Audioengine p4 speakers

EDUBAG

Hello fellow members,

I recently purchased a pair of audioengine P4 speakers (4 ohm) along with their n22 amplifier and even though i have never reviewed before i thought to give it a try.

First of all it is important to let you guys now that they might not be broken in all the way, i have put around 40 - 50 hours on them. now into the review:

FIT AND FINISH: I purchased the black finish and they are a very nice speaker to look at. In the front you will see a nice looking 4 inch kevlar woofer and a .75 silk tweeter, both drivers designed by audioengine, under the kevlar woofer you will see a slotted port so you can place them very close to the wall.the construction feels rock solid with mdf and a laminated similar to the ones computer companies use (like a really tough shiny plastic). in the back they have nice tough looking binding post (gold plated). the bottom of the speaker have a small sheet of high density foam that i would say serve as both a vibration dampener and keep the speakers in place, also would protect the speakers from stands.

PERFORMANCE: When i first plugged them in they sounded very crowded and everything seemed to get out of the same place (baaaaad), however after about 25 - 30 hours they opened up very nicely, so please if you get a pair break them in. the weakness is for sure the lack of bass, i mean there are songs that they provide small but decent amount of bass but others like a magic trick the bass just disappears, so i would strongly recommend them with a sub. i believe that with a sub like the psw111 or audioengine's own these would be a great 2.1 setup, sounds very real and not fatiguing at all.

I was really surprised with these babies, specially the kind of soundstage and soundquality that they provive for their size. the high frequencies are laid back, therefore avoiding fatigue and the mids could be described as very good and very real. for the money this is a great pair of speakers. i use mine in the bedroom and am very happy compared to the sound of my tv.

another point worth of mentioning is that they are power hungry, and even though they recommend the n22 amp (i will review in another post) they seemed to be barely touched by this amp, so i plugged them to my rotel rc/rb990 bx (300 wpc 4 ohm) and to my surprise they could take more power than i use in my rtia7, of course this opened them up but i was really surprised at how hungry they could be.

CONCLUSION:
in my opinion a very goor pair of speakers for the money. very real open mids, highs on the laid back side and little but decent bass. a very fast speaker ideal to use with a small musicall sub in small to small/mid size room.

NOTE: after listening to this i used a pair of rti4 that i have and found the rti4 super bright and more processed around the mids (i did not before listening to the p4). so i can imagine how they will sound after they pass the 100 hour mark.

thanks for reading,

Eduardo

newrival

thanks for the review!