Acoustic Energy have been busy. First seen at the Munich Hi-Fi Show in October 2023, the Corinium floorstanding speakers, which have been a three year project spearheaded by Acoustic Energy Managing Director Matt Spandl, have arrived in store with much anticipation on our part…

The Balancing Act of Price, Performance & Aesthetics

The brief for the project was simple and ambitious - to create the most dynamic, live sounding and musically involving loudspeaker Acoustic Energy have ever created.” This represents Acoustic Energy’s first speaker that lands them in the mid to high-end Hi-Fi experience. Many brands take aesthetics way beyond price/performance and into the realms of luxury interior design and fine furniture - with designer brand appeal a central part of their products. There is a convergence point that Acoustic Energy are very aware of - price/performance with a conservative competent nod to aesthetics, and the achievement here is very much on brand.

Corinium Design

Standing at 1100mm high, they sit between the AE509 and the taller AE520 and are slightly wider and deeper. The Corinium use the same 500 series Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) cabinets, but these have a lovely curve to them, reminiscent of the 2009 Acoustic Energy Radiance series, and further acoustic suppression by having a minimum cabinet wall thickness of 22mm rising to 50mm on the top and bottom plates, The front baffle is in two parts - a 25mm MDF and mounted to a 6mm single piece aluminium to create a flat inert surface. Where floorstanders gain in lower octaves sound reproduction over stand mount speakers, they can lose in transparency, speed, mid-range and high frequency detail. To overcome this the tweeter and mid range drivers are housed internally in a separate cabinet to the two bass woofers.

Tweeter

Acoustic Energy searched for a new lighter stiffer material than the carbon fibre used in the 500 series and researched the possibilities of TORAY TETORON™ - a Japanese manufactured polyester with similar properties to silk, but with greater stiffness. The 28mm tweeter, mounted to the aluminium front baffle, has lower colouration, greater speed and detail in transients than the 500 series. Interestingly, the crossover point is very low at 3400Hz. Most tweeters cross from mid range driver to tweeter around 1800Hz to 2600Hz. 3400Hz is similar to the SH25-76S in the ATCs and Esotar in the Dynaudios .

Mid range

Carbon fibre is the choice for the midrange, as in the 500 series, but these are the next generation. This driver handles five of the eight octaves in musical reproduction and is crucial to the overall mid-range tonal character of a speaker. Visually comparing the AE500 series to the Corinium, this driver has a steeper cone angle and is sunk in the cabinet more with a steeper wave guide.

Bass

With a crossover of 260Hz, these all new 140mm drivers, two in each speaker, are used to deal with “…Most of the important bass weight and speed“. Housed in a separate area to the mid and tweeter arrangement, their sole purpose is to support that mid-range and come alive when needed.

Cabinet and Finishes

This new Acoustic Energy Corinium comes with a premium flagship colour of Aston Martin Racing Green as well as standard Black, White and a gentle Tectona Teak finish.

Acoustic Energy are rightly proud of their new addition, and they have a dedicated sister website about the Corinium development here, which is well worth a read, and they are featured in this quarter’s Audio T Music at Home+ Magazine.

Setup and Listening

Cirencester, being just up the road from Bristol, allowed for a visit from Paul Burnip and Wayne Davis from Acoustic Energy to hand deliver our new Coriniums. We had already setup the new Naim 300 series (Naim NAP 350, NAC 332 pre with NPX 300 power supply, NSS 333 streamer) system ready to go.

Firing up Qobuz on the Naim app I went straight to the 141 track Audio-T Bristol playlist - https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/2438053

The Coriniums excel at timing across all frequencies. The 4 degree speaker rake really helps lift the sound stage with an ethereal quality and are not as rakish in the flesh. The detail and transparency are exquisite.

Compared with the AE520s, these are a more forward presentation with a little more top end. Although, that top end never becomes harsh and brittle. The mid range is quite sweet and very much like a Harbeth or Sonus Faber Olympica Nova. Limit to your Love, James Blake bass notes extend and are very textural with the finger clicks sharp and easily placed to the left of the airy vocals.

Female vocals and sibilance are well handled, Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell really very insightful. Acoustic guitar of Canadee-I-O - Penguin Eggs, Nic Jones -Poor Boy, Bryter Layter -Nick Drake and Over The Hill - John Martyn have attack, snap and sparkle without being too tinny. Classical and Jazz pieces are where these speakers really show what they are capable of, with the reproduction far exceeding other Acoustic Energy speakers and putting it in the realms of higher end speakers.

Qobuz Audio T Bristol, Selected from Playlist:

Veto, Tremours - SOHN
Sailing to Philadelphia - Mark Knopfler
Limit to your Love - James Blake
Hey Now, If You Wait - London Grammar
Both Sides - Joni Mitchell
Witchita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Poor Boy, Bryter Layter - Nick Drake
5:15, Quadrophenia - The Who
Canadee-I-O, Penguin Eggs - Nic Jones
Kora - GoGo Penguin
Natten - Bremer/McCoy
Passing Ships - Andrew Hill
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.14 in C-Sharp Minor Op.27 - Murray Perahia
Over The Hill - John Martyn

Conclusion

In High End Audio there is the law of diminishing returns - the point at which to secure truly better Hi-Fi performance a lot more needs to be spent for the final percentages of absolute performance gain. And this is completely understandable as the research time, manufacturing materials, component selection and engineering become more expensive, more time consuming with longer development and build times.

What Acoustic Energy have created here is a speaker that balances on the knife edge of price/performance and aesthetics. Acoustic Energy could have followed the pattern of many other manufacturers of tweaking or releasing a 500 MkII or a 700 series signature range and such like.

Instead, they tore up the rule book, hunkered down, got to work and crafted a luxury High End sound performance with great design and a sound that punches well above the £6,000 asking price - a considerable step up from the 500 series and a very serious proposition up against any speaker in High End Hi-Fi.

Justin, Max & James - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…