[ProtegeManiac]

You can get passives from Parts Express. Have him check what the cut-offs are on the A5 (and also the impedance of each driver), then buy one with the high pass at the same frequency or slightly higher, for drivers with the same impedance.

 

[maroon]

Oh! Good call! I’d forgotten about them. And $25 isn’t too bad.
 
Still, I probably won’t, unless hacking up the board doesn’t work. If these were ever gonna be top-notch speakers, or if my application were critical, I’d probably put in the $ and effort to make them shine. (I’d go whole hog if they were Mackie HR824’s for example.) Ditto to get them back to active, with a direct iThing input, handy volume knob, etc.
 
But they aren’t. And I don’t need much more than what they were designed to be, which is a pretty good to good set of working desktops, cheap and easy as possible.
 
Speakers are 8ohm, probably crossed over at 3500 or so, but that's just a guess. 

 

[DanielP]

Hi All,
 
I work for Audioengine.  We wanted to provide the head-fi community with an update on this and clear a few things up.  
 
Like Brady mentioned early on in this thread, we have seen a few A5s come back with these symptoms and we've been taking a close look at them.  So far though, through our evaluation we still haven't found the cause to be a consistent, specific, component failure.
 
We've seen exactly 0 cases of similar symptoms in A5+s, which have been on the market since 2011.
 
If you're set is exhibiting these symptoms here's what you should do:
 
First contact us at support@audioengineusa.com.  We can help you troubleshoot to make sure the issue is not something else, more easily resolved.  You'd be surprised how many customers contact us referencing this thread, only to find out the issue was a dirty volume pot, or a loose connection; corrected respectively by turning the knob a few times and/or swapping out interconnect(s).
 
If you've gone through troubleshooting and your still having trouble:
 
Inside the US, continue contact with support@audioengineusa.com.  We are the service center for the US, so we will be able to help you out one way or another.  We offer a 3 year warranty on all our products, and offer fairly priced flat rate repairs for all our products outside the warranty.
 
Outside the US, the first thing you should do is contact your local distributor.  You can find a complete list of Audioengine distributors here: http://audioengineusa.com/resellers/Distributors
Each distributor manages their own warranty period/terms.  So check with them to see if your eligible and what you need to do to submit a claim.
 
 
 
Quote:

 
Oh! Good call! I’d forgotten about them. And $25 isn’t too bad.
 
Still, I probably won’t, unless hacking up the board doesn’t work. If these were ever gonna be top-notch speakers, or if my application were critical, I’d probably put in the $ and effort to make them shine. (I’d go whole hog if they were Mackie HR824’s for example.) Ditto to get them back to active, with a direct iThing input, handy volume knob, etc.
 
But they aren’t. And I don’t need much more than what they were designed to be, which is a pretty good to good set of working desktops, cheap and easy as possible.
 
Speakers are 8ohm, probably crossed over at 3500 or so, but that's just a guess. 

The A5 uses 4 ohm drivers.  I don't have any info on how the crossovers are designed though.

 

[GREQ]

    You'd be surprised how many customers contact us referencing this thread, only to find out the issue was a dirty volume pot

If it was a dirty pot I'd probably be so disappointed I'd just get a refund anyway. 
That kind of stuff normally only happens after 5-10 years, usually much more. 

 

[DanielP]

 
If it was a dirty pot I'd probably be so disappointed I'd just get a refund anyway. 
That kind of stuff normally only happens after 5-10 years, usually much more. 

I mention this because it's one example of a very easy to fix issue that could be mistaken as this "wind noise" issue, due to similar sounding symptoms.
 
We wouldn't expect something like this in a new factory fresh product either, but dust can accumulate in any analog potentiometer over a period of time.  The time frame depends heavily on the environment.  In general though, I think your 5-10 year estimation sounds about right.  Keep in mind that the A5s were made from as early as 2005.  We replaced them with the A5+s towards the end of 2011.
 
In any case, this isn't usually a huge deal.  Most of the time it's easily remedied by quickly rotating the volume knob from 0% to 100% about 20-30 times.

 

[maroon]

Well I have to say I find AudioEngine’s interest in supporting a product which is anywhere from 3-8 years old encouraging, to say the least. Many companies’- maybe most- interest tends to end abruptly upon expiry of the warrantee. After that, it’s often “too bad, so sad, you got your money’s worth, now go buy another one.” So, good on them.
 
That said, my speaker’s problems definitely ain’t trivial, and that isn’t just my seat of the pants diagnosis, it comes from a good repair shop testing out the innards and finding a fried- and pricey- IC.
 
So I’ve taken DanielIP’s advice, and contacted Audioengine support. Alas, I’m not located in the USA, so I suspect that’s gonna limit my options and complicate any kind of resolution, but we’ll see. 

 

[wildeweg]

   
My repair guy (indie and good) says they die for a simple reason: heat. The amps they use run hot, and although they do use a heat sink, there's no real way of dissipating the heat to the outside. They get hot, and die.

 
I think it's heat too. I decided to take the speakers out of their normal environment as suggested in the standard mail I received from Audioengine. So i took them to work, and placed the active speaker in the windowsill, above the heating (what was i thinking). After the weekend i came back, put the speakers on and the kind of exploded. The bangs were so loud and frequent i immediately had to disconnect them from the power source.
 
If this is caused by a dirty pod i'll eat my hat.

 

[wildeweg]

Related to this heat issue: wonder why the differences between the old and the new A5. http://cl.ly/image/3h2f431r3r44

 

[maroon]

Oh! Easy- that big black set of fins on the back of the A5+ is a heat sink. It takes heat generated inside the speaker enclosure and dissipates it outside. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink
 
In other words, yes indeed, the failure of A5 speakers is very probably caused by heat build up inside the speakers and the failure of one or more components. IE: a basic design flaw, fixed in a later version by the manufacturer.
 
What to do? Well, I’ve just about given up on Audioengine. I emailed them my woes a couple of weeks ago and never even got the courtesy of a reply. I’ll restrain myself from venting dark thoughts about that. Maybe they’re just tardy. Maybe they’ve told Santa to bring me a new pair. Maybe.
 
And anyway, getting them fixed seems dumb- and expensive- if they’re just going to die again, which seems likely.
 
Therefore, Plan B. I’m going to try salvaging the crossover and turning them into passives as detailed in a link posted earlier. I’ll report back on this, and if I can do it, anyone can. (I’m not much of a hand with a soldering iron…)
 

For an amp, I’ve come across a great desktop solution: a mini amp! These were a revelation to me, and there’s lots. Many are based on the same (?) TDA7492 amp IC used by Audioengine. Couple examples that have gotten great reviews: SMSL SA-50, or MicroFidelity Mini Amplifier, Model 200. Ballpark $70-$80 or so, 50x2 watts RMS, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and some have a nice big volume knob.

If you decide to go this route, do your research! There’re lots of other brands. Many are junk, and the specs on even the better-reviewed ones seem to be, if not outright lies, then at least very…ahem…optimistic.

Will all this work? Dunno. But at least there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’ll find out soon enough if it’s a train.

 

 

[stewart73]

Hey guys, new here.  I also just purchased the A2+ set from an authorized seller here in Japan and have noticed a fairly large "pop" everytime I wake the computer from sleep, restart, or turning the computer off.  It's a loud electronic "crack" kind of noise coming from the speakers and it's a bit scary as the driver itself kind of pops out too when they make that sound.  Have mailed Audioengine and am waiting for a response...these speakers sound nice but not loving this loud 'pop' everytime I turn anything on or off!

 

[GREQ]

I had those pops on my A5, and they got progressively louder before the hissing 'microphone-blowing' kind of sounds started happening.
It doesn't bode well.

 

[goodvibes]

  If it was a dirty pot I'd probably be so disappointed I'd just get a refund anyway. 
That kind of stuff normally only happens after 5-10 years, usually much more. 

Actually, not so much when it doesn't get used as it often doesn't when used with a PC etc. Fix is usually just to exercise it a bit. Pots like this are self cleaning but need to be used every so often for that to happen.
 
Popping is a different issue. I do know that there was period where a LOT of manufacturers were shipped misrepresented/bogus electrolytic capacitors from a chinese supplier. Only shows up after some years and not because the manufacturer cut corners. 

 

[stewart73]

Just had a reply back from Audioengine and was told that when using the USB connection on the A2+, hearing a 'pop' upon startup and shutdown is normal.  This was confirmed by the local dealer as well who said that all of their A2+s do that.  I suppose I'll just try to ignore it (though it's sometimes pretty darn loud).  Hopefully they don't develop any of these other issues discussed in this thread. 

 

[maroon]

So, my A5s are back up and working. I turned them into passives, using the instructions in this thread:
http://forums.vr-zone.com/audiophiles-htpc-corner/2167308-bought-faulty-a5-you-decide-its-fate.html
 
This was a walk in the park. I had no interest in preserving anything other than the crossover part of the board, so I just flailed away with sidecutters to- ahem-  disconnect all unnecessary wiring, cut the little electronic thingies in half (at the points indicated by the red arrows in the above post) to disconnect all the unneeded electronics on the board, and soldered on wires at the points indicated for inputs.I left the main board attached to the heat sink so I could mount it back into the speaker. All very low skill. Took about an hour. 
 
I also got a SMSL SA-50 mini amp (teeny tiny, with a nice big volume knob and on/off switch) hooked it up, and I'm a happy camper.
 
I also did hear from Audioengine service. I suspect they would've either fixed the speakers at a reasonable cost or replaced them, but the hitch was shipping, which was a deal-breaker.
 
Anyway, done. 

 

[happel]

I had the same problem-twice. I do suggest contacting Audioengine support. They were very helpful and responsive. I sent my speakers back for repair or replacement for a reasonable fee since they were out of warranty.