 We have finally arrived. The Audioengine A5 Plus is the last in my five-part series of speaker reviews that marks my entry into the category from a review perspective. They're not perfect and there are still some compromises that are being made here, but there is a lot to love about this pair of classic looking powered desktop speakers. The CM Storm SF17 uses a massive 18 centimeter fan to cool your gaming notebook and it adds a four-port USB hub. Click now to learn more. Because it's a shorter list than the things I liked, I'm gonna start with the things I didn't like about them. Number one is the size. The A5 Plus is by a wide margin, literally, they're wider than anything else. Took up more space on my desk when I was doing my listening testing than any of the other solutions they were up against, including the Simple Audio Listen, Bowers & Wilkins, NM1s, Bose Companion 5s, and Audioengine A2 Pluses. Whether or not you are able to consider buying these speakers may simply come down to whether you have enough physical space next to your monitor to fit them. Number two is the features or lack thereof compared to other speakers in this roundup. The A5 Pluses do not feature Bluetooth wireless music playback or an integrated DAC if you want to use them with a computer that has crummy analog output. The redeeming quality here is that at $100 cheaper than some of the lesser sounding sets on the roundup, you can pick up a DAC or an Airport Express for wireless speaker action or whatever else if you really wanted to to make up for at least one of these shortcomings with that money you saved. The third thing I didn't like about them was the fact that this short list of dislikes makes my video a lot shorter than it otherwise would be, and the way I evaluate my own self-worth is by seeing how long I can get you guys to listen to me while I talk about a pair of speakers. That's it. Everything else fell into the liked it or was neutral about it because I felt like it was a fair trade-off category. The build quality is up to the Audioengine standard, so great, and while it's right on their site that they don't claim that the AX Plus series are studio monitors, they do borrow design elements and build quality cues from these professional-grade products. So that's where we get the custom 5-inch Kevlar woofers and silk dome tweeters with neodymium magnets that are mounted in the hand-built MDF cabinets, the custom-built internal electronics, and the satisfying near-field listening experience from. In terms of included accessories, the retailer I bought mine from threw in some nice thick-gauge speaker wire, but Audioengine normally includes a 12-foot 16-gauge wire to connect your right speaker to the left one that contains the amplifier for both as well as the rest of the I.O., and I guess since we're on the subject, here's all the stuff you'll find back there. A base port that you should keep at least six inches from anything behind the speaker, a massive heat sink that you should also keep away from any airflow impeding obstructions, a 3.5-millimeter input jack next to a USB power output for convenient use with an MP3 player or phone, a standard RCA input for convenient use with almost anything else, an RCA output for an optional subwoofer or Audioengine's own wireless music sharing dongle, the standard speaker wire outputs to the right speaker, an on-off switch, a voltage select toggle, a fuse, access cover, and finally, an AC power input. On the front of the left speaker, you'll find a thankfully front-mounted volume knob. I mean, seriously, what were they thinking on the A2 Plus with that rear-mounted volume control, as well as an IR sensor that can be used with the included fairly basic remote, I guess I forgot to mention that was included, or with a learning universal remote, or with an Android app called ZapIR or Zapper, if you have a phone with an integrated IR blaster. Very cool. On to listening tests. The A5 Pluses get loud, house party loud. Even before these puppies were burned in, they were ear-shatteringly loud without audible distortion at max volume, or even, I didn't even turn them up to max volume for near-field listening. Although, arguably, since my ears were shattered by that point, it would have been hard to pick out any subtle problems with my favorite songs. After turning them down to more reasonable levels, I used my usual mix of Top 40 Titanfall game streams on Twitch, and the bass-assault action sequence from Captain America to do my evaluation of these speakers, and I came away really, really impressed. The fact that they're on a desk in front of you does give the bass a bit of a sort of weird blowing-into-your-chest quality, compared to having a subwoofer sitting on the floor so you can, like, really feel it in your gut. But aside from that, it just sounds really, really good. I mean, explosions rumble in action sequences, mid-range vocals come through with fantastic clarity, and aside from, like every other set of speakers in this roundup, losing to the B&W MM1s when it came to stereo imaging and clarity in the highs, they're just the best all-round option that I've used so far out of the box. They feel like the A2 Plus without compromises. As much as I can appreciate the way AudioEngine steadfastly holds to the belief that software tricks to improve bass performance are unnatural and inherently worse, the A2 Plus could have benefited from some trickery, while the A5 Plus with its larger cabinets just sounds fantastic. So there you have it. A recommended buy if you want a great listening experience, and for some reason you don't like headphones, which will invariably give you better bang for your buck. The A5 Plus is available in a variety of different colors, black, white, and a sexy bamboo finish that was too expensive for me to bother buying it just to do a review, but there you go, you might want to check it out. And just like with all of my videos, you can find a link with pricing and availability that includes my affiliate code in the video description under the Like, Share, and Dislike buttons, which I would love for you to use accordingly. Also in the video description is a support link where you can give us a monthly contribution, buy a t-shirt, or change your Amazon bookmarks to ones that include our affiliate code, so we get a small kickback whenever you buy underwear or whatever. Thanks for watching, guys. I hope you enjoyed this video as much as we enjoyed making it. Don't forget to mash that subscribe button if you haven't already, and I think that is pretty much it. I will see you next time. Well, I won't see you. You'll see me, because that's how YouTube works.