Acoustic Energy brings the 80s back but better, with the return of a speaker favourite

UK audio firm Acoustic Energy introduced its legendary AE1 monitor speakers in 1987, and they remained in production until 2016. Now they're back and better than ever.

The AE1 40th Anniversary speakers retain the familiar look of the original but they've evolved to deliver even better audio.

This partly because, when the company decided to reintroduce the line, it found that most of the original parts were no longer in production. It forced Acoustic Energy to respectively modernise the originals.

The core design hasn't changed therefore, but some of the key components have been improved.

Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary speakers: key features and pricing

Each AE1 speaker sports a high mass, high stiffness, straight-sided cone housed in a small, strong and heavy cabinet. This comes with two front ports and a metal dome tweeter.

However, there's a brand new tweeter this time too, with a larger 29mm voice coil – the original was 25mm – with a slightly larger aluminium dome for lower distortion. There's also a large rear chamber to absorb extra energy.

And there's a new woofer. The cone is slightly larger at 125mm, and its larger radiating area results in, what the brand says, "slightly higher efficiency, lower distortion and the ability to move more air".

Acoustic Energy also claims that the original cone design was crucial to the sonic character of the original with impressive power handling and dynamics for its size, so to keep that, the new model features the same straight-sided aluminium profile and a relatively rare forming process called "spinning". The cone is then strengthened further with a thick, hard anodised ceramic layer on both sides.

The new woofer has a thermally conductive aluminium voice coil, this time supplemented with an aluminium shorting ring in the motor structure. According to the manufacturer, it reduces the distortion caused by variation in the voice coil's inductance. And it's been designed around 5 ohm resistance instead of the previous 7 ohms, making the 40th Anniversary edition easier to drive.

Designed for high-end Hi-Fis and recording studios, the new AE1 40th Anniversary speakers come in a choice of two finishes. Expect to pay £1,499 (about $2,040 / €1,730 / AU$3,060 ) per pair.