
My 2 cents,
We still think the XXV is a better looking stove (and it never failed us) but the refinements of the AE more then offset the looks. It's almost like all development stopped on the XXV when Harmon was purchased and a "good enough" attitude was adopted.
My 2 cents,