When you've decided that your Idiot box or monitor's built in speakers but don't cut it anymore, there are plenty of options to choose from. Of course, yous tin go to your local big box store and grab a pair of inexpensive bookshelf speakers, merely for those that care about audio quality, you lot'll want to practice some research beforehand.

Today I'll be taking a look at the latest product from Audioengine, the A5+ Wireless Powered Speakers. Audioengine has had a long history of making high quality prosumer sound equipment for those that want audiophile-class components, but at an affordable price.

We recommended the original A5+ speakers in our Best Of characteristic last year in the studio speaker category. The A5+ Wireless is very like to the A5+ with the added back up for Bluetooth playback. This is thank you to the built-in AKM AK4396 D/A converter, the same chip powering Audioengine's standalone B1 Bluetooth Receiver. Other than that, the two models use the same drivers and amplifiers.

Starting with some basic specifications, the A5+ comes with 5" Kevlar woofers and 3/4" silk dome tweeters. Kevlar is used in high-end speakers due to its strength, it retains its shape when being driven at high volumes. The left unit contains the amplifier and all of the internal circuitry while the correct unit is passive. Both units measure 10.75" x 7" x seven.75" although the left unit volition extend near an inch farther back due to the cables and heatsink. These speakers are very heavy, likewise, with the left unit weighing 15.4lbs and the right unit weighing nine.6lbs.

The bottom of the speakers are padded with a black foam fabric. This volition reduce unwanted vibrations with any surface y'all place them on. In the center is a standard 1/4" threaded mount.

The speakers are made out of 1/2" thick MDF and in addition to the glossy white stop boxes we reviewed, the A5+ Wireless likewise comes in satin black and bamboo finishes. The A5+ Wireless has a very standard speaker look with not too much going on in the front. The left unit has a volume knob with tactile bumps between levels. With a push, this knob can also mute the speakers. Likewise on the left speaker is a LED power indicator and IR receiver for the included remote control.

On the dorsum we find all of the connectivity. From top down the A5+ Wireless has a Bluetooth antenna, a Bluetooth pairing button, a iii.5mm input, an RCA input and output, binding posts for connecting the right speaker, a power switch, a voltage selector switch, a replaceable fuse, and finally an Air conditioning ability input.

Although the A5+ has an internal DAC, information technology is merely connected to the Bluetooth input. This means the iii.5mm and RCA inputs will exist using the DAC on your computer or phone. If y'all're looking for speakers of this caliber, you may want to consider an external DAC to get the most out of them. As for the RCA output, this is meant for use with an external subwoofer.

In my testing I found the Bluetooth range to be fantabulous. This is nothing like the average brusk-range Bluetooth earpieces that we are used to see. The A5+ Wireless produced clear audio from more than 50 feet away. Inside my house, I was only able to break the connexion by placing the speaker in the corner of the basement and walking to the top floor in the reverse corner. In that location was little to no loss of quality in between.

In terms of included cables, you will become 4m of 16AWG speaker wire with connectors preattached, 2m of RCA cable, and 2m of 3.5mm cablevision. The included speaker wire and terminals feel very high quality. If you desire a longer run or would adopt to employ your own cable, that will work likewise. On the dorsum of the right speaker, all we need is speaker wire inputs since the distension is washed in the left unit. Both speakers feature a bass port on the top to permit for proper airflow. This ways you should also maintain at least half-dozen" of clearance from the dorsum of the speaker.

Taking a await inside both units, starting with the correct speaker, all nosotros find is a passive crossover. This drove of inductors, capacitors, and resistors splits up the incoming sound signal into a high frequency and low frequency component.

For the A5+ Wireless, I measured this point to be right around 2KHz. The two dissever outputs and then drive the woofer and tweeter. Splitting up the sound this way allows for a amend playback than a single speaker solution since each driver is tuned to a specific frequency. Considering how solid the external speaker wire was, I was a flake surprised at the thinness of the internal wiring. These aren't fabricated to be ultra-powerful loudspeakers so information technology's probably not a big bargain. What is good to encounter though is the ample acoustic padding to prevent echoing and internal vibrations.

Moving to the left speaker, nosotros find all of the interesting components. Immediately noticeable is the massive toroidal power transformer that gives the A5+ Wireless a summit output of 150W. This fashion of transformer is more expensive than traditional "E" and "I" transformers, simply they radiate less magnetic interference which tin help cut down on noise.

We as well see lots more use of the acoustic padding around the wires and within the cabinet. The rather large circuit board inside contains the amplifier, Bluetooth receiver, power direction, and point processing components likewise. The internal wiring is also like shooting fish in a barrel to disconnect from the speaker cabinet if for some reason you need to service the unit.

On to audio quality... For my listening tests, I used a wide variety of genres including classical music, some stone music, some pop music, and some light instrumental music. I tested in 3 common listening environments: a wide open up room with few walls and high ceilings, a smaller family room, and finally a basement with lots of walls and shorter ceilings.

If you've never listened to proper high-quality speakers, y'all're in for a care for. Practiced speakers have the issue of making skilful recordings sound slap-up and making low-quality recordings sound even worse. They bring out parts of the music that oft become unnoticed on regular speakers. For instance, instead of just hearing the rumble of a bass drum, you can hear the impact of drum caput and the reverberations in the room it was recorded in. When listening to a flute, you can hear the air rushing over the mouthpiece.

The size of Audioengine A5+ Wireless speakers is an interesting point of conversation. I remember they are a tad also large to put on a estimator desk, but may announced slightly as well small to use in a domicile theater. All the same, they go loud. Actually loud.

With the speakers cranked all the way upward, I found a Windows desktop PC volume of simply 12/100 was plenty loud for normal listening. Turning information technology upward to around 50 was right on the border of what I was comfortable listening to. They can easily fill up an entire room without breaking a sweat and even so have plenty of range to grow.

Creating an accurate soundstage is also of import. Poor quality speakers will make everything sound like it is coming from the center or from the middle of your caput. With good speakers, you should be able to close your eyes and pick out the location of whatever instrument or voice in the music. The A5+ Wireless does a great job at this.

There is certainly some room for improvement towards the lower frequencies, but given the size and cost of these speakers, I'k very impressed. The speakers retained quality even at higher frequencies without becoming harsh. They were punchy down into the low to mid frequencies but started to wash out slightly with bass and sub-bass frequencies. The bass in a nigh-field listening experience was tight and was plenty powerful plenty to fill a small room.

If you want proper bass response in a larger room though, you'll demand to get a dedicated subwoofer since the A5+ can't become downwardly that low.

You could easily spend five to 10 times more to get a elevation-of-the-line set of speakers, but at that signal, many will notice diminishing returns. At $500 for the black and white models and $570 for the wooden finish, these speakers certainly aren't cheap. They are for listeners that know what they are doing and what they want from an sound system.

You tin also spend less money and get much lower quality speakers or spend more than money and get slightly amend speakers. All in all, the Audioengine A5+ Wireless are incredibly fun to mind to provide a rich, room fulling sound. If you lot are in the market for some swell speakers and if you lot can find them on sale, I would certainly pick them up. If you have the budget, information technology'due south difficult to get incorrect with them.

Shopping Shortcuts:

  • Audioengine A5+ Wireless Speakers on Amazon, AudioEngineUSA.com

Pros: Slap-up sound quality. Long range Bluetooth playback. Room filling sound without baloney.

Cons: Price. Only analog inputs.