Audioengine 5 vs M-Audio Studiophile AV 40

I've had my Bose companion 3 series II speakers for a little over a year now, after being incredibly impressed with them back in January 2009. Obviously, I was one of those people used to mediocre speakers, and to me the Bose speakers sounded amazing. To be fair, they were. Then I bought my Cowon J3, and found that the Bose system has little balance and muddy bass.

I like crisp precise bass over wall shaking, thumping bass, so the lack of defined subwoofer is not actually a problem.

I'm looking at the two systems in the title because I believe these two are the best options for what I am looking for.

The price of the M-Audio speakers are interesting me (I can get them for around £125, compared to £245 for the Audioengine ones).

If anyone has either set of the speakers, I would be grateful for your opinions.

Also, other suggestions are welcome. My budget is basically anything up to the price of the Audioengines.

 

Can't vouch for the M-Audio's, but I've heard the Audioengine A5's are pretty highly recommended when it comes to cheap powered speakers.

It may actually be a lot more worthwhile to pay up for some passive tower speakers and an amplifier, preamp, and DAC though, in the long run. Just keep that in mind.

 

I agree with Shadow. If your looking at long term its better to get seperate amp & speakers.

Just look at the situation your in now, the Bose made you happy but now you want to move on so your looking to the AE5's or something that is an all in 1 unit.

What happens if they break or you find you dont like them in a year? Your off to find a whole new system now.

If you opt to get an amp and speakers instead, and in a year you find you need to upgrade. Your not looking to spend nearly as much since you only need speakers.

Breaking your equipment into parts like this lets you customize more and offers better options for upgrade/repair/replacement.

I have had the same amp for my system for 5 or 6 years now and gone through 4 different sets of speakers with it. I added a powered subwoofer onto it like 2 years ago as well.

Tossed a 10 band EQ on it like 3 years ago.

... and as time passes more things will happen. But the point is that when I moved pass those all in one sets and went for the home theater type route it was a really good move.

You can maybe score some great deals in local pawn shops btw for this kind of stuff. I got my infinity speaker set from there for super cheap and there are sales on receivers (amp & preamp in one) all over the net.

 

Thank you for your replies.

The real problem is money. As a student (just started University) without a job currently, finance is limited (plus I don't get a grant, only a loan).

When I get a part-time job I would consider moving up to proper audio equipment, but I also have to think about space (even with the Bose system space is limited).

My original idea was a pair of KEF IQ5SEs with a Denon DRA700AE Amplifier, but this is around £600 - quite a bit above my budget.

So really my question should originally have been: Are the AE5s or AV40s worth the increase in sound quality over the Boses?

 

Get a headphone amp and some nice headphones save money, save space, better quality.

Also there are some super small amps out there so you can still do a DIY route and meet your budget & space requirements. It does not have to be out of budget because again get used stuff or 2nd hand and upgrade later in life.

Im really enjoying something I just got the NuForce uDAC-2 its just a ultra small usb DAC & Headphone Amp but I was looking at there products for "desktops" and while its maybe not what your looking for I just though it was neat.

Look at the Icon & Icon2 - Nuforce.com | Personal | Desktop | Mobile |ICON2

Not a whole lot of power there though so definitely targeted for small bookshelf speakers for desktop use.

Save more if you do not need the DAC portion of the Icon and just get the amp only version with analong inputs - http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-Icon-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1285606425&sr=1-1

 

Headphones are headphones. I don't think they can replace real speakers. I have yet to drop a tear while listening to my LCD. However, my SF Audiotor did.

OP, I'd suggest you look into amp'd studio monitors like Adam A5, A3X or Dynaudio BM5A. These are absolutely better and just slightly more expensive than the AE5 here in the US. Look for a used pair if you can't afford a new pair. You can get almost 50% on used.

 

You can be creative like me and use headphones & powered sub for me thats a great combo.