Audioengine A5s are in. I've been listening for a few days.
Well..........
Maybe my expectations were too high given all the favorable press.
Could I sit back and close my eyes and just listen to music through them? Yeah, but my brain would just start nit-picking before long; if I'm going to do that, I'll just go for my headphone system (which granted, spoils me). Do they compete with a nice pair of mini-monitors powered by separate amplification and dedicated source? IMO, no. But, hyperbolic press aside, they probably were never intended to.
These speakers will just perform the function I originally intended which was to give me better sound for watching movies on my computer and doing some low-level music listening while I'm on the net or doing something else.
OK, so now that I'm past that, what we have here are in fact an excellent pair of computer speakers. How do they sound?
These fairly small speakers will produce A LOT of sound. I can barely start turning up the volume knob before it gets way too loud. The bass is surprisingly punchy and deep enough (but lacking in some upper-bass color/warmth). However, on loud music with modern mastering, they can get muddled/overwhelmed and lose focus.
They sound a lot bigger than they are. They image pretty well, throw a fairly wide soundstage with adequately solid image in the center. They don't "totally disappear" like a lot of the better mini-monitors, but they do well enough.
In my set-up and in my space (YMMV as speakers are highly room/space dependent), there is an upper-midrange hump around the area of female voices. The very high treble seems slightly rolled, which can make edges of sounds seem somewhat soft. These aren't warm-sounding speakers, but they aren't completely clinical and icy either. Overall, fairly neutral sounding, with a fairly natural, realistic tone, and for me, this goes a long, long way.
They don't have a lot of "glare" or etch or grain/sibilance to them, they're quite clean and clear. They do great on small-scale acosutic stuff, not as well on the heavy rock. The slightly forward upper-mids could potentially get fatiguing over time, but so far I haven't been put off too much by it.
There is a slightly nasal, "cupped hands" sound to them, too. There is also a slight hollowness that gives it a bit of a "boxy" sound. I think these are all side effects of the relatively poor internal bracing and damping of the enclosures which vibrate and ring like a bell. I see screws on the rear I will likely undo and see if I can't apply some damping material to the cabinet, I suspect that will help these immensely.
Yeah, so here I am critiquing them like a high-end product when they aren't. I've been spoiled by owning a lot of great speakers in the past (that cost a lot more than these). For $350 you get a lot of speaker here. Can you pack up the Avalon Eidolons? Not exactly. But they will kick the ass of any boombox or mini-system I've ever heard. I know it sounds like I'm being hard on them, but in reality they ceratinly mop the floor with the M-Audio AV20s they replaced. In some ways, with their "big and bold" sound, they are almost too much speaker for my application, and not quite enough speaker to use for dedicated music listening.
I'll report back if I'm able to do some damping and bracing of the cabinets and see if that has a positive effect. Cheers.
Linear Mode
