Acoustic Energy Unveils Next-Generation 500 Series with Corinium tech

British loudspeaker manufacturer Acoustic Energy has announced a complete overhaul of its popular 500 Series, trickling down key driver and cabinet innovations from its flagship Corinium project. The 500 Series features a bookshelf (500²), a mid-sized floorstander (509²), a flagship floorstander (520²) and a new centre speaker (507²).

Acoustic Energy has built a formidable reputation over the years for delivering exceptional speed, timing, and rhythmic engagement at accessible price points. Now, the Gloucestershire-based brand is taking its offering a significant step further by integrating breakthrough engineering developed for its statement Corinium loudspeakers.

The updated 500 Series introduces comprehensive revisions across every critical area—incorporating newly profiled carbon fibre drive units, trickle-down tweeter technology, optimised crossovers, and freshly sculpted, anti-resonant cabinet geometry.

At the heart of the new lineup is the 29mm soft dome tweeter originally developed for the high-end Corinium project. Bringing this high-frequency unit down into the 500 Series promises a noticeable leap in top-end refinement, airy dispersion, and detail retrieval without introducing harshness, they claim.

Below the high-frequency unit, both the mid and bass drivers have received thorough structural updates, including shallower carbon fibre cones with lower-profile geometry to smooth mid-band dispersion and enhance transient response. They also feature Ultra-Linear Motor Systems, engineered to reduce distortion and keep vocals and instrumental texture clean during complex musical passages.

To ensure the new drivers perform as a single, seamless voice, Acoustic Energy has focused heavily on low group-delay phase alignment within the redesigned crossover networks.

The enclosures themselves utilise the company’s proven Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) material—a constrained-layer damping construction engineered to eliminate panel colouration. For this new iteration, the cabinets feature a newly tapered enclosure shape, designed to break up internal standing waves and improve soundstage depth.

Mat Spandl, MD and Chief Designer at Acoustic Energy, says;

One of the things we learned from developing Corinium was that quite small improvements in several different areas can add up to a very significant improvement in the finished loudspeaker.

That thinking runs right through 500 Series. We’ve looked carefully at the cone profile, the motor system, group delay in the crossover and even the way reflections behave inside the cabinet. The result is a much more open and natural-sounding loudspeaker, without losing the character that made the original 500 Series so successful.

HF&MS Early Thoughts

Acoustic Energy loudspeakers have always excelled at musical involvement and foot-tapping drive, I should know. I bought the 320² outright after the review, and they’ve never sounded better. By bringing the acoustic research, cabinet-damping tricks, and tweeter-dome engineering from the benchmark Corinium loudspeaker down into the 500 Series, AE looks set to deliver a compelling mix of high-end transparency and real-world system synergy.

Availability

The new 500 Series will be available from December through authorised Acoustic Energy retailers worldwide.

Pricing (UK SRP)

AE500² (Stand mount) £1,200

AE509² (floorstanding) £2,700,

AE520² (floorstanding) £4,000,

AE507² (LCR / wall mount) £650 (each)

Available in Piano Gloss White, Piano Gloss Black and American Walnut wood veneer finishes

For more information and full specifications, visit AE’s website.