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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
truemaineiac's avatar
truemaineiac
249 posts
 
Jriden, your analogy is a bit skewed. It is not like I was comparing a full-on vandersteen 7 and audio research system against the A5+. The system I mentioned is not too far out of line cost wise with the a5+ except that I have a dedicated amp/dac in the mix which should be within reach of anyone looking for this type of system. As an owner of both systems I was trying to convey that if you have a good dac/amp already or can get one, the silverlines will (IMO) way outperform the A5+. This is in terms of imaging, detail, and soundstage together. By themselves, the A5+ are better with bass but of course, with a subwoofer in the mix this isn't as relevant a fact. Don't be defensive, try to be open to the discussion and think through the possibilities. Have you heard the silverlines or this combo?

It is also has been proven to me that to achieve a really high performance in audio (neither the A5+ or my office system come close to doing that) requires a fairly large outlay which is many multiples of what you are talking about here. You may desire the delusion of thrift and skill can overcome this when assembling a system but the reality of performance is actually much different. What is right for you and I is up to our own selves to decide, and for anyone else we can only try to provide honest opinions.
truemaineiac's avatar
truemaineiac
249 posts
 
jriden, I just noticed in your system notes that you are an authorized dealer for audioengine? It would have been relevant to the discussion to let us know so that we could be aware of this in reading your comments. This makes a little more sense now.
kiza
99 posts
 
O.K. Mister Audioengine dealer. Just one fact. It's not about the price, It's about the sound.
jriden
6 posts
 
I'm open about being a dealer. I mention it all over the place.

That's just a natural extension of a passion for Audio. It doesn't make me narrow minded or sneaky. I don't think what I sell is necessarily better than what you already bought. So now that's settled, let's move on.

I have an orientation -- offering the best performance/price (P/P) ratios I can pull together. I also deal other stuff, not just Audioengine. I have the iFi line from AMR and just added acoustic treatments from Acoustic System International. More to come.

Past systems include tube preamps and amps from first Rogue Audio and then PrimaLuna, with Joseph Audio RM7si Signature monitors. All entirely respectable but not even close to the P/P of the Adam Audio A7 or the Audioengine A5+.

As equipment cost rises the P/P drops off and at some point unless you're wealthy it doesn't make sense to spend above a threshold. I think that point is well under $5000.

I would love to listen to everything. But we all have limitations of time, budget, and location, etc.

And yes it's about cost and the sound. Unless we're all together and have everything we're discussing present to listen to, how could we ever resolve what is "best" anyway? Besides, there's personal taste in the equation so it's non-linear.

What I can tell you is if you have a couple grand to spend and you want new equipment that sounds wonderful or you want to make whatever you already have sound astoundingly better, I can help, no matter what you spent.

Or we can just chat about what we have tried and learned.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 

07-20-13: Jriden
What's the matter, A5+ not expensive enough to sound good to you? Have you blind tested against the Focal?
Right now the Focal XS Books are $299/pair on Amazon, at Crutchfield, and probably at most authorized dealers. That's $100 less than the AudioEngine 5+. So it's definitely not a price snobbery issue.
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