REPRODUCED FROM HIFICRITIC
The Listening Experience Having established with Acoustic Energythatthereview pairofAE509s had already had plenty of use (although they looked pristine), I alowed the am plifiera litle warm up tim e and gotstraightinto listening, initialyusing the M yFavorites(their speling)files on Q obus,which has builtinto alarge repositoryofm usic. Starting with the 2022 reis ue ofthe BeachBoysthree-CD BestO f:Sounds ofSum m er,which hasbeen released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of California’s finest signing to CapitolRecordsin 1962,itispacked fulofbothclas ichitsongsand som e m ore obscure album tracks,m ostof which have been remastered in “proper”stereo forthefirsttim e.Asa lifelong Beach Boysfan,Iwasstartled and delighted with how immediate and realthese wonderfulold songs sounded,and through the AE509s I wasableto hearlitledetailswhichI’d neverpicked up on before. For exam ple,on ‘Do It Again’,the drum s seem ed m ore forward in the m ix and the whole song seem ed to push ahead with greaterpace than I recal from the original. O n other m ore reflective pieces, such as the sublime God Only Knows, Carl Wilson’s gorgeous high tenor is beautifuly backed by the restofthe group and the 509s brought the whole ensem ble rightinto the room with m e.Ihad planned to play justa few tracks from this three CD album butgotso involved thatIsatthrough the whole thing in that first siting. This was a truly im m ersive listening experience. Thatevening we watched an action m ovie and the 509sdid an excelent job with both dialogue and explosions and gunfire.In fact,the spoken voice is particularly wel portrayed.M y own loudspeakersare from another British m anufacturer, with astrong BBC heritage,and they bring the hum an voice to life in away few otherscan,but,the 509swere so good in this regard that they have joined a very short list of loudspeakersI’d add to theveryshort
125m m m id/bas driverincludesa new oversized 35m m voice coils for low therm al com pres ion and very high m otorforce factor,to provide a highly dynam ic yet controled bas response. Thewooferhasanoptim ised m otorand suspension system for maximum linearity and lowestdistortion ensuring mid-range definition, whilst the lightweight nature of the carbon fibre cone m aterialincreasestransientspeed and clarity.” The use ofcarbon fibre in tweeters is m uch les com m on, and once again, rather than paraphrase, let m e quote whatAcoustic Energy hasto say on the m ater:‘O ur500 Seriestweeterfeatures a brand new 25m m carbon fibre dom e. Carbon fibre ism uch lighterand beter dam ped than othertypicalhard dom e m aterials and provides a lightning fast, natural sound which wil surprise the listenerw ith its neutrality. The new cast aluminium WDT waveguide on the high frequencydriver is positioned close to the mid/bas driver for optim um dispersion and is extrem elystif to reduce vibration being pas ed to the tweeter,ensuring sweet, clear and natural highs.’ The claim ed frequency response forthe AE509sisa wide 32Hzto 28kHz.The im pedance is quoted at 6ohm s, with sensitivity of 89dB.Idecided to use the 4ohm tap on m yPrim aLuna EVO 400 integrated valve amplifier and deployed TeluriumQ UltraBlackI cable to make the connection.Ihad the cabinets with a slight toe-in towards the listening position,with the cornernearestto the rearwalat60cm distanceonbothsides. The restofthe review system consisted on m yown m odified Linn SondekLP12, with a DynavectorXX2 cartridge fited to the Itok arm , with m y GoldNote PH10 and PSU phono stage,for vinyl replay.Silverdisc and DAC dutieswere handled by Yamaha CD-S3000 player and stream ing cam e through an Auralic AriesM iniwith an iFipowersupply.Iuse a Network Acoustics ENO (highly recom m ended!)and thiswasatached to the AriesM ini.,which wasconnected to the Yam aha’s coaxial digital input. Finaly,aswe use ourhifisystem forTV sound,an opticalcable wasatached to the Yam aha.
listofthosethatIm ightchooseto replace m ine should the need everarise. Switching to vinylreplay,Iputtogethera fairly eclectic playlist, from Paul Cham bers’ Bas On Top, through the evergreen ForeverChangesby Love,the 50th Anniversary reis ue of the Roling Stones’Let It Bleed,M ax Richter’s The New Four Seasons: VivaldiReim agined and Fontaines DC’s Skinty Fia.Thatwas an interesting day!However,throughout italthe 509skepttheircom posure and I thinkdid everyalbum justice. O verthe restofthe tim e thatthe 509s graced ourliving room ,Iasked them to play everything from polyphonic Renais ance choralm usic to heavy rock, with stops atjaz ,blues,folk,pop and electronica on the way,and notonce did they falterorsound uncom fortable.Bas was ful and tuneful,butneverbloated, nor did the bas port ever m ake itself evident.The 32Hzclaim ed low frequency response seem ed veryplausible.
MUSICATHOME+ 47
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