Audioengine 5 Review

The User Reviews

Average User Rating: 5.6

1. Good looking Speakers - but not very linear in Sound Reproduction

   

   By: Markus Bruch
   July 19, 2009 @ 8:45 PM

   The Audioengine A5 are really nice looking speakers, are very good outer build quality and glossy white finish, and come nicely packaged with all needed accessories.

   My problem was, that I didn’t like the sound after listening to them for a few hours, there was just something missing from the whole sound spectrum.

   I have tested them with my Sony CDP-X707ES which to many is the best CD-Player Sony ever made in it’s history! The Audioengine A5 were directly connected to the fixed-chinch-output of the CD-Player.

   As I have no other speakers comparable in size to the A5, I did the comparison with my Sony MDR-7506 professional headpones.

   This may not be a entirely fair comparison but I would expect to get about 85 percent of the sound quality of the Sony headphones over the Audioengine A5 speakers, but when compared directly there is simply the last grain of sound brilliance missing in the A5.

   The problems in particular are:

   - Bass is to plenty of it and a bit resounding

   - the deeper mid tones are just to weak

   - and finally the high tones are missing the last bit of brilliance

   If you listen for example to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and there the track “Time”, you would probably confirm my statement.

   If you are mainly listening to Singer/Songwriter, or Slow Jazz, with a lot of vocals you may even like the A5, because voices are reproduced really “velvety” on the A5.

   But all in all I am just missing to much of the airy brillance, that for example my just sold JBL Control 1G had – sadly to much of it – with them, but that’s another story.

   Besides that my A5 pair had a problem when the volume was really turned down, at this point I could almost only hear the left box, the right box just come back bit by bit after increasing the volume!

   And if I turned down the volume knob to the left edge, say – no volume at all – the left and right speakers where still reproducing the sound, so there are only muted if you turn the powerswitch off.

   -Markus

   Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

2. Annoying popping sound

   

   By: Tim
   March 26, 2008 @ 10:24 PM

   Bought a5s three weeks ago, sound was great. I really liked them until I turned the volume up and an annoying popping sound started. I was gutted. Now I have to start searching for something else as my confidence in the product has been undermined. Any suggestions?

   Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

3. Too much bass

   

   By: Kelly
   January 31, 2008 @ 9:55 AM

   I’ve had to put bass reduction on my iTunes settings, and stuff the back port of the A5’s with cloth (not recommended by their tech support!). Still the bass totally overwhelms the entire 12 x 10 room. I even had to pad under the speakers, tried burying them under the desk on carpet, all to no avail. These things have about double the bass of my other home systems (I have 5 home systems, 3 with subwoofers, and this is much too overpowering!!)

   I’ve contacted audio engine’s tech support and they’ve not been able to help. I really regret the fact that other reviewers missed this entirely. Sure they look nice enough, high quality connections on the back, though they really appear far too big even on my huge 15 feet of office L shaped desks. They should make these with a dial to turn down the bass to about 1/3 of the currently imbalanced output.

   Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

4. Quality control issues

   

   By: Carlton Stone
   December 14, 2007 @ 11:11 AM

   I received my 5’s last evening and left the office early, eager to hear what all the fuss is about. Also the main speaker does not work, the fuse is intact, the hookup is correct, just no sound. But the left speaker does try on occasion.

   Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

5. What more could you ask for?

   

   By: Wayne
   September 20, 2006 @ 6:34 AM

   These speakers are the BEST sounding “small” speakers I have ever used. They sound absolutely stunning when hooked up to my Sony PSP or portable CD/MP3 player. Best description I can give is that they sound as good as they look. I highly recommend these speakers.

   Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

6. I'm a believer

   

   By: Matt
   September 11, 2006 @ 9:38 AM

   I had a chance to hear these things and they were incredible. I had them sitting on my shelf for a day or two before I officially set them up and they were very appealing to the eyes as well. When I unpacked them, the utmost care was put into the packing, opening and set-up. For the money these are a sure buy. I loved the sounds and as the review said, I could hear things that I didn’t know existed. From U2 to INXS I found myself “re-enjoying” the music I’ve heard for many years and waiting in anticipation for that new sound that eventually always was discovered.

   Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

7. Incredible Speakers

   

   By: Ian Bell
   September 10, 2006 @ 9:38 PM

   I had a chance to listen to them and they sound amazing. They really do put Apple’s Hi-Fi system to shame. This is what quality sound and construction is all about.

   Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No