[markl]

Audioengine A5s are in. I've been listening for a few days.


Well..........

Maybe my expectations were too high given all the favorable press.

Could I sit back and close my eyes and just listen to music through them? Yeah, but my brain would just start nit-picking before long; if I'm going to do that, I'll just go for my headphone system (which granted, spoils me). Do they compete with a nice pair of mini-monitors powered by separate amplification and dedicated source? IMO, no. But, hyperbolic press aside, they probably were never intended to.

These speakers will just perform the function I originally intended which was to give me better sound for watching movies on my computer and doing some low-level music listening while I'm on the net or doing something else.

OK, so now that I'm past that, what we have here are in fact an excellent pair of computer speakers. How do they sound?

These fairly small speakers will produce A LOT of sound. I can barely start turning up the volume knob before it gets way too loud. The bass is surprisingly punchy and deep enough (but lacking in some upper-bass color/warmth). However, on loud music with modern mastering, they can get muddled/overwhelmed and lose focus.

They sound a lot bigger than they are. They image pretty well, throw a fairly wide soundstage with adequately solid image in the center. They don't "totally disappear" like a lot of the better mini-monitors, but they do well enough.

In my set-up and in my space (YMMV as speakers are highly room/space dependent), there is an upper-midrange hump around the area of female voices. The very high treble seems slightly rolled, which can make edges of sounds seem somewhat soft. These aren't warm-sounding speakers, but they aren't completely clinical and icy either. Overall, fairly neutral sounding, with a fairly natural, realistic tone, and for me, this goes a long, long way.

They don't have a lot of "glare" or etch or grain/sibilance to them, they're quite clean and clear. They do great on small-scale acosutic stuff, not as well on the heavy rock. The slightly forward upper-mids could potentially get fatiguing over time, but so far I haven't been put off too much by it.

There is a slightly nasal, "cupped hands" sound to them, too. There is also a slight hollowness that gives it a bit of a "boxy" sound. I think these are all side effects of the relatively poor internal bracing and damping of the enclosures which vibrate and ring like a bell. I see screws on the rear I will likely undo and see if I can't apply some damping material to the cabinet, I suspect that will help these immensely.



Yeah, so here I am critiquing them like a high-end product when they aren't. I've been spoiled by owning a lot of great speakers in the past (that cost a lot more than these). For $350 you get a lot of speaker here. Can you pack up the Avalon Eidolons? Not exactly. But they will kick the ass of any boombox or mini-system I've ever heard. I know it sounds like I'm being hard on them, but in reality they ceratinly mop the floor with the M-Audio AV20s they replaced. In some ways, with their "big and bold" sound, they are almost too much speaker for my application, and not quite enough speaker to use for dedicated music listening.


I'll report back if I'm able to do some damping and bracing of the cabinets and see if that has a positive effect. Cheers.

 

[jinp6301]

what are you using as source? Stock computer sound card?

 

[Operandi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is a slightly nasal, "cupped hands" sound to them, too. There is also a slight hollowness that gives it a bit of a "boxy" sound. I think these are all side effects of the relatively poor internal bracing and damping of the enclosures which vibrate and ring like a bell. I see screws on the rear I will likely undo and see if I can't apply some damping material to the cabinet, I suspect that will help these immensely.

Might also have something to do with woofer cone material. I haven't heard the A5s but it looks like the cone is some sort of Kevlar composite which would be very ridged which could lead to resonance peaks in certain upper mid range frequencies if it's not taken care of in the crossover.

 

[Hookem]

Been playing around with the A5's for awhile now.

Before them changing sources would make a difference on the Logitech, Klipsch, Creative speakers I am used to.

The A5's really show big differences in what you are feeding them...192kbs WMA's versus the CD...Big difference.

I have tried them with several sound cards, M-Audio, Creative, Chaintech, onboard Realtek, nVidia Redstorm, CD players, multi format DVD players, Zunes, Cowans, iPods, Fast Track, Powerbooks, AMD notebooks, Intel notebooks, anything I can get my hands on and they really seem to have a competley different sound depending on what I am feeding them.

Everything I throw at them seems to give me a different sound...Some sweet...Some not so good.

Kinda weird...All in all though I feel they pretty much dust any "computer" speakers I have ever had...That being what I am comparing them to...I cannot realistically compare them to my home theatre system or even my lowly Grado's.

Placement of the A5's also seem's to have profound effect on what sound they produce...Have not made it to Guitar Center for some Mopads...Kinda crazy the different sound quality I am getting.

Like I said "Kinda weird"

 

[daveip]

i'm listening to a brand new set of a5s right now. i just unpacked them.

initial impressions? slightly cold but i'm hoping its going to improve as i burn them in. they're as markl said, very clean and clear but not quite to the point of being analytical.

soundstage is again as markl said. its a very wide soundstage with (i'd say) a fairly solid image straight in front of you.

these speakers are my second set in the foray into speaker-fi so you'll have to take my opinion with a pinch of salt i guess? but i think they are fantastic value for money. my previous setup consisted of a sony amp and mission speakers. the setup cost more than the a5s but it was alot more versatile in that i could connect more components to the amp. sound wise? those missions i had don't even compare to the a5s.

for a first set of monitors i think they might be a little in the deep end? but i'm throughly happy and i'm happily finding nice surprises as i listen =)

 

[markl]

Quote:

what are you using as source? Stock computer sound card?

Yes, stock card in my Dell XPS (2 month old computer). The sound card may be responsible for the upper-midrange hump (though I didn't hear this on the stock speakers, or the M-Audio AV20s), but the boxy-ness, hollowness and "cupped hands" are definitely an artifact of the enclosures of the speakers themselves.

 

[CyberTheo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, stock card in my Dell XPS (2 month old computer). The sound card may be responsible for the upper-midrange hump (though I didn't hear this on the stock speakers, or the M-Audio AV20s), but the boxy-ness, hollowness and "cupped hands" are definitely an artifact of the enclosures of the speakers themselves.

I'm not high on my Dell's stock sound card. Have you tried hooking up a good CD player to the A5's? Do you still hear the artifacts you were describing? I suspect the A5 is more revealing and shows the flaws of the source, as a pair of good speakers tend to. If that's the case, you may consider upgrading your sound card next.

 

[daveip]

on the question of sources, i've been using the x-fi notebook, my laptop's onboard sound and using the x-fi with a mini3/pimeta as pre-amp not that it needs one =S

the differences in sound from each of the combinations was EXTREMELY apparant. i've settled for using my x-fi straight to the speakers. i have a SVDAC05 on order. I'll try it using the usb and optical from my x-fi and report back.

 

[coredump]

My new A2s came in today and here are my initial impressions. I don't know much about speakers so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

First off my new set has the Audioengine logo on the front but the original set didn't. I actually prefer the ones with the logo.

For my first test I connected them to my X-Fi and and tried a variety of songs. My impression was that I paid way too much for these speakers. I thought the mids sounded muddy, muddled, recessed, and overall things didn't sound very good.

I read that source can make a big difference so I was hopeful that connecting it to my Zero would sound a little better. To my surprise it sounded a lot better. It was like two different speaker systems. My feelings went from disappointment to very satisfied. They're not the most amazing speakers I've ever heard but they are the best I've ever heard in this size. I'm very happy with them.

Quote:

There is a slightly nasal, "cupped hands" sound to them, too. There is also a slight hollowness that gives it a bit of a "boxy" sound.

I though the same thing about the A2s with my X-Fi but when I moved it to my Zero it seemed like most of that went away.

 

[sohels]

Here's a great deal on the Audioengine 5:

Audioengine 5 Powered Speakers A5 A5W - MINT - eBay (item 320249165166 end time May-11-08 17:42:57 PDT)

 

[Hookem]

"First off my new set has the Audioengine logo on the front but the original set didn't. I actually prefer the ones with the logo."

Yeah I liked the look of the A2's with the logo on them also.

 

[TaZ82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sohels /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's a great deal on the Audioengine 5: Audioengine 5 Powered Speakers A5 A5W - MINT - eBay (item 320249165166 end time May-11-08 17:42:57 PDT)

These seem to be the older version of the A5.

 

[jinp6301]

Well I finally received my pair of used M-Audio BX5A's that I got off ebay and I gotta say they're not that bad. The highs are seriously great, the mids are ok and the bass is passable. They suck at anything complex and at anything that requires massive bass. I'm using them with my m^3 as a preamp and that seemed to bring the bass out a little more but I'm pretty happy

 

[ioXt_2]

I got the A2s and I'm happy. But, I am sure I can get the best of them with a DAC/amp. Any suggestion for a Mac Pro user? My budget is around $300-400.

 

[sohels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaZ82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif These seem to be the older version of the A5.

Yes, its mentioned in the item description. That version did not have a sub pre-out, and had spring loaded clips for speaker wire. However, its sonically identical to the new version.