Acoustic Energy Aesprit 300c

I purchased these Acoustic Energy Aesprit 300c speakers direct from Acoustic Energy as "end of line/b" stock (still with 12 month manufacturers warranty on moving parts) and I am absolutely delighted with them, especially for the price of £50GBP (approx $30) instead of £300GBP!!! They have replaced my Mordaunt Short Decathalon Series 904 floorstanders and the improvements (in general) have been a revelation.

Unlike the Aesprit 300's the "C" refers to a slighly smaller cabinet and front porting, which makes them ideal for smaller and awkwardly shapped rooms. It would also make an ideal comprimise for someone who has an integrated AV and Stereo HiFi system as they are small enough to be used as surround speakers - if the room is big enough!

First of all, I gave them good support from a pair of Atacama Nexus 7's and wired them up to my NAD 320bee amp (Nad 521bee CD/Nad 422 Tuner) with QED Silver Aniversary speaker cable terminated with IXUS gold plated banana plugs.

Immediately the differences were apparant compared to the MS904's, much better seperation of instruments, a warmer and (in my opinion) more realistic vocal rendition in the midrange, a wider soundstage and tighter (but not as "earthshattering") bass.

I then tried then biwired (same cabling) and it accentuated the lovely open warm sound from them and seperated the instruments a "smidgen" further!

We listen to a wide range of music from Accoustic and Classical through Jazz/Singer Songwriter/Alt Folk through to Rock and Metal and with the majority of our compilation the results are stunning.

My one caveat is that Metal and Rock does not have quite the same sense of excitement and verve as a good floorstander would have and some albums can sound slightly "congested" compared to others, although that may be more down to production and recording rather than the speakers?

For instance, Nick Caves "Abbatoir Blues" was not as well seperated and the speakers did have some issues presenting a cohesive whole sound - but Nick Cave has got pretty much every instrument in the orchestral spectrum on some of the tracks! Same goes for Oasis, Led Zepplin etc - it just feels that the presentation is slightly lacking in "oomph"!

In general I wholeheartedly recommend these speakers - even at the original budget of £300 GBP. However, if you listen solely to "grander" works or Rock, it may be that the slighly larger cabinet of the 300's would suit better.