My thoughts on the new Acoustic Energy AE509 Flagship Floorstanders.
Would love to hear from others experiences on different AE speakers with Naim
Been demoing the AE509s for a couple of weeks at home now.
The pairing of my Nait XS2 and the AE509s works extremely well and both are giving me plenty of PRaT.
Initial impressions of the AE509s are of a muscular rhythmic warm and lush delivery.
Bottom end is tight and powerfully expressive and really delivers. Detail retrieval is excellent.
Bags of dynamic and fast rhythmic drive, a really transparent sounding speaker that excites and keeps you engaged with the music.
Even with fast paced heavy metal the AE509s never lose track of pace and speed, or become confused and congested.
Vocals are lush, well presented and clearly placed perfectly at the centre of a wide soundstage.
Instruments are superbly isolated and given plenty of space within the soundstage.
Focus, Depth and timbre of instruments are life like and beautifully surprising.
Superbly Priced and elegantly finished, an absolute bargain and IMO easily bettered speakers well over their price range in both sound quality and cabinet finish.
I initially short demoed the AE509s at a hi fi dealer and wasn’t impressed, they sounded OK but nothing special.
The AE509s are not the type to have that sometimes, short lived initial wow at the dealers demo room, definitely an extended home audition speaker that needs the time to really open up and shine.
Just read a review by “The Ear” on the AE509s.
After deciding on them myself I found this comment in the review–
“Here is a product for the pace, rhythm and timing fans to really get their teeth into; my foot was tapping involuntarily after just a few bars”.
My Nait XS2 and the AE509s really do play well together and after auditioning the Focal 926s, I personally found the AE509s have a greater synergy with Naim with one complimenting the other strengths.
The Focal 926s had me questioning whether I was right in choosing naim amplification.
They exacerbated all the worst traits I had never heard before from my XS2—
Sibilance, harsh overly bright sound with poor bass reproduction.
The AE509s have restored and reaffirmed my faith in naim again.
So, why the question - Your ears, Your decision L - sometimes it’s hard to pull the trigger. Always at the back of your mind - is their something better out there (wrong question). Sounds like you really like them , so I’ll spend your money - get them and enjoy- especially with all the (presumed) extra time to enjoy them. And no, I don’t offer refunds
I seem to have a very tricky living room. Speakers have come and gone as I couldn’t live with the boomy bass.
After ditching speakers over 3 times their price, the little brother AE500s managed to integrate perfectly in my room, just 25 cm away from rear wall, and a REL sub fills in the lower frequencies without any boom.
Even without the sub, I loved the sound of then AE’s - a great match with my SN2/HC.
I listen to more music now than I have in years. They were supposed to be a budget-friendly stopgap but can see them staying for some time.
Really pleased you have finally decided on a pair of speakers that fit the bill. l have been following your speaker journey from more or less the start.
I remember hearing the AE509’s at the Bristol show and thought they sounded superb. They look the business too. I would most certainly consider them for audition myself. I’m not that familiar with AE speakers and was wondering how well they would pair up with Naim. It’s great to hear that they match well with your XS2 amplifier and giving that synergy you were looking for.
But isn’t that a very real risk where hifi is concerned too often we judge by the price and ignore the fact that system synergy produces excellent results - sometimes for a much lower price
Before purchasing I was a little concerned about quality with AE509s being made in china, as a lot of top brand speakers are lately.
But my concerns where short lived as the cabinets and carbon fibre drivers on the AE509s are of top quality and very nicely designed too.
Unfortunately the all French made Focal Aria 926s did have quality issues with both cabinet and speaker drivers.
One of the Focal Arias cabinets had a long white mark (not a reflection) down the front side of one of the cabinets and unsightly Flax strings hanging from the seam of the rubber surround of the driver.
I also had to rub off spatters of wood glue residue from the front baffle on the vinyl covering