M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers..
Special Price M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers By M-Audio
Most helpful customer reviews
236 of 257 people found the following review helpful.
Great sound quality, but the right speaker broke in about a year.
By Curious Reader
I'm using these as computer speakers for
Pandora, mp3s and DAW software;
and I am enjoying the sound quality.
For the sake of informing potential buyers,
I'll say:
With a 'normal' at home computer set-up,
these are very large compared to
'normal' computer speakers,
so keep that in mind.
It's the trade off for superior sound,
and not needing a sub-woofer,
or a large box shaped
power adapter plug spanning 2-3 outlets.
These have a basic electrical plug (like a table lamp).
I have these speakers pointing straight ahead,
with the tops of them around heart level,
and they sound fine.
However, it is recommended by M-Audio
that you have them at ear level,
and angled to make an equilateral triangle with your head.
I would say it's good advice, if you can pull that off.
The main speaker with the connections / volume is the left speaker.
You have two options for connecting these speakers
with your computer.
The standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable,
which plugs into 'Aux in' on the front of the left speaker;
or 3.5mm to RCA which plugs into the back of the left speaker.
Both cables are included.
If your computer room gets hot
you might want to turn these off
when you don't need them;
because the left speaker produces a noticeable
amount of heat from the back,
after being on for hours.
Honestly, it's the same amount
that those big box power adapters
emit; the only difference is that it's coming
from the location of your speaker.
== Update ==
10/8/2012
===========
The right speaker stopped producing sound,
on 9/21/2012, a little over a year after purchase.
A month or so prior to this
the right speaker started to produce a
crackling sound if I changed the volume
(using the knob on the left speaker)
while listening to music.
When I emailed m-audio about this the reply was a list of
repair centers that I could contact for a "non-warranty repair".
I called the one nearest to me, and they said it would be $35 to start
and then $75 per hour, plus parts. That's not going to happen...
I want to do business with a company that is
utterly fascinated about why their product stopped working;
especially when it is a recurring case, which we can see from the reviews here.
M-audio doesn't seem to care.
4 stars for the sound quality I enjoyed for a year.
-2 stars for breaking shortly after the warranty expired.
113 of 124 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent, but might not be what you think it is.
By Matthew J. Gavin
My buddy has a pair of M Audio AV 30's, and whenever I would go to his house, I would think, dang, I wish my music sounded like that. Flat. Smooth. Not kicking up the bass, not distorting at moderately loud volumes. It just sounds good. It doesn't hurt your ears. It's a pleasure, like looking at a beautiful painting, when you listen to good music through good speakers. These are built for mastering music in a studio, but as far as studio monitors go, they're dirt cheap. Most professionals have something nicer than these, but as someone who only listens to music, with a budget, these are loads better than most computer speakers you'll find at best buy or whatever.
So, what the heck I thought, the AV 40's are ten dollars more, I'll go with those. They just came in today and I'm very happy with them. I have an Audio Technica ATLP 120 USB vinyl turntable currently playing Sigur Ros' album Inni, and everything is crystal clear. At low volumes, you can still make out detail. At high volumes, there's no distortion (until you crank it up to the very max... but nothing's built for that, really). Upgrading from a cheapo sony boombox to this is like night and day.
This isn't for you if you need something to fill an entire living room. I'm in a dorm room and it's great for that.
This isn't going to rattle the floors with bass and get the ladies to remove articles of clothing to little wayne. This isn't built for that, and you'll be disappointed when this doesn't have disproportionate thumpability or the ability to tweak EQ settings. Everything sounds flat. The vocals get the same attention to detail that the drums, guitar, and flute do.
This is self powered, which means you don't need an outside amp or receiver in order to make these things make noise, which is good. I was striving to keep the number of things I needed to a minimum. This does the trick. If I tried to hook these up to a separate subwoofer or amplifier, I do not think they would interface well. Keep that in mind.
One thing you need to be aware of is that these are the SECOND VERSION of the item. Notice that these go for $100 on Amazon, and the previous version goes for $150. These are the differences I have noticed:
1) These DO NOT allow you to manually select the voltage they take in. (So if you want to take these to Europe, you can't flick a switch like on the previous version. You'll need to buy a transformer.)
2) These DO NOT have a 'bass boost' switch. This isn't an issue. These things are FLAT and that's the way most people who buy them want it. But know coming in that you won't have the bass booster the previous version had.
3) These DO NOT have a detachable power cord. I think the size is sufficient, but I'm the kind of guy who likes detachable power cords. I think it's unfortunate they took it away. If something goes wrong with the power cable, I can't just buy a new one, it has to get replaced or repaired. Very sneaky, Avid!
4) These DO NOT take in 40 volts of power (20 per speaker). They actually take in 30 volts of power (15 per speaker). Does this make a difference? I think they sound fine. I was initially concerned, but one of Avid representatives on their forum commented that this was "a typo", and that they do, indeed, take in 40v. I don't have the equipment to test this myself. My theory is that they either understated the voltage (because this is better than overstating it), or that they changed the design to be more energy efficient. Or maybe it actually was a typo, but I don't believe that.
The previous design was prone to have overheating issues (remember, the amplifier is literally built into the speaker). If lowering the voltage, making design changes to the power cable connection, and taking away the power selection switch all make the new model more efficient and less prone to failure, that's awesome. As far as I'm concerned, if this was the only available model of the item, my first thoughts wouldn't be to include those things. They're fine as is, and $50 cheaper for it.
I have not had ANY trouble with this product. It sounds as fantastic as I had hoped it would. It was incredibly easy to set up. It does not heat at all, and the volume is consistent across both speakers.
Do not throw out the comic book style instruction manual that comes with the product. It explains the importance of triangulation when setting them up into position, and provides information on how to set up a room for maximum musical enjoyment.
MANY people across the internet have reported problems with *THE ORIGINAL* av 40 speakers, as well as the *MARK II* av 30 speakers. If you intend on buying either the new or old av 30 or av 40 speakers, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do additional research on device failures before you decide to purchase.
After doing some reading, I would have not bought these had it not been for Amazon's competitive price point and return policy. I'd say I took a slight gamble that these might not have worked. Save yourself trouble, either buy from the guy across the street in the brick and mortar store where you can negotiate a price and return policy, or buy from Amazon (and not a third party dealer... trying to do returns with them is not as painless as with Amazon themselves).
What else is there to say? If this is what you're looking for, buy em. If you need something nicer for actual studio work, skip em. If you don't like your music crisp, and tweak your EQ settings in your car to +5 treble and +5 bass while effectively flipping the bird to the mid end, skip em. If you need something that interfaces passively with a receiver, skip em. I don't regret this purchase at all. If anyone scoffs at you, and says, "You paid $100? You got ripped off, my $15 logitech speakers work just fine", they haven't listened to these.
111 of 126 people found the following review helpful.Hey Amazon! What the heck is a MK II AV40?
By James Fenton
This should be a good help to those with questions.
Having spent a full week researching desktop speakers to replace my old 5.1 Altec Lansing 2001 solution I decided upon the M-Audio Studiophile AV40s. The competition was a variety of Bose speakers promoted in a few trips to the local Best Buy store. I in fact bought one of the first Bose cube speaker systems in the early 80's, I considered strongly the Audioengine A2 offering. I had set a $200 soft target. The reviews for the AV40 exceeded that for other systems I considered. I have a few different systems in the house from a relatively recent home theater to a vintage stereo set up. The majority of my music has been converted to the FLAC format and I wanted a clear true sound that imaged well. This is a lot to expect for $200 speakers. I also hope to become a Spotify user but am yet to receive an invite. I use MOG and Napster also. As I was ready to check out for the $149 AV40's what should appear on my screen but the following:
There is a newer model of this item:
M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitor Speakers M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitor Speakers 4.5 out of 5 stars (22)
$114.99
What did this mean? Was I buying "obsolete" speakers. Were these "newer" speakers updated/better/more options/what? I went to the M-Audio web page and there was no mention of a "newer" model.
I held off the buy. In some web postings a MK II version of the AV30 was mentioned. Was this "newer" offering a MK II version of the AV40? Amazon did not mention this in the offering. Then a few postings from recent AV40 buyers mentioned that their new Amazon AV 40s did not have the bass boost option and 15 watt amps instead of the AV's 20 watt amps. When contacted M-Audio said "we do not make any AV40s with less than 20 watts per channel". Confusing, Yes. I would still like an answer from Amazon whether these are AV 40s specifically made to sell at a lower price point like the big box stores do with many of the products that they sell. And if so why was this not pointed out by Amazon. All that aside I did have a severe case of new speaker lust and decided to take a chance on the "newer" model AV 40s.
And guess what they are terrific. I can't compare whether I am missing something with 5 less watts per channel and no Bass boost, but what I have is very good at sound reproduction. I wish that Amazon comes out and openly addresses this issue.
PS. As good as the AV40's are my computer has an integrated sound card so I made a brilliant purchase of a $27 Behringer usb DAC adapter and now the sound is better than terrific. It sparkles. Close your eyes and there are no speakers. The vocals are front and center. One can hear sounds I even missed with my Ultimate Ears ear buds on my Cowon Flac player. The instruments stand out in time and space.
For $114 plus $27 I nearly have a concert hall on my desk.
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