"Deal of the Day"

This week the "Deal of the Day" is a free HDMI cable with ALL wall mounts.

Just choose your Wall Mount and order it and we'll also send you a free HDMI 1.3 High Speed Cable!

Connectivity Today RamElectronics.Net: MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

Connectivity Today RamElectronics.Net: MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

A commitment To Our Cause

At home or in the workplace change is a fact of life and how we choose to respond to it determines our personal and professional growth. We can't deny the fact that this disease is affecting one in eight women in the US alone. This our cause, this is RAM's cause, please participate. We need you.
I really believe that the depth of our passion and commitment determines the intensity of our involvment.
On the note I want to leave you with this poem....

Will

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it, soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?

Each well-born must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serves
The one great aim. Why, even Death stands still,
And waits an hour sometimes for such a will.

Ella Wheeler
American Poet
1850-1919

A passionate and committed member of the RAM team.

Audioengine P4 speaker review

A tiny little Monster

Unlike the most well known Audioengine speakers, the P4's are not self powered speakers. They are tiny, 9" high, 5-1/2" wide and 6-1/2" deep. They are two way and have a 4" Kevlar Mid/Woofer and 3/4" silk dome tweeter. That's tiny for "Real" speakers, large for computer speakers and about average for those "home theater in a box" speakers. Since they aren't self-powered it would seem their market is NOT computer speakers, but rather replacements for "home theater in a box" speakers, or stereo or home theater speakers for smaller rooms. You could get 4 of them and a subwoofer and have a nice surround sound system for small rooms. Unfortunately, you can't buy a single speaker to use as a center. So other than the above conjecture, your ideas are as good as mine as to what market they are selling to. They are available in Black, White and a very nice Bamboo finish.

The Test Setup

I am an anomally, a weirdo, a freekazoid, a wackjob, a "dork" (per Val) so I use small, "high end" mini monitors (Reference 3A Dulcet's) and a Denon AVR-3805 Receiver in my computer setup. For most people, that would seem, cough, cough, a wee bit excessive. The Dulcet's go for about $1799 new, the 3805 went for about $1200. Not exactly typical for a computer setup, but I LOVE my music, and spend a LOT of time on the computer, so hey, I'm a happy dork. 

The rest of the test setup is iTunes using music recorded as "wav" files (not MP3 or Apple "lossless") a Presonus Firestudio mobile Audio interface, and, if you must know, Jon Risch style 89259 speaker cables with WBT connectors.

So, I just unplugged the Dulcet's and plugged in the P4's and started listening. I did no measurements on these speakers.

Listening

Well, there is a lot of detail going on here. They sound very clear and natural. The silk dome tweeter is very nice, detailed, smooth and non-fatiguing. The 4" kevlar mid/woofer is also very good, detailed and smooth. The combination is excellent. While there seems to be a "detail" peak in the 4KHz range, most "audiophiles" like that, although clarinets and alto saxes could get a bit annoying with some recordings. Just a little bit too much upper/mid treble peakiness for me. It could just be the recordings themselves, though. Of course this is compared to much more expensive speakers, anyway. Compared to similar speakers? Yes, you can get "smoother" speakers, but in this price range, you will most likely lose something. For the most part Sax and strings were gorgeous. It may just be a slight crossover imperfection (most speakers have those, right?) or maybe something to do with the recessed tweeter. I assume the tweeter is recessed in a "horn like" fashion for better sensitivity rating, but dispersion and imaging would have improved with flush mounting. A 3/4" tweeter could have dispersed very well at a much higher frequency than the usual 1" tweeter which tends to "crash" dispersion wise at about 10KHz. Flush mounted, this tweeter with the nice rounded edges of the cabinet could have even better imaging. Of course, that's a pet peive of mine with todays speakers, that I tend to over emphasize. (see the "dork" reference above) Overall, the imaging was really, really good. Far better than most speakers anywhere nearr this price. 

The bass is very well defined and seems to get much lower than possible for speakers this size. I had assumed before that the Audioengine powered speakers did a lot of eq to get the bass response that they have, but perhaps it's just excellent speaker design? The bass output they do have is quite wonderful. They certainly seem relatively flat in the bass, no big 100-120Hz hump like you hear in most lesser speakers of this size and price. They also get down well under 100Hz with great effect and cleanliness, which is pretty rare for drivers this size. They are rated as 58Hz-22KHz, and that is quite believevable. The Caveat is that speakers this size cannot deliver low bass into any room that is not very small. As near field monitors you can hear their lower notes, but in a normal sized room, they quite simply can't properly "load the room". So, don't expect low frequency bass if you have anything but a small room. Sensitivity is 88dB (2.83v@1m) which is a little bit low, so they do take a bit of power to drive them. On the other hand, they are very small, so they get a bit compressed sounding if you push them too loud in "full range" speaker mode. String bass sounded extremely nice and believable without a sub woofer. In a larger room, I'd cross them over at 80Hz, to a nice sub, or even 100Hz, if you need higher volume levels. Of course, you can only get so loud with these "micro monitors" even with a big Sub. The drivers are not made for "concert" sound levels, and will dynamicly compress and get a bit strident if pushed too hard. If you need loud volumes, you need bigger speakers. If you have a large room, you should get bigger speakers. I did get the chance to listen to these with and without a subwoofer in a reasonably large room, and they sounded quite good. Cranking things up to extremes didn't work so well, they just couldn't get extremely loud, but at reasonable volumes, they will work quite well as fronts or rears.

Conclusion

At a $249 price, these speakers deliver a lot. Lots of other good brand name speakers deliver more loudness and more bass at this price, but very, very few deliver the intriguing mix of "high end" detail, and real, organic listenability that these offer. They are not speakers for AC/DC fans, but if you like to hear music that sounds as "real" as possible at reasonable levels in a smaller sized room, they are really quite good at that. Used as up close, "near field monitors" like in my setup, they are really very good. I already have way too many speakers in this place, but I don't see sending these back. The more I listen to them with different listening material, the more I like them. They were never on my "bucket list" like LS3/5A's or WATT/PUPPY's or other high end wonders, but they are a fun little speaker that sounds pretty amazing in the right way for me, "el dorko".

Link to more info

*Note: Ram Electronics is a Reseller for Audioengine speakers. The speakers were purchased after being returned rather than on loan for review. The author says he will cuss out anyone suggesting he is being impartial. But, then he's a wimp so don't worry about it... Have at it!

MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

PLEASE PURCHASE A FEW TICKETS FOR OUR MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE.

PROCEED TO BENEFIT OUR ANNUAL CANCER SOCIETY FUND RAISING.

RAFFLE WILL TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY MAY 7TH.

Shipping to Canada

Are you new to online shopping? If you are on the Canadian side of the border and thinking of shopping on U.S. sites, hidden costs may catch you by surprise. There are things you should check before you place the order:

First of all, check if the site offers international shipping or at least shipping to Canada. There is nothing more irritating than going through an e-commerce site, filling your shopping cart and then discovering that the vendor does not ship outside the US. RAM offers international shipping including Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Secondly, check the company's terms and condition for international shipping, returns and exchanges. The shipping charges or method of shipments (UPS or USPS) are not the total shipping cost you have to pay to get the product across the border. Import duties, taxes, and brokerage fees are not included in the product price or shipping cost. These fees are the responsibility of the recipients as the company only charges for transportation and it will be collected upon delivery of the package. If you have specific questions about Canadian customs and duties, please contact a Canada Border Services Agency office or the Border Information Service.
You can also check UPS and USPS for import duties, taxes and brokerage fees. RAM offers two methods of shipping USPS and UPS. RAM also offers 30 days return and exchange policy if you are not completely satisfied with the product.
Be sure to follow these basic steps to avoid any frustration and have a pleasant shopping experience.

What Women Want

Welcome to the great post-feminist age, where it’s OK to admit that men and women are different. In fact, they’re from separate planets. Here’s the problem: even if you buy into the whole Mars/Venus thing, nobody has explained how to get a Venusian into a Martian cave. (Or how to get her to approve buying a home theater system for the cave. Or for the cave’s living room.)

According to Hollywood’s market research, women are the primary decision makers for choosing which movies a couple sees. Similarly, women are the primary decision makers when renting home videos. On average, women spend more time per week watching prerecorded movies than men. And, while I don’t have poll numbers to back this up, I’ve found women to be extremely passionate about movies because I am a women – they bet in office Oscar pools, wear fashions set by movie stars, and memorize lines from The Princess Bride.

Women ought to be natural home theater fans. Right ?!?!?!

Obviously, something is keeping them back.

That "something" statistically is generally the following three (3) things:

1) Money :

There is no economic argument for a decent home theater. Do not try to make one. Even if you need to hire a babysitter, live 100 miles from the nearest SuperMegaPlex, and tickets there cost $10 each, it’s still less expensive to go out than to buy a surround sound system. Even if you go every week. For years.

However, just because a home theater is not a necessity does not make it difficult to justify. With the latest digital technology, your home can provide a better picture and superior sound to what you get at an average movie theater. But you don’t have to leave the house – or even put on shoes. You can pause the movie to go to the bathroom. There are no noisy teenagers ruining the experience (unless they happen to be yours). You can turn down the volume. You can turn UP the volume. You can watch material the SuperMegaPlex would never show.

2) Technology :

Whoa – hold on. When I said, “With the latest digital technology, your home can provide a better picture and superior sound to what you get at an average movie theater,” that’s it. That’s all the information most woman want about the technology. That the experience it will provide will likely be better than a typical movie theater. Women are not interested in technology per se, they’re interested in the benefits it provides.

3) Space :

The rule of thumb here is that women and men see space differently – women want a room to be either a living room OR a home theater – not both at the same time. Sure, a man may think that the most important function of the living room is to serve up generous portions of Spielberg, but women need the room to function as a living room. If you dedicate a separate room to A/V entertainment, those objections should be mitigated somewhat .........

In conclusion, stop talking about the technology, start talking about immersion. If you primarily want a big screen TV for football, consider how a woman might appreciate the larger screen size for watching movies.

Finally, don’t demo the technology! Most demo material used to show off home theater equipment alternates between explosions, car chases, explosions, science fiction, and explosions. Where's the Tom Cruise? Romantic comedies? It’s true that Tom Cruise saying "You complete me" while "Secret Garden" plays on the soundtrack (in Jerry Maguire) doesn't show off the subwoofer as well as meteors taking out Paris (in Armageddon) – but it is an impressive, immersive experience. The Titanic DVD isn’t enhanced for widescreen displays – but it’s a powerful, popular film.

So maybe..... by thinking about "what women want" ... you may actually get "what you want" ...

=)