It’s been a week or so with my new speaker setup and I can honestly say that I’m very pleased. I added ferrite cores to the cables and they did in fact reduce the slight humming (which was not very audible to begin with) to a point where it doesn’t bother me. I’m not standing there with one ear two inches away from the speakers. 😅 It’s a non issue at this point.
Alex’s Audio Odyssey
The posts compiled here document the story and learning experience of replacing my desktop 2.1 audio/monitoring system. It turned into more of an odyssey than I expected, so I found it worth documenting! :P
Back & Forth
Yesterday, the subwoofer arrived and 😱 that is really, really a lot of bass! Way more than what is necessary, when at its default settings! I went back & forth with the various settings and switches on both the subwoofer and the monitors and I think I’ve found a useful combination now.
So Far, So Good
My replacement speaker has arrived two days ago and luckily, it passed the sine wave test tone challenge. The speakers also do not make any sounds that they should not make. Almost!
srslyWTF?!?
The good news: I am actually able to hear when a speaker makes a sound that it is not supposed to make. And with this, you may already have guessed the bad news: the speaker drama continues. I’m hearing something that I should not hear. In one of my new speakers, of course. It’s “I can’t believe this is happening reloaded.” 😖
Hail Eris
Well, I hope this choice doesn’t lead to some discord: I decided to order a pair of PreSonus “Eris E5 XT” speakers as a replacement for the hissing AudioEngine A5s. They were on sale and the pair was just US$240 instead of US$380 — otherwise I might have been tempted to get a pair of Yamaha HS5, or KRK Rokit 5 G4*.
They Hiss :(
I feel like I am cursed and can’t believe this is happening. After 5 days of enjoying the AudioEngine A5+ speakers, and just one day of blissful listening when I finally had them at their final position in my room, they have begun to emit an extremely annoying, high-pitched sound from the tweeters, starting all of a sudden this afternoon. ☹️
Room Filling Sound
With the correct cable finally in my possession, I was able to get the speakers off my desk and onto the bookshelf, from where their sound has the necessary room to unfold. Running them through their paces now, they truly do fill my room with sound and it’s AWESOME.
The DAC, It Clips
Even though the speakers are here now, the cable that I need in order to put them onto the bookshelf is not, of course. 😜 My evaluation of the sound in my room remains inconclusive at this point. In today’s post, I’m going back to the DAC, the AudioEngine D1: as mentioned in the previous post, I wasn’t able to hear any difference in sound quality between the DAC and the iMac’s analog headphone output. Both sound absolutely identical to me.
I Haz Speakers
My new AudioEngine A5+ speakers finally arrived, today — in Matryoshka doll style packaging! Inside a neutral brown shipping box is a brown AudioEngine labelled box, inside which is a white AudioEngine retail box. Inside that box are two smooth grey felt/fabric/something bags… inside which are the two speakers — additionally wrapped in protective bubble-plastic something! 😂