Audioengine 5

I just bought a set for work. They are hooked up to my ipod and compeating with saws and nailguns for a soundtrack, suprisingly they are holding their own. I could hear them pretty well, except when someone started using the wood planer (loud constant drone).

Sound wise: I think a co-worker said it best "Is all that clear sound, and rich bass comming from those little things? No Sub? ... Wow"

The Bass has punch, nice and clear.
Treble is crisp, and mids are full.

They run hot though... I had them cranked up full for about three hours when they overheated and shut down. I stuck a fan on the one with the amp in it and listened without anymore problems for another 9 hours.

So, that is my first impression, I will update later.

PS. Build quality is top notch.

I had purchased some b stock from audioengine directly for 250 shipped, have them hooked up to a laptop sound card through 3.5mm jack and out to an stf-1 hsu research sub and they sound extremely clear and full bodied especially while listening at ear level. Even sometimes if i forget to turn on the stf-1, at low to medium levels the sound i hear makes me assume the sub is on until to my surprise i peak around the back side to see the bright red "off" led.

 

(from what i have read, which i have read a great deal) They scale up very nicely with the source so if you have an spdif out with lossless audio or a decent quality DAC they rival some sets of bookshelf speakers that are well over 1000 a pair.

I owned the A5's for almost a year before I sold them to a friend.  The good news is that they're fairly priced and have decent low-end punch to them.  They work well for modern pop, hip-hop, etc.  However, I grew frustrated with them whenever I listened to acoustic instrumentation.  They sounded extremely veiled and lacking that inner harmonic detail that makes acoustic instrumentation so rewarding.  At first it was a minor annoyance, but over the months I couldn't take it anymore.  I sold them to a friend who listens to a lot of minimal electronica and he LOVES them.

 

I guess they were like a gateway drug.  I paid $261 when they had a sale last year.  I am replacing them with a $3k amp + speaker combo.  You've been warned

+1....who knew the ears controlled the budget these days :(
 

How to they compare to the Epos version ?