Acoustic Energy’s Flagship – the new AE520

Phil Jones, the original ‘golden goose’ designer of the Acoustic Energy 5 inch driver that is key to the whole brand’s success, would be proud of the AE520, wherever he is these days as we have lost touch. But a LONG time ago, this speaker designer dude worked out that the then-new adhesives could STICK foam surround material to a previously non-stick surface. That of anodised aluminium. And here is the old big bad brand secret. The cones of the Acoustic Energy loudspeakers were made of spun aluminium that has then been hard anodised on both surfaces.

What that does is to create a micro-sandwich or composite of three layers of anodised surface, aluminium spun core and another aluminium surface, all held together by molecular forces as the item was anodised.

I was their first ever production manager, over thirty years ago now and I have never stopped bragging about it since. The first attempts by the race-car parts compnay we used back then were hilarious. They suspended each cone by a damn great heavy clip and sent them back to us, all crumpled. It was awful. They then got it right with tiny clips and we were off and running.

The metal cones weighed very little and were unbelievably rigid because of the tri-layer laminate cones. And being metal, with classic conical dome and coil former as well, their voice coils had a massive advantage that creates a sound from Acoustic Energy loudspeakers that to this day, gives you goosebumps because of the sheer immediacy and vitality of the sound. This is because the massive high-rise impulses of say the tip of a nylon-headed drumstick pinging on the bell of a cymbal versus a wooden one, sounding different.

When a BIG instant rise time peak is sent to the voice coil, it is a lot of sudden watts. This heats the coil up just like a toaster element. Like the tinfoil taken off the roast when you take it out of the oven being cool enough to touch within a second of removing it is the same thing, the enormously rapid transfer of heat to the cone and its dissipation in milliseconds prevents the coil from getting so hot that you get what’s called thermal compression. Most speakers have thermal compression, where peaks are lessened by physics. But with the AE metal-coned classic (that never was workable as a bigger driver due to the cone mass getting too big) you could make speakers of different scale of sound simply by making them with multiples of the driver. It has taken 30 years to best this with newer materials.

That and marriage to a top end tweeter via high quality passives with a little secret. Silver solder, fancy silver multi strand wires inside and ferrite end caps for the passive crossover’s bass induction coils so that they too do not get power compression and thus pass the signal to the woofers with the peaks un-degraded.

They called them AE1 AE2 and AE4, that first range. They boxes were rough as pig and it took years before they cracked how to get their enclosures as pretty as other manufacturers.
But the 30th year anniversary was a couple of years back and they have a new flagship. Named simply for the number of the wicked drivers and the year – AE520. Their cones have finally changed, to carbon fibre. Read about their performance in the following press release. I really do have a strong urge to hear these.

Acoustic Energy flagship – a brand-new addition to their recently launched 500 Series, the AE520.

This powerful slim-line, floor-standing loudspeaker builds on the AE500 and AE509 models to firmly establish itself as the brand’s new flagship with its multi-driver design, imposing size and performance.

Featuring two dedicated 125mm mid-range drivers, three low frequency drivers and a 25mm tweeter, all drive units are constructed from our newly developed carbon fibre material.  Designed to match the pistonic power and accuracy of our legendary ceramic aluminium drivers, these new units offer much improved self-damping for a smoother, more transparent sound.

Being much lighter than other typical hard dome materials carbon fibre provides a lightning-fast, natural, clear sound to the high frequency driver. Its new cast aluminium WDT waveguide is also positioned close to the mid/bass drivers for optimum dispersion, whilst the material offers an inert rigidity to reduce resonance.

The two dedicated 125mm carbon fibre mid-drivers include new oversized 35mm voice coils for low thermal compression and optimum motor force factor.  Both are mounted within their own dedicated sealed enclosure whilst the three dedicated low frequency drivers are reflex loaded by a large rear facing rectangular port. The vertical directivity has been optimised to provide excellent vertical coverage whilst reducing the energy otherwise wasted on ceiling and floor reflections when compared to traditional designs. 

These unique drivers are housed in our 18mm Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) cabinets, evolved from the prestigious Reference Series and featuring the same constrained layer composite to greatly reduce acoustic radiation and colouration. These elegant, slim-line cabinets are exquisitely finished in Piano Gloss Black, Piano Gloss White or American Walnut wood veneer options.  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.

The crossover’s low frequency section is mounted on its own PCB board to physically separate it from the mid and high frequency filters and minimise crosstalk between components. All signal path inductors are premium air core versions offering much lower distortion compared to iron core, whilst the signal path capacitors are high-voltage metallised, polypropylene wound film versions. The midrange motional impedance has been compensated to significantly reduce colouration in the lower mid-frequency range.

Mat Spandl, MD and chief designer, comments “Having spent a considerable amount of time developing the carbon fibre transducers for the AE500 and AE509 the natural progression was to put this knowledge to use in a larger loudspeaker. With the AE520 particular attention has been paid to achieving a more natural speech reproduction even at low levels, whilst still retaining the fast, exciting and powerful sound Acoustic Energy loudspeakers are highly renowned for worldwide.”

The new AE520 is ideal for medium to large sized rooms and will be available from authorised retailers only from September 2020. UK SRP is £3,500 per pair.

WEBSITE: https://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/

AE520 Technical Specifications:
Drive Units: 125mm Carbon Fibre cones
Tweeter: 25mm Carbon Fibre dome
Bandwidth: 30Hz-28kHz (+/- 6dB)
Sensitivity: 90dB
Peak SPL: 113dB
Power Handling: 300w
Crossover Frequency: 373Hz / 2.8kHz
Impedance: 6ohms
Design: 3 way
Dimensions: 1130 x 185 x 320 (HxWxD)
Weight: 30Kg (per speaker)
Finishes: Piano Black Gloss, Piano White Gloss and American Walnut wood veneer