Acoustic Energy recently treated the team at Audio T Portsmouth to a preview of the newly-launched Corinium floorstanders.

They made a big impression, and not just because they weigh 40kg a piece! Their sound and build quality mean these £6,000* speakers (£7,000 with the British racing green finish) bring something different to the speaker party.

These are a step upmarket for the Cirencester-based team - the next nearest speaker in the range is the AE520 at £3,650 - and the Coriniums reveal a more sophisticated sonic character. Corinium is the former Roman name for Cirencester, by the way.

Mat Spandl, AE’s Managing Director and Acoustic Engineer, said: “We tried to make the sound faster and more dynamic”.

“The Corinium have a much lower level of colouration than many of our speakers. It makes them sound more open and transparent.”

Have they succeeded?

Yes, and then some. For sure the Coriniums still have, what is to our ears at least, the signature AE sound which is full-bodied, smooth and non-fatiguing.

But there is subtlety and insight too. The soft dome tweeter and carbon fibre mid sit a fair distance from the twin bass units located at the bottom of the speaker. The whole unit is raked backwards thanks to the floor spikes which are longer at the front than they are at the back.

“We wanted to improve the timing of the speakers,” explains Mat, “so there is a larger gap between the bass and the mid-range.”

“The bass provides the foundation for the mid and the tweeter. We have also worked on the mid range to get it to decay quickly so we have that fast sound.”

Listening to Taylor Swift’s Exile (Folklore, 2020) in the Audio T Portsmouth demo room, both Bon Iver and Swift’s voices are beautifully and richly rendered. Muses’ Super Massive Black Hole showed a different side to the speakers’ character presenting the track’s thunderous driving rhythm, with plenty of low bass welly, which allowed Matt Bellamy’s vocal to soar clear.

Track after track the vocals particularly impressed. Levels of detail and sound staging were impressive too.

Fit and finish were excellent, allowing these speakers to rock a classy aesthetic that is in accordance with their price point. We demoed the British racing green model which are available to order at £7,000. It takes 14 coats of paint and lacquer to achieve the lustrous metallic finish, which certainly contributed to the upmarket look. If green isn’t your thing (and you don’t want to spend an extra £1,000) then standard finishes (at £6,000) are Tectona (a bit like teak), and matt black and white.

The front baffle is 6mm thick aluminium. There are twin ports at the rear – a vertically aligned rectangular bass port and a small circular mid port.

Acoustic Energy have done a great job with the Corinium which take the AE range firmly into solid upper mid-range floor stander territory. They offer something different to other players like Spendor, PMC, B&W, ATC, Dali, Dynaudio and Sonus Faber.

Expect to see Coriniums available for demo at Audio T stores very soon!

Thanks for reading.

Alan, Luke and Stephen - Audio T Portsmouth

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