Acoustic Energy Radiance 5.1 system

With the Radiance lineup, Acoustic Energy is using its 25 years' ofknowledge of traditional wooden cabinets and alloy drive units, andtransplanting it into some attractively tapered boxes.

It's notjust the curved enclosure that's new; AE has spent three yearsdeveloping the Radiance series and says that it's the company's mostradical rethink so far. So what, exactly, has the Cirencester-baseddesign team come up with?

Top of the range

TheRadiance range includes some middle-of-the-road two-way floorstanderscalled Radiance Two, but our 5.1 configuration is comprised of theflagship three-way Radiance Three towers, a very substantial centrechannel and a pair of fairly chunky bookshelf speakers for the rears. Afront-firing active subwoofer takes care of the very low end.

Allthe cabinets are made from 15mm MDF panels with a carefully applied andnot unattractive real wood veneer. As usual, you can choose your finishto suit your furniture. That's assuming you still have room for any –these cabinets are pretty large.

The massive front speakers(almost a metre high) come with wide outrigger platform bases thatstand on spiked feet. They look a bit like corrective shoes, but thecombined weight of the cabinet and base acts as an effective anchor.The size advantage also means there's ample room within the enclosureto generate a hearty low-end.

You can further tune the cabinetsby blocking, or obscuring, the rear ports. There are three of these oneach of the Radiance Threes – one for each internal compartment. Pushthem back against the wall to load the bass, or pull them forwards ifit's already booming.

Meanwhile, the curved shape of theenclosure avoids the build up of interior standing waves, so betweenthem, you already get a powerful and throaty sound from the front. Addin the big, rounded centre channel and you have quite an intimidatingfront soundstage, with an arsenal of metal dome tweeters pointing atyou.

To get the best performance from it, you'll need a rigid speakerstand to keep the centre speaker in line with the front pair. The rearscan be wall mounted if you can find a sturdy enough bracket, while thesquat sub can lurk anywhere in the room.

Big boxes like theRadiance series usually require big amplification, but these areactually quite sensitive at 88dB and 90dB, and a moderately powerfulMarantz SR-6003 proved enough to drive them pretty hard.

I gotthe best results by using the spare pair of amplifiers in the Marantzto bi-amp the two Radiance Threes and give them an additional energyboost. In fact, tri-wiring is an option if you care to add anotherstereo amplifier.

With the extra power and a feisty surround soundtrack (in this case the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix on the Valkyrie Blu-ray disc) these speakers can really come to life.

High-frequency stunner

Youmight expect the bass to be a little overwhelming in a modestly sizedroom (especially with the subwoofer set to stun), but it's the bitingtreble that actually makes the bigger impact.

This clarity inthe high frequencies is a real advantage with dialogue, and theRadiance Centre delivers astonishingly crisp vocals through theconfusion of the noisy but brief battle scene in Chapter Two of the Valkyrie disc.

The accurate top-end also nicely punctuates the artillery fire as itzips across the soundstage. In fact, this scene has some of the bestsurround steering I've come across, and if the Radiance rears didn'ttonally match the front three speakers, the handover of effectswouldn't work nearly as well as it does here.

The mid-bandsounds spacious, too; you'll notice this with the crisp echo of TomCruise's jack boots marching along corridors. The AEs convey a goodsense of the interior ambiences.

Bass matters

Thefive Radiance speakers work well as a team to provide a surprisinglypunchy and dynamic sound on all sides, while the subwoofer does areasonable job with the bass channel. If there is a weak link though,it's the sub, which leaves the bottom-end sounding slightlyunderwhelming given the amount of sound system in the room.

Swappingmovies for music for a moment reveals that the Radiance Threes alreadygenerate a very wide dynamic range, reaching right down to 27Hz instereo mode without the need for a sub.

The front pair on their own put in a rousing musical two-channel performance; given Neil Young's live Road RockDVD-Audio disc, which has both stereo and 5.1 mixes, it's the stereotrack that impresses the most. It sounds just as open and creates aperfect stereo image in front. Neil's nasal tones are clear and you canhear every scratch of his fingers on the guitar strings.

What'smore, the rear speakers, which are often sold as a stereo pair in ahi-fi setup, sound equally musical when I experimented with wiringthese up at the front. So in a surround setup you'll really benefitfrom their sensitivity to fine detail and excellent handling of musicalscores.

It seems, then, that what the Radiance collective doesbest is put forward a clean and revealing sound that's actually muchleaner than their stable mates at Acoustic Energy, the Aelites.

While the more affordable Aelite speakers produced a lush warm soundfrom their equally large wooden cabinets, their soft dome tweeters areno match for the crunchingly accurate alloy tweeters of the Radiancecrew.

My advice would be to audition the Radiance range if youprefer a more revealing sound as opposed to a warmer, more bass-driventone and make sure you have plenty of room to move these speakersaround as their placement is critical.

Partnered with a decentand fairly powerful amp, these hefty pieces of wood will drive a bigcinema room effortless, and without missing the fine detail.

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