Audioengine A5+ Premium Powered Speaker Pair (Carbonized Solid Bamboo)
Audioengine A5+ Premium Powered Speaker Pair (Carbonized Solid Bamboo)
- Built-in power amplifiers, 50 watt per channel RMS
- Improved thermal management
- Custom Kevlar woofers and silk tweeters with solid carbonized bamboo case
- Compatible with any computer (Mac or PC)
- Remote control, 1/8″ and RCA inputs, USB power, all cables included
Audioengine’s A5+N Speakers are perfect for a small dedicated listening system. Use these powered speakers with an iPod to bring the sound from your portable player to life. Or pair them with a digital-to-analog converter for a computer audio system that brings out the subtle nuances in your music. The speakers’ stylish bamboo finish matches well with most decors. These speakers feature solid bamboo cabinets for a simple, modern look and stunning performance. And Audioengine takes ca
List Price: $ 469.00
Price:
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If you love music, you will smile when you hear these speakers!,
The packaging was stellar, with cables and speakers covered by some nice soft, cloth bags. The bags will come in handy to put over the speakers while I’m away, and help prevent dust settling on the speaker cones. Anyway, the setup is straightforward, and AE even provides some good speaker wire to connect the two units. They look fantastic. The manual says the sugar compounds in the bamboo are ‘carbonized’ and ‘caramelized’ to bring out the darker wood tones. It also provides a sweeter sound (ahem). Whatever. They look great, and seem to be finely finished. Worth the extra money for this option, I think.
Okay, now for the sound. An audiophile of sorts, I have a history of buying the best-value components based on my readings of Stereophile, Absolute Sound, and high end audio blogs. My tunes are all Flac, Apple Lossless, or AIFF-C files. Of course, my iTunes purchases are 256Kb conversions…can’t help that. I train my ears by going to many pop and classical concerts and listening for the qualities that make live music so enjoyable. So, I don’t take my speakers lightly…I have some expectations. How do I rate the A5+’s? I couldn’t be happier considering what I paid. The speakers never seem to strain, even at very high volumes. The only thing I notice is some compression of the midrange at VERY high volumes. The bass hangs in there, albeit cutoff below 50hz. I do miss that very bottom octave, however. Kettledrums just don’t have that extra punch you expect. This is not a criticism; maybe it’s just a reason to get a subwooofer. I rarely listen at very high levels since I’m usually working while listening. Female vocalists sound very natural, with no boxiness in the lower ranges. Sibilants sound very natural, and maybe a tad soft. Acoustic instruments have some body to them attesting to the good midrange. Imaging is excellent, and I find the placement is not super-critical. Equidistant spacing, lightly angled in seems to be just fine. (Note that AE suggests having at least 6″ of space behind the speakers, and they should be at least 6″ away from a side wall.) When I move, I don’t notice shifting of frequencies, which means the dispersion of the tweeters seems to be very good. The soundstage is wide, very wide on some tunes. No problem with that. The sound is so darned neutral, that I can listen for hours and not get weary.
As much as I enjoy listening to music through my IEM’s (Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 Pro’s), it is really nice to be ‘sitting in the audience’ and listening to these speakers. With the lights down, they disappear, and you get that great experience of being there in the studio or concert hall. I’m sure there are better speakers out there that probably cost more, however I just can’t fault the A5+’s. An audio bargain in my humble opinion.
Update 10/30/2013
I’m still loving these speakers. I missed the lower octave however, so I took a subwoofer I bought at Radio Shack several years ago, and plugged it in to the speakers. Now, I have a fuller experience of my music. I really love this system, and I have had no problems with it. No hum, pops, clicks, and the cases look as beautiful as the day I bought them.
Update 10/12/2014
After adding the subwoofer, I became aware of some mid-bass boominess, and found it hard to balance the sound using the cutoff on the subwoofer. I looked in to the DS2 foam speaker stands as a possible solution. These stands will raise not only the speaker, but the angle of the woofer. When the speakers sit flat on a desk, the woofers double some of the bass frequencies causing some imbalance. Tilting them back seems to resolve this problem. The stands are expensive, so maybe you can find a makeshift way of testing this theory to see if its worth pursuing. I have recently taken the Radio Shack subwoofer out of the office and into the living room. I’m thinking of upgrading the A5+’s with the Audioengine subwoofer. I really have fallen in love with these speakers over the years. I’ve had NO issues with them.
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|Better than the A5,
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|Audioengine A5+ Premium (white) with DAC – Compared to Bose,
Bose (in my opinion) offers a room filling, loud, bass heavy sound stage no matter the size of the speaker. If you prefer to listen to music while cleaning the house or while having a party (secondary listening), bose will do great. If you are concerned with keeping the music as natural and crisp and as close to the original as possible, go audio engine. There is no comparison between the two in that respect. I am hearing parts of my favorite songs that i feel weren’t even in the song when played over bose. You really realize how much detail is missed. I stayed up all night listening to old favorites and they all sounded new to me. Great Buy
Edit/Update 2/14 : It has been a little over a year since purchasing the A5+ speakers and have bought a second pair since then. The speakers sound better than ever and have not given me a single problem other than constant questions from friends about where to get them. Will soon be adding the woofer and will update again.
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