Audioengine P4 Review

The Audioengine P4 is a class of its own and a really solid set of bookshelf speakers you can find from a pure sound performance angle. It is essentially a 2-way passive, high performance bookshelf speaker pair with great looks and sound quality but without the need for external amplifiers. These speakers come with gold-plated 5-way binding posts, silk dome tweeters with Kevlar woofers which are magnetically-shielded, as well as a frequency response of 58Hz-22kHz. They are compact, durable and aesthetically one of the best bookshelf speakers we have come across, making them ideal for your living room, bedroom or office or as a surround speaker for your home theatre system. The P4s come in three options: black, white and solid bamboo. While the Audioengine P4s comes with an arguably higher price tag, they are definitely bookshelf speakers that are worth investing in if you want to upgrade your stereo sound system.

The Pros & Cons

The Pros. The Audioengine P4s deliver some of the best sound performance we have heard, with great attention to detail and forward-type sound that projects clear sound quality at every level. Listening to the P4s feels as though you are listening to a larger high end stereo system.

The Cons. The Audioengine P4s, while sonically great, come with a hefty price tag. The size of both stereo speakers can be a little bulky for smaller bookshelves or tables.

Sound Performance

To be clear, the P4s are spectacular speakers that specialize in detail, forward-type sound and bring all the music detail without being loud. We reviewed this speaker while listening to classical pieces and the notes came out smooth and superb, which clear details present at every level. The P4 provides a crisp, forward, detailed sound without the need for excessive volume, and these drivers deliver the quality of sound that we were looking for – we were blown away by the clarity and resolution of these best bookshelf speakers. The P4s have hands down some of the best soundstage from bookshelf speakers and the level of separation of detail and instruments were incredible.

The P4 is essentially a system that improves with age. The sounds are very subtle and you could almost feel as though you were listening to a much larger bookcase speaker/powered amplifier system. The P4s also work very well when combined with Audioengine’s S8 subwoofer which adds a little more depth to the bass output. Audioengine even has a dedicated engineer who would be able provide assistance by taking questions and helping with technical issues with your Audioengine equipment, which makes things much more convenient.

Miscellaneous

The P4s can also connect to tube amplifiers to enhance the sound output – the P4s can handle perfectly loud music without distorting, while allowing all the music properties to remain the same. The P4s are very full sounding speakers and have a small footprint but the sound presence produced by these speakers is truly something to behold. In short, the P4s are so much more listenable and easier to setup than a 5.1 system and yet the sound stage they create is so lifelike that it feels as though you are in a 5.1 setup. We have great experiences reviewing the P4s while watching blu-ray movies and simply listening to music on these speakers – and we are happy to conclude that the P4s are well and truly some of the clearest and best sounding bookshelf speakers you can find. If you listen to vinyl records, the P4s will bring out the details in your music with crystal clarity.

The Verdict?

The P4s are bookshelf speakers that excel in terms of producing forward-type detail and crystal clear sound that are best suited for those who enjoy listening to every detail in their music. The P4s produce phenomenal clarity, resolution and musical detail without being loud. Despite their small size, they put out so much sound and power especially with vinyl soundtracks. That said, the P4s alone may require an additional subwoofer to connect to it (such as the Audioengine S8) to enhance the bass response if you enjoy bass heavy soundtracks. Other than that, we couldn’t be more pleased with these speakers and for the price they are hands down one of the best bookshelf speakers you can get. These bookshelf speakers well exceeded our expectations and we highly recommend them.

Be sure to check out our top picks for the best bookshelf speakers that deliver quality sound performance with crisp highs and deep bass response.