Hey guys, Jarrod here and today we’re going to take a look at, or should I say a listen
to, the Audioengine 5+ speakers.
First let’s start with a quick disclaimer, I’m no audio expert, I’m just an average
guy that wants some good sounding music, hopefully I don’t make too many audiophiles mad. So
with that in mind let’s continue.
Inside the box we’ve got the two speakers inside fancy microfiber bags, a setup guide,
power cable, and another microfiber bag with the rest of the cables, which includes a 3.5mm
audio cable, 2m or 6.5 feet of RCA cables, power cable, and 3.75m or 12.3 feet of speaker
wire. There’s also a small remote with batteries included which you can use to change the volume,
mute the speakers, or put them to sleep.
The speakers are available in a white, black, or bamboo finish. I’ve got the white ones
here, as I figured the black ones wouldn’t go too well with my black desk.
Setup is fairly simple, first I connected the power cable from the left speaker to the
power, then attached the speaker wire from the left speaker to the right passive speaker.
Then I connected the RCA cables to my D1 DAC which is my sound source. I’ve done a full
video on the DAC if you’re interested.
Audioengine suggest placing the speakers at least 6 inches away from any walls, keeping
them at least 6 feet or 1.8m away from each other with both speakers an equal distance
away from each of your ears. Ideally the tweeters should be around eye level. I haven’t tried
to follow these rules too perfectly but I think my positioning is pretty close to this.
Each speaker is 7” by 10.75” by 7.25”, however the left speaker sticks out an additional
0.75” due to the heat fins on the back. The left speaker weighs in at 15.4lb or 7kg
while the right weighs 9.6lb or 4.4kg, so basically the brains of the operation are
in the left speaker.
The left speaker has a power LED indicator on the front, as well as the IR receiver for
the remote. On the other side is a volume control knob which has a nice clicky action
when you turn it. You can press the volume knob in which will put the speakers to sleep,
just like the sleep button on the remote does. Aside from these features, the right passive
speaker otherwise looks the same. Both speakers have a 5” kevlar woofer and 20mm silk dome
tweeter up the top which I think sound great, more on that shortly.
The back of the left speaker has an AC power input, voltage selection, power on/off switch,
outputs to the right passive speaker, audio inputs from 3.5mm cable or RCA cables and
optional USB power port which lets you charge devices, which is a good option if you’ve
got your phone plugged into the speakers for example. The back of the right speaker is
a little different, as it’s just a passive speaker all it has are two connectors for
the speaker wire which comes from the left speaker.
On the bottom of both speakers is a smooth felt material which I found kept them in place,
they weren’t easy for me to move around which is ideal. There’s also a ¼” threaded
insert if you want to attach them to some stands.
I like how the speakers look and sound, but make no mistake, these things are quite large.
To be honest I probably would have been fine with the Audioengine 2+ or P4 speakers which
are quite a bit smaller. The 5+ are huge and take up a lot of desk space, luckily I have
a large desk so that’s fine. The speakers get insanely loud too, my ears were quite
literally blown away and I had to turn them back down after a few seconds of testing at
maximum. Day to day I only listen to them at a fraction of what they are capable of
because they can just get so loud. They can get quite loud before the quality starts degrading
though, in most cases I can’t see that being an issue, by the time the quality starts degrading
you’ll be going deaf.
They sound so much cleaner than my old speakers, the Logitech Z5500. I’ve found the 5+ to
be an awesome step up. I’m not going to attempt to give you a demo of how they sound
in this video, by the time my mic records the sound, the video is encoded, and YouTube
compresses the audio it just won’t be the same anymore, so sorry about that.
Audioengine suggest a 30-50 hour break in period before doing any critical listening,
but also say they will sound great out of the box. I don’t think my ears are refined
enough to notice the difference, as they sound just as good to me even after this period
of time.
I’ve also got the Audioengine S8 subwoofer as well, however I’ve done some listening
without it to just get an idea of how the speakers sound by themselves. I think the
speakers by themselves sound great, there’s still a level of bass present and by themselves
they are probably enough for most people. The extra bass does however add a whole extra
dimension to the listening experience and I think it’s worth considering if you like
bass and have the money, so keep an eye out for my full review of the S8 subwoofer.
So what did you guys think of the 5+ speakers from Audioengine? Overall I really like them,
they sound great, and get more than loud enough. With that said, I probably would have been
fine getting some smaller ones and saving some money, but hey, bigger is better right?
Be sure to let me know your thoughts down in the comments and leave a like on the video
if you found it useful. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to subscribe for future
tech videos like this one.