Strong resonant bass; smooth treble and midrange; clarity; warm sound; good soundstage; forgiving of mid-fi power amplification; value

Not quite as detailed as Dynaudio; 3 year warranty vs 5 yeard for e.g., B&W

I am not a “price is no object” person, but I do value clarity, broad sound spectrum, and a full sound. After much listening and deliberation, what I ultimately purchased was a pair of Acoustic Energy Aesprit 309s. With a mid-fi amp, such as a NAD, I think these speakers are about as good as you’re going to going to get. I listed to many speakers in the under $3,000 (CDN) range: B&W 604 s3, CM4 and 704; Dynaudio Focus 110 and Focus 140; Sonus Faber Concertino Domus; and AE Aesprit 309 and Aelite 3. I also heard Totem Acoustic, Energy, Paradigm, PSB, and Energy, but did not spend much time listening to these. As anyone who reads the online commentaries knows, many listeners adore B&W. I am not overly taken with their lower-end lines. The 604s produce a sharp, but accurate sound with boomy bass. (They are the closest in price to the 309s.) The 309s produce much warmer and resonant tones with greater clarity and soundstage. The now discontinued B&W CM4 offers a little greater clarity than the 604s, but not the warmth of the 309s. I loved the 704s, but not for the price. The 704s also need decent amplification to truly perform. The bass will get up and march across the floor and into your chest, but not with any integrated amp I listened to. Dynaudio and Sonus Faber both make beautiful speakers, but each has their drawbacks. When I auditioned the Dynaudios in the store through a fairly high-end Arcam, the 140s sounded beautiful. Wondrous detail, great stereo imaging, and lovely soundstage. The 110s sounded, analytic and harsh – especially in the high frequencies. I would not recommend them. However, testing the Dynaudio 140s at home forced me to conclude that I needed a much better amp to see the benefits of the 140s. Dynaudio offers beautify clarity, but I just wasn’t getting it at home. With Sonus Faber, it’s simple. They sound very good, but you have to tack on $800 (CDN) Sonus Faber stands due to their unusual shape. In teak, the Sonus Fabers look decent, but in “piano black”, the “other colour”, they look like they are straight out of the 80s. These are also bookshelf speakers from much manufacturers of grander lines, which is also a drawback when you try to explain to your wife why you just spent $2,000 on speakers. The AE 309s are now discontinued, and I confess, I bought them for their price. Their successor, the AE Aelite 3s, can be found at very good prices notwithstanding their $2,200 (CDN) list, but for me, it wasn’t worth the extra cost. For the money, you get a sweeter treble and mid-range, and maybe tighter bass. The Aelite’s curving cabinets are aesthetically pleasing, but the silver speaker mounting enclosures are a little jarring. The enclosures would look better if they were black. That said, but for the deal on the Aesprits, I would have bought the Aelite 3s. The bottom line is that the AEs are clear, have good separation, better than average soundstage, and in light of my comments about my NAD amp, it’s worth noting that they are forgiving. I highly recommend both AE lines. Find a dealer near you and give them a listen!

Similar Products Used:

B&W 604 s4 B&W CM4

Smooth mids, handles all types of music well, well built.

Bass - although it got deeper over time, it still didn't have enough punch to keep me interested.

Having never owned a pair of Acoustic Energy speakers before, I bought these on impulse as the deal I found was so fantastic, and I liked what I had read about them. For a pair of speakers with a retail price of $1200, the build quality is pretty good. After hooking them up to my Arcam Alpha 10 (single wire), I didn't notice a lot of difference between them and my previous pair of B&W 601's (and they're stand mounters!) - however, after about 2 weeks of solid listening, they started to grow on me more and more, with the bass gradually sinking deeper, although not quite deep enough for my liking. I didn't find them quite as musical as the B&W's but of course the bass was greatly improved over a stand mount. Overall, a respectable floorstander for a sensible price, which handles almost all types of music with ease, however I sense there might be better out there for the money. AE discontinued this range of speakers in 2003.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601 S3

Power handling, bass impact, neutrality, not too bright but detailed enough, can be placed in a large variety of locations.

Could be slightly more detailed, could do better on focusing acoustic events.

One of the best bargains out there. Nearly neutral sound, strong bass, does not fatigue, clear and dynamic sound. Good craftmanship, can be enhanced by rewiring the speakers with silver solder and filling the speakers cabinet with sand. Should be placed completely parallel, not too far away from the back (max. 60 cm)

Similar Products Used:

Linn Ninka, Triangle Celius 202, Infinity Kappa 6.2i

Imaging, clarity, bass response.

None yet

We purchased these speakers used from Audiogon. We had listened to many speakers for inclusion in our home theater system, including Energy Veritas, and Paradigm Studio series. We ended up buying these, along with an acoustic energy 307 center channel and two 301's for the back channel. Our use is about 70/30 music and HT. We are driving the ystem with a Yamaha RX-V1 AV reciever, along with a Pioneer DV-502 DVD and a Rega Planet CD. We could not be more pleased with our choice! I have owned some very high end speakers in the past from Linn, Rogers, and DCM. The clarity of the acoustic energy speakers is VERY GOOD, bordering on EXCELLENT. In our 13 x 21 ft. room, the 309's have enough bass response that I have put off the purchase of a sub for a while. I highly reccomend the Aespirit line to anyone in the market for very stylish towers in the $1200 - $1500 range.

full, open sound .

breaking in period was long but its wurth it. wunderfull

after listen to many speakers i come to the AE. I was impressed. A full sound on all levels. When i installed the speakers at home on my Cyrus 2 with the psx i was even more impressed. It seems they belong togheter.

Neutral, depth, detailed, soundstage, control

Very long break in, maybe a little laidback on the treble

Before buying these speakers I did an extensive search through a wide range of different brands and speaker models. In the shops I listened to Canton, Infinity, Qln, Kef, JMLabs, etc. I wanted to find speakers able to work with everything from pop to jazz, some classical and rock, basically speakers that work with most music styles. I brought home four pairs of speakers during one weekend to get a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, Kef Q55.2, B&W DM603, Canton Ergo 700 and Acoustic Energy Aesprit 309. The Cantons were very detailed and had a crisp feeling to them, but the bass was strange. The B&Ws, that get good test results everywhere else, just sounded like a pair of club speakes with lots of bass, no detail - boom boxes... Out of these three the B&Ws performed the worst. For the price I would really recommend the Kefs, they had good detail, good mids, good bass. But, The AEs really shined! Lots of detail, best control, best mids and the best overall feeling to them. So, finaly, after a long wait they came and I set them up. They didn''t exactly sound as I had anticipated, but I was told they had a long break-in period before they really started to shine, and that proved true... It took nearly three months before the sound matured, but it is worth it! These speakers are dynamite! They have a very open soundstage and impressive depths.

Similar Products Used:

Kef Q55.2, B&W DM603, Canton Ergo 700 and Acoustic Energy Aesprit 309

True reproduction of the music. Strong accurate low end.

Not as bright as other speakers, but this may be a plus.

I am in the process of building an entry level audio system. After shopping the 3 or 4 serious competitors in my geography I have settled on the following: Roksan Kandy KA-1 integrated amp Roksan Caspian mkII CD player AE 309 speakers. I like various types of music from jazz to rock to alternative to certain piano heavy classical. My opinion of the 309 is that of a good entry level speaker that duplicates well the source components strengths and/or weaknesses. When listening to a Rega Planet, the music was not as inspiring compared to the more impressive Rega Jupiter. My only reservation to recommending the AE 309 is that it is not as sweet sounding as the B&W CDM NT 1 or the Hale Transd. 1. The price is less and it is a floor stander. My impression is that the bass is stronger and more true than the above 2 speakers and overall sound quality is musical. There is an open feeling to the music. In fact, the sweetness of the previous 2 speakers listed ablove may be an added coloration to the music that may not be accurate to original recording. I intend to let the product burn in for a few months and rereview these speakers. At this price point, very little else does what these do so well, reproduce the music produced by the CD and amp.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM NT 1 Hales Transdesence 1 Paradigm