I
f you think deploying a subwoofer is a prerequisite to
obtaining big-time bass, you haven’t heard Audioengine’s
A5 speakers. And if you’re convinced you need huge cabi-
nets for thumping bass, you haven’t heard the company’s new
diminutive A2 system.
We’ve been using Audioengine’s A5 speakers as our ref-
erence point for speaker evaluations for many months—and
they’ve been on our Best of the Best list ever since we laid
ears on them—so we couldn’t wait to see what the company’s
A2 system would deliver.
The A2’s cabinets are about one-third the size of the A5’s,
which means they’ll fi t just about anywhere, and they feature an
absolutely luscious black lacquer-like fi nish that reminds us of a
concert grand piano. The drawback to the glamour is that dust and
fi ngerprints show up instantly, and the latter are hard to obliterate.
The A2 features the same 20mm silk tweeters as the much big-
ger A5, and we were pleasantly surprised that Audioengine didn’t
overpower the 2.75-inch Kevlar woofers. The walls of the MDF
cabinets are about a quarter-inch thinner than those in the A5.
The amp, located in the left speaker, delivers 15 watts RMS
and provided more than enough power to fi ll a good-size bed-
room. The amp has two sets of inputs in back, one RCA pair
and one 1/8-inch stereo. Audioengine provides about 6.5 feet
of 16-gauge speaker wire with bare ends, but the binding posts
will also accept banana plugs if you roll that way. The company
also includes drawstring pouches for the speakers, cords, and
power cables.
While an all-around solid system, the A2’s volume control
would be much handier if it were located on the front of the
cabinet, and we miss the convenient USB charging port that the
A5 boasts. But we have no complaints with the A2’s sound—it
rocks, delivering spectacular sound with a wide variety of tunes.
These speakers don’t get as loud as some larger systems we’ve
auditioned lately, but that’s the only thing that holds us
back from giving them a
Kick Ass award.
—MICHAEL BROWN
Audioengine A2 Speakers
Tiny boxes, big boom
Good things sometimes come in small packages.
9
AUDIOENGINE A2 SPEAKERS
$200, http://www.audioengineusa.com4"(^6) "