Audioengine

Who (and what) is Audioengine?
We design and build innovative audio gear that works seamlessly with all your favorite gear and streaming services. No matter how you connect and listen, we’ve got you covered.Everything is custom designed and built, based on 36 years working in the audio and consumer electronics industries for companies including Harman/Kardon, Gibson Guitar and Apple. Since the release of the original Audioengine 5 in 2006, we’ve had one goal in mind— building audiophile-quality products that sound great with easy-to-use features.

From prototyping their first set of speakers to the release of the ultra-versatile HD Series, co-founders Dave Evans and Brady Bargenquast create products for the way people listen to music today with the look and feel of classic, old-school audio gear. Whether streaming music from your phone, listening to music while studying in your dorm room, or dusting off the vintage turntable, our products have a place in almost any space.

The song remains the same with Audioengine— we love music. Our passion is to make your music sound as fantastic as it can. Even if you don’t consider yourself an audiophile, we guarantee you’ll hear the difference!

Developing the Audioengine 5
It’s the fall of 2005 and they’ve just finished fine-tuning their first speaker system to be marketed under the Audioengine name. Dave says the tuning is the hardest part, but admits that completing the final cosmetic details and packaging before production will be a big challenge over the next few weeks. The Audioengine team camps out in a listening room hour after hour critically listening to everything from Bach to Van Halen. They settle in on a Bob Marley song and Brady gets a big grin on his face.

Prior to Audioengine, their goal was to design and build studio monitor speakers for the pro-audio market, which is what they did successfully for 3 years until something interesting happened. As Dave explains in his Mississippi drawl:

“When you design active studio monitor speakers you tend to spend a crazy amount of time in sound rooms listening for how well the speakers reproduce the original recording. During one of our marathon speaker tuning sessions for a new design, one of us mentioned we ought to modify a pair for home use. They had such a wonderful sound and even though they were studio monitors we agreed they would likely rival Brady’s favorite bookshelf speakers and integrated amplifier.”

So after a few design tweaks it turns out they were right. “These little powered speakers with built-in amps just beat the heck out of my prized higher-end speakers. They were extremely sweet-sounding with fantastic imaging and big bass, even at lower volume levels, but they really kicked butt when cranked up,” says Brady.

In another tuning session in 2005 they had a minor but interesting discovery after starting to use other sources such as iPods and laptops to play test music instead of a CD player, as was the reference-standard music source in those days. The team generally used lossless recordings but also found that compressed files at decent bit rates can sound really nice. “You know, our speakers could work well for people who just want to listen to their portable music at home,” says Dave. “We have all this technology for true sound reproduction and efficient built-in amplifiers which could easily replace an entire audio system and work perfectly with digital audio players or computers.”

Finally after months of trial and error, the first Audioengine speakers were released and have become best sellers, winning numerous awards along the way.

Audioengine – Great sound at affordable prices since 2005.