Designed to be used on a mixing desk at ear level as a near-field monitor, the AE22-01's are a high power handling, medium sensitivity design which work best with high-powered (75 Watt minimum recommended) solid-state amplifiers.
The AE22 is a low distortion, closed box speaker with an exceptional time domain performance (better than 40dB down within 5ms - and good horizontal and vertical off-axis consistency. It doesn’t have the flattest anechoic amplitude response you’ll ever see, nor the widest bandwidth, but from 60Hz to 25kHz it is about as musically accurate as moving-coil driver technology can achieve at the price.
The AE22 bass/mid driver is unusual in a number of respects. Its use of a metal cone ensures a linear amplitude response and minimal time-domain errors up to frequencies well above the crossover point. The metal cone also acts as a heat-sink that increases thermal power handling and reduces thermal compression. The driver also has an ‘underhung’ magnet/voice-coil system An under-hung system — a short voice-coil in a long gap — is inherently more stable and linear than the more usual, and far cheaper, over-hung arrangement. The voice-coil is 50mm in diameter (25-38mm is typical at this price point) and has a black anodised aluminium former — again to increase thermal power handling and reduce thermal compression. The AE22 tweeter is a proprietary unit chosen for its good linearity, low compression, high power handling and ability to operate with a relatively low crossover frequency. It is often seen in high-end hifi speakers and is characterised by a clean and detailed sound with better than average high frequency dispersion.
