AudioEngine A2 or A5?

S

Suds

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 24, 2007
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352
I'm trying to decide between these two powered speakers(or any others in the price range with similar performance) and decided to ask for some opinions. First, a bit of background on my listening area; Medium/Large computer desk, 22" Deep x 8' Wide. Medium sized room(11'x11' with 12-13' Ceiling) with wood floors/concrete walls. I have an external DAC as well.

I've got a couple of concerns though. If I get the A5's, the ports will only be about 6"+ inches from the wall. Will this cause boomy bass or should I not worry about it? And do I need the A5's for my sized room or will the A2's get the job done without distorting at high volume levels? Most listening will be at low to medium volume as close range though.

Any opinions would be welcome. :)
 
I too am interested in this. i wonder how much improvement there is in the A5's over the A2's.
 
The woofers on the A2s are tiny. All else being equal, the A5s should smash them. But the A2s are still nice.
 
Think I might end up going with the A2 and build custom stands so they sit ear level to me. I think the A5's might be a bit overboard for my needs. Thanks for the replies.
 
spaceman said:
You know me, so:

A2 and a SUB FTW!!!!

yaaaaaay!!!
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What kinda sub pairs well with the A2?

Another set in the same price/performance range would be the Swan M200MKII, though they're even larger than the A5 I think (but cheaper).
 
If I remember correctly, the A2s are the more traditional desktop speakers meaning you plan to place them on your desk right by your monitor. In most speaker setup pictures, I've always seen the A5s in slightly larger rooms on their own separate stand. You could just put them on your desk but I think they're way too big and would look weird.
 
Any sub will work well so long as it is front firing and ported in this case. You want it all going forward b/c the wall is so close. Partsexpress 10" dayton or BIC America, hsu, svs are all solid choice for subwoofers.
 
spaceman said:
A2 and a SUB FTW!!!!
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Agreed. Having large, rear-firing ports 6" from any wall is just an unacceptable configuration if you ask me, and that won't be nearly as big an issue with the A2s. It's not as if the A5s are particularly strong in sub-bass either, which can be a problem with gaming and movies in addition to music, depending on what kind of stuff you listen to.

Ideally, I think what you'll actually want is a small sub. Something with an 8" woofer probably. In general, the more compact the sub, and the smaller the driver, the easier it'll be to "control" and the less fine-tuning you'll need to do. Having a bit less extension also helps prevent leakage.

Of course, if you'll want to consider sealed vs. ported and weigh the pros and cons of side-firing vs. down-firing. My particular preference leans toward ported, down-firing subs (disagreeing with spaceman a bit here). They tend to be the most "plug-and-play" way to add a sub to your setup.
 
lol down firing is cool too. for HT especially. for music though, front firing if you are really picky.
 
phide said:
ported, down-firing subs...tend to be the most "plug-and-play" way to add a sub to your setup.
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For a large room with a hard floor, yes. Otherwise, not really. Some designs have an integral base that gets around the floor material issue without having to kludge together an eyesore, but it's still not intended to be right against a wall.
 
Do we know if the sub's going to have to be close to the wall/desk/other boundaries? I was kind of banking on the idea of the sub's positioning being more flexible than the mains given the size of the room, but maybe not.
 
How exactly to do you connect a Sub to the A2's? There is no Sub Out, only inputs.
 
The A2s are amplified, right? The sub just wants a line-level copy of the signal for the front speakers. Use splitters, or tap it at the source instead of routing it from the speakers.

Phide's question is pretty relevant to the "what sub" issue.
 
I think you are drastically underestimating the A5s. I've got mine less than 6 inches from the wall, and they still put out amazing, clean, balanced bass. I don't need a sub. I really thought i would, but the A5s hit the low notes with the best of them. It's the best purchase i've ever made in audio.
 
You know a down-firing sub vs a side-firing into the back wall gives you more or less the same bass reinforcement so I wouldn't say one is inherently cleaner than the other. I'd be more worried about wall resonance, but as long as you don't have paper thin walls you should do fine. Bass has sufficiently long wavelengths that in a smaller room, if you have any real acoustical problems they'll be revealed regardless of your creative attempts.

I've had speakers that go flat to 40hz a few inches from the wall and it was never a problem. But then my walls are pretty thick and you'd struggle to hear anything down the hallway unless I seriously turn it up.

The biggest problem is that you don't want large speakers too close to you since most of the sound is blasting way past you rather than at you. You might want some sort of friendly compromise, a 3" driver vs a 5" driver is a bit extreme.
 
astrallite, make your recommendation please. you go over my head sometimes so please walk these folks down to the water for a drink. :)

I think that the A2s with the sub run from the pc subwoofer out btw(come on guys think a little please), would give the best nearfield experience. I would also, if the room is tight, think about some room treatments to avoid reflections. That is what I would do anyway.
 
Just throwing it out there, but I'm pretty happy with my M-Audio AV40's 4" driver on those, nice sound to my ears.

Although an unexpected side effect of finally getting a decent pair of headphones has me thinking of upgrading my speakers to catch up, hopefully thats just a passing fancy though, I know my wallet would thank me if it is, hehe.
 
what do you guys think about the AS8 Powered Subwoofer paired with the A2's?

and could someone run that by me again about how to split "that signal" from the A2's to the sub? :confused:
 
The AS8 is probably a great sub, and it meets my criteria (for what that's worth), but it's also comparatively expensive to other 8" down-firing subs on the market. That being said, it does have line level inputs and outputs, so setting it up with the A2s will be a breeze. Just use the 1/8" stereo mini cable from your sound card's left front/right front output into the sub, then use the RCA cables to connect the sub to the A2's left speaker. Then, use speaker cables to connect the A2's left speaker to the right speaker and you're done. Audioengine's cool enough to throw in everything you'll need (and then some), so you don't need to buy any extra cables or anything.

There's no question this'll be a good setup for $600, but you could probably do about as well for around half that assuming you can find another sub with line-level ins and outs that's priced better. I'm not a big fan of splitting line-level signals.
 
topdog5050 said:
Hey,Get a set of Logitech 5500 series they sound awesome and also clear.:)
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Logitechs aren't that good, seriously.

I upgraded from a Klipsch Promedia 5.1 setup, which is arguably "better" than the Logitech set, and the setup I have now blows my Klipsch away.
 
FWIW, I just purchased the A2's from AudioEngine. If I feel the need for a sub, I'll most likely pick up the Dayton SUB-80 which will be easy to connect with the A2's. And if anyone cares, 10% of AudioEngine.com with the code PBC10. :)

Thanks for all the replies.
 
just a little update, i recently purchased some edifier s330d's. they sound good but have somewhat a narrow field of sound. I'm now on the market for a pair of A5's. The only kicker is that stupid "off black" rings around the tweeter and woofer. does it really look that bad in person?
 
unrealsword said:
Any idea how they compare to the A5's? It's a shame A5's don't have headphone ability.
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Normally people making good audio equipment assume you won't want to pass your signal through more things than you're forced to. Therefore it's rare to see a headphone jack once you get out of the cheap speakers.
 
ashmedai said:
Normally people making good audio equipment assume you won't want to pass your signal through more things than you're forced to. Therefore it's rare to see a headphone jack once you get out of the cheap speakers.
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Yup. The A2 an A5s are certainly better speakers. The Behringers are just a step up from normal pc speakers. Nice little package though.
 
Any way to still have the ability to use headphones if I get the A5's? Using an x-fi extreme music.
 
unrealsword said:
Any way to still have the ability to use headphones if I get the A5's? Using an x-fi extreme music.
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Switch, separate output device...the A5 is just intended to be a terminal device, not an intermediate one. This is something the Zero is good for, actually.
 
Cheap? Well, you can get a splitter but it will degrade the sound quality. I can't think of a cheap way to do it except for that sorry. Maybe somebody else has figured it out?

Maybe get a cheap receiver off of craigslist.
 
It wouldn't be hard to build a two-way switch given basic soldering skills. Probably wouldn't cause much degradation either. The problem with a splitter is that it connects them both at once.
 
I used a terk switcher on my moms tv/dvd setup and run some Swan speakers from the headphone out. Sounds ok.
 
Sorry to ask again. I have a base from my old inspire 5200 that has a volume cable that has a headphone in port. Could I plug the A5's into that and have it function properly? Or will the base from the built in speakers be reduced?
 
spaceman, can you clarify how a splitter degrades the sound quality? I planned on splitting the signal from my analog out on my computer.

anyways on another topic. audioengine does not ship to hawaii :( i went to like the only retailer here in hawaii, video life and those mudda f**** wouldn't even let me listen to them (A2 & A5's) even though they had them on display, infact that chinese lady said "no touchy speakers" how the hell do they expect a sale? guess my other option is ebay...

spaceman said:
Cheap? Well, you can get a splitter but it will degrade the sound quality. I can't think of a cheap way to do it except for that sorry. Maybe somebody else has figured it out?

Maybe get a cheap receiver off of craigslist.
Click to expand...
 
spaceman said:
Cheap? Well, you can get a splitter but it will degrade the sound quality. I can't think of a cheap way to do it except for that sorry. Maybe somebody else has figured it out?
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It's pretty easy, really. Just grab a 1/8" mini stereo male to 1/8" stereo mini female extension cable. Connect the male to the stereo out of the sound card and drape the female end over your desk (or wherever's accessible). The A5s come with a 1/8" male-to-male cable, so connect one end to the A5s and the other end to the female of the extension cable. When you need to switch to headphones, just pop out the A5's cable and pop in your headphone's connector using a 1/8"-to-1/4" adapter if necessary.

Not the most elegant solution out there, but it works, and the quality loss induced by the extension is probably, for all intents and purposes, immeasurable.
 
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