Return of the ultimate mini-monitor
It’s 18 years since the AE1 Reference first wowed reviewers and became the audio-industry benchmark for compact loudspeaker design. To celebrate the AE1 is back in its completely original form and still made in the UK. Designed from the outset as a semi-professional monitor, painstaking attention to detail in the design and construction of cabinets, crossovers and baffles ensure the new AE1 Classic reproduces complex, dynamic material as faithful as the award winning original.

Despite its diminutive size the AE1 Classic offers the soundstage, depth and breadth of much larger loudspeakers thanks to its innovative metal drivers and reflex ported cabinet. The extremely rigid design and high power handling creates a sophisticated blend of clarity, speed and dynamics that once again sets the standard for small box loudspeakers in the studio.

• Acoustically treated, ultra low resonance cabinet
• 25mm Metal dome tweeter with protective grille
• 90mm alloy bass driver
• Hand-spun aluminium and ceramic cone design (Patented)
• High power woofer motor system
• High power crossover components
• 200 Watt power handling
• Textured black finish
• 295 x 180 x 255mm (H x W x D)
• Weight 8Kg - each
   

Classic Principles
Time may move on but the principles of accuracy, transparency, reliability, and listening ease that made the AE1 such a success first time around don't change. The AE1 Classic embodies those principles once again.

The AE1 Classic is modelled on the original AE1 from around 1990. Our aim was, within the limitations of component supply and manufacturing, to make the AE1 Classic as close to identical as possible. That we didn't quite make it is only because, thanks to improved components and manufacturing consistency, the AE1 Classic is better.

Seriously Small - Seriously Good
The original AE1 introduced new techniques in almost every element of its design and construction, each one aimed at making a better nearfield monitor. It was, for example, the first professional monitor with a ceramic sandwich aluminium cone, the first to increase power handling by using the cone as a heat-sink, the first to incorporate a metal dome tweeter, the first to feature a latex fibre/powder composite lined cabinet, and the first to demonstrate beyond doubt that a seriously small speaker could be a seriously capable monitor.

The AE1 technical highlights feature in the Classic just as they did in the original. The bass/midrange driver is UK manufactured in-house at Acoustic Energy using a spun aluminium cone only 0.2mm thick. The cone is hard anodised on both sides to create an immensely rigid sandwich component and then bonded to an aluminium voice-coil former. The intimate bond between metal former and cone means that the entire cone area is used for heat dissipation. As a result, and despite its small dimensions, the AE1 driver offers generous power handling and suffers minimal compression.

Welcome though it is, power handling is not the primary reason for the choice of an aluminium cone
Aluminium's combination of light weight and rigidity means that cone break-up is delayed till well above the crossover frequency. And thanks to the aluminium cone, bass/mid driver and magnesium dome tweeter, the AE1 Classic is one of very few speakers of any type that can genuinely claim pistonic operation over the full audio bandwidth. The result is extraordinary tonal accuracy that reveals the shortcomings of most other monitors.

Near ideal drive unit performance however would mean little if the AE1's cabinet panels sang along in sympathy. That they don't is thanks both to the inherent rigidity of the AE1 construction and to the unique latex composite lining of the internal walls.

AE1 First and Second
The AE1 was the first truly accurate, high power compact nearfield monitor. We believe 20 years later the AE1 Classic is perhaps the only speaker to reach its predecessor's standards. The AE1 Classic completes the award winning reference series, which features the AE1 MKIII and AE3 MKII.

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