Audioengine A5+ Powered Bookshelf Speakers – 150W High-Fidelity Studio Monitors for Music, Gaming, Turntables & Home Theater

After months of research, I decided to go with Audioengine. The A2's looked like all I would need, but after reading the great reviews of the A5's, I chose the A5+ Bamboo. I ordered them on Friday late AM, and received them on Saturday morning (overnite FEDEX, $3.99). I've been breaking them in all day (not that I noticed a problem out of the box), as the mftr suggests. I'm feeding them the signal from a Fiio E-10 DAC, plugged into the USB on my iMac. They are mounted on a pair of dense foam blocks, to raise them slightly. I'm not sure I see the advantages of using the optional stands since they tilt the speaker back and change the plane of the tweeter and woofer. I had to re-arrange some items on my office shelves to prevent resonance during some of the lower bass passages. 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.

Sound is such a subjective matter so please bear that in mind in reading my review. See if you think what I like and listen to might concur with your own personal tastes. Background. I own a high end stereo system probaly costing $30K that I never use. Also a Bose 5.1 surround sound system for the TV and DVD's. And for my 2nd computer a Klipsch THX 2.1 system. Also a Klipsch player for an iPod. Of couse they all have their unique sounds - well the expensive stereo system has no sound as of now as I felt the speakers (very, very large KEF's) were not sounding right and even after a sound engineer told me they were fine my ear said "No" because I knew how they could sound from a class A amp - so I've listened to no quality music system these last few years. I don't class the Bose system as suitable for serious music listening, but they do OK for movies. Oh, and my choice for headphones are 2 pairs of Sennheiser. So given that background lets get to the business. In my opinion, and for my taste, these Audioengine A5+ speakers + S8 woofer are remarkable. I would describe the sound a neutral (hard to find these days). That does not mean there is no bass but its only there when it should be and then its tight and does not sound like its being played through a pillow. This is the kind of sound that is not tiring and can be listened to for hours on end. When I first connected the Audioengine system up, by mistake, I did not connect the woofer. Even without it the A5+ speakers sound good, really good, but adding the woofer does make a difference for sure, and I think if you are after quality sound it is needed. Of course it can be added later as funds allow because just the A5+'s are good on their own. For a low priced system the Klipsch system replaced a pair of Bose (no woofer) on my 2nd computer and were noticable cleaner sounding with better bass because of their woofer, than the pair of Bose with no woofer. For a low priced system I could certainly live with the Klipsch. But my listening habbits have changed over 40 years and I now spend many hours a day working in front of a computer at home. That's the only time I get to listen to music - as well as in the car. I hadn't heard good sound for so long I decided to try the Audioengine system for the computer but was really blown away by how good it was. I didn't really trust the many good reviews I'd seen. The stereo image is so good with the A5+'s they create a very wide sound stage that seems to emanate slighting above and between the 2 speakers. I could hear singers taking a breath and new sounds on a violin that the bow made as it was pulled across the strings, that had not been there before. Bear in mind I am feeding only lossless MP3 files played out of iTunes - not vinyl tracks played on my Linn LP12 turntable. Are they perfect - no that's not possible for just over $700 (I am adding the DAC and stands now so will be into the system for close to $1,000) but in terms of the sound quality at this price they are quite remarkable. Beautifully packaged even the UPS driver who bounced the box down his truck steps could not hurt them as they sit a couple of inches inside their box surrounded by foam packaging. They are heavy and look like a quality product that the manufacturer has been proud to produce. Like all good speaker systems they sound better loud as you can feel the bass. It's tempting to set the woofer volume too high but playing the system loud then over cooks the bass and it looses something. The music is not balanced. I also had a little recording business in my youth so became very critical on how sound was mixed. What would be nice is a low volume setting on the remote that boosts the bass when playing at low volume. The woofer has a Phase control so the woofer cone can sync with the speaker cones to improve bass sound. Also a Crossover knob to set where in the frequency range the woofer comes in - just a matter of setting where you like it. And then a Volume control. Again I say don't be tempted to set this too high. I would set it where it sounds right then turn down just a hair. If you play at really high volume then it probably needs setting even lower. After 50 hours of burning in they can only improve. I wish I had gotten better with age! So yea I like em very much. One of my better buying choices.

Although I have purchased many products on amazon, I feel compelled to review this product so this is my first product review: I consider myself a budding (and budget) audiophile. I am still in college and do not have the budget for a $2,000+ pair of speakers yet. When I fist started looking for new speakers, I went to my local hi end audio store and listened to Paradigm, Magnepan, and Bower and Wilkins speakers. While they were all pretty good quality (especially the Magnepans), they were all out of my budget. They were also pretty big and are not the best for computer/desktop/nearfield music listening. I decided for my next pair of speakers, I would prefer active desktop/bookshelf speakers because the only amp I have right now is powering a pair of Mission 733 floorstanding speakers and I would not have enough money for a quality amp and speakers. After doing a lot of online research, I narrowed my search down to Audioengine A5's, Swan M200MkII, Yamaha HS50M, Krk rokit 6's, as well as a few others. I found a local store that carried the Audioengine A5s and decided to go listen to them. When I plugged in my iPhone and played "I hope I didn't Just Give Away the Ending" by the New Radicals (16 bit, 44.1kHz, apple lossless m4a), the speakers had an amazing sound quality and soundstage to them. The mids and highs were a lot more defined than my Mission 733s although the Missions had a lower bass extension. I was immediately very impressed with them. They also had a pair of Audioengine A2s to try so I played "Alone With You" by deadmau5 (a great song to test the bass extension of speakers). They played the highs and mids very well but the bass extension was very lacking. I imagine the A2s would be fine if you were mainly listening to acoustic, jazz, and classical music; but they aren't a great all-around speaker. Immediately after listening to these, I drove over to my local Guitar Center to listen to some studio monitors. I listened to speakers ranging from Yamaha, Krk, M audio, and Mackie (The Adam studio monitors with the ribbon tweeters weren't working). None of them gave me the same "Wow" factor that the audioengines did. The most impressive studio monitors in my price range were the Yamaha HS50Ms. They put out quite an impressive volume and clarity for their size. I have to admit that Guitar Center does not have the best listening environment for nearfield listening and probably didn't give the studio monitors a fair chance. They're just placed randomly on shelves around 8' apart. The Yamaha's were the only speakers placed properly and this may have resulted in me thinking they sounded better than the rest; although they were still not as impressive as the audioengines. After this I went home and decided to just go with the Audioengines. I purchased them with Audioengine DS2 Desktop Speaker Stands (Pair) on amazon and could not be more happy with my purchase. They make for the perfect desktop listening experience. They do very well at reproducing the sound and feel of the music and live instruments, such as an upright bass (in my opinion, one of the hardest instruments for speakers to emulate). These speakers have as much bass output as you can expect from a 5" driver, but if you listen to a lot of hip-hop, reggae, dubstep, movies, etc, you may want to consider getting a subwoofer. I am currently considering getting the Outlaw Audio M8 Subwoofer , but I hear that the Audioengine S8 Premium Powered Subwoofer (White) integrates perfectly with these speakers. Pros: The sound quality is amazing, especially for the money. If you're thinking about getting a pair of desktop speakers in this price range, don't look any further; these will more than satisfy your needs. They sound great out of the box but be sure to give them around 30 hrs of medium volume playing time to properly break in. Once they do, they sound even sweeter. The setup is very easy and I like all of the input and charging options that come with them. The packaging is great. Cons: I have had these speakers overheat on me once. This was after about 6 hours of blasting music through the speakers (they will just auto shut-off). I plan to fix this by placing aluminum tape on the back of the left speaker for better heat radiation. If you have the money, go for the A5+s and you won't have to worry about this problem. They also make a popping noise when the auto shutoff kicks in after about 10-15 min without sound input. Credentials: I have been playing instruments since a very young age. These include guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, and even the didgeridoo. I am a DJ that plays many local shows (mainly edm such as electro house and trance). As a hobby, I produce music; mainly electronic music and rock. Speakers/Headphones I own: A5 Premium Powered Bookshelf Speakers (White) , Mission 733 speakers, Sennheiser HD555 Professional Headphones with Sound Channeling , Sony MDR-V700DJ DJ-Style Monitor Series Headphones , Sony MHCEC909iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System .

I purchased these a few weeks ago and auditioned them for about a week and a half before returning them due to a defective RCA input connection, so my review is based off of the 1/8" headphone input which isn't my preference, but that's what I had. Setup was fairly straightforward. The left speaker contains the amplifiers for both speakers so you string one set of speaker cable over to the right speaker. From there, adjust the volume and start listening. I liked that there was a quick volume dial on the front for adjusting between my DAC, onboard sound card, and the speaker gain itself. After dialing in the right settings, I started playing a variety of music to break them in and get them to the optimal sound. I was immediately impressed by the depth that these speakers are able to create in almost any type of music, filling out instruments and voices that are otherwise difficult to discern. It added a nice touch to most male voices without getting to chesty or boomy and really filled out nicely to make it sound like a live performance. I was also especially impressed with the addition it made to horns and guitars which often can sound thin. On the A5's they sounded full and real. I'm currently auditioning a pair of Paradigm Shift A2's which are much brighter (my ears are getting a bit tired after the first few hours, but I'm hoping they'll smooth out with time). By further comparison, the Audioengine speakers have no audible hiss from the power source like the Paradigms do, which is also getting a little tiresome. The A5's are much "warmer" than the Paradigms, likely due to the tweeter materials, the Paradigm's being much more rigid aluminum compared to the A5's fabric dome. For closer listening like on a desktop, this makes a big difference. The only advantage that I'm getting from the Paradigms after a few hours listening are in bass extension on which it has a fairly significant edge over the A5's (easily hitting 40hz and below by my ear-gauge) and clearer separation/definition due to the slightly clearer (but harsher) tweeter. Like with most audio equipment, it really comes down to your taste. For me, I got far more chills and wow's out of the Audioengine speakers. It just made my style of music pop again for me and I found myself going to my computer all the time to hear certain songs over and over again. Guitars had more sizzle and string definition, voices had more realism and depth, etc. Based on what I'm hearing now from the Paradigm A2's is that I need a bigger house to make these my speakers. I need them about 5-10 feet further away from my ears to get the best benefit. Not to mention that, for a pair, the A5's are almost $300 less. It's hard to argue against a better sounding speaker that also has a great price for what you get. I would highly recommend these speakers to anyone who wants to get a little more out of their desktop setup and enjoy their music.

I have been mostly a front of house sound engineer for 25 years, I also appreciate the audiophile world and have been living there for a long time. Currently I enjoy professionally mixing on d&b audiotechnik speakers which are about as audiophile as you can get in the live sound world. My journey started with the Parts Express C-Note speakers that need to be assembled. It was fun and they do sound great. After several years I wanted to get something that sounded more precise but I don't want to break the bank. I have been a Klipsch fan for a long time so I went with the Klipsch R-51PM. While they sounded "good", they severely lack in mid-range/low-end presence and have an annoying hiss at low levels. They are very quirky as well. So after some more research I came across these Audioengine A5+'s. I have heard of Audioengine for a while now and I always felt they were a tad small to reproduce solid mid range. I took a swing after reading some glowing reviews and I can honestly say, these speakers do not disappoint. I am very impressed with the tight clarity, unreal mid-range, and an extremely solid low end that put the Klipsch speaker to shame. If you wanted to run these without a subwoofer, they can hold their own. However, if you want a full range stage, you will need a subwoofer. I have paired these speakers with an iFi Zen DAC V2 which allows you to remove the additional volume control from Windows and you only need the volume control on the speakers themselves while also having a separate volume control for your headphones that doesn't affect the speakers. Very ideal set up. There is no audible hiss at low levels. They look great. The terminals on the back of the speakers are top notch! One of the things I hated about the Klipsch is their terminals are cheap and plasticky which makes connections very difficult to set up. There is nothing about these speakers that say cheap or flimsy at all. The exact opposite actually. I got the basic matte black finish which will leave fingerprints but after setting them up, that's not a concern. The power light is a tad bright since the speaker sits at near arms reach, but I was able to use a "light dim" and now it is tolerable. The remote solid milled aluminum and feels premium, however, when pulling the tab the first time to activate the battery, I thought I broke it, but that was part of the design and after popping the control unit back in, it is flawless. Other than that, I honestly can' think of anything I don't love about these speakers.

I would not call myself an audiophile, but I definitely recognize and appreciate a quality speaker / amp when I hear it. There are a lot of raving reviews about these speakers, so after quite a bit of research and many months of saving, I was quite excited to finally place my order. I opted for the bamboo version. The speakers come well packaged. Mine actually came in three boxes that were tightly nested together, and inside the speakers were firmly centered in the packing material, wrapped in their little bags. When unwrapped, there was a slight scent like you might smell on a new piece of fine wooden furniture. The only imperfection I have noticed is a small burr or something which I can only feel with my hands. It is nothing I am too concerned about. They are on the large side for a desktop, but given that they are actually solid wood instead of a plastic box, they are easy on the eyes. The speakers were simple and fairly obvious to set up. All the cables were included, plus some extras to support RCA connections. The 8mm stereo cable is the one I used to connect to my laptop; it is barely long enough to reach across the desk from the left speaker, but it does the job. When I first started playing music, the speakers sounded awful. Having just connected the wiring, they weren't facing me, though, and it turns out they are very directional. Once properly positioned, they sounded much better, but not great. Then I recalled the equalizer setting used to compensate for the lows on my monitor speakers. After turning that off, they were starting to sound decent. I've used them about 30-40 hours now, and the break in period definitely helped. I am listening to them perfectly flat. I'm not sure if they are actually sounding better, or I am just getting used to the way they sound. They are, hands down, the best computer speaker I have ever heard. They also have a large sound for their size, as other reviewers have commented. They are not, however, as good as a high quality large cabinet speaker. I think this is to be expected, but somehow the rave reviews got me hoping for a miracle. They might fill out more nicely with the subwoofer, which I do not currently own. The sound quality seems best at an upper-medium volume, and they have no trouble filling the room with sound. In fact, I can hear them quite plainly on the other side of my house, even through a shut door. The stereo imaging is really quite good, and as would be expected with a high end speaker, I am hearing music details that I have never noticed before. I don't find that the external DAC is really necessary with my Macbook Pro. The speakers can pick up some electrical noise, for example when I turn on the fan there is a clear response from the speaker. Not a big deal for me, but it might be for other people depending on what you have going on in your house. I was a little disappointed in the sleep mode. I had hoped that this would be automatically enabled / disabled based on use, but I have not noticed it to be so. Lately I have been manually turn it on and off with the remote. Since I have to hit a switch anyway, I would prefer to power them down completely, but the switch to do so is inconveniently placed in the rear. Still, I have no regrets. Anything else would have been disappointing.

I recently had my old set of computer speakers die on me after 3 years (of course, out of warranty). I was very happy with that set, but had no luck in finding someone to repair them (even the manufacturer was no help, shame on you Corsair!). Now I don't know if everyone else is like me, but when I have to replace something that I liked, it has to be either the same exact item...or an upgrade. The worse thing for me would be to get something and be underwhelmed when compared to the last item I owned. After doing lots of research around the internet, I kept getting steered into the direction of Audioengine. I've had my eye on the A5's ever since, and once Black Friday came I blinked and took the plunge. Long story short, I am extremely satisfied with the purchase. I don't pretend to be an expert who goes into the numbers and breaks down the science, I don't have the time for that. But what I am, is someone who has been purchasing and listening to high end audio equipment in my home, car etc etc for many years now. Price has never been as important to me as my satisfaction (within reason of course). I know what my ear likes, and I know what clean and quality sound like. These speakers hit the sweet spot and go way beyond. I am now picking up sounds and even imperfections in audio recordings that I never heard before with my old set of speakers, there's a lot more warmth and detail than before. I also love my music loud, and these speakers play all the way to the edge of "sheeesh that's too loud!" without any distortion or loss of quality (no bass drop off etc). One minor critique I would have is that for people who enjoy listening to the full spectrum of music, or simply enjoy their hip hop, reggaeton etc...you will most definitely need a subwoofer for these. My old Corsairs had a massive sub, so I don't think I would have been happy without one. I was prepared for this, and already had a sub that wasn't being used from an old home theater set up. Again, this is a minor critique since anyone who enjoys a lot of base should already know that a small driver isn't going to provide you with a lot of low end. Their punchy, nice for rock music...but they won't do much more. Another critique is obviously the price (Black Friday shaved off $80 so that was the nudge I needed to spring for them). At $400, there are a lot of alternative set ups that would provide a very satisfying experience (Klipsch, logitech, Corsair..if you can still find the SP2500's) at a much cheaper price point. But head to head, those speakers just can't match the clarity and power of the A5's. If money isn't an object of course, then you could spend 5 or $600 and in turn blow the A5's away....it all comes down to what price point vs quality are you comfortable with. At $320, that made them roughly $70 more than the Corsairs.....for me? Close enough to justify the sizable upgrade! Finally, for an extra $100 you can have the bluetooth versions of the A5's. That would have been a nice feature, but personally, I think that's too expensive. I picked up an Esinkin bluetooth adapter for $15 on an amazon lightning deal, and it does the job just fine. I could see $30 more, but $100 really isn't justifiable imo. Soooo long story short, if your in the market for some high end desktop speakers...you need to at least give these a listen, their outstanding and I just can't see someone ending up disappointed with their performance.

I needed a set of powered speakers for my new apartment and the walnut HD5’s looked beautiful. So, I decided to give them a try. I have a few different kinds of speakers – but I’m going to compare these to another set of powered speakers - the Edifier S2000 Mark III’s – which are a speaker at the same price point from another budget brand. THE GOOD: The Audio Engine speakers look truly amazing. They Walnut looks like real wood. I like the look more than higher end Polk or Klipsch speakers. The HD5’s are minimalist and beautiful – it’s the main reason I chose them for my apartment. They did not disappoint in this regard. THE BAD: I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile – but I do mix audio for work. Here’s my take: I’m disappointed with the Audio Engine HD5’s – they just don’t sound good compared to any of my other speakers. When I really open them up (proper loud) – they start to sound ok. But I can’t listen to music that loud in an apartment – and even when I lived in my own house – 80% of my listening wouldn’t have had the volume absolutely cranked. High or low volume - the Edifiers have noticeably better sound than the Audio Engine HD5’s. The Edifiers are incredibly rich with excellent clarity while the Audio Engine HD5 are a bit dull and lifeless in comparison. The HD5’s are just not there… Mid-range is pretty dull and muddy. At high volume the lows are nicely punchy (for not being bass forward speakers). The highs can feel quite shrill at times– not pleasant, and not present on the Edifiers. But here's the major problem - The Edifiers have dials for bass and trebel. The Edifiers also have various EQ settings. The Audio Engines have none of this. With no amp/receiver to EQ – and no way to tune the speakers at all – it’s all but impossible to get good sound at varying volumes. Forget about dialing sound to the type of music (or movie…) you are listening too. It’s a major oversight by Audio Engine. No built-in controls and no app for EQ. In terms of general build quality – the Edifiers again – are simply better. Yes - they are very heavy and much larger – but they are well-built. If you look closely at the Audio Engine HD5's you can see the glue on the speaker. The Edifers have better cables and connections. The Edifier remote is beautiful and functional - with Bluetooth connectivity options, EQ settings, and quick source changes right on the remote. The Edifer has an LED screen to help you change EQ modes, source, or blue tooth pairing. The remote for the Audio Engine HD5 speakers is a joke – I’m not convinced it will even work for long. For every thoughtful piece of design on the HD5 there is a perplexing piece of poor quality. I’m debating returning the HD5’s. The sound quality 100% isn’t worth the price (compared to other options). If I keep them it will be for the look of the speaker alone – and is that really enough? I’ll give them a bit more of a break-in period – but I don’t expect them to improve enough to make up their massive shortcomings. I’ll update this review if they do. 30 Day Update ------------ I gave the HD5’s their full return window – I wanted to believe they would get better. I was really excited about these speakers – I tried so hard to like them; they were undeniably beautiful in my living room. But the more time I spent listening to these speakers the more apparent their shortcomings were. A lot of music just didn’t sound good unless played extremely loud. The eye-opening moment was when I realized my music had more clarity and separation when played on my 2023 16” MacBook Pro speakers (which are surprisingly useable) than the HD5’s at low (apartment loud) volume. Even with this realization – I was tempted to keep them as rarely used bedroom speakers but the nail in the coffin were the serious Bluetooth connectivity issues (which shouldn’t be present in 2024). Outside the astonishingly poor pairing system – many devices do not connect easily. My iPhone and Macbook needed to ‘forget device’ before pairing with the speakers a second time – sometimes it would take several attempts to pair before successfully connecting – it’s a pain and there were times I just gave up. Worse yet, some devices simply couldn’t connect at all. My 2022 Samsung Frame TV and Chrome Cast don’t pair at all no matter how many attempts are made (both pair with other speakers effortlessly). Speaking of which – I recognized immediately these speakers were useless for TV and Movies – I won’t even launch into the numinous issues on that side of things but movies were more watchable through the crummy built-in TV speakers. In fairness to Audio Engine, I bought the HD5’s for music (not that they performed well in that regard). A couple weeks ago I bought a Klipsch Felix 200 for my TV - its audio quality blew the HD5’s out of the water. For music (and especially for movies) there’s no comparison at a decently loud apartment-level volume – plus the ability to control the EQ, the different listening modes, and effortless pairing made the Klipsch felix system all I need for my living room until I purchase my long term receive/passive speakers. It is with a heavy heart that I returned the HD5 speakers. Truly beautiful but ultimately worthless. I won’t be looking back.