Audioengine A5 or Swans? (or other $400 range PC speakers?)

[SpatiallyAware]

I currently have a set of Klipsch promedia 2.1's but want to use those as my bedroom setup.


So, I'm now looking for a decent set of speakers for my PC. 75% music (indie rap, rock, lots of stuff) 25% gaming.. I've had my eye on the Audioengine A5's but they just look really ugly in pics. The swans look a lot nicer but it's hard to find direct comparisons..

Thoughts?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I have two ~$200 computer speaker setups for home and work in addition to my main system.

I'm pretty happy with both of the setups I put together.

One is Swan M200s and the other is a set of bookshelf speakers and a t-amp.

With $400 though, you have a ton of options for studio monitors. I don't know enough about what studio monitors to look for, but I do know that with $400, a lot of them would fit into your pricerange.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...rs-recording-pro-audio?N=100001+500150+338382

 

[cheesehead]

Behringer 2030As. They're really surprisingly good, and in your price range. Not pretty, but that's the price you apy for good sound.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Hmmm.... Well... I'm really not sure that 'true' studio monitors are exactly what I want... From what I understand most monitors don't have enough bass for video games and normal music listening?

Also these are going into my home office, which has matching nice furniture and etc, so something decent looking is actually a requirement..

 

[SpatiallyAware]

....can anyone recommend a board where I might get more opinions? Not complaining, but I'd like to order something today or tomorrow and really don't feel informed enough :-/


Thanks!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

....can anyone recommend a board where I might get more opinions? Not complaining, but I'd like to order something today or tomorrow and really don't feel informed enough :-/


Thanks!

AVSforum has a lot more traffic than our subforum.

Searching for Audioengine over there would probably bring up a lot of previous threads on the subject for other opinions.

Good luck!

 

[SpatiallyAware]

AVSforum has a lot more traffic than our subforum.

Searching for Audioengine over there would probably bring up a lot of previous threads on the subject for other opinions.

Good luck!

Perfect, Thank you!

 

[sdifox]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-004-_-Product

150

+

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-302-_-Product

279

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...193&cm_re=5.1_receiver-_-82-115-193-_-Product

230

This will beat the crap out of any computer speakers.

 

[konakona]

A word on my swans (need to get the internal amp on it fixed), m200 mk1:
They sound nice at moderate volumes, kinda mellow and lush sounding. Probably not great for bassheads (since you mentioned rap), but mids sound like real mids unlike klipsch multimedia lineup that seems to be popular on PC hardware sites. Even those anally picky people at head-fi seem to give it a nod for relatively good sound with no hassle of getting a separate amp and all at decently low price.

Between these and my s2-4100, I think the latter is more neutral and has better bass and high extension, so overall they are a better all arounders. m200 sounds real sweet though, definitely prefer them on certain songs. I think they are more than sufficient for most casual listening, but be advised that they are very "warm" sounding speakers in case that matters to you. Never tried the A5s, would love to hear them one day.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Here's the thing... I will never be moving these and have the space for a sub but I really don't have the space for a 4.1 or 5.1 system..


I also don't *really* have the desk space for the A5's.. Or the space for a huge receiver..


Does a small nice looking 2.1 or 5.1 receiver exist? Something simple, with only a few inputs and etc? I'm starting to move towards buying everything separately.... grrr....

 

[Thump553]

T-amps and other digital amps are tiny or you could keep your receiver/amp out of the way and only have the remote at hand. I'd be inclined towards the bookshelf speaker direction myself, you will get a lot more for your money. They are a lot more durable too.

Another good, non-catfighting audio forum is audiocirlce.com, especially the starting out forums, cheap and cheerful hi-fi (standard is $1000 or less) or the for sale forums.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Here's the thing... I will never be moving these and have the space for a sub but I really don't have the space for a 4.1 or 5.1 system..


I also don't *really* have the desk space for the A5's.. Or the space for a huge receiver..


Does a small nice looking 2.1 or 5.1 receiver exist? Something simple, with only a few inputs and etc? I'm starting to move towards buying everything separately.... grrr....

How many inputs do you need?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

How many inputs do you need?

Only 1 is required, it'd be nice to have 2 just so I can hook up the occasional ipod or whatnot but it would be a rare need.

 

[Chapbass]

How about the axiom audiobytes?

http://axiomaudio.com/audiobytecomputerspeakers.html

Edit: I haven't tried them, but axiom is pretty reputable when it comes to high end budget speakers, all their stuff in the home theater line is rated highly.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

How about the axiom audiobytes?

http://axiomaudio.com/audiobytecomputerspeakers.html

Edit: I haven't tried them, but axiom is pretty reputable when it comes to high end budget speakers, all their stuff in the home theater line is rated highly.

Wow... Those are really nice looking.

I ended up ordering the bamboo A5's. I'm hoping that the bass is enough and if not I'll pickup either the (imo overpriced at $350) Audioengine sub or might try my Denon sub.

I'm also going to have to figure out a good way to make wall shelves for the A5's. How far do they need to be from the wall?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Overall I'm really not impressed... I don't have a lot of time to listen tonight, but yeah - they handle bass well... Because there isn't any. Coming from the klipsch 2.1's (which I'm fairly sure are bass heavy) these almost sound broken..

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Quick update..

First off, my top input is defective. Once I used the rear input it is much much nicer.. The mids/highs are 10x better than my promedia setup.


However, I definitely need a sub. The bass level is fine for most music (not rap imo, unless my set really is defective) but definitely unacceptable for video games.

I can't see how the A2s are ok with heavy rock as far as bass is concerned

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Are you sure it wasn't a connection problem with the other input? Have you tried it again to see if it's still messed up?

If it is, I'd say contact the company and describe your input issue.

As for the bass, It may be that your A5s are defective, but it may also be that you were just used to a lot more bass with the Promedias. Depending on how you adjust things on computer speakers, you can make bass overwhelming but get used to it and eventually come to expect it. It may be that your Promedias were hitting a particular frequency really hard that could have played into room acoustic issues too, further exaggerating the bass.

If your A5s are indeed defective, then I apologize for suggesting that it's just that you're not used to them. It's frequently the case that people adjust their computer speakers to have way too much bass and then think something is wrong later when they listen to a more balanced system. There's nothing wrong with liking a lot of bass though, so you could attempt to adjust the sound of your A5s with some equalization to test them out, or add in a sub and control the gain on that to your liking (as you suggested).

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Yoyo;

Thank you very much for the advice - a few things...

My klipsch sub was underneath a bookshelf which caused boomy inaccurate bass.. I believe you're correct, that I had become 'used' to it and my brain sorta equalized things lol - so with the A5's I have a false pretense of too little bass.

I also discovered that they sound Horrid with bad quality music... My promedia's would hide the little pops and distortions, where the A5's show these errors very very well.. This isn't bad, just something to note.

For most music these are fantastic.. Pretty much everything but the occasional rap song. I don't believe they would work well in a party situation without a sub. Also for gaming I will need a sub..


The top input is definitely defective but audioengine seems to have great support. I'll give them a call today and will update with the status. I hope they'll do an advance return for me so I'm not without a speaker..

Another thing (which is normal I'm sure) is that the amp gets fairly hot, particularly near the receptacle on the back. I'm sure it has to do with the amp, but am going to measure the temp (after playing a long 10 minute song). For expensive speakers the QC makes me nervous. I have a bad input (it's a physical problem with the jack right out of the box - are these not tested??) and glue work on the dust caps is sloppy.


Also - I bought the bamboo and it looks absolutely amazing.. However, the finish between the speakers is slightly off. It isn't much, and being that bamboo is 'natural' they will look different but it's worth noting for the OCD types.

Not trying to gripe - these are great speakers and a definite upgrade from my promedia's, but these are some prepurchase concerns I had that sorta came true lol..

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Also yoyo... Just to I can grab your input before another post

What sort of price range should I be looking at for a sub? It appears that these A5's only have line outs, not LFE out.. After spending $450 on the speakers it'd be nice to get by with a $150-$200 sub - do you think that's possible?

I generally like matching stuff, I'm thinking about asking for the black A5's when I do the warranty and then getting the black matching sub except it's $350!

http://audioengineusa.com/s8_home.php

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Quick update- called Audioengine and they were very helpful. They're sending out a new set today.. Great support..

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm glad to here they're taking care of you. It's always nice to see a company that does what it should

One more thing that must have just slipped my mind yesterday. The A5s say they're only down 1.5dB at 50Hz. The Klipsch are rated down to 30Hz, but they don't give any qualifiers on how many dB down they are at that point... at least on the sources I've seen.

If the bass that you're missing is in the 30-40 Hz range, it's possible that the Promedias were indeed much better at producing those frequencies. I think your under bookshelf resonant type scenario is probably a more significant influence though.

As for the amp getting hot, that would be something to ask their customer support or check for posts on the issue from random forum posts from users. Depending on the kind of amp design they used, this could be perfectly normal or a sign of a defect. Maybe wait to see if your replacement set works first?

As for a sub, you could indeed get one that's cheaper than the $350 one from Audioengine. Their s8 is probably pretty impressive for its size, but you should be able to get a lot more sub for the money if you so desire (and have room for it).

If you were to spend that $350 on a sub, you could get something like an entry level unit from Elemental Designs for example
http://www.edesignaudio.com/index.php?cPath=2_41

For something cheaper, there are some other alternatives.

For just about the absolute cheapest option, Dayton has some.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-633
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-635

Between that ~$100 range and the $350 range, there are a lot of other options.

The BIC H-100 used to be a popular option. I think they replaced that with a new model though and I haven't been keeping up on whether that one is also a good bang for the buck option.

There are usually a few clearance / limited time type deals out there too from regular retail brands that would be good options.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Yoyo;

Thank you for the advice - I am going to wait and compare my replacement unit to see if I can tell a difference in regards to heat..

I have a Denon sub that came as part of a HTIB - I'm really not sure of the quality. I'd like to use that but I believe it only has a LFE input, is there a simple way to use this or will I need some sort of dedicated crossover? I'm hoping I can maybe combine the line out to a single RCA but I'm guessing this will also send the highs to the sub which I don't want.

I suspect I need to spend some time on AVS forum, fatwallet, and etc to see what I can come up with


Thanks Again!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I didn't look up the A5 documentation to figure out whether the line-out on it is full range or has a crossover / filter built into it already.

So your Denon sub has no filter control on it, just gain and an LFE input?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Ok... some more info..

The sub has a "Live Level Input". The A5's have a full-range, non adjustable crossover.

I believe that the back of the receiver is labelled "sub out" and this all came part of a relatively inexpensive HTIB about 9-10 years ago..

From what I'm reading, a line level input will accept full range and will work with the line out on my A5's.

Should I combine them or only use one channel?