Intro
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After testing countless bookshelves, we had a couple of floorstanders come over to our Belgium editor. And we’re not sad about that. The Dutch importor of Acoustic Energy, Viertron, wanted to send us a pair of Acoustic Energy AE509. Within two weeks a couple of satin white floorstanders landed directly from the factory in Cirencester. To say these speakers fit perfectly in our listening room is an understatement. They’re simply made for it! Acoustic Energy will always have a special place in our hearts, because their AE301was our first serious bookshelf and immediately a top-tier player. Certainly for its friendly price. Acoustic Energy itself has had a somewhat turbulent period in recent years with a foreign investor and a swerve to China as a result. But now they are building all their speakers in the UK again. And they have a clear line in their product range.
Carbon
You have the 100, 300 and 500 series . Simple. Where the 500 line differs from the more affordable series is the use of carbon for both the driver and tweeter. The other series use aluminum. In our review of the AE500 bookshelf we already discussed this in detail. Just know that the use of carbon for a tweeter is in any case quite exceptional. These carbon fibers are very light and should on the one hand provide a faster and on the other hand a less sharp reproduction.
At the back we see a pair of solid speaker clamps and an elongated bass port at the top. The AE509 is a two-way floorstanding speaker in a D’Appolito setup, the tweeter between the mid-drivers. Each speaker weighs 22 kilograms. These are 6 ohms speakers with a sensitivity of 89db. According to the specs they go from 32Hz to 28kHz and although this is a bit optimistic these slim speakers will go pretty deep. But more about that later.
Other finishes – besides white – are high gloss black and walnut veneer but as said the white version has our preference. They are exactly one meter high and because of their limited width they don’t take up too much space.