Tech Specs

HD3 Home Music System w/ Bluetooth aptX-HD (A2-HD)

The HD3, also known as the A2-HD, is a powerful music system that delivers exceptional stereo sound and is perfect for small rooms, desktops, or gaming setups. Choose between wired or wireless connections, like USB audio from your computer, aptX-HD Bluetooth from your phone, tablet or computer, or analog from your turntable or cassette player. And the HD3 features an exceptional headphone amplifier, so your music sounds great, no matter how you listen to it.

Pro Tipย Achieve the best desktop audio with the HD3 by connecting via Bluetooth or USB. This bypasses your computer’s standard quality audio components, instead using the HD3โ€™s built-in DAC to enhance sound quality.

Quickstart Guide

Technical Specifications

General Specifications

Type
Powered Bluetooth aptX HD speaker system

Amplifier Type
Class AB

Rated Power Output:
15W RMS per channel at 4 ohms (measured in compliance with 16 C.F.R. ยง 432.3)
Peak Power Output:30W per channel at 4 ohms (AES)
Total Peak Power Output: 60W (AES)

Drivers
2.75โ€ aramid fiber woofers

0.75โ€œ Silk dome tweeters

Inputs
3.5 mm stereo mini-jack, RCA L/R, USB, Bluetooth

Outputs
RCA variable line-out, 3.5 mm mini-jack headphone out

Input Voltages
110-240 V 50/60 Hz auto-switching

SNR
>95 dB (typical A-weighted)

THD+N
Less than 0.05% at all power settings

Crosstalk
<50 dB

Frequency Response
65 Hz-22 kHz ยฑ2.0 dB

Frequency Response w/ Bass Reduction Switch selected
100Hz-22kHz ยฑ2.0dB (<5dB down)

Analog Input Impedance
N/A

Nominal Impedance
N/A

Input Impedance
5K ohms unbalanced

Crossover Frequency
N/A

Protection
Output current limiting, thermal over-temperature, power on/off transient protection

Power Consumption
Idle: 10W

Standby Consumption
N/A

Phase
N/A

Recommended Amplifier Power
N/A

Battery Life
N/A

Battery Charge Time
N/A

Bluetooth Specifications

Internal D/A Converter
PCM 5102

Internal BT Receiver
N/A

Input Bit Depth
24 bit (padded)

Bluetooth Receiver Type
Bluetooth 5.0

Supported Codecs
aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC

Supported Bluetooth Profiles
N/A

Wireless Operation Range
Up to 100 ft (30 m) typical

Input Data Rate
Determined by Bluetooth

Wireless Latency
~30 milliseconds (ms)

Usb Specifications

Connector Type
Micro-USB

USB Device Class
USB 1.1 or above

Input Bit Depth
24 bit (padded)

Input Sample Rate
44.1 kHz/48 kHz

Headphone Amp Specifications

Headphone Amp Type
OPA2134

Full-scale Headphone Output Level
2.0 V RMS

Output Impedance
2 ohms

Recommended Headphone Impedance Level
10 ohms to 10K ohms

Optical Specifications

Internal D/A converter
N/A

Input Bit Depth
N/A

Sample Rate
N/A

Weights And Measures

Dimensions (HWD)
Each speaker – 7″(17.8 cm) x 4.25″ (10.8 cm) x 5.5″ (14 cm)

Weight
Left (powered) – 4 lb (1.8 kg)
Right (passive) – 3.4 lb (1.5 kg)

Total Shipping Weight
10 lb (4.6 kg)

Shipping Box Dimensions (LWH)
11.75″ (30 cm) x 8.8″ (22.5 cm) x 11.6″ (29.5 cm)

Environmental Requirements

Operating temperature: 32 degrees F to 95 degrees F
Non-operating temperature: -4 degrees F to 113 degrees F
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing

Materials And Construction

0.7″ (18 mm) thick MDF cabinets with real wood veneer
0.75″ (20 mm) silk dome tweeters with neodymium magnets
2.75″ (70 mm) aramid fiber woofers with advanced voice coils

Cabinets

To minimize unwanted resonances and distortion, Audioengine cabinets have thick high-resin MDF walls with extensive internal bracing. Heavy internal sound-damping material is used to reduce unwanted sound reflections inside the cabinet. All cabinet edges are rounded which look great and reduce high-frequency diffraction effects on the front baffles. The HD3 cabinet contains tuned, front-port slots.

Furniture Grade Finishes

The HD3 cabinets are available in several handsome finishes, including a walnut veneer as well as satin black and glossy white paint, offering a wide choice for complementing room furnishings. Also included are detachable grills that add further aesthetic advantages as they are firmly held in place with hidden neodymium magnets for a clean look.

Custom Components

Audioengine designs and manufactures our own tweeters, woofers, and other critical components. In other words, these are not โ€œbox builtโ€ speakers with off-the-shelf parts but custom-designed to our specifications. What we do not fabricate directly in our factory we have made to our designs (parts such as transformers, magnets, and wiring harnesses, for example). The cabinets, drivers, bass port designs, amplifiers, and crossovers are all painstakingly tuned together for each Audioengine model. This, in turn, makes for a much more efficient system that requires much less power than passive speakers and a separate integrated amplifier or similar A/V components.

Based On Studio Monitor Designs

Studio monitor speakers are used by producers and engineers in recording and production studios. They are designed with a theoretical flat frequency response which allows the engineer to create a final mix in such a way that the recorded music will sound good on most other speakers. Although Audioengine speakers are not designed to be up-close โ€œnearfieldโ€ studio monitors, we do carry over much of the same higher-end technology, components, and design philosophy for all Audioengine speaker systems.

Efficient Integrated Design

The speaker cabinets, drivers, innovative bass port designs, amplifiers, and passive crossovers are all critically tuned together for each Audioengine model. This, in turn, makes for a much more efficient system that requires less power than passive speakers and a separate integrated amplifier or similar A/V components. We build all this goodness into the left speaker cabinet to make it super-easy to connect your smartphone, tablet, computer, TV, network player or any other audio product.

High-quality Bluetooth Audio

The Bluetooth built into the HD3 powered speakers features aptX HD coding which is an advanced Bluetooth audio codec with very impressive sound. And even if your phone or tablet does not have aptX HD, the HD3 Bluetooth solution is backwards-compatible with SBC and AAC codecs, as well as standard aptX, so you can wirelessly stream music from any Bluetooth-enabled device and still enjoy all your music. High-fidelity Bluetooth aptX HD that really works and sounds great. [RB – not a sentence?] Here is why:

Extended-range wireless.
Most Bluetooth implementations have very limited range, typically within just one room. But with careful signal management circuitry and antenna tuning, we offer a superior solution that has up to 3 times the range of standard Bluetooth for multi-room use, with no degradation in audio quality.

24 bit DAC
The HD3 Bluetooth receiver and USB input both utilize the PCM 5102 DAC, widely known for its low-noise and high-fidelity. The PCM 5102 is used as an upsampling DAC and will pad all bit depths to 24 bit, achieving a higher signal-to-noise ratio and lower noise floor. Due to the high signal-to-noise specs of the PCM 5102, the fact that digital signal is upsampled to 24 bit as well as the added benefit of onboard triple redundancy power source conversion and filtering the HD3 Bluetooth implementation presents impressive low noise and low distortion characteristics with a noticeable improvement over other Bluetooth devices.

Hd3 Headphone Amplifier

The HD3 contains a high-performance headphone amplifier based on the OPA2134 low-noise opamp. This amp is able to provide low-impedance, high-fidelity audio and a 2-volt output which easily drives a wide range of headphones.

Amplifier Design

The amplifiers in powered Audioengine speakers are located in the left speaker and are a conservatively-rated class A/B analog monoblock design. This is a more traditional speaker/amplifier configuration which provides excellent quality audio and greater flexibility. All circuit boards for the power and preamp sections are vertically mounted for maximum mechanical shock protection.

Driver Designs

Audioengine uses audiophile-quality, ferrofluid-cooled silk dome tweeters with neodymium magnets. Silk tweeters hold up well under high power and the edge-driven design gives very smooth response. The woofers are aramid fiber woven glass composite with rubber surrounds. Aramid fiber is obviously very strong, which means the woofer retains its shape when being driven at high levels.

Shielding

Both drivers are directly video shielded and allow the user to place the speakers within a few inches of a video monitor. This shielding also offers protection for hard-drive digital music players.

Quickstart Guide

HD3 Quick Setup

Step 1: Connect the speaker wire from the HD3 left (powered) speaker to the right (passive) speaker.

Step 2: Attach the wireless antenna to the HD3 rear panel.

Step 3: Insert the power cable into the HD3 rear panel and plug the other end into an AC power outlet.

Wireless Connection

Step 4: Turn on the HD3 power switch located on the rear panel.  HD3 will automatically go into Bluetooth “pair mode” and the Pair button on the HD3 rear panel should start flashing.

Step 5: On your device (phone, tablet, laptop, etc), turn on Bluetooth and go to Bluetooth preferences.

Step 6: Select “Audioengine HD3” to pair and connect.  The Pair indicator on the HD3 rear panel should be solid. Play your music and adjust volume levels on HD3 and your device.

Step 7: To add additional devices put HD3 back into pair mode by disconnecting HD3 from your device or by pressing and holding the Pair button on the HD3 front panel until the pair indicator starts flashing. HD3 can wirelessly connect to only one device at a time, however it will remember up to six different devices.

Wired Connection

Step 8: Connect one of the included audio cables to your music player (phone, tablet, computer, TV, etc) and the other end to an input on the HD3 rear panel.

Step 9: Play your music and adjust the volume on the speakers and your device to the desired listening levels.


For the full setup guide, download the attached PDF:
HD3 Quickstart Guide


HD3 Setup Video

Troubleshooting

HD3 Troubleshooting Tips

The following troubleshooting tips can help diagnose and correct most concerns with the HD3. We have attempted to make this list as comprehensive as possible, so some of these may not apply to your issue, but please go through each tip.

If the power indicator on the HD3 external power supply unit is not illuminated, try these tips:

  1. Make sure the AC power cord is connected to the power supply unit and to a working AC power outlet.
  2. Check that the cable at the other end of the power supply is correctly connected to the rear panel of the left speaker.

If the power supply light is on but you are experiencing an audio-related issue, try these tips:

    1. Verify that the volume/power control on the rear panel is not turned all the way down or powered off (we recommend setting the volume to at least the 10 oโ€™clock position)
    2. Check that the volume level of your audio source components or devices is not set to minimum volume or powered off.
    3. Check speaker wire connections from the left (powered) speaker to the right (passive) speaker. Confirm this by removing the speaker wire from on each speaker and reconnecting. ย Also check the speaker wire polarity by verifying that the wires are going to same terminals on both speakers.
    4. Check that the cables from your audio sources to the speakers are properly connected. Confirm this by unplugging the audio cables and then reconnecting.
    5. Decrease the volume of the input audio source and increase the volume of the speakers.
    6. Try using different audio input sources and/or devices to see if the problem follows.
    7. Try swapping your left and right speaker via the RCA left and right inputs to see if the issue remains in the same channel or follows the speaker.
    8. If you are using a computer with your HD3, make sure the volume is up on your media players, internet radio, master control, device volume, etc. and the balance control is centered.

If your input source has its own EQ, please make sure the low end is at a moderate level, as having too much bass can cause distortion.

  • If you are using a wireless adapter, preamp, or external DAC with these speakers, remove them (temporarily) and connect the audio input source directly to the speakers.
  • Move your speakers to a different location to see if something is causing interference in the current setup. ย Something as simple as a wireless internet router, cordless or mobile phone, or halogen lamp near the speakers can cause interference.

 

HD3 troubleshooting tips – internal USB digital-to-analog converter
Try these tips if your computer is not recognizing the speaker through your computerโ€™s USB input or the sound through USB isnโ€™t functioning correctly.

If you are using a Windows computer, uninstall the USB driver from your computer. ย Then disconnect the USB cable to remove the HD3 from your computer and plug it back in to allow the USB driver to re-install automatically. ย You can find complete instructions from Microsoft on how to reinstall a plug-and-play device under Windowsย here.

If you are using a Mac, try a NVRAM/PRAM reset. ย This resets the system configurations for some audio and video related items and can many times help clear up problems related to audio. Seeย Appleโ€™s support page for information on how to do this. Also, be sure to check the App store to see if there’s a newer version of Mac OS you could be running.

HD3 troubleshooting tips – Bluetooth

  1. Verify that the HD3 is connected to power and that the front volume knob is turned clockwise past the detent position (you should feel a click). ย If you havenโ€™t already, power-cycle your speakers by switching them off and back on.
  2. If your HD3 is already connected to a device via Bluetooth, the Bluetooth pair light on the front panel of the left speaker will be on and solid (note that if your HD3 has been idle and not connected to a device for more than 2-5 minutes, the Pair light will automatically turn off). ย Tap the Pair button and it will begin blinking (or pair to your HD3 using your source device, and the LED will go from off to on and solid).
  3. Try playing audio from more than one application on your phone/tablet, or computer.
  4. Check to make sure your source device (computer, tablet, phone, etc) is running the most up-to-date version of software available.
  5. Try disconnecting from and forgetting the HD3 through your deviceโ€™s Bluetooth settings, and re-pairing to the HD3.
  6. Try using a different source device with your HD3 to see if the issue follows. ย Also be sure to test your HD3 using the analog input as well.
  7. If possible, try your HD3 in a different location to see if something is causing an issue in the current setup. ย Something as simple as a wireless internet router, cordless or mobile phone, or halogen lamp near the speakers may be causing interference in your setup.

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