Acoustic Energy AE120 Speakers

Acoustic Energy AE120 Floorstanding Speakers

The top of the range Acoustic Energy AE120 is a slim floorstanding loudspeaker that has been engineered to off­er neutral balance, low-distortion and high power handling with as little cabinet colouration as possible. Incorporating a rear-port with a wide output slot this 3-way design offers excellent dynamics and bass extension and is ideal in a large number of room situations and systems.

As a flagship, the AE120 is the largest model in the 100 series range and a true 3-way design. The speaker offers a big sound from a slimline enclosure, tastefully styled to blend into a wide range of domestic environments. Twin bass drive units underpin the room filling performance with a dedicated mid-range driver housed in its own enclosure, carefully designed to mitigate the harmful effects of rear wave reflections. Integrated within the perfectly matched Wide Dispersion Technology (WDT) waveguide, Acoustic Energy’s 25mm soft dome tweeter manages the high frequencies with controlled dispersion, high sensitivity and low distortion.

The 3-way crossover is impedance compensated to avoid the resonance issues which would otherwise slow bass delivery and colour mid-range performance. Particular attention has also been paid to the phase and time alignment for optimum integration and soundstage. The result is a loudspeaker offering smooth, wide dispersion high frequencies with a clean mid-range and lightning fast bass. The inert cabinet enclosure is constructed from 18mm MDF and like it’s smaller AE109 brother, supplied mass loaded to help dampen cabinet vibrations. The internal bracing system has been carefully tuned to reduce cabinet resonances and mid-range colouration, whilst the new AE120 benefits from a subtlety styled, discrete satin black plinth to aide stability, further improving dynamics and stereo focus.

Acoustic Energy 100 Series

Given the demanding requirements that led to the creation of the original 1 Series, it may sound surprising that AE have been able to obtain even higher performance from more compact enclosures at more affordable prices… the 100 Series is physical proof this is possible.

The 100 Series introduces a number of improvements and evolutionary changes all focused on refining the listening experience at the same time as providing a more room friendly loudspeaker. AE have introduced their WDT tweeter assembly from the AE1 Active, which creates far better in-room dispersion, as well as locating the slot ports to the rear for less midrange colouration and improved bass response. At the same time, the external design has been improved for a more elegant appearance and smaller footprint that should work well in a wide variety of surroundings. With higher quality fit and finish than ever before available from this entry level range, new colour and vinyl options and neat magnetic grilles the visual appeal is higher than ever.

The result is a stylish and more powerful range of speakers that embodies all of the qualities that Acoustic Energy is renowned for while taking advantage of everything that they have learned in their continuous process of development.

Tweeter: AE’s bespoke 28mm soft dome tweeter was designed in tandem with the 100 Series bass driver to offer optimum integration and tonal matching. Paired with AE’s Wide Dispersion Technology waveguide, the crossover region between drive units is audibly seamless whilst the high power neodymium motor assembly ensures reliable, distortion-free high-volume playback.

Midrange & Bass Drivers: The 110mm midrange & bass drivers used in the 100 Series have been developed with a high power, long excursion motor to provide satisfying volume levels and bass extension from relatively compact enclosures. The doped paper cone enables a higher crossover point for smoother mid-range and seamless crossover with the tweeter, creating extremely high fidelity, detailed and above all musical sound reproduction.

Cabinet: The 100 Series uses sturdy 18mm MDF enclosures with carefully tuned bracing, reducing harmful resonances whilst retaining body and substance from compact, practical cabinets. The rear slot porting enhances smooth bass extension with minimal room impact, allowing easy placement. The AE120 features inert mass-loading for additional stability and acoustic damping while all models come supplied with slim magnetic grilles.

Speaker Positioning

The AE120’s are very ­flexible with regard to positioning and are designed to work well wherever they are located within the listening environment. There are however some basic guidelines that should be followed (where possible) for optimum performance.

For serious listening the grilles are best removed where practical. Rigid support is necessary for the speakers to deliver optimum dynamic response and so it is important to carefully level the speakers and make sure the speakers sit solidly on their supplied spike feet without rocking.

The AE100 Series speakers are very ‘room-friendly’ and should be able to be placed where most convenient with minimal detriment to sound. Where possible a minimum of 150mm of space should be allowed between the speakers and boundary walls. For stereo listening the two speakers should be the same distance from each other as the listening position. Experiment and listen to what works best for you, trust your own ears and judgement.

Our Review

There is no shortage of competition at this price point but the AE120’s hold their own very well. The first thing you notice is how supermodel slim these speakers are. The integral base is slightly wider to make sure these elegant speakers stay upright even with small or furry friends around. The second thing you notice is how bloomin’ heavy they are for the size, a quite considerable 19 kg each. This solidness of construction combined with their stylish stature make these a rather attractive choice in the right environment. The good thing about a slim floorstanding speaker is they can be used in almost any room without sticking out like a sore thumb visually. And the AE120’s have more than enough welly to fill a medium to larger size room with rich dynamic sound that you would swear was coming from a much larger speaker. They are also relatively easy to drive with a sensitivity of 90dB and a six Ohm impedance rating so while your chosen amplifier needs to be of reasonable quality, with good current delivery, it doesn’t need to be particularly highly powered.