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Audioengine A5+

I recently purchased a pair of Audioengine A2 speakers for work that quickly became the catalyst for purchasing a pair of the A5+ speakers for our family/play room. We just use an iPod or iPhone source, but I have connect the speakers directly to my Pioneer Elite SACD player several times in my main listening room (living room) and have been blown away with the result. On certain recording I am certain that I could fool most people into believing they were listening to my Focal 836v speakers as long as it wasn't an A to B comparison where the difference becomes very obvious. On other recordings they don't hold up as well and sound strained at louder volumes. I had a friend over and was listening to Saint-Saens Symphony No.3 "organ" and he kept looking at my receiver to verify that the little speakers were honestly responsible for everything he was hearing. The low organ note reproduction is really impressive in my room. Overall, this is a re,cording that is too much for them at volume, but on certain passages they perform almost beyond belief. I could easily consider them in combination with my SACD player to be a true audiophile system.

One of these days the smaller A2 speakers will come home from work for a date with the Pioneer Elite just to see what they sound like with a real source.
mceljo
mceljo OP
1,357 posts
 
I have the A5+ speakers connected to my iPod via an Apple 30-pin to RCA cable that allow a USB connection for charging. The A5+ speakers have one RCA and one mini plug connections along with a USB port for charging. The difference between Apple lossless on the iPod and a direct connect to my SACD player is significant, but the iPod sounds great for anything but critical listening and if I'm going to do that I have my main system in the next room.

I had the A2 speakers in the same room and they are not quite enough for a larger space. They were able to fill the room with a nice background volume, but in comparison the A5+ speakers are significantly better. My wife's reaction to the A5+ speakers was that they were not as big as she expected and I had even built a mock-up to set on the shelf.

For a living room you really need the A5+.
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,498 posts
 
Did some more research and finalized on the following for our living room:
Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers ($137)
SMSL Amplifier ($96)
(http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMSL-SA-98-Flagship-level-Top-HIFI-Digital-Big-Power-Amplifier-TDA7498-100W-2-B-/170999520511?pt=Car_Amplifiers&hash=item27d05d9cff)

Purchased the speakers today and waiting for the amp. Will initially connect the iPod to the amp through the Y-cable and eventually will get the Pure i-20 dock.

Auditioned the speakers at local Bestbuy, where they were connected to a cheap receiver and ipod. Yet they sounded pretty decent compared to the comparable $250+ speakers around them.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,290 posts
 
Milpai, I too have wondered about those Emotivas as well. Ithink the pure ipod dock is going to make a nice improvement with either the audioengine's or emotivas. I was thinking about going with either of those speakers for a secondary system also, but I think if I get a mac mini, I'll demote the wadia 170i to secondary duties matched with a wadia 151 with tekton lores (?). Anyhow, I do think a dock that bypasses the crappy apple dac in an ipod and running a better dac isa good idea.

P.S. milpai, e-mail me again since I no longer have your e-mail address and we'll talk! I want to send you my v-dac so you can check it out :-)
mceljo OP
1,357 posts
 
One thing that is unique to the A5+ speakers is the 25mm thick cabinets. That's 1 inch thick.
jriden
6 posts
 
When thinking in this computer audio realm, consider the Teac DS-H01 Dock/DAC to interface the iThings (pod/pad/phone) to the powered speakers. It has a wonderful Burr-Brown DAC chip ( PCM1796,) good connectivity, and it keeps your iThing charged. I found a brand new one online for around $145. Even the Amazon deals are good.

Beyond the sheer power of the little A5+ Speakers, consider listenability and fatigue. I add a tube headphone amp as a tube buffer and it really heals the digital sound producing a much improved, warmer, smoother sound. I like the Bravo Audio Ocean headphone amp with an upgraded 12AU7 tube.

See the article about this and other esoteric computer audio stuff on my blog -- http://iHi-Fi.com/

Disclosure -- I may be an Audioengine dealer but I can still be honest and accurate.

BTW, I tried an A2 speaker set today along with an S8 Subwoofer. I happen to have one of everything and two of some stuff.

My 15 x 18 ft room is very full of beautiful sound. In a bit I'll cut back to the A5+s to see how that sounds.

Cheers!
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