|  Audioengine
Frequently Asked Questions
- Just how easy are Audioengine
speakers to set up?
- What is the best placement
for Audioengine speakers?
- How can these small
speakers have so much bass?
- Why do I have to plug
one speaker into the wall?
- Are Audioengine speakers
portable?
- Why don’t Audioengine
speakers have a built-in iPod dock?
- Which remote controls
do you recommend for Audioengine speakers?
- Can I control Audioengine
speakers with my TV remote?
- Can I use a subwoofer
with Audioengine speakers?
- Can I increase the
length of the speaker wire between each speaker?
- Why do digital music
files sound better with Audioengine speakers?
- Do higher power output
ratings mean louder or better sounding speakers?
- Even though Audioengine
speakers have built in amplifiers can I still use them with
my stereo receiver?
- Are two separate speakers
really better than one?
- Do Audioengine speakers
come with speaker grills?
- Will the Audioengine
“ComboPort” charge my old Firewire powered iPod?
- Can I take my Audioengine
speakers to another country with a different voltage?
- How can I stream
music from my computer to multiple Audioengine speakers?
- Why only analog inputs?
- Can audio be played
through the Audioengine USB charge port?
- If I have 2 inputs
plugged in at the same time, how does Audioengine switch
between audio sources?
- What is the difference
between powered and active speakers?
Just how easy are Audioengine speakers
to set up?
Take them out of the box and place them where you want. We
recommend using speaker stands to get them up off the floor.
Plug in the AC power cord and connect the speaker wire from
the left powered speaker to the right. Then plug in your iPod
or dock into the top ComboPort and you’re ready to go.
All required cables are included and setup really is that
simple - unlike connecting a stereo receiver and “regular”
speakers which cannot be done without cursing up a storm.
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What is the best placement
for Audioengine speakers?
It is true that proper speaker placement has a huge impact
on sound quality. There are many different theories, but all
rooms and tastes are different so it's impossible to specify
a "correct" placement. We do suggest you experiment
with a few different locations to see what works for you.
As a general rule of thumb for the best soundstage balance,
the speakers should be equi-distant from side walls and a
different distance from rear walls. The tweeters should be
at about eye-level in your most frequent listening location.
For the best bass response on Audioengine 5, we recommend
that you keep a minimum distance of around 6" between
the rear of the speakers and the rear wall. Back
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How can these small speakers
have so much bass?
One of the reasons Audioengine 5 speakers have such amazing
bass in such a small package is the bass port tubes on the
back of each speaker. These aren’t just holes in the
cabinet, but specifically shaped openings with tubes designed
with precise calculations. The result is incredible low end
with very minimal audible air turbulence. These are effectively
mini-subs built into each speaker, allowing Audioengine speakers
to be used with or without a separate subwoofer.?We don’t
use any enhancement circuits to add fake bass, so what you’ll
hear is real bass, really low, and really clean. Dig it. Back
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Why do I have to plug one
speaker into the wall?
Audioengine speakers have a built-in power amplifier so you
won’t need a stereo receiver to power these speakers.
In addition to built in amps, we’ve also added an extra
“always-on” AC outlet on the speaker rear panel,
which just happens to be perfect for plugging in an Airport
Express or Squeezebox. Wireless-ready speakers. Very sweet.
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Are Audioengine speakers portable?
Our 3 friends would ask us over and over “Hey speaker
guys, are there any great sounding speakers for my living
room that I can just plug in my MP3 player and not buy a big
stereo receiver with a remote control that I will never figure
out how to use?” We finally got tired of answering “No,
not really”, and came up with the Audioengine 5. There
are so many cheap plastic portable disposable iPod speaker
toys on the market that we decided to create a line of real
speakers that are self-powered, sound great, and don’t
have a handle or run off 25 AA batteries. OK, so to finally
answer the question, Audioengine speakers are not really portable
but are durable enough that you could carry them around in
bags or backpacks like we do when we’re out on the road.
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Why don’t Audioengine
speakers have a built-in iPod dock?
Audioengine speakers not only work well with iPods and iPod
docks, but were also designed to connect easily to all other
audio products. iPods connect to Audioengine speakers with
or without an external dock via the “ComboPort”
connector on top of the speakers. There are so many clever
and inexpensive iPod docks available that we made a decision
early on to spend our development time primarily on audio
quality and other simple features, such as an AC outlet on
the rear panel for an Airport Express, for example. We feel
that Apple docks do an excellent job so we didn’t want
to waste resources trying to design and integrate a dock into
our speakers only for it to become quickly obsolete. If you
have an iPod but don’t yet have an Apple Universal Dock
or one of many other great dock systems on the market, pick
one up, sit it on top of our speakers, plug it in and you’ll
see what we mean! Back
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Which remote controls do you
recommend for Audioengine speakers?
Our thinking behind not including a remote was that most people
have too many remotes already (I know my living room sofa
owns at least 3). Feedback from our awesome customers seems
to back this up as many people report using their TV remotes
and/or Squeezebox and Sonos system remotes as well as iTunes
to control Audioengine speakers. Here are two USB (non-dock)
remotes that work well with iTunes and Audioengine:
Griffin AirClick USB Remote: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/airclickusb/
and the Keyspan Express Remote: http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/urm17a/
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Can I control Audioengine
speakers with my TV remote control?
Most TV’s have variable audio outputs that work well
with Audioengine speakers. Just connect the left and right
RCA jacks from your TV audio out to the 1/8” mini-jack
input on the left speaker (we’ve included an RCA to
1/8 “Y” cable). Set the volume knob on the left
speaker front panel, select “variable audio output”
on your TV menu, and then use your TV remote to control the
Audioengine volume. Back
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Can I use a subwoofer with
Audioengine speakers?
Even though Audioengine speakers have huge low end which will
easily fill a room and rival floorstanding speakers many times
their size, you can also connect an external sub if you wish.
We’ve recently added RCA subwoofer outputs to the rear
panel to make connecting a powered subwoofer even easier.
These are full-range outputs so the crossover frequency and
volume can be dialed in on the sub. You can even connect an
Airport Express to your sub and send a separate audio stream
from iTunes for a wireless subwoofer! Back
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Can I increase the length
of the speaker wire between each speaker?
Yes. Any standard speaker wire will work. For the best audio
performance we’ve included 12 feet of 16 gauge wire
with each system. The speaker binding posts on the back of
each cabinet will accept bare stranded wire, mini-banana jacks,
pin terminals, and most other commonly-used wire termination
types. Back
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Why do digital music files
sound better with Audioengine speakers?
Audioengine speakers were specially designed and tuned to
make MP3 and other digital music files sound great. We spent
many months tuning each speaker and almost exclusively used
MP3, AAC, and WMA 128 and 192kbps files during this process.
We also tuned with lossless CD-quality audio, but found that
digital files really do sound great on Audioengine speakers.
Even though we are big fans of digital music, your turntable
will sound equally as good. Back
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Do higher power output ratings
mean louder or better sounding speakers?
Not necessarily. Audioengine speakers and amplifiers are very
efficient and are designed to work directly together so we
get way more volume output than stereo receivers or amplifiers
that have a higher wattage or power numbers. Due to this precise
tuning, we achieve big sound outputs with just a fraction
of the power required by other systems. Keep in mind that
our very conservative rating of 45 watts RMS per channel translates
easily to well over 100 watts per channel peak power - which
we don’t advertise as peak power numbers are a bit misleading.
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Even though Audioengine
speakers have built in amplifiers can I still use them with
my stereo receiver?
An A/V receiver or amplifier is not needed as we’ve
built the power amps into the speakers. However, if you wish
to use Audioengine speakers with an existing stereo receiver
just take the “preamp out” from your receiver
and plug it into one of the Audioengine inputs (use the included
RCA stereo “Y” connector to 1/8” mini plug
cable). The internal Audioengine amps will still be active
but this setup allows you to use your existing receiver as
well.
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Are two separate speakers
really better than one?
We are firm believers that two quality speakers will always
sound better than one or more speakers together in a single
cabinet, regardless of the technology used. There are some
decent one-piece speaker systems that simulate stereo and
surround sound from a single source, but most fall way short
as they can’t accurately duplicate a wide soundstage
with imaging as complete and rich as Audioengine speakers.
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Do Audioengine speakers
come with speaker grills?
We use Kevlar for the woofers and the tweeters are made from
silk, so speaker grills aren’t needed. Plus they look
better without them. Clean and simple. Back
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Will the Audioengine “ComboPort”
charge my old Firewire powered iPod?
The Audioengine USB ComboPort on top of the speakers charges
all USB iPods and most other USB devices (including the Zune
player) but does not charge older 1G and 2G Firewire-powered
iPods, which can only be charged via Firewire. Back
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Can I take my Audioengine
speakers to another country with a different voltage?
Yes, you can switch the voltage on the rear panel to use in
areas with 220-230v mains. The power supply is not a switching
supply so you must do this if you take your speakers to another
country with a different voltage. The power cable is also
detachable which makes it convenient to replace the AC plug
with a different type if you don’t want to use an adapter
plug. Back
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How can I stream music from
my computer to multiple Audioengine speakers?
If you have an AirPort Express with firmware 6.3 or higher,
you can easily send music from iTunes out to multiple speakers,
including a subwoofer (a wireless Wi-Fi subwoofer, think about
it!). This is a great feature for Audioengine speakers and
can be enabled by selecting “Multiple Speakers”
in the bottom right-hand corner of iTunes. The AirPort Express
Firmware Updater 6.3 for Mac OS X can be found here: http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
Another option we recommend is a software application called
AirFoil by Rogue Amoeba. AirFoil allows you to send audio
from any application (including iTunes) to one or multiple
AirPort Express units. Download a demo or purchase Airfoil
here:
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/
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Why only analog inputs?
Audioengine speakers contain all-analog circuitry and do not
include digital inputs. The analog outputs from the Airport
Express and Slim Devices Squeezebox, for instance, are extremely
high quality and are perfect examples of why we didn’t
feel the need for digital inputs. There were also other issues
associated with digital inputs that we felt were not acceptable
(such as DRM restrictions and remote volume control issues).
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Can audio be played through
the Audioengine USB charge port?
The USB port on Audioengine speakers was designed to be for
power charging only, but don’t despair - we’ve
also included an audio input next to the USB port to handle
the audio input. Back
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If I have 2 inputs plugged
in at the same time, how does Audioengine switch between audio
sources?
Both inputs are "open" or active, so you can leave
2 audio sources plugged in at the same time. Back
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What is the difference between
powered and active speakers?
Both are basically the same. “Active” and “powered”
speakers refer to speakers with power amplifiers built into
either one speaker or both. Audioengine speakers were designed
with the power amps in the left speaker to make connections
easier (they only require 1 power cord and all connections
are in the same speaker). It’s time to sell that big
old receiver and make the switch! Back
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Have a useful FAQ that you want to add to this list? Write
it up and send us an email: support@audioengineusa.com
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