The Audioengine 5 by …Audioengine is a powerhouse of volume and sound quality for your iPod. It can even be hooked up to a PC or non-apple MP3 player as well. The funny thing about it is that there’s no small docking-port for the iPod as is seen on every other iPod speaker station. In some ways that’s a good thing. It means the Audioengine 5 isn’t really designed so much with portability and travel in mind. But it can beat out many MP3 speaker sets in other ways. The sound can go where others cannot. Since the two speaker boxes are separate, you can get real 3D stereo sound instead of merely relying on a 3D simulator or driver. In fact, the sound is so good that you can use these speakers for whatever you want. So how do you connect the iPod without a port? There are minijack, USB and auxiliary connections built in to the Audioengine 5. It will still charge your iPod while it’s connected just like many docks will.
With many of the lower-end systems a big complaint was that you could only get the volume so high. Or, if you could get the volume to a decent level, it would only go there with a good bit of distortion. Not so with the Audioengine 5. You can seriously crank this thing up and still get excellent and full quality sound. There’s a second power and audio connector on the left speaker for use with the AirPort Express. A power supply is built in so there’s no need to carry around a bulky power cord with the box or “brick” on it like with so many other sound systems. As for construction, each speaker box for the Audioengine 5 is very sturdy and well built. The speakers are surprising large for an MP3 player-compatible system. But once again, apparently extreme sound quality rather than portability was the goal in Audioengine’s design. You could still travel with them of course, if you wanted.
How powerful are these speakers? Each speaker can reach a max of 70 watts. The RMS is 45. RMS is the average max output over time. The tweeters are 20 mm and silk domed. The silk rather than metallic dome gives a smoother sound. The neodymium magnets in the speakers give more power and better frequency response to the system throughout the band range from low to high frequency. The 5 inch mid-range driver uses kevlar for better than average sound. Throughout the design and construction of the Audioengine 5 it is fully apparent that nothing was done second-rate. This speaker system will give the utmost in sound quality and performance to your iPod or MP3 player of choice.