Asus Essence STX and Audio Engine 2 speaker, best sound settings, help!

philipsan

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Jan 10, 2010
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Hi there

My PC sound setup is Asus Essence STX and Audio Engine 2 speakers.

I am not sure I have the best possible settings for sound output, or at least good settings. The sound somehow lacks 'excitement' or 'quality'. I am not sure what settings should be changed.

Please help me identify the correct or best settings for this combination.

Please see these pictures for my configuration:
http://tinypic.com/r/2qdx6bc/8
http://tinypic.com/r/15pml4j/8
http://tinypic.com/r/24qq2cz/8
http://tinypic.com/r/riyz3m/8
http://tinypic.com/r/ixwdaq/8

Thanks very much, appreciated!
P
 
for the a2 speakers positioning can be rather important. try pulling them away from the wall a bit and getting them up off the desk on some sort of raised platform. tweeter height should be about ear height in your listening position. also you may want to space them farther left and right as well.

as far as your settings, a flat neutral EQ does lack a bit of excitement on its own. you could experiment with the different presets to see if you like those better but other than that i'm thinking that either you have the speaker positioning not ideal or they may not be the right speakers for you.

with that said, for the money spent there are certainly better speakers available and its not uncommon to hear that the a2's are overhyped. many passive bookshelf speakers (ones that need a seperate amp) blow the a2's away in sound quality.
 

philipsan

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Jan 10, 2010
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18,510
Okay I have tried to position them as you directed. It somehow lacks the crisp and clear sound I demand.

What passive speakers and amp would you recommend. They have to be no bigger than the A2. Perhaps you have a few recommendations?
I use the speakers for pc gaming, and music.

Thanks
 
i found this tidbit elsewhere... perhaps it applies to you?

Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't experience it myself:

Just bought Audioengine A2+ powered desktop speakers. All the reviews, Stereophile, TAS, blah blah - had high hopes going in. Wired them up to a Win7-64 PC, standard connector to line-out from RealTek HD Audio controller (no USB). Fired up variety of .flac from XBMC - and mid's and high's from the A2+'s sounded like crap: poor extension, muddy at low volumes, narrow & flat sound stage with too much bass.

2nd-guessed the sh!t out of it: connections, sources, audio controller. Looked for posts on EQ, suboptimal Audioengine factory settings , speaker placement. Then I found this, in a head-fi.org post from 2010:

"In regards to the Audioengine A2, try reversing the insertion-direction of the short A/C cord which plugs into the A/C adapter. I found that inserting it one way versus another will produce a better soundstage and sound quality. Give it a try and see how it works for you."

That was with the older A2's but what the həll, I flipped over the AC connector into the A2+ power brick...

...and that fixed it: mids and highs approaching what they should, and a soundstage worth the purchase price. Can probably get it better with EQ at the source, but bulk of the shortfall was addressed.

Who knew...am still incredulous. No mention of this in the A2+ setup guide or any other Audioengine docs afaict.