Macenstein

Big on sound, small on extras

Audioengine’s A5 speakers received one of our highest ratings ever (9.5 out of 10) when we had the pleasure of reviewing them last year, so we were understandably excited when Audioengine sent us a pair of their new A2 speakers to check out.

Available in both black and white, the ($199) A2’s are the little (and I mean little) brother to the ($349) A5’s, and the family resemblance is obvious. Despite being about a third as large, the speakers are heavy, and housed in a similarly sturdy cabinet to the A5’s. While the A5’s are meant to serve up big time audio for a large-sized living room/whole house, the A2’s are meant to be more of a desktop/bookshelf speaker system for a smaller room, such as a bedroom or office (although to be sure, the A2’s can be heard rooms away).

Above: You can see the A2’s (right) borrow much from the larger A5’s (left)

Features

The A2’s offer little in the way of extras. Basically, there is a volume/power knob on the back, and a set of stereo and and 3.5 mm audio input jacks. That’s it. Given how competitve the speaker market has become, this makes the A2’s seem just a bit pricey. The A5’s actually sported one of our favorite Apple-specific features, a power outlet on the rear designed to hook an AirPort Express to wirelessly stream music from your computer to the speakers. Sadly, this add-on was lost during the shrinking process that created the A2’s.

Sound

The A2’s sound much as you’d expect a smaller version of the A5’s to sound. In general the A2’s do a very nice job handling most songs, although we noticed that they had a tendency to distort slightly at very high volumes with bass-heavy songs (and those very high volumes were not nearly as high as the A5’s). But there is only so much power you can cram into speakers this size, and as we mentioned earlier, these are meant for a more intimate listening experience. We doubt too many people will complain about the A2’s volume (people 3 rooms away will still be able to sing along with you).

In general, the bass was good with a flat EQ setting (coming off an iPod/Mac running iTunes), but some may find it necessary to play around with their computer/iPod’s EQ settings to find one that drops the midrange slightly. Again, given the size, you are not going to find any speaker with a better handle on the midrange, but for $200, you might be expecting more. That being said, the A2’s are plenty powerful, and their drivers pump out a gust of air strong enough to knock over a a house of cards from over 10 inches away (see below).

Above: The A2’s ship in cute little velvet sacks to keep them looking their best when traveling.

Sibling Rivalry

A couple small issues hold back the A2 from making quite as big a splash as their big brother. First, while the A5’s volume/power knob and blue power indicator light would never win design awards, at least they were located on the front of the unit for easy access. The A2’s, however, have a light-less knob on the back that can be difficult to reach, depending on where you have them set up.

Second is the slight distortion at the maximum volume setting. We might be penalizing the A2’s a bit here due to their lineage, but Audioengine may have asked too much of the smaller speakers. The A5’s scaled in a way that the A2’s just can’t quite hit. We’d rather have seen the maximum limit set a little lower (which would still be plenty loud) and keep the unit sounding great at all volumes.

Lastly is the price. A few years back, speakers this good could easily cost $200 or more. Today, however, speaker technology has advanced to the point that $200 for bookshelf speakers is a little high, especially with no extra bells and whistles (iPod docks, remotes, etc.) to set them apart from the pack. Make no mistakes, if you need great sounding, space-saving speakers, the A2’s do kick butt, but there are now cheaper alternatives which can deliver nearly comparable performance.

Conclusion

The A2’s are a great choice for those looking for a space-saving home office/bedroom bookshelf system and who do not want to skimp on power. Unfortunately, due to the similarity in looks, the A2’s suffer a bit by the inevitable comparison between their larger siblings, the A5’s. However, coming in $150 cheaper, and at 1/3rd the size, the A2’s still deliver a near-unparalleled audio experiencing with very little EQ tweaking necessary out of the box, and few will be disappointed by the power these little guys can deliver. However, at $199, their price/performance ratio is being pushed to the limit.

Audioengine’s A2 speakers

Price: $199

Pros: Great sound, small size, available in both black and white

Cons: No extras, such as remote, iPod docks, etc. make these a bit pricey given the competitive speaker market