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Today's Bonus:
- 3" composite woofers
- 3/4 ferrofluid-cooled silk dome tweeters
- OptImage III tweeter wave guides for superior imaging
- 15-watt-per-channel amplifier with architecture
- Magnetic shielding
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I bought these speakers to listen to music and news at my desk in my apartment, and BOY do they fit the bill.
I've put them through the ringer--rock, folk, house, drum & bass, hip hop, samba, All Things Considered--and they sound remarkably good in all applications. Everything but D&B and hip hop sounds almost as good as on my other monitors (KRK 5's) that cost twice as much. The fidelity is impressive, and the response is remarkably flat. If you're used to or prefer the more U-shaped sound of non-monitors, be sure to turn on the appropriate EQ in iTunes; they'll sound tinny otherwise, but that's what a flat-response monitor will sound like compared to regular 2or 3-way stereo speakers. It's all those mid-range sounds you're used to covering up.
They also handle a good deal of volume. With the volume knob at 50% and my MacBook volume at 75%, it's "Turn that noise down!" loud and still as clear as at lower volumes for most types of music.
The bass lines in the D&B have some drop-off on the bottom end, but that's a LOT to ask of a value-priced monitor with a 3" woofer. I listen to really nasty stuff with super-low bass--Technical Itch, Dieselboy, Bad Company, and the like--so I expected that this would be the one area with less than amazing reproduction. I was right. (Roni Size's "Brown Paper Bag" is much more within their range.) Hip hop beats can lose a some punch, too, and this is the one area where you'll notice a little distortion at higher volumes. (The kick drums in D&B are usually a little more like real kicks than in much hip hop, and these sound great even at higher volumes.)
Again, for the size (don't have a ruler--each speaker is maybe 5" wide and 6" deep) and price, they do surprisingly well. Other challenging types of music with lots of bass that just isn't as low, e.g. House, come through remarkably well.
The 4" version was very well reviewed, so I thought I'd give these a shot because they cost less and take up less room. Also, the primary difference would be in the bass response, and I live in an apartment building, so for me, having less bass was actually a good thing. They still get too loud for me to play them anything close to maxed out, and they sound great.
One more thing: I like the design. M-Audio knew this would be more for desktop listening than studio applications such as mixing (for which I got the KRK 5's). Thus, they put all the inputs and controls on one speaker, which is nice because it only requires one power cable and you don't have to split an RCA cable to run one line to each speaker. It comes with a 1/8" to RCA cable (connects your computer's audio out port to the RCA jacks in the back) AND a 1/8" to 1/8" cable (connects your iPod to the Aux In port on the front). The volume knob in front is also nice.
If you want reasonably high fidelity for a low price at your desk, and you don't need subwoofer-type bass response, I'd recommend these speakers. Highly.
Buy M-Audio Studiophile AV30 Professional Reference Speakers Now
I gave a 5-star review to my M-Audio AV40 speakers, which I use with my home computer. They are so rich and loud that I barely turn up the volume while I'm sitting at my desk.
I wanted an upgrade for my work computer so I contemplated getting another pair of M-Audio 40s for $140 but since I don't need so much volume at my desk I decided to save $40 and get the AV30s.
The AV30s are great and if I had never heard the 40s, I'd probably give the 30's five stars. But alas, they lack the richness of the 40s and I think the 40s are worth the extra 40 dollars.
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I was looking for speakers that I could use if I decide to get an electric guitar and plug it in to my Macbook Pro. That was my main focus, but music and movies sound incredible too! They aren't very big which is good, they pack a lot of punch for being small squares. They give my towers a run for the money. I'm happy with this purchase even though it's been only a few days that I've been able to use them.
The cool thing is that all the cables come with the speakers which is a bonus. You get the power cord (obviously), speaker wire (goes from left to right speaker), line-in (from laptop headphone to speaker) and an RCA cable for another option as an input. It has headphone jacks on the front of the left speaker which is handy. The volume knob is backlit and is large enough that you can really fine tune the volume.
They are solid speakers and I'm waiting to re-discover my music collection through these speakers. One example I can think of was a live Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds song I was listening to. It was so crisp you could hear their fingers on the strings and if you have the speakers placed properly you don't get a lot of, "this is coming from the left and this is coming from the right" type effect, it's in front of you. Which is how it's supposed to be.
Ok that's it for now, I'll give an update if they blow out or fry....
Me again but now it's 12/9/2011, the volume button is going bonkers. It crackles and has static when you try to fine tune the volume and the one side can go out temporarily. other than that they still rock..
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Just like what the other reviews said, after one year exactly the left speaker died, the volume remarkably decreased!! made it unbalanced with the right speaker. The funny thing is why the speaker die after the warranty ends?? I bought it in May 2010 and it broke in June 2011, does M-Audio time it for one year? what kind of product that lives for 1 year only??
my recommendation Stay away from this junk, and from my experience with M-Audio, i never bought anything from them and survived for more than a year.
These speakers Rock!!! I have had many different types of speaker in this category including Bose Companion II's and the AV30's are much higher quality. There is no tweeter in the Bose and there is in the AV30's. These are full range. The Bose has a weird phase issue too. I really like the fact that these have stereo inputs on the back for my computer and a stereo input on the front for my Zune.
