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Are my Audioengine A5s Broken?

post #1 of 11
2/24/09 at 2:22am
Thread Starter 
So I ordered these speakers off of Amazon a few days ago and i had pretty high hopes for these guys. Right out of the box they sounded amazing, but i think i was just overly excited when making these judgments. Now i am convinced they are broken.

The right speaker (the one without the amplifier) seems to play slightly quieter than the left one and also the sound seems to be a little muffled and scratchy in only this speaker. Its hard to hear on some songs but its more noticeable on others.

I have tried both inputs and also different sources and the problem doesn't seem to be going away. Should i just send them back for a new pair? Or does anyone have some advice for a quick fix? Id rather not have to box them up and take a trip to the post office if i don't have to. Has anyone had similar problems? I'm not opposed to opening them up. Thanks
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post #2 of 11
2/24/09 at 4:30am
If you haven't tried it already, try changing cables in case it's the cable that's faulty. If you don't have another cable and you're using rca to mini, swap the left and right rca connections. If the problem stays in the same speaker, then unfortunately the speaker is defective. It could be a driver, the built-in amp, the input jack or the crossover. I wouldn't open them up if they're still under warranty since this will void your warranty. Exchange them even though it's a PITA.
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post #3 of 11
2/24/09 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NightOwl View Post
If you haven't tried it already, try changing cables in case it's the cable that's faulty. If you don't have another cable and you're using rca to mini, swap the left and right rca connections. If the problem stays in the same speaker, then unfortunately the speaker is defective. It could be a driver, the built-in amp, the input jack or the crossover. I wouldn't open them up if they're still under warranty since this will void your warranty. Exchange them even though it's a PITA.
x2. I'm pretty sure the volume pots on these things suck. If I use a LOD on my iPod to bypass the internal amplifier, my left speaker (the one with the amp in it's housing) is quieter than the right one at low volumes. But if you raise the volume level it evens out.
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post #4 of 11
2/24/09 at 6:54pm
Try turning up the volume on your speakers and turn down the volume from your source correspondingly. In this situation one would think the volume pot would be bad, but imbalanced volume at lower levels seems to be an inherent feature of dual analog amplifiers, which is what the A5 is based on. The trick in most cases is to increase the level on the speakers, and control the volume from your input source. If this doesn't work or you're still not satisfied, contact Audioengine support. Those guys will give you a fast response and help you out if this doesn't do the trick.
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post #5 of 11
2/24/09 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
I tried a new speaker cable between the two speakers and also tried some banana jacks to see if i could get a better connection, doesn't seem to help anything.

I also just tried using the preamp outputs on my dac so i can adjust the volume, but im thinking it is more than just a problem with the pot. No matter where the volume is, its still muffled in one channel. The imbalance seems to go away at high volumes, but this occurs at volumes higher than i plan on listening to.

Looks like I will send them back to J&R and hopefully they will refund me the $35 it costs me to ship.
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post #6 of 11
2/24/09 at 9:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpc41 View Post
I tried a new speaker cable between the two speakers and also tried some banana jacks to see if i could get a better connection, doesn't seem to help anything.

I also just tried using the preamp outputs on my dac so i can adjust the volume, but im thinking it is more than just a problem with the pot. No matter where the volume is, its still muffled in one channel. The imbalance seems to go away at high volumes, but this occurs at volumes higher than i plan on listening to.

Looks like I will send them back to J&R and hopefully they will refund me the $35 it costs me to ship.
If they won't do the refund you can always try to get Audio Engine to do it.
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post #7 of 11
5/8/10 at 11:15pm

i bought some b stock AE5's for 240 shipped from the audioengine website and they sounded great out of the box, also notice a difference in sound at low volume levels but after reading many posts it seems to be pretty common.

 

 The reason i write is in my experience the support for AE has been great and im sure they will attempt to help. During business days i would receive response emails from the same representative within a half hour of sending the message. In a humorous manner i even asked the rep who was dealing with me to pick me out the "best pair" of used speakers. A week later had a message inside of the box i received that said "hand selected, Enjoy!"

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post #8 of 11
5/9/10 at 12:27am

Yeah, all the A5's do the balance thing. I use a dac/preamp to control the volume and set the Audioengines to the quarter mark. This way also controls the volume on the A5's and my sub together.

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post #9 of 11
5/12/10 at 5:52pm

There is an explanation on their website under the FAQ section. 

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post #10 of 11
5/12/10 at 6:39pm
i don't own the A5 but i didnt have this issue with my A2. i do however notice that the right one will start to crackle before the left one, when i turn up the volume during heavy bass tracks.
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post #11 of 11
5/13/10 at 12:02am

its normal actually, at say 6-7pm the volume is inbalance.

 

Need to be at least 8pm and above to even out, by then it'll be very loud.

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