cheap 5.1 acoustic energy set up.

acoustis energy are doing the last of the aesprit range of speakers for an amazing price. a full 5.1 package worth originally 1895 now down to 450.
i,ve just taken deliveryt of some and the build quality looks suberb. not tested yet because the cinema room is not ready.
http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/products.htm

 

Do you have any scratches, marks etc?

Rob.

 

none what so ever. brand new in boxes. just discontinued i beleive. well worth it i thought.

 

Nice one for pointing this out avnutter, I had seen them a little while back when they were selling off a-stock, but these b-stock prices are superb
I just ordered 1 pair of 309's in black, and another pair in maple (not both for me!!) at £149.95 per pair delivered, not bad for £700 pounds worth (originally) of speaker
I was going to opt for the 307 centre as well, but it's even wider than my current aegis one, which is a little on the big side for my cabinet as it is AE told me that the aegis centre would be the next best thing to match with the Aesprit 309's so hopefully I'll be OK.
Out of interest, how long did yours take to arrive avnutter? I was told within a week.

 

This just made me smile
http://www.hifistore.co.uk/product.php?qsProd=AE309#

 

This just made me smile
http://www.hifistore.co.uk/product.php?qsProd=AE309#

i,m surprised this place has got some.
by the way mine came within 4 days.

 

Maybe they haven't anymore, just that I'd heard they retailed for around £700, but had never seen them on sale anymore since the aelites had been out.
Four days - can't wait

 

I am surprised you managed to get some in black.

I went in there 2 weeks ago to have a look at them, and they only had maple and cherry left.

Well done mate if you have.

 

Well when I mailed them earlier they said they had about 5 pairs of either maple or cherry. My friend wanted black so I asked about these and the guy said he had one pair left!! I phoned my order through about an hour or so later and the lady didn't say that they were out of stock. Hope they had them......

 

Looks like a great deal, just hope they have some left on Moday as I think I will go for these!!

 

Well have ordered a set and am picking them up this morning!!

Thanks to the OP!!!

 

Don't suppose you could pick mine up while you're there!!!!??

Still waiting on mine

Hopefully they'll come today

 

Its daft actually they wouldnt reduce the price for me collecting and they were saying it was a 14+ day wait for delivery??

As I am only 5 miles down the road thought I might as well collect!!

 

let us know what they sound like. mine are are still boxed away waiting for cinema room. well done for gettin them.

 

Will do.

Also worth mentioning that these are definately brand new!! Have had a look (will set up when I get an amp!) and they look great!!

 

Thta's good to hear, what did you go for in the end, and what colour?
Can't wait to get mine - I opted for a pair of maple AE309's in the end, was contemplating cherry but hadn't seen enough pictures of them in that colout to be sure.

 

Went for the full 5.1 set in maple.

Going to spend tomorrow getting it all sorted!!

 

How do these bad boys compare to the Acoustic energy Ego series? and do you think it's worth shelling out for the sub considering I already have the Velo-CHT10r?

 

Oh dear, it seems the bubble may have burst

Was expecting them to be here by the end of this week so dropped them a mail to confirm that I would have them by tomorrow, or if there was some kind of delay.

I am then informed that they have no recollection of our order or name!! Even though I had mentioned it in previous emails to confirm that the black & maple pair ordered were actually available and the guy had responded saying that the order was being put through that day (monday)!!

The only thing I'm hoping is that he thinks we ordered by email/fax, rather than telephone and perhaps is checking on the wrong system, as all my contact has been by email so perhaps he thought I had emailed the order to him.

I hope this gets sorted

 

Nope, clarified this morning that they have 'lost' our order!! How the **** can they lose an order!!?? I told them all details on time, date order was placed, that we spoke to a foreign lady. Surely if they have lost it on system they could at least chedck with the person who fits the description that we placed the order with!!?? So obviously credit card details are just floating 'lost' around the sales office somewhere!! ****ing ****s

Apparently we have to palce the order again, and I was mailed a web order form. We phoned the order through initially as my friend didn't want to put his card details ina n email, so how can I bes ure that if we phone through again that the order will actually get placed?

This has really ****** me off, especially as I had spoken to the guy before about the order and he hadn't said anything. Muppets.

 

Yea but trust me they are worth it!!

Installed mine yesterday and they look superb, just waiting for my amp and I can give a review on the sound!!

 

Was looking at these - these seem very tasty at this price - if any are left I really feel like getting hold of some !!! Was wondering how they would sound for just playing my MP3 music collection, would the 309's just do the job on there own ? or would I need the 308 also ? Any thoughts ?


Thanks

 

Welllll, I just ordered a 7.1 setup in maple
All I need now is an amp, err, a plasma screen and a dvd player

 

i would like to hear from anyone who has demo,d these to let us know what they think.
thanks.

 

Well I have just finishing my initial setup and I must say they sound superb!!

Am still getting to grips with my new amp and the settings etc but so far am very impressed.

Sounds better than my previous setup and has cost me about a 3rd as much!!

 

Finally got my maple AE309's today

They are mint, no marks on them whatsoever

Only had them running for a half hour or so at low volumes, but so far they have much more presence than my old Eltax Liberty 5+, also much fuller low end. Look much ncier also

Once they're run in I'll be able to give a better opinion, but so far money well spent!
Probably going to go for a pair of 301 for rear to replace my Gale bipolar, and either stick with my aegis centre, or go for the AE307 centre if I get a wider TV stand/cabinet.

Incidentally I'll highlight a misprint from the AE site. My other half was a little upset about the depth of the 309's quoted at 395mm by AE. Well the manual quotes 305mm deep, and that's with the grills on, without teh grills they are approx 290mm deep so not too much of a bulky cabinet after all!! Obviously the plinth sticks out a little either side, but nothing major.

 

I decided to give some of these a go (a 307 and a pair of 309's in maple). Like Hallsy they lost my order (that I had faxed with my cc details on). I've since cancelled the card as this worried me

Anyway... I have a Denon 3805. Old speakers were Tannoy MX2's on Mission stands with a Tannoy MXC centre. I decided to stick with my MX3 rears - maybe in the future I will use MX2 and 3's to create 7.1 (need a bigger room!).

I haven't had chance to give them a good blast, but from what I've heard they are a big improvement on my old fronts. I wanted floorstanders as I find the stand-mounts too lacking in bass. Using 'direct' or 'pure direct' sounds great and makes 'stereo' mode sound terrible in comparison. With the Tannoy's the direct modes sounded flat and lifeless and they needed to EQ/processing of the stereo mode to sound any good.

Vocals (TV) are certainly clearer from the centre and the centre seems to produce a wider range than my MXC (it is quite a bit bigger). The MXC sounded quite flat at times.

I haven't yet watched a film, but will watch a couple over the bank holiday. The quick tests that I've done seemed to give a greater "wall" of sound and it certainly sounded more detailed.

Now for the downside... The centre 307 and the 309's are a slightly different colour. Compared with my Tannoy's the 307 looks quite orange and the 309's quite yellow. The difference in colour (between the 307's and the 309) is very noticeable.

Also we have a lot of pine/beach in the lounge and they do seem to clash (unlike the Tannoy's which were much lighter). Also I don't like the grills - they are dark (black) and on such large speakers I do find them very in the face and distracting (when watching TV etc) compared with the grey/silver fronts on my Tannoys. I like them with the grills off, but my wife says that it's like having lots of eyes looking at you - also we have a 2 year old, so not very practical! I don't like the black grills on maple speakers, black grills on black speakers would be fine!

Does anyone know where you can buy grey/silver grill cloth? I am tempted to re-cover them.

Hope this is of interest. I will give some more thoughts later this weekend.

Rob.

 

Can I ask what peoples thoughts are on what size the speakers should be set to on my amp?

I am leaning towards large for the front cos they large but am not sure.

Also where should the crossover be set at for the sub?

Cheers!!

 

These speakers hould be set as large, unless you are using the 301's.

Interesting comments about the colours differences rob. I was going to stick with an Aegis Evo centre in maple( I have a black one at the mo), but thought it would be slighty different colour, but I've just bought a wider AV stand so I can fit a wider centre on so was going to go for a 307 but not sure if they are different colours.
How do they match tonally, easiest way to tell I find is using the test signal from the amp. The AE309's with Aegis centre are a much better tonal match that my old Eltax were with the aegis centre, but still not spot on.

I actually think the grilles look nice on, it makes the speaker look tall and slim, although I reckon I'll be leaving mine off eventually in case the speakers get tan lines!! The thing I thought woul dhave been better is maybe a maple plinth rather than the balck plasticy looking one, also the spkies seems a little high (as noticed by the other half ) but other than that I think thay are spot on. Much shinier cones than my old aegis centre, unless they have gone matt over time!!

Also louder at the same volume than my Eltax were, what causes this? Sensitivity? More cones?

 

I have just had a look and my center is also slightly different coloured!!

Also I have had to 'repair' the cloth grill twice so far as there have been areas where the cloth was coming away from the plastic frame. Not a massive deal but I keep getting my finger supa glue'd to my nail!!