SlashGear Review - M-Audio Studiophile AV40

I've had my M-Audio Studiophile AV40's in place for a little while, so I thought that I would share my findings with you. First, let me just say that these are amazing.

When you first get these out of the box you notice one thing, they are heavy. I've always been told that you can tell how good your equipment is by how much it weighs. Naturally, I was eager to get them hooked up. My first thought was to just hook them up to my PC. I admit that with their size, they didn't exactly look the best sitting on my desk. However, once I turned on some music, I was perfectly content to have them there.

I've said before that I'm no audiophile, however, the moment I pulled up some music, I could immediately notice a huge difference between my old Logitech setup. Every note that came out was crystal clear. The speakers have a nice bass boost button on the back that really give it an extra punch. Gaming with these was intense, everything just sounded more realistic coming through these. Granted, my $50 set of 2.1 Logitech speakers never had a chance against these. It wasn't until some friends dropped by that I found the perfect place for these.

A couple of friends stopped by with their (plastic) guitars in tow ready to rock out. I showed them the new speakers which they loved, and we got the idea to take them downstairs and hook them up to my TV. I've played Guitar Hero on a lot of different setups, however, I've never enjoyed it so much as when I play it through these speakers. They are considered studio monitors, so they were built with music in mind. The guitar parts sounded so crisp that it felt like I was playing the real thing. I'm not sure I could go back to playing without them.

Overall, I couldn't be more impressed with a pair of speakers. The only downfall is their size, which they more than make up for in quality. I'm going to give these 4.5 out of 5 gears.

[rating: 4.5/5]