About The Acoustic Energy AE509 Speakers
The Acoustic Energy AE509 Floorstanding Loudspeaker is part of the flagship series from this venerable British company and introduces carbon fibre mid/bass drivers and, more importantly, a brand new carbon fibre tweeter that produces some of the clearest high frequencies you've ever heard.
The AE509 is a new slim-line floor-standing loudspeaker with compact dimensions, suitable for medium to large sized rooms. Similar to the AE500 comparison, the AE509 offers higher levels of performance and finish than its 300 Series equivalent. The 500 Series features Acoustic Energy's newly developed carbon fibre tweeters and mid/bass drivers, designed to match the pistonic power and accuracy of AE's legendary ceramic aluminium drivers but with improved self-damping for a smoother, more transparent sound. Offering unparalleled levels of performance, quality and value the result is an audio product with clean, uncluttered lines delivering a thrilling and powerful presentation discerning Acoustic Energy owners have come to expect for over 30 years.
The slim-line cabinets are finished in Piano Gloss Black, Piano Gloss White or American Walnut wood veneer finishes. Solid Aluminium bars are supplied to ensure rigid floor-coupling and maximum stability, whilst the stiffness of the metal structure reduces the room-to-speaker interaction.
A Closer Look
Tweeter: The 500 Series tweeter features a brand new 25mm carbon fibre dome. Carbon fibre is much lighter and better damped than other typical hard dome materials and provides a lightning fast, natural sound that will surprise the listener with its neutrality. The new cast aluminium WDT waveguide on the high frequency driver is positioned close to the mid/bass driver for optimum dispersion and is extremely stiff to reduce vibration being passed to the tweeter, ensuring sweet, clear and natural highs.
Mid/Bass Drivers: The dual 125mm mid/bass drivers include new oversized 35mm voice coils for low thermal compression and very high motor force factor, to provide a highly dynamic yet controlled bass response. The woofers have an optimised motor and suspension system for maximum linearity and lowest distortion ensuring mid-range definition, whilst the lightweight nature of the carbon fibre cone material increases transient speed and clarity.
Why Carbon Fibre?: Acoustic Energy don't believe in technology for the sake of it, they only use something if it has a clear purpose and benefit. Traditionally they've used spun aluminium for their transducers because of its lightness and stiffness when working as a piston, giving a highly accurate reproduction of the source waveform. The benefit of carbon fibre is that it has similar pistonic properties to aluminium but in addition is both lighter, helping efficiency & transient response, and has improved self-damping; minimising cone/dome break-up harshness.
Crossover: The AE509 uses a Mid Tweeter Mid/Bass (MTM) driver layout with a 2.5 way crossover using high voltage polypropylene film wound capacitors and air core inductors at critical locations for optimum dispersion through a smaller acoustic source size within the crossover region.
Cabinet: These unique drivers are housed in AE's new 18mm Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) cabinets, evolved from the prestigious Reference Series and featuring the same constrained layer composite to greatly reduce cabinet acoustic radiation, which would otherwise colour the sound.
Speaker Positioning
The AE509’s are very flexible with regard to positioning and are designed to work well in most typical room layouts. There are however some basic guidelines that should be followed (where possible) for optimum performance.
Rigid support is necessary for speakers to deliver their optimum dynamic response and detail and the AE509’s come supplied with special aluminium bars and spiked feet for this purpose. The AE509 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 12” (30cm) should be allowed between the speakers and boundary walls; closer will increase bass response at the expense of timing and quality. Ideally the speakers will work best between 12-24” (30-60cm) from walls where the soundstage will open up and a more neutral balance will be achieved. If lacking bass, experiment moving the speakers closer to the rear wall until an optimal balance is found.
In The News
“You get to listen into the actual instruments in the recording, rather than being assaulted by them. I am seriously impressed by the way Jim Kerr’s ethereal-sounding voice hovers somewhere above and in front of the rest of the effortlessly conveyed venue acoustic, showcasing the floorstanders really rather captivating depth perspective. I love the AE509’s clean, detailed, fast, adrenaline fuelled sound, combined with a high degree of refinement and superb sense of sophistication.”
Conclusion “… The AE509 is a seriously worthy flagship and as such should be placed high on any audition wish list.” Hi-Fi Choice
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: 2.5-way 3-driver floorstanding speaker
- Mid/Bass Drivers: Dual 5” (125mm) carbon fibre cones
- Tweeter: 1” (25mm) carbon fibre dome
- Frequency Range: 32Hz -28kHz
- Sensitivity: 89dB
- Peak SBL: 115dB
- Power Handling: 175 Watts - Absolutely must be 'clean power' so contact us if you need further clarification
- Crossover Frequencies: 560Hz/3.1kHz
- Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohms
- Finishes: Piano Gloss White, Piano Gloss Black and Real American Walnut wood veneer
- Dimensions (WxHxD): 185 x 1,000 (1,050 with spikes) x 280mm
- Net Weight: 22 kg (each)
- Manufacturer's Warranty: 5 Years
Note: Features & Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE