Acoustic Energy? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin C Brown]

I am looking at the Aegis Evo 1 (less likely) or the Aesprit 300C (more likely) as the rears in a 7.1 system.

Any HTF'ers have experience with these or other speakers by AE?

I got turned on to them by a Stereophile review. Very flat freq response, and very good low freq extension considering that the Aegis 1 is just a "mini monitor."

 

[Jeff D.]

Kevin;

Acoustic Energy is a well-respected brand coming out of England. They made their name on a series of quite expensive speakers many years ago. Since then they have been filling out their product catalog with more inexpensive products. They continue to use metal drivers in all their models - though some feature fabric dome tweeters.

Like many brands out of England, they are a bit of an unknown quantity in North America, but still a fine brand.

The Evo 1 is a particularly nice speaker, probably the best in the range.

/Jeff

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Jeff- I did find out that the expensive ones are still made in England, but somewhere in the line, the cheaper ones are made in Malaysia (including the Evo 1). But good performance is still good performance!

 

[Jeff D.]

Yup, the company is based in England however a lot of their product is now manufactured in the East.

/Jeff

 

[Paul.S]

Just wanted to reiterate Kevin's initial question about the Acoustic Energy 300c's as surrounds.
Specifically, I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has any comparative sound quality comments on the bass reproduction capabilities of the 300c's versus the smaller 301s and the larger 300s.
Based upon both bass extension (according to specs. listed at the AE Website, the 301s reach 60Hz, the 300c's reach 45Hz and the 300s reach 40Hz, +/- 6 db) and a Ken Pohlmann review of an AE system in the April 2002 S & V mag that used the 300c's as surrounds in which he says he'd "have liked more bass from the surrounds," I've made the argument to a friend interested in a system consisting of the 309s for main L & R, the 307 for center (and a Paradigm Servo 15 for sub) that it would be best to go for the 300s, especially if there's interest in multichannel music.
Anyone with first-hand experience or comments?
Cheers,
Paul

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Paul- I actually used a set of 300c's for maybe a month. Beautiful speakers. But I switched to Energy C-3's, because the freq response is a little smoother, and the bass extension goes a little lower. There is a review of the C-3's at www.audiovideoreviews.com in the loudspeaker section. Has measurements too. I wanted to keep an 80 Hz crossover back there. The Energy's easily can use that, the AE's not quite. (I actually dug up the S&V review with their measurements. April 2002 I think. The 300c's low freq starts to drop off around 100 Hz. Based on the C-3 review, I estimated the -3 dB point at 50 Hz. And, if you look up the specs: similar sized drivers at 6.5" woof and 1" tweet for both, but the Energy has a much bigger enclosure.)

 

[Paul.S]

Kevin:
Thanks for the reply.
In addition to reading the review of the Energy C-3s at the link you provided (this one takes you directly to the review instead of the site's home page), I also read the review they link to of the AE 300s.
Although there are more measurements available in the C-3 review, the text of the two reviews leads me to believe that the AE 300s are competitive with the C-3s and might have been as desirable of an upgrade candidate from the AE 300c's.
Let me know your thoughts if you care to read the AE 300 review.
Cheers,
Paul

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I believe that the 300's have the same drivers as the 300c's, but my limited knowledge of speakers says that because the enclosure is larger, they can be "tuned" for more low freq extension. They are higher priced, but would match timbre of other AE's as well.
Oh, a point though, the 300c's are ported on the front, so they are more forgiving placed close to a wall. The 300's have the (pluggable) port on the back. Better away from a wall. But I guess you can use the plug for close-to-wall placement.
I see what you mean: they directly compare them to the C-2, but the C-3 is a step above them also, but $500 vs $700 a pair vs the 300's.
AE makes very nice speakers. I'd say they'd give equivalent B&W and Monitor Audio speakers a run for their money (other British makers), but they aren't nearly as well known.
The nice thing? If you look around, you can find some nice deals on AE...

 

[Paul.S]

Kevin:
Thanks for the reply.
Especially given how well lauded (and widely-used as reference monitors in classical music recording studios) the B&W 801s are, that's quite a compliment if you feel that AEs are comparable to (equivalent) B&Ws.
Also, check my post #5 above for a link to AE's specs.: the 300c features a 150mm mid/bass driver, whereas the 300 features a slightly larger one of 180mm.
Cheers,
Paul