Audioengine A5 White (Pr) 2-way Powered Speaker System
See it at Amazon.com for $325.00Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Budget audiophile level sound. Really.
These speakers represent a mindblowing, inconceivable price-performance proposition for the true music lover. The clarity, neutrality, musicality, staging and transparency is simply unreal for a <$400 speaker. If someone had told me these speakers were 5 times their price as I listened to them, I would have believed it.
2 caveats for potential buyers: if you are looking for asocial amounts of raw power and over the top bass, this was not designed for you. This is for music lovers that appreciate a crystal clear, musical and neutral delivery of material. Considering their size, their ability to deliver very satisfying bass umph and play at levels that will overwhelm your ability to discern detail is pretty amazing, though.
For those who utterly need more bass, AudioEngine was thoughtful enough to provide a subwoofer port, and I can tell you it works, but if I had to do it all over again I'd save myself the subwoofer expense. It has to be turned way down in volume and truly kept under 60Hz to not spoil the Audioengine's balance delivery.
And I don't praise the AudioEngine speakers too easily: I regard myself as a bit of an audiophile snob, listening to my music at home through a $25k stereo consisting of Accuphase CD and amplifier and B&W speakers.
I got a transfer that has me living in a one bedroom apartment for the next year or two. No way the big stereo, speakers (and over 2,000 CDs) could come with me. After doing some research and asking some people whose opinion I respect on less snobbish audiophile forums, I decided to buy the AudioEngine speakers. The setup is remarkably easy: my entire collection resides on a redundant network drive. I stream it wirelessly to a small box (the Slim Devices SqueezeBox) that does the DA conversion at very high quality, and it gets fed into the active AudioEngine speakers. The total cost of this minimalist and clean setup (perfect for a one bedroom apartment that I like neat and open) is of less than $700 for electronics, plus a few additional hundred for stuff that filters and cleans power, plus good quality cabling (but nothing esoterically expensive). The result? Pretty amazing. Do I still miss my home stereo? Yes. But it's amazing how close this gets, and how satifying this is, at a fraction of the cost.
This is a great time to be an audiophile.
Thank you, AudioEngine!
(5 out of 5)The speakers Apple should have designed.
Bottom line: if you use an Airport Express and want to deliver astonishing quality wireless music throughout your house, then get these. They are thoughtfully designed to accommodate the Airport Express in a port on the back. Their industrial design is reminiscent of the iPod Hi-Fi, but delivers a more robust, fuller spectrum sound, in my opinion. Also, being separate speakers, you can place them some distance apart for much better stereo separation. Given that they are roughly the price of the iPod Hi-Fi, deliver better quality sound, and have a nice Apple-esque/Braun design aesthetic, I highly recommend these as probably the best powered speaker solution available for Airport Express / iTunes users. Couldn't be happier.
(5 out of 5)Unbelievable sound !
These speakers are truly a work of art - the sound is unbelievable for their size. I am a music lover and enjoy hearing all the complexities of the music without distortions. We use them with the Squeezebox set-up. Hats off to the folks at AudioEngine !! - they went beyond expectations. We just purchased the smaller versions for a PC set-up...again, we are very pleased.
(5 out of 5)BUY THESE. DON'T THINK TWICE
These are the most amazing speakers I've ever heard. My family is getting sick of me bragging about them. I live in a 4 bedroom colonial and these fill the entire first floor with crystal clear sound. Upstairs, I can hear the music as well, and though it's not as loud, the full spectrum of sound is still well represented. Moreover, these give you excellent sound at low, mid, and high volumes.
Check out what audiophiles are saying about these. (I'm not an audiophile) One common comment seems to be that the sound is so good that you'll actually notice the difference between mp3 and CD quality, something I've never heard before listening to these.
One point: Don't let the size fool you. These will fill a house. If you're looking to musicify a bedroom or small apartment, go with the cheaper but still excellent A2 audioengines. Those are smaller and also incredible.