# Audioengine A5 vs. Logitech Z-5500 review



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

I got a set of Audioengine A5 speakers today based on the suggestions of a few ehmac members. First, I would like to thank all of those who recommended them or a studio monitor system.

Since there aren't many reviews online that compare the A5's to the Z-5500's, I thought I would write a brief review. 

I will assume that no one is familiar with the prices and specs of the two systems. 

The Logitech’s retail for anywhere from 450 to 230. Median price is around 300-350. They are a 5.1 and apparently are 505 watts rms. The 2 speaker Audioengines range from 350 to 450 with most stores carrying them for 400. They are rated at 45 watts rms.

Now to the review,
The Logitech’s are in short made for the teenage boy. Massive size and sound. The subwoofer was larger and weighed more than the Audioengine’s combined. Unfortunately, it sounded more like a sub you see/hear vibrating one of those bean-can honda civics.

The sound quality on them was quite good. Vocals were clear, instruments were present (emphasis on present). The soundstage would have been better if I had space to spread out the satellites. 

The other additional benefit of the Logitech’s, was the multitude of inputs. You can plug them in through pretty much every imaginable interface. They even came with a remote control, although I never had the need to use it. 

I really enjoyed the Logitech’s, however, they were not the right speaker for me. I live in an apartment and have thin walls so a 180 watt subwoofer will only end up being a $180 noise fine. 

In terms of music preference, I like opera, jazz and some other pop. It’s on the opera where you truly notice what the Logitech’s are lacking.

Having grown unhappy with the Logitech’s I sold them to a friend and bought some Audioengine A5’s. 

At first I was a bit apprehensive as I would be going from arguably the best 5.1 computer system available to just 2 speakers. I would also be foregoing the digital input and the cool control pod. 

In short, I have no regrets.

I have the Audioengine’s about 30cm off the sides of my display. Of course, I should have them slightly farther apart, eye-level etc. But I’m not really interested in getting speaker stands. 

The sound coming from the Audioengine’s means that instruments are present (emphasis on present). I can finally hear each movement of a bow on a violin. Bass wise, they are perfect. I was concerned I would need to tweak the equalizer for more bass but I don’t think that will be a problem. 

In terms of the soundstage, the Audioengines are far better than the Logitech setup I had. There is about 5 feet to the left and right of me when I sit at my desk. Literally, it sounds like the band is spread out from wall to wall. Voices are perfectly centered between the 2 speakers. This was something I was quite concerned about as the Logitech’s have a center speaker. 

Conclusion
If you have a bigger room and enjoy games and movies and love bass then definitely go for the Logitech’s. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them and the sound is by no means terrible. There is no tinniness or distortion. However, my pick is for the Audioengines. For more or less the same price you won’t be unhappy. Sure they don’t go as loud as the Logitech’s but right now I have the volume at 75% on my MBP and about 1/3 on the A5’s. That leaves plenty of room to annoy the neighbors. As I listen to primarily 320 or Lossless, I noticed the difference instantly in the full range of the songs. While I could hear say violin in the past, now I can hear the violinist move their hands along the strings.

Hopefully this review has addressed most aspects. If anyone has questions please do not hesitate to post or pm me.


----------



## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Great review! :clap:

So in short, if you want loud sound, Logitech's the way to go. If you want beautiful sound, Audioengine all the way.


----------



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

dona83 said:


> Great review! :clap:
> 
> So in short, if you want loud sound, Logitech's the way to go. If you want beautiful sound, Audioengine all the way.


Thanks.

Essentially what your saying is true. If your not super picky and can find Logitechs for under 250 I would definitely buy them.

The friend I sold the Z-5500's to has a cheap HP laptop. They sounded so muffled I was ashamed cause I had told him they sounded good. I can't imagine the A5's with that laptop. If you have a mac or an ipod your set.


----------



## Jacklar (Jul 23, 2005)

I'm glad you enjoy them. I honestly don't want to be a fan boy, but this product has made me as happy or happier then my Apple products. I've used them for gaming, music, video, all audio forms and media and they're awesome.

The customer service is second to none. I had an issue and wanted some info on their new subwoofer. I received a personal message back and had the assurances that I would be taken care of. This is definitely a case where the small business has a solid reliable product, customer service is excellent and the quality is superb.


----------



## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Personally, I think you're comparing Apple's to Oranges. But, a good review, nonetheless.

For my needs, I need the Z-5500's. I got a great deal on them at $250 when I got them a little over a year ago.

I'm pretty particular about the sound coming from my speakers. I use them for mostly home theatre applications (an area that the A5's couldn't compete). 

The greatest thing about them is both Optical and Coax inputs for digital transmission. I currently have the Playstation 3 hooked up through optical for BluRay and Gaming but, I can also stream wirelessly from my Mac to the PS3 with NullRiver Medialink. The Z-5500's are amazing at these tasks.

With Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, and DTS 96/24 processing, these speakers are hard to beat if you have a good source for them to be connected to.

That said, if I was particularly looking for studio monitors for my DJ setup, I'd be considering the A5's.


----------



## cutcopypaste (Mar 25, 2008)

These Audioengines look like quite the speaker... as a Canadian living in London, Ontario, though.. where would I go about getting them?


----------



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

cutcopypaste said:


> These Audioengines look like quite the speaker... as a Canadian living in London, Ontario, though.. where would I go about getting them?


Mostly Digital off of Oxford carries both the 5 and the 2. They are currently out of stock but I believe they should have a few sets in towards the end of the month.

I ordered mine from the Mac Group in Ottawa because I did not want to wait a month for speakers. (I ordered mid-feb and Mostly Digital still hasn't gotten any in)

Believe it or not they actually have the best price in Canada that I've seen. They were carrying audioengine for 349 online for a while. Not sure if they still have them at that price though.


----------



## tolkan (Dec 2, 2008)

Thanks for the good review... I'm glad i stumbled upon your post. I'm currently the predicament you were in nine months ago. I've had the 5500s for about 4 years now, and i find that i do not use them for gaming or movies, but only for Music. They sound okay, but i feel 

One of the things that i've noticed about the 5500s, aside from their lacking mid-range, is that in order to get any significant bass from the satellites, you need to turn the system volume up significantly. 

Keeping this in mind, are you still satisfied with the switch you made to the A5s? I'm somewhat hesitant to purchase self-powered bookshelf speakers in lieu of a separate amp and speaker combo. In hindsight, would you rather have done that instead?

Thanks in advance...

--

Mike


----------



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

Hey Mike,
I'm still quite happy with the A5's and I certainly don't regret not getting an amp combo. You can view approximately how much space the A5's take up here.

I think to answer your question it would really depend on what your budget is. If it's ~$100-600 I would go for the A5's or cheaper A2's. 

When I was looking at buying the A5's, I actually dropped by a couple of hifi stores to listen to their systems. Sound is a personal thing, but I concluded that for the price of the Audioengines, you cannot beat them until you go into the $500-600 range *not* including an amp. The A5's are as clean and more accurate than my Bose Acoustimass 16's back home (not that Bose is great). Additionally, the bass is much better on the A5's than most hifi systems, which are designed to be paired with a sub. 

In comparison to headphones, they are just about as good as the Shure E4C's (now the SE420's?). Bass is obviously better given the size of the driver, but the highs aren't as well defined. Sound is similar to my old pair of AKG 201's hooked up to a DAC/AMP.


-----
NOTE:

Having had the A5's for 9 months or so now I can tell you the sound is slightly cool. I've notched up the equalizer in iTunes a quarter tick to compensate and to really bring out vocals.

I've also changed the position of them a bit so they are angled inwards to me. This improved the soundstage immensely.


----------



## moh2o (Feb 10, 2009)

*Mbp?*

I was just wondering what the MBP is?
I am thinking of getting the Audio Engine A5's. Or the Audio M's 40w. 
I have an Macbook 2007 2 gig. ram. 160 hd.
Thanks ,
-Scott


----------



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

moh2o said:


> I was just wondering what the MBP is?
> I am thinking of getting the Audio Engine A5's. Or the Audio M's 40w.
> I have an Macbook 2007 2 gig. ram. 160 hd.
> Thanks ,
> -Scott


MBP is short for MacBook Pro.

Best answer to your question is to find a place that carries both the Audioengines or the M-Audio's and try them out. I've never seen the M-Audio 40's but I have some limited experience with the model up (BX5). 

From the few minutes in store, the BX5's seem like they should offer fairly good value for your money. I did notice the sound was a bit more transparent than the Audioengines (side-by-side comparison). This is great if you're mixing, but unfortunately for music, it came across as sounding a bit harsh. I found this to be very noticeable on the low bit rate music they had in store. The MSRP is much higher than what you will actually find in store. The M-Audio's are about $260 so they work out to a bit less than the Audioengines.

Bass on the Audioengines was better than the M-Audio's, perhaps not great if you want to mix but for music it does offer a lot more depth. 

The choice really comes down to what kind of sound you prefer. The M-Audio's are designed to be transparent above all, as they are a studio monitor. 

The Audioengines are built as an entry level desktop hifi set that offers clarity without exacerbating flaws in music.


----------



## mkolesa (Jul 22, 2008)

*~*

i agree completely about the audioengines... they're the real deal! i have a hi-fi background (crazy custom tube based stereo equipment) and find they offer the most 'neutral' sound for a reasonable amount of money. in comparison the similarly priced m-audio models were a bit exaggerated for my taste. for me the a5 seemed like more than i wanted or needed next to my imac so i went with the a2 and am really pleased with it. i will say though that sitting the speaker flat on a table really affects the sound output adversely and after considering stands i realized that the important point is to get the woofer further away from the table top and have the speakers aimed more directly at you. so i ended up making little pyramid stands from .75" dowel i got at home hardware and put little rubber feet underneath to keep them from moving around. then just angle them in slightly so that they point more towards you... huge improvement in the sound!


----------



## Eric0 (Nov 22, 2007)

I love that dowel idea. I've been trying to find something stable and more or less vibration resistant for a while now.


----------

