I wanted to return to this thread in the hope that Jim would respond.
I now have the Acoustic Energy 103 floorstanding speakers paired up to an Exposure 1010 amp. I feel too inexperienced with hifi to go into great analytical detail so bear with me as I try to put my thoughts into words.
This seems to me to be a solid enough set-up though I am beginning to wonder about the speakers and/or amp synergy.
The speakers/amp sound superb with well-recorded piano (Jeremy Denk's Goldberg Variations) and polyphonic voices (Gesualdo, Tallis). The orchestral detail is stunning - I really hear into the recording, picking out details (a triangle here, a violin there). It seems to handle orchestral tutti very well - the amp providing more than enough 'grunt' when needed. I never raise it more than 9 o'clock on the dial (I'm a bit scared to, TBH, in case I bust something! though I never feel I need to, either.)
In rock/pop, etc. everything sounds crystal clear and well-presented, though I often seem to notice the bass in the mix (the pulse in Grizzly Bear's Deep Blue Sea). It can occasionally dominate/distract. I don't know if it's me noticing things because of clarity and proper hi-fi reproduction or if it's too dominant.
Another noticeable feature is with orchestral bass lines. Mahler 4's slow movement in the Ivan Fischer/Budapest Festival Orchestra version. The bass does seem to reverbate/boom. In other bass-heavy orchestral music, too (Shostakovich 8's 2nd movement, the Adagietto in Mahler 5).
Could this be cabinet resonance? Bad speaker-amp synergy?
Because the speakers haven't been properly run-in yet?
Because of the speaker set-up: two mid/bass drivers? (see specs
here)
Or a room factor (furniture/windows/etc.)?
They are front-ported and away from the walls. Perhaps it's just a running-in feature, but I'd appreciate Jim's/anyone's thoughts.
I felt the review in this month's WHF was overly harsh - these are not 3-star speakers. Again they fall back on their 'flavour of the month' (Q Acoustic 2050i) but I did wonder whether my amp might be better suited to the QAs. I also appreciate that this is still a budget speaker and that cabinet resonance will not be eliminated at this end of the £££ scale.
I was also happy with the detail revealed by my new NAD CD player but this has now been returned due to a clicking sound on certain CDs, which has rather put me off this brand. I'm now running my Sony Blu-Ray player through a Musical Fidelity V-DAC II, and this sounds good enough to me for now. I'm deliberating whether to get a refund and a s/h CD player (Marantz 67SE, Rotel 965) or stick with the Blu-Ray/DAC.