Audioengine A5 - but which sub?

Dosanjh

Dosanjh

Dosanjh

Associate
Joined
14 Mar 2010
Posts
28
Hey people,

I'm on the verge of purchasing the Audioengine A5 speakers for my games/study room to go with my PC (macbook pro soon, as i'm replacing my pc with one).

However, I've noticed it's just two speakers, and I'm a big fan of my bass.. well I can be at times, whenever I'm going through one of those music phases of listening to dubstep etc. Therefore was wondering if someone could recommend me a sub I could buy? No budget in particular but I wouldn't want to spend over £500 for a sub.

I've googled and youtubed it a bit, and seen a few people using a Acoustic Energy Radiance Subwoofer with their A5 setup (http://www.hifix.co.uk/sku2.lasso?&...d67a109febac25d3967f809d63369&rlog=googlebase). Is this the type of sub I should be looking for?

Thanks for reading and for any replies made :).
 
Dosanjh said:
Hey people,

I'm on the verge of purchasing the Audioengine A5 speakers for my games/study room to go with my PC (macbook pro soon, as i'm replacing my pc with one).
Click to expand...

seriously? you're spending that kind of money on speakers with a rubbish soundcard (macs are THE worst sounding computers i've come across)
 
Audioengine do a sub to go with their A speakers.

Macs are a great digital source - need an external DAC obviously but unlike Windows you don't need drivers and plugins just to get a bit-for-bit output.
 
Shamrock said:
Something from BK electronics!:)

I've got a BK Gemini, but you can get a Monolith for under £500.
Click to expand...

+1 for BK.

Audiophile quality!

I'm getting the XXLS400 when I have the money. I can even go and pick it up in person as I only live down the road where they are! :D

They are meant to be awesome sub for the money and being a sealed sub will produce a more punchy bass which I love (very good mid range as well).

Will go very nicely with my A5's & Xonar Essence STX. Currently using a old Logitech sub for the time being (which ain't great but does the job for the moment. Not a fan of ported subs)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies people.

I didn't know Macbooks weren't that good for sound? I'm getting bored of having a PC as I feel it takes up too much room.. like with the Tower, wires and stuff. I was hoping to get a Macbook pro and keep my samsung syncmaster 2233, because it reduces the space and would look a lot better?

I'll research into what an external DAC is as I have no clue about sound quality/speakers :). Thanks again!
 
DAC = Digital to analog converter.

With the Macbook Pro, the headphone input also doubles as a digital output, so using a mini jack to optical toslink cable, or just via plain old USB, you can connect it to an external DAC which will take the digital signal, convert it into analog, and then the AudioEngines (since they have the amplifier built into the speakers) amplify and play this.

Most people on here have dedicated soundcards for their PCs which do all this internally, albeit usually gaming-oriented ones. On a Mac obviously you've only got the onboard sound, which is just 'meh' for doing the DAC stage, as is most onboard sound. I'm a nerd and care about fidelity greatly and don't game on my mac, so I have a desktop DAC. IMO if you want a great hifi desktop set up, it's not going to be as great for gaming, and vice versa.

External DACs vary from cheap to ludicrously expensive. Typical ones I've seen on many Mac setups would be the Apogee Duet (uses Firewire 800, although the Duet II uses USB), DACMagic, V-DAC, Beresford Caiman, the one by Matrix (forget the name) stuff like that. Depends on what you want to spend really. They're usually relatively small-form factor as most of them are designed to sit on/under a headphone amp.
 
Combat Fighter said:
+1 for BK.

Audiophile quality!

I'm getting the XXLS400 when I have the money. I can even go and pick it up in person as I only live down the road where they are! :D

They are meant to be awesome sub for the money and being a sealed sub will produce a more punchy bass which I love (very good mid range as well).

Will go very nicely with my A5's & Xonar Essence STX. Currently using a old Logitech sub for the time being (which ain't great but does the job for the moment. Not a fan of ported subs)
Click to expand...

being sealed doesnt mean its going to be punchy. the two arent intrinsically linked. infact the xxls400 is tuned to be pretty flat in room and is a very musical sub for the money, completely the opposite of punchy :p
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom