Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary - Return of the Legend

A new version of the iconic Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary Edition loudspeakers has been unveiled. Since the original model's introduction in 1997, these speakers have set the standard for compact bookshelf speakers – and now they return with a new level of quality and engineering excellence.

Acoustic Energy celebrates the 40th anniversary of this impeccable loudspeaker with the new AE1 40th Anniversary Edition, every element of which has been designed to sound as close to the original as possible. According to Acoustic Energy, the sonic roughness has been subtly smoothed out, but very carefully, so as not to undermine the outstanding qualities of the original. The core engineering principles remain: a massive, rigid, straight-lined main driver cone, driven by a powerful BL motor system, housed in a compact, heavy enclosure with classic dual front-firing bass reflex ports and a metal dome tweeter.

This tweeter was designed from the ground up to match the performance of the long-discontinued original. Featuring a larger 29mm voice coil, it works with a slightly larger aluminum dome. The dome has a shallow profile for an extended bandwidth and a large rear chamber to suppress resonances and absorb back energy. Furthermore, like the original, the tweeter is cooled and damped with ferrofluid.

The new main driver cone has also been redesigned – slightly larger, meeting modern standards (125mm). The cone is reinforced with a thick anodized ceramic layer on both sides, forming a "sandwich." Beneath the distinctive pointed aluminum cap, the woofer houses a thermally conductive aluminum voice coil with a powerful motor system. A modern improvement is the addition of an aluminum short-circuit ring, which significantly reduces distortion from changes in inductance as the coil moves.

The woofer has a rated impedance of 5 ohms instead of the previous 7 ohms, making the speaker less demanding on amplification. The Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary Edition crossover uses low-order filters.

The Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary Edition will be available in the UK in October 2025 at a retail price of £1,499.