Audioengine A5+ 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Satin Black, Pair)

To minimize unwanted resonances and distortion, Audioengine cabinets have 0.5" thick high-resin MDF walls with extensive internal bracing. Heavy internal sound-damping material is used to reduce unwanted sound reflections inside the cabinet. All cabinet edges are rounded which look great and reduce high-frequency diffraction effects on the front baffles.

The A5+ cabinets are available in several handsome finishes, offering a wide choice for complementing room furnishings.

Audioengine designs and manufactures their own tweeters, woofers, and other critical components. In other words, these are not "box built" speakers with off-the-shelf parts, but custom-designed to their specifications. What they do not fabricate directly in their factory is made to their designs (parts such as transformers, magnets, and wiring harnesses, for example). The cabinets, drivers, bass port designs, amplifiers, and crossovers are all painstakingly tuned together for each Audioengine model. This, in turn, makes for a much more efficient system that requires much less power than passive speakers and a separate integrated amplifier or similar A/V components.

Studio monitor speakers are used by producers and engineers in recording and production studios. They are designed with a theoretical flat frequency response, which allows the engineer to create a final mix in such a way that the recorded music will sound good on most other speakers. Although Audioengine speakers are not designed to be up-close, or "nearfield" studio monitors, they carry over much of the same higher-end technology, components, and design philosophy for all Audioengine speaker systems.

The speaker cabinets, drivers, innovative bass port designs, amplifiers, and passive crossovers are all critically tuned together for each Audioengine model. This, in turn, makes for a much more efficient system that requires less power than passive speakers and a separate integrated amplifier or similar A/V components. They build all this goodness into the left speaker cabinet to make it super-easy to connect your smartphone, tablet, computer, TV, network player, or any other audio product.

The Audioengine A5+ includes a 5V, 500mA USB power supply for charging portable devices while listening to your music. The USB connector allows you to charge and power your smartphone, tablet, Audioengine wireless adapters, or any other USB powered product. USB is for power only, not USB audio or data transfer.

The amplifiers in powered Audioengine speakers are located in the left speaker and are a conservatively rated class A/B analog monoblock design. This is a more traditional speaker/amplifier marriage which provides excellent quality audio and greater flexibility. All circuit boards for the power and preamp sections are vertically mounted for maximum mechanical shock protection.

Audioengine uses audiophile-quality, ferrofluid-cooled silk dome tweeters with neodymium magnets. Silk tweeters hold up well under high power, and the edge-driven design gives very smooth response. The woofers are aramid fiber woven glass composite with rubber surrounds. Aramid fiber is obviously very strong, which means that the woofer retains its shape when being driven at high levels. The speaker materials and construction are robust enough to stand up to some serious thrashing, so speaker grilles are not needed and they will sound and look great after many years of use.

Both drivers are directly video shielded and allow you to place the speakers within a few inches of a video monitor. This shielding also offers protection for hard-drive digital music players.

Power transformers are a large contributor to the overall audio performance, especially in the low end. Again, no off-the-shelf parts. Audioengine uses gapless core toroidal transformers which have a tighter radiated magnetic field, directly translating to lower noise. They are lighter than standard, lower-cost transformers and also generate less heat.