Rad(iance)

Hot on the heals of their 10 Best Award winning AE1 MkIII SE, Acoustic Energy has unveiled the Radiance Series.

This full series, towers, bookshelves, center and sub, is not only very attractive, but sound great as well.

I had a chance to listen to them briefly at CES.

All the info after the jump.

While hotel rooms at the Venetian aren't exactly the best place to listen to speakers, I came away from the short listen I had with the Radiance towers quite impressed.

In talking with the designers, they said that a similar design mentality went into the Radiance Series as did the MkIII SEs. Namely, each part of the crossover was not only measured and tested incessantly, but also auditioned repeatedly. This was done to find the best parts, notwithstanding price.

Of course, at $3,000 per pair for the Radiance 3 towers, the "cost no object" mentality of the MkIII SEs was certainly not applied here.

That's not to say that the parts on the Radiance are a far step from the SEs. In fact, the tweeter is a similar 38mm Neodymium ring-radiator tweeter, though of a slightly different design. The mid and woofer drivers have "twin-wound aluminum voice coils" that allow for greater power handling.

The most notable advancement with the new series is the "DXT Lens." This is the depression that the tweeter sits in seen on all the speakers. According to AE, this allows for better cohesion between the tweeter and the mid, improving the overall sound.

Expect to find the Radiance Series speakers at your local AE dealer next month, and a review here in the near future.

PRICE:
Radiance 3 towers: $3,000
Radiance 2 bookshelves: $2,000
Radiance 1 bookshelves: $1,200
Radiance C center: $800
Radiance subwoofer: $1,200
 
CONTACT: acoustic-energy.co.uk