Audioengine HD6 Premium Bookshelf Speakers - Wireless 150W Bluetooth Speakers - Powerful Home Music System - Home Theater Systems, Studio Monitors

I came across these speakers while looking for ways to modernize and streamline my secondary music system. These powered speakers serve to replace an Onkyo stereo receiver and a pair of Infinity speakers, both of which I found pleasing to the ear, but a bit long in the tooth. They had served their purpose, and it was time for something more modern.In pricing a solid integrated amp, either in combination with an external DAC or featuring one, I found that it would set me back, a tidy sum. Adding Bluetooth capability would further complicate and add to the expense. Then there was the matter of finding a high quality set of speakers that were prettier, smaller, and yet still carried enough palpable weight to enjoy challenging music. Cheap speakers abound, but they typically look cheap, and I was not interested in trading down in regard to sound quality.They say all roads lead to Rome. Well, it seemed like all roads were leading me back to the Audioengine HD6s. I read a lot of reviews of the A5+ and HD6, looked at the price, and hoped for the best.I was impressed by the care in which Audioengine packaged the speakers. They came (Triple!) boxed, such that I had packing material strewn about the room before I caught a glimpse of the soft gray bags that come for both speakers and all the peripheral cables.These are pretty speakers up close. If you're familiar with real hardwood furnishings, you can tell that these are veneer over MDF, but they look sharp and feel substantial. I will note that my pair didn't have nearly the reddish tones that the picture on the site features. Much more biased to brown/gray/black tones. Which, I suppose, is more accurately walnut. But I digress.The included cable is of good quality, but I elected to sub in a heavier gauge RCA cable to attach my CD player (Onkyo 7030, also newly-purchased). Everything went together as expected, powered on, and had a reassuring solidity to it. I let the system stand for several minutes to warm up, then loaded in a disk.No malfunctions followed. The speakers played, the remote altered the levels as expected (you have to aim a bit carefully with this remote). After a few disks had played, the bass began to open up. I don't think a long or stultifying break-in is required with these units, but giving them a few days to burn in and seat the voice coils in the speakers before getting too critical of the sound is probably the best course.And onto the sound. If I had to describe it, I suppose "natural" would be the most apt word. These are good sounding speakers, that have the ability to play quite loud and produce punchy bass if it is present in the program material. Now, you're not going to shake coffee mugs off of the table or fully communicate T-Rex footfalls. Physics is physics, and 5.5" drivers can only push so much air. That said, for purely music listening, especially if your tastes run to small group jazz, chamber music, and classic rock, you could easily produce satisfying volume and sweep with these speakers. The caveat being that you're not trying to fill an enormous room.The silk dome tweeter is not as incisive or "hot" as a metal dome. It is quite detailed, but errs on the side of being laid-back and slightly gentle at the top end, rather than being bright or sharp. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a dark upper register. Rather, it lets you look with some depth into the soundscape, while avoiding being unfriendly or strident.The midrange is rendered very well. On a CD such as Bill Frissell's "Guitar in the Space Age", the sound of the guitar, the amp, and the level of overdrive or reverb being used is beautifully drawn.The bass is solid and taut, fairly deep but not, perhaps, as authoritative as some will be used to. The lower registers are in no way boosted. There is no "loudness" feeling to this system. It is not foreflushing in the mid-bass to mask a lack of extension or impress over the short run.Overall, the speakers are friendly, inviting, and non-fatiguing. When paired with a well recorded piece of music, they allow you to think of the sound, not the source, which is good praise for their size and price, I think.One thing to consider is this: if you have the intractable urge to twiddle with EQ levels, these are not for you. They sound how they sound. Unless the source component has some ability to introduce EQ settings into the mix, they are not present on the HD6 itself. For me, this is fine. I almost never use EQs, and choose a source direct option to cut them out of the signal chain if possible.I didn't buy the HD6 simply to play from a component disk player, however. If that had been the case, saving some cash and purchasing the A5+ would have been the wise course. My plans included streaming FLAC audio from a tablet that I would use as a media center. I have found that my (aptX capable) Android tablet (Asus Zen 8) easily paired with the speakers, had a solid BT connection, and sounded great. No issues while sitting across the room, reading an e-book or browsing while the device cast the music to the speakers. The underpinnings for bluetooth and DAC conversion seem solid and well implemented here. I like that incoming signals are upsampled to 24/192. Streaming music from Amazon Prime Music still resulted in a good sound. No glare, no major veiling, no grit or heavy treble attenuation.After playing the HD6 for several days on their own, I paired them up with a Klipsch subwoofer, crossing the sub over at around 65-70 hertz to let them roll naturally in at full volume as the main speakers began to drop off. Integrating a sub can be rather a hassle, but I was able to get a satisfactory blend within about 45 minutes of tweaking. To be honest, the first twenty minutes yielded a good blend, but I kept a/b testing and being obsessive a while longer. The addition of the sub is a somewhat subtle thing, at least with speakers that aren't too anemic in the lower registers. If the change is too obvious, the sub level is probably too high.With the sub in the mix, that hint of authority that is required for upright bass and kickdrums tuned without a lot of polyfill is added in. Very nice.In the end, I'm very pleased with the purchase. They are nice looking, compact speakers, and a lot more. Using a product like this, it's possible to create a very streamlined, uncluttered sound system that will fill a small to midsized room with excellent sound. If all the products that these speakers replace are tallied and checked for cost, it's something of a bargain. It might not seem so, as the price seems a bit princely for a small speaker system, but you would be awfully hard pressed to improve upon it for a similar fee, even with less attractive or integrated components.One last note: some people might consider purchasing these as high end computer speakers. Now, they do sound very nice in the nearfield, with no audible hiss and none of the face-melting over-brightness of a speaker ill-suited to monitor duties. However...they are quite large, and I think they would be overkill for the bulk of your desktop setups. They'd look more at home above a mixing board than flanking a computer screen.

Oh boy. These are expensive. What a pain it was to surpass the guilt of buying them. But I did it. And oh, what a GREAT buy it was. Worth every single penny. Yes, these sounded awful out of the box. Thank god I had read all reviews before panicking. I was wary of having made a mistake. I have a pair of A2 and I can almost agree they sounded better than these out of the box. Thus, give them a chance. They can blow your mind. Just really good in all departments. No weaknesses I can think of. Just really well all-around. Even at low volumes. If you are into electronic music and are playing in a medium sized to large room, consider having a cheap sub, but bare in mind its low end is superb already. Really tight and crisp. Just not ground-shaking. It DOES distort at loud volumes. Make a try by itself first of all. You won't be disappointed.I bought these over the A5+s and am really glad I did it. These little beasts have a built in premium amplifier, DAC, and an AWESOME BLUETOOTH INTERFACE. I was worried I would not use it much because of sound quality compromise (to which I am really picky). But wow, USING aptX (DON'T forget to make sure it is being used!) is REALLY comparable to a cabled connection (normal connection, not audiophile in any way). There are ways to ensure this, just search for it on the internet. Many recent products are able to do it. Only iPhones and iPods can't. Macs certainly do, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I can really pick an aptX connection vs. a normal bluetooth codec connection. I partly associate these speaker's awesome performance to its built in DAC. Using bluetooth ensures you are using the built in DAC and it makes a lot of difference vs. you normal built in DAC from your phone or computer (coming from a 3.5mm to RCA in). These are everything you need. You really don't even need cables. And this just makes me use them more and more. I acknowledge I would sometimes be more lazy to use it otherwise.Oh, and I didn't even touch the fact that they are unquestionably beautiful (especially the walnut model).