Audioengine A5 Active Speakers

finisklin

Hi folks,

does anybody know if these are available in Ireland...can't seem to source them with the usual online stores (elara, komplett).

Here's the link to look at in more detail.....

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/lifestyle-desktop-and-portable/audioengine-a5

Any help appreciated.

Ronanc1

Hiya finisklin

check out

Ripcaster.co.uk (where i got my A5's)

And Advancedmp3player (dont know the exact url google it and youll get it)

Both stock the A5's and ship to ireland their prices are pretty good too.

finisklin

Thanks for that....whats the quality like?

I have a logitech squeezebox which I use for internet radio and accessing my music from the PC. Do you use your A5 with your MP3 player?

Would be interested in hearing what the quality is like versus a an amp/tuner set up.

Ronanc1

Your probably going to laugh now as i descend into a frothing foaming fan boy rant ha But in all seriousness Audioengine deserve all the praise they get online, i opted to splash out a fair amount of money on them cause i wanted a extremely good listening experience and they delivered

There best features are the inbuilt sub cause i delivers a noticable punch not muddy but clear and just right for those that prefer their music with only minimal bass.

Their treble is where its at, their highs are excellent but not as good as some other highend speakers ive heard

They also go very VERY loud and i havent ever gotten them loud enough to hear any distortion, im sure i could try but at the cost of my hearing haha

I'd say sound quality is on par with any amp/tuner set though iv never done a comparison between them, i do think they beat my dads dac set up pretty soundly ha forgive the pun

Build quality is excellent matt finish no filthy finger marks and smudges 3 audio ins, two 3.5 mm jacks and one yellow left right thing cant remember the name an input for an extra sub aswell as a second power outlet that you can add and apple airport express or some such, no optical though which is a bit of a negative, tho i hear their newer ones have got it.

you get a fair amount of stuff in the box 3/4 gold 3.5mm jack a goldplated usb thing i cant remember what it does or for, the speakers come in nice felt bags with draw strings pointless really but a nice touch, you get about 4 meters of silver speaker cable too.

As for over the air streaming it should work fine i dont stream music with my own all over cable to keep the quality at its highest neither do i play an mp3 throught them, i play lossless cd rips or cds throught them from my pc thought i have played friends ipods through them too and they sound excellent still

Now that youve had a chance of reading my slightly skewed opinion of these ill bombard you with more:D these were my first venture into the proper "sound quality is best" market and i have to say the amount of times ive walked through peats or hmv or elsewhere that sells speakers and plays music through them in store ive yet to come across speakers that top the audio engine, i even find myself critiquing other speakers noticing there dullness flat bass squeky highs etc

Really i cant say more about how much i like my own, but dont want to sway your opinion of them too much, youll better decide with your own research plus iv i orally vomit anymore fanboy like devotiion to these ill have to kill myself haha

Good luck with your purchase

finisklin

Great review....thanks for that! I guess your no small fan of them, then? :rolleyes:

One question, if they are turned on and your not playing any music on them do they have that dull background drone? Not sure if I'm describing that right....

Also, what colour do you have them in? Silver/chrome? I think they do a black now, which may be of interest......

Thanks for your help......

Fini

Ronanc1

Not a peep outta them when they're on and mine are black

finisklin

Ronanc1 wrote: »

Build quality is excellent matt finish no filthy finger marks and smudges 3 audio ins, two 3.5 mm jacks and one yellow left right thing cant remember the name an input for an extra sub aswell as a second power outlet that you can add and apple airport express or some such, no optical though which is a bit of a negative, tho i hear their newer ones have got it.

What's the optical thingy you refer to above.......

Tried to suss out this feature on the net on ripcaster etc..... to no avail....

Thanks for your help.

Ronanc1

Oh sorry seem to have invented something in my head there haha i thought id seen recently their latest speaker had an optical input you know toslink

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toslink

but i was mistaken