Uniaxial compression acoustic emission (AE) experiments were carried out on coarse grained syenogranite using 16 channel full wave AE monitoring system. The stress and AE signal feature in the whole process of rock deformation were obtained, based on which the events and energy of AE were calculated, and the locations of AE events were ascertained. The results show that in the process of deformation and failure of coarse grained syenogranite, the AE event count rate was the highest during the instability failure stage, followed by the crack rapid development stage. It was basically the same at the crack compaction stage and crack stable development stage, and it was lowest at linear elastic deformation stage. From the linear elastic deformation stage to the crack rapid development stage, then to the instability failure stage when the maximum stress drop occurred, the major frequency of AE signal decreased sharply, the high frequency of AE signal decreased gradually, whereas the AE event count rate, the amplitude of major frequency and time domain increased rapidly, so did the signal duration. The AE event count rate reached the maximum value when the maximum stress drop occurred, so did the amplitude of major frequency, time domain amplitude and signal duration, whereas the major frequency of AE signal reached the lowest. It indicates that the rock had entered the stage of instability failure by then, and the rock was in the fringe of failure, so preventive measures should be considered.