Audioengine A2s. Thoughts? - Page 3

Thats really bad advice to use a headphone amp as a volume pot, by pot I mean volume pot as in analog volume control, high quality pot basically you want a pot with no channel imbalance or noise. THD is total harmonic disortion (google it), low level signals are normally really low in THD like 0.00* range nothing to worry about, but amps can get up to 1% and beyond depending on various variables i'm not sure how hard the E11 is being driven being used like that but it might be adding a large amount of THD to the signal, then you got the THD from the A5's amp on top of that by removing the E11 your loose alot of THD and noise from the signal.

This is the passive volume control http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/home/hifi-components/pp1-passive-preamplifier , just a volume pot in a box nothing more.

The behringer is a mixer so it has other controls and more in and outputs, it does have a headphone jack but i don't know if it's of good quality your probley better of connecting the E11 it the other pre-out.

If you went with the behringer get a stereo ts to stereo rca cable aswell, You would connect your source or whatever input into the rca in, your a5's with the ts to rca cable from the main out TS sockets and fiio E11 with a stereo rca to 3.5mm cable from the rca out sockets and the knob labeled main mix is your volume control. You can have your E11 and a5's connected to it at the same time.

 

 

I already have the connector cables you are talking about. I can go from any combo of male/female 3.5mm to any combo of male/female RCA right now, thanks to buying a nice "multimedia cable pack" from dell on the cheap. They arent high quality connectors, to be shure, but considering i'm nowhere close to high end enough equipment for it to matter, plus the fact that i'm only running the cable for 1-2 feet max, I feel like that doesnt really matter at this stage in the game.

I'd much prefer to have the passive volume control over the behringer, though It will be tricky trying to find a good one. I could probably make one myself, including the enclosure. The behringer is overkill for what i need.

Also, i wonder why misterX didnt bother putting a pot into the gamma 2 schematics in the first place :/

if your good at d.i.y then its easy to make a passive volume control and it would be much better than using the E11.

Only one way to find out lol.... Is there somewhere you know of that I can find plans for one or is it literally hooking up 2 3.5mm jacks to a potentiometer and nothing else?

Actually, i have another question: Should I use a potentiometer to control volume or should I use an attenuator?
Edited by shrimants - 11/30/11 at 6:07pm

Hi All,

I realize this is necro, but I needed to ask the EE and cable experts about a SQ issue. I'm a longtime lurker here despite just signing up recently.

 

Here's my setup: e7/e9 > PC USB.

I had the e9 connected to my Audioengine A2s with RCA cables, but as you all know, I could not adjust the volume with the pot on the e9.

 

Being partially incapacitated, it is very difficult for me to reach the volume pot on the rear of the A2. It's a PITA dealing with volume control due to various levelings among my MediaMonkey app, Win 7 system sounds, widget alerts, Youtube, Chome pages, Chrome extensions, etc. While I can theoretically control these volumes via my Realtek HD Audio Manager, changing the level on the particular app (say Chrome, while watching a Youtube music vid), it more than likely does not have an affect on the volume. Inconsistent would be the best way to describe it. Some sources blast through my A2s in the middle of the night, and so I need to find a volume control solution immediately before my head is shaped like the bottom side of a frying pan.

 

3.5 to 3.5 was a fail

When I tried TRS 3.5 interconnect to the A2s, the SQ was noticeably weak in comparison to the RCA. I'm admittedly clueless in audio engineering so here's the question:

 

Question #1:

Is there a special type of 3.5 > RCA cable that will match the SQ of RCA>RCA? I know Mica wrote about a 3.5 to RCA cable as a solution to the volume control, but I would like to know if there is a specific cable type that will not compromise sound quality (or at least one that will come close to the SQ of the RCA hookups).

 

Question #2:

Last but not least I have an observation and one more question. While using the RCA > RCA hookups, I would use the 3.5 TRS interconnect from the A2 to my TRS headphones-out jack on my Line 6 Pocket Pod (a guitar amp modeler). That way I could play music via my computer and iphone via the RCAs and alternately play my guitar via the 3.5.

 

First, my observation: Whenvever both the RCA and TRS and plugged into the A2, there is a noticeable falloff in sound quality and volume -- even if the other end of the TRS is not plugged into anything.

 

Now the question regarding the double hookup.... is there a way to do this without a falloff in SQ, or is this some natural law of EE whereby electrical draw from two separate sources will inevitably reduce signal? Hopefully I'm just doing something wrong here.

 

Thanks so much for anyone's help. 

 

Edited by Minor Third - 4/20/12 at 8:06pm

Never was impressed by the A2's.  Not sure how they get such great hype on these forums, must be clever marketing.  I thought the highs were really dry sounding, and the boxy sound only made matters worse.  I guess for the price, the right setup can make them sound okay.

When you consider what I was listening to before, the A2s are a step up. 2.1 systems from Creative, Logitech, AL, etc. As mentioned, the Genelecs simply blew away the A2s, but the A2s cost in the neighborhood of $150 (refurb), so for the price, they're very good IMO. If not for the QA problems people were having with their M-Audio AV 40 monitors, those would have been my preferred choice. With an unlimited budget, I wouldn't have considered any of the aforementioned except maybe the Genelecs.