Klipsch and Audioengine are two highly reputable brands in the audio equipment space. The former is known for their home theater speakers, the latter for their powered speakers. Today, we’ll be comparing two of their most highly rated powered speakers—the Klipsch The Fives and the Audioengine A5+. On paper, the Klipsch The Fives are better than the Audioengine A5+, but they are also more expensive. If you are buying a pair of powered bookshelf speakers, should you open up your wallet for the Klipsch The Fives, or go with the more affordable Audioengine A5+? Here is our detailed breakdown of the two.
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Klipsch The Fives vs Audioengine A5+ Comparison Chart
Design
The Klipsch The Fives are taller, but narrower than the Audioengine A5+.
Size is one of the factors when choosing a pair of bookshelf speakers. The Klipsch The Fives size is 12 x 6.5 x 9.25 inches while the Audioengine A5+’s physical dimensions are 10.75 x 7 x 9 inches. The Fives are taller, but they are almost the same size when it comes to width and depth. They aren’t the most compact, but they will fit most desktops.
The Fives are available in walnut or matte black, but there’s also a McLaren edition. They have the typical bookshelf look with sharp edges and corners, and they also come with magnetic grilles. The speakers have MDF enclosures that are covered in wood veneers. Meanwhile, the Audioengine A5+ are available in three finishes—bamboo, white and black. They also have a classic bookshelf design, but their edges and corners are rounded. Also, they don’t come with grilles, so their drivers are exposed.
Both speakers have rear ports, so there should be some distance between the speakers and the wall to prevent booming bass. The Fives sport 1-inch Tractrix horn tweeters and 4.5-inch fiber-composite woofers, while the Audioengine A5+ are equipped with 0.75-inch silk dome tweeters and 5-inch aramid fiber woofers.
Features and Connectivity
The Klipsch The Fives have more inputs than the Audioengine A5+.
Both the Audioengine A5+’s and the Klipsch The Fives’ specs are impressive, but one thing that The Fives have over the A5+ is their compatibility with the Klipsch Connect app. The app allows you to play with the Bass settings and change the source, but its most welcome feature is the ability to customize EQ. You can tweak the Klipsch The Fives to your preferred sound, which you cannot do with the Audioengine A5+ since they don’t have a companion app.
When it comes to connectivity, both The Fives and the A5+ support wireless via Bluetooth 5.0 and wired analog and digital connections. However, you can connect more devices to the Klipsch than the Audioengines due to having more inputs. The Klipsch The Fives have HDMI ARC, a 3.5mm audio jack, a phono/line analog input, USB digital and an optical input, along with a sub out. Meanwhile, the Audioengine A5+ only have a 3.5mm audio jack and an RCA L/R connections, along with an RCA out. They both support SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX HD codecs.
As for controls, The Fives have two rotary dials on top of the primary speakers for source selection and volume. They come with an IR remote for various other controls. As for the Audioengine A5+, there’s a volume knob at the front of the primary speaker, along with the IR receiver and LED source indicator. At the back are the Bluetooth pairing button and a power switch. They also come with an IR remote.
Audio Quality
The Klipsch The Fives can get louder than the Audioengine A5+ without audio distortion.
Both speakers can go down to 50Hz, so they can output satisfying bass. However, sub-bass is pretty weak, which is understandable with these speakers. You’ll get a balanced sound with them, but the Klipsch The Fives can get louder without introducing distortion due to their higher output power of 160 watts continuous and 320 watts peak.
Aside from having a higher power output, the Klipsch The Fives have bass management that you can set to Night and Dynamic modes, and their companion app also lets you play with the EQ settings. The Fives are more flexible in this regard.
Both of these speakers support Hi-Res audio codecs when connected via Bluetooth, so you can enjoy high quality music wirelessly.
Verdict
The Klipsch The Fives are certainly better than the Audioengine A5+, as they should be, considering that they cost more.
Klipsch The Fives
Better overall powered speakers
Audioengine A5+
Cheaper alternative, but still performs great
If you want power and a slew of connectivity options, the Klipsch The Fives are exactly what you need. They deliver 160 watts of continuous power, which is more than enough for a medium-sized room, and they offer a variety of connectivity options that include HDMI ARC. On top of that, they sound very good. However, they are quite pricey. If you want something cheaper but with comparable performance, consider the Audioengine A5+. They aren’t as powerful as The Fives, and they don’t have the flexibility in terms of connectivity, but their sound is on par with the Klipsch speakers. For the price, they offer excellent value.
FAQs
You can connect any supported Klipsch subwoofer to the Klipsch The Fives’ subwoofer output.
They don’t need one, but having one will surely improve the bass output of the system.
Yes, the Klipsch Connect app is available on iOS and Android.
There are two Audioengine A5+ models. One comes with Bluetooth connectivity while the other is wired-only.