Worth it? (difference between 200/400$ monitorset)

Depends what amp you have with them. I bought a pair of $50 B&W off of my craigslist, and a $300 Rotel and i bet they sound better than the Audioengine's.

You could get some active monitors, but the better sound per $ is to go vintage. 

I love my Audio Engine A2s.  They sound so smooth and punchy for their size.  They don't sound out of place with my headphone collection.  I have tried all sort of PC speakers and some bookshelves as well.  All the 2.1 speakers sound so thin to me.  Missing mid range.  The A2s don't have that issue.

If you don't mind my asking, what headphones and what other speakers have you tried? It would be a helpful frame of reference for what you're saying about the A2.

 

 

A5 owner here. I compared the A2 and A5 directly in the store (do note that the testing environment was far from a perfect recreation of my actual listening environment) and while the A2 were good, the A5 had more "warmth" and bass, and the capacity to fill a physically larger space with sound better than the A2. 

 

Part of this has to do with the physics of it. From my understanding, there is a minimum driver size necessary to produce bass (e.g. double-digit frequencies and below); it therefore stands to reason that there is also a minimum size for producing frequencies just above bassy ones. It's also worth noting that even studio monitors such as the Rokit 5 and Yamaha HS50M are frequently paired with subwoofers; that alone should give you an idea of the limitations of monitors, even at 5" in driver size.

 

Aside from sound quality, you will want to consider connections and design. IIRC, the A2 has 1 pair of RCA inputs and 1x 3.5mm (aka 1/8") input, and a volume knob in the front. It is also front-ported.

The Rokit 5 (1st generation) has--per side--1x RCA, 1x Balanced 1/4", 1x XLR inputs. Each side of the Rokit 5 is independently powered, and the volume is thus independently controlled. The Rokit 5 (both 1st and 2nd gen) are front-ported.

I haven't done much research on the Yamaha, but I suspect it's the norm for studio monitors to have volume and power controls independent per side. Also be careful that some stores list the prices of monitors PER SIDE as opposed to PER PAIR.

I have used the following as desktop speakers: A5, JBL Extreme Control 1, Creative Giga Works T20, M-Audio AV30, a bunch of other sub $100 2.1 speaker systems.  Also have Denon A100, HD650 and Grados SR80i headphones.  The A5 sounded better than the A2s.  But mine had a lot of buzz and hum so I exchanged them in for A2s. which doesn't suffer from any of that.  The A5s works better mounted on stands and further away from the listening position.  You have to be careful about using non near field bookshelves for desktop speakers.  They can sound off.

Edited by hduong - 4/28/11 at 12:47am

Yeah the AV30 doesn't seem like much. I was severely underwhelmed by the AV40 in-store--the AV30
will surely have even less body, given their smaller driver size.

I agree that A5s don't make good desktop monitors, but this would be due to their rear-ported design. All speakers require some clearance for their bass ports, and desktop setups will likely be a table flush against a wall. Not good for the A5.

However, A5s aren't nearfield at all. They were designed to be "bookshelf" speakers for filling a space with sound. Nearfield monitors like the KRK Rokit 5 are front ported and require practically no wall clearance from the back. I'll post a picture of my setup tonight so you can see just how near the wall I have my Rokit 5s.

Sorry thorthor, I thought both hduong half-answered the question. In terms of sound, I'm not sure the difference would be that significant for desktop use. The A2 has a frequency of 65Hz-22kHz, the KRK RP5 is rated at 53Hz-20Khz, so we're talking a choice between a bit more lows or a bit better extension in the upper frequencies.

 

The A2 takes up 1 power source, can be controlled by 1 volume knob, and you only need to plug in your source(s) into 1 side. Don't underestimate that last point--it's a pain figuring how to run my RCA cables into both of my KRKs. A2's are also smaller--plus point in my book.

Another consideration (from Sweetwater's site):

What is "Bi-Amplification"?

When a passive system's single amplifier must reproduce the whole audio spectrum, low frequencies rapidly "use up" the amp's headroom. As higher frequencies "ride along" on lower frequency waveforms, they can be chopped off or distorted even though the high frequencies themselves would not be clipping. Separating highs from lows via an active electronic crossover lets a bi-amped system use two different amplifiers. Each is free to drive just one transducer to its safe maximum limit without intermodulation distortion or other interaction between the two drivers.

Also:

The spec for frequency response should let you know how accurate your monitor will be at various frequency ranges. For good, clean bass response look for monitors that offer flat response down to 55Hz with bonus points awarded to monitors that go past that mark. Most monitors don’t have any issue with reproducing high frequency content, but make sure the frequency response extends to at least 18-20kHz. The ±(numeral)dB qualifier that follows is part of the spec, and indicates the relative flatness of the response at a given output. Look for this number to be low—such as ±1dB-±3dB—because higher numbers indicate inaccuracy.

I've heard though that some manufacturer's don't exactly tell the truth when listing that variance number.
Edited by Permagrin - 4/28/11 at 7:18am

The -/+ 3 rating is because the human ear can only detect a 3db rise or drop in volume, manufactures do tell the truth with -/+3 ratings but the ratings are usually done at 1watt or less so expect the bass to roll off alot more at higher volumes as the amp and small drivers struggle to reproduce lower than 100hz at over 90db.

Ok, maybe I recalled that incorrectly. Some manufacturers ratings are closer to the truth.

Most manfactures will just stick a -/+3 db rating on there site, it doesn't mean much unless you know what volume the rating was done at the -/+3 db rating will change at higher volumes.