The Audioengine A5 is one of the top active speaker choices when it comes to setting up a desktop sound system. It has garnered a lot of success over the years and with the latest iteration, the A5+, taking up the mantle, it has more successful years to come. To this day, the A5+ has already proven itself as a worthy successor. The Audioengine A5 will make an excellent pair of speakers for a traditional stereo sound system as well but you will definitely need matching speaker stands for them.
It will not be wise to simply place the A5s on a bookshelf, TV rack, cabinets, and other furniture. They are designed with rear-firing bass ports, placing them too near to walls will affect their tonality and balance. This is why it would be better to have some distance between the speakers and the walls (rear and side walls). Without a speaker stand, the areas in which you can position the Audioengine A5 are limited to the furniture is been placed on. Furthermore, the reflective surface of the furniture will affect the sound quality of the speakers. This is why dedicated stands made for a specific speaker model do not have exposed surface areas, the top plates are usually just the right size or smaller and will fit the speakers’ dimension seamlessly.
Distance between the speakers is critical as well, the recommended speaker distance for the Audioengine A5 is around 6 feet (180cm). The A5 active speakers will need to be toed-in and angled to your listening position. With a pair of speaker stands, you can experiment different toe-in angles and speaker distances with ease. Allowing you to trial and error till you find the perfect distance and angle for yourself. You can also experiment with placing the Audioengine A5 active speakers nearer to the walls and see which distance gives you the best bass output without compromising the tonal balance by too much.
Even if you are using the Audioengine A5 as desktop speakers, it is still recommended to get a pair of desktop stands or speaker isolation pads. The A5 will require a power source of its own since it has a built-in amplifier to power the drivers. You can position them at places where there is a power source using the speaker stands, preventing you from being stuck to one power source. Furthermore, if you are planning to connect a powered subwoofer to your A5 speakers (left speaker), the speaker stands can help you with the speakers’ positioning for a neater and seamless connection. Still, getting a pair of speaker standers for your Audioengine A5 is more about sound quality than convenience. If you are serious about getting the best sound quality you can get from the A5 powered speakers, pairing them with speaker stands will be a necessity.
There is plenty of high-quality speaker stands to choose from, to find the right pair for you, we must first run through a checklist of potential requirements. By going through this checklist, it will give you a clearer picture of what you need or want from a speaker stand. Once you are done with it, you can check out the list of the best speaker stands which you can go for and use them for your Audioengine A5 active speakers.
Table of Contents
Audioengine A5 Specifications
- Speaker Type: 2-Way (Rear-firing bass port)
- Drive Units: 0.75″ Silk Dome Tweeter, 5″ (125mm) Kevlar Mid/Woofer
- Frequency Response: 50Hz-22kHz (+/-1.5dB)
- Power Rating: 50 Watts RMS per channel, 75 Watts Peak per channel
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 262mm x 183mm x 210mm | 10.3″ x 7.2″ x 8.3″
- Weight: Left 6.4kg (14lbs), Right 4kg (9lbs)
Audioengine A5 Speaker Stand Requirements
You should first be working on the budget amount which you are willing to spend on a pair of speaker stands. This will affect the number of choices you can go for and also take this opportunity to see what other HiFi components you might need to purchase as well. Are you facing space constraints where you have no choice but need to place your speakers on a desktop or furniture? If yes, you should get a pair of desktop speaker stands. The same goes for listeners who are planning to set up a desktop sound system. You should spend some time to allocate an area for both your speakers and stands, do give them as much space as possible so that you can make adjustments later on.
You will need to include permanent space for the subwoofer as well if you are planning to get one and connect it to your Audioengine A5 speakers (left speaker). The type of finish or materials (wood/metal) you want your speaker stands to have so as to blend them in nicely with your home interiors, will be a factor as well. If they are multiple users with various sitting heights, you might want to get height-adjustable speaker stands as the A5 speakers’ sweet spot can be a bit tight. Such speaker stands may come in handy for listeners who move their desktop sound system around the room/home a lot.
Adding a few more requirements on your own will be a great idea as you should make this checklist as thorough as possible. Sometimes discussing with other users that you are sharing the Audioengine A5 with and getting their opinions will help a lot in finalizing the speaker stands’ requirements. When you have run through all the potential requirements and are 100% ready, then please check out the list of the best speaker stands which you can go for below.
Best Speaker Stands for Audioengine A5
The SANUS Steel Series SF26 will be one of the best speaker stands to match with your Audioengine A5. It is a 26″ stand suitable for bookshelf speakers that weigh up to 35lbs which is more than enough to hold the A5 active speakers. To stabilize the speakers, the SF26 stands come with an extra-large steel base and will work really well with most surfaces. Carpet spikes are provided and the steel pillar features a concealed wire path, allowing us to have neater cable management. There are also resonance damping rings and these can be filled with sand for an even better overall stability.
More Details at Amazon – Sanus SF26 26″ Speaker Stands
If you prefer speaker stands that are made out of wooden materials so as to fit in nicely into your home interiors. The SANUS NF30 will be an excellent choice to go for and even has three color options for you to select, making it easier to blend the speaker stands seamlessly into your listening room. It is a pair of speaker stands with solid hardwood pillars and comes with speaker cable management, allowing you to neatly tuck away the speaker cables. This 30″ speaker stand is made for bookshelf speakers with a weight of up to 25lbs and will be strong enough to handle the Audioengine A5.
More Info at Amazon – Sanus Systems NF30 Natural Series Speaker Stands
For desktop sound systems, the Audioengine DS2 desktop stands will probably be the best to match with your Audioengine A5 active speakers. These desktop stands are specially designed and made for Audioengine P4, HD5, A5+, or similar sized stand-mounters so they would definitely work well with the Audioengine A5s. The elevated angle of the Audioengine DS2 desktop stands helps to point the A5 speakers to your ear level. Furthermore, it will provide acoustic isolation from the desktop surface thus improving the sound quality of your desktop speakers. The DS2 is affordably priced and will be worth your time to take a look.
More Details at Amazon – Audioengine DS2 Desktop Speaker Stands
For listeners who have really tight budget and are just looking for isolation pads that can decouple the energy from the desktop surface. You might want to take a look at the Sound Addicted SMPad 5, it is affordably priced and can hold the weight of the Audioengine A5 speakers (up to 24lbs) without changing shape. The overall size of the SMPad 5 is specifically made for 5″ studio monitors. As the Sound Addicted SMPad 5 is specially designed for professional monitors in a studio environment, you can be assured of its quality and the benefits it can bring to you and your Audioengine A5 speakers.
More Info at Amazon – Sound Addicted SMPad 5 Studio Monitor Isolation Pads
The Rockville RHT8G will be one of the best desktop speaker stands for your Audioengine A5 especially if you need the speakers to be elevated significantly. They are made of high-quality materials which will minimize resonance and come with isolation pads to further improve the acoustical performance. The Rockville RHT8G are heavy-duty desktop stands as well and can hold up to 66lbs which is really impressive. The wooden material of the RHT8G will allow them to fit in nicely on most desktops. It also uses premium furniture-grade paint, providing even more value to its users.
More Info at Amazon – Rockville RHT8G Studio Monitor Stands
Vantage Point SSB-30BB is one of the best adjustable speaker stands to go for and match with the Audioengine A5. You can adjust the height from 24″ all the way up to 30″. It can hold up to 25lbs of speaker weight and the A5s wouldn’t be an issue for the SSB-30BB stands. The universal platform of the Vantage Point SSB-30BB allows it to accommodate most bookshelf speakers. Its base is made out of cast iron and so you can be assured of its durability. You can fill the central column with sand and this will further improve the stability thus helping to improve the overall sound quality of your Audioengine A5 powered speakers.
More Info at Amazon – Vantage Point SSB-30BB Adjustable Speaker Stands
To Sum It Up
For a little investment, the speaker stands will provide plenty of benefits for you and your Audioengine A5 active speakers. You can even use them for other speakers in the future. You may want to go through the list and shortlist a few of them based on your requirements so that you can do further research on your own. Better yet, you might want to check out the shortlisted speaker stands physically as this might give you an even clearer picture.
