M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Powered Speakers

The old version of the AV 40 to my understanding is not only ugly, but also not very good.
The new AV 40 (pictured above) is quite handsome and musical, not unlike myself.
 
Build Quality
Build is solid, fairly heavy for their size. Appear to be MDF construction. Nice amplification specs and not hiss or buzzing. Come with an ok input av plug, nothing special there. Ported in the rear.Blue light is ever present when on, doesn't bother me at all. Over all they feel like you could easily bludgeon a home invader into a deep relaxing coma in a pinch.
 
Bass:
The new model has no bass boost, that alone was probably the most complained about feature on the old model. The new model has good bass with straight EQ settings. It does drift off at 40hz, with almost nothing at 30hz. I would not try to EQ in more bass either, my experience is a more than a 10% tweak at the low end really throws the sound off.  With rock music it becomes clear that these are a little bass heavy. Most other genres it isn't as accentuated. Heavy, punchy, and pretty tight.
 
Mids:
I'm not very good at describing mids, but I will give it my best. They seem accurate and clean, not over done. Overshadowed perhaps by the bass highs but not muddied by them. 
 
Highs:
I had to edit this. They are smoother than I remembered. I would say they are equal to the mids in that they are not emphasized but not recessed. They are just kind of there. Detail is good.
 
Volume:
Enough to fill a moderately sized room. These go to 11 and scream on to 12,13, and 14 if the source allows them to with no hiccups or distortion. These sound best at mid to moderate volume. High volume (near max or maxed out) they really throw out some wicked bass for a small 2.0 system. Overkill for a dorm room situation.
 
Sound stage.
Imaging is as good as can be expected from a 2.0 system. Decent separation and stereo.
 
Price:
Your mileage will vary. I got mine a couple years ago for a price lower that what is available now days. 
 
They are very musical, terrifically loud, and fairly affordable. I would buy them again.

My review is much too long to paste here, so the full-length-review can be found here.
 
I will however summarize my review quickly, and expand a bit on it:
 

1. These are a good choice if you are a producer on an extremely tight budget - as a "my first studio monitor" speaker
2. Sound stage and imaging capabilities are much better than you would expect for a $130 speaker
3. The amplifiers give off a slight hiss
4. Tonal balance is somewhat dependent on volume setting: From a bit dark on low volumes to bright on high volumes
5. They don't have what qualifies as sub bass, but again: They don't pretend to, and do a good job in the rest of the frequency range

 
Also, please note that this speaker has gone through two revisions. The first revision had a bass boost control on the back of the speaker that is gone in the Mk II version.  Many of the quality concerns people have mentioned about the first edition do not seem to be present in Mk II.
 
Note that they will easily beat out any computer-oriented brand in the same price tag, and when Tom's Hardware reviewed them, they beat out the $500 Bowers and Wilkins MM-1.
 
Conclusion: If you don't have more to spend, these are a good choice, but if you can afford it, and have enough space, the BX5 D2 from M-Audio offers better sound and better value for money.

For the price these are some great speakers. You won't do much better with any other computer speakers, except of course, getting more expensive studio monitors. I noticed a few missing details in comparison to my AKG K 702. Overall the speakers are good quality for a fair price. 

I use these speakers at work, day in and day out. Using the supplied cables straight out of an iMac, they sound awful. Instead, I'm using a iBasso D7 and a Belkin PureAV cable and it really cleans up the sound a lot.
 
They are relatively well balanced speakers. A bit muddy prior to burn-in, but they're much better now. The bass is certainly lacking, but that's to be expected with such a small cabinet. The "Bass Boost" on the back does nothing but make it boomy, so I leave it off. 
 
As with most near-field speakers, they are very directional, so it really helps to keep them aimed at your ears (tilted in and up, in my case). 
 
One day, after only moderate use and turning them off at the end of each work day, the internal amp started smoking. I smelled burning and literally saw smoke coming out of the back. I unplugged it and ran it outside quickly, calling M-Audio (AVID) just moments later. They didn't even care. They wanted to charge me to talk to them, even though I was still within the 1 year warranty. After arguing with no fewer than 5 people, I finally got them to agree to replace them (like that was even a question?). 
 
They're a decent value and sound okay for the price. Certainly suffices for office use, especially since I normally use my Westone 4Rs anyway. That being said, I would never buy these again. Horrible company, horrible support, and from my experience and others I hear online, very questionable craftsmanship. 
 
Save up and buy the AudioEngine 5+ instead.

[size=small]For all intensive purposes, these are good sounding speakers. They're well balanced, not super punchy on the bass, and are reasonably accurate for the casual ear. It's nice to have headphone outputs for times you want to keep the music down if someone else in the room doesn't want to listen to what you're listening to at the time.[/size][size=small][/size]
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[size=small]However, that's pretty much where the good things end.[/size][size=small][/size]
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[size=small]After about using these speakers for 16 months (so they're beyond their 1 year warranty), they developed an annoying oscillating buzz when there's nothing playing, and the buzz is there when there is music playing. Volume speaker light is also non functional, and this happened at the same time as the appearance of the buzz.[/size][size=small][/size]
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[size=small]Unfortunately, an incident also happened to my AV30's (yes, I had a pair of the other model) about 16 months into ownership. However, in that pair's case, the control speaker is mute.[/size][size=small][/size]
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[size=small]So for an idea of how much I use these speakers (both sets when they worked), these are hooked up to my laptop, they're powered from a surge protector, I use them daily, and I power them down when I know I will not be using them for extended periods of time (going to work, vacation).[/size][size=small][/size]
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[size=small]If you want to deal with AVID/M-audio support on the phone, they require you to buy a 14.95 code for an incident. Supposedly they gave these codes to people who registered their products and it's good for one year. If history is of any indicator, your speakers purchased from them will die after the 1 year warranty of moderate usage. Based on what other reviewers and forums have said, it's more cost effective to buy a new pair of speakers (cost of the incident ticket, shipping to and from factory, and hourly labor charge for fixing the speakers).[/size]
 
 
 

[size=small]I have no idea how the 2nd revision of these speakers are.  Hopefully they keep the sound quality and fix build quality.  But for now, I've sworn off this brand as intolerable garbage, as I'm 2 for 2 in bad units from this brand.  Speakers really should last longer than a year and a half.[/size]
 

[size=small]*Note: Taken from my Amazon.com review[/size]