Content Summary : Is less of a good thing better? You're about to find out as Audioenginereturns to these webpages with a smaller version of the previouslyreviewed Audioengine 5 powered speaker system. The new Audioengine 2scales down the formidably chunky form factor of its larger sibling intosomething that won't dwarf your video monitor or earn dirty looks fromboss or spouse. The original Audioengine 5 is 10 inches tall, with 5-inch woofers and 50watts per channel. The newer and smaller Audioengine 2 is 6.25 inchestall, with 2.75-inch woofers and 15 watts per channel. It weighs about athird as much as the original. Tweeters are still silk domes, woofers arestill Kevlar. Two high-gloss finishes are available, black (A2-B) and white(A2-W). The original A5 is also now sold in black. At $199, the newproduct costs $150 less than the old. For more details see comparativespec sheet. Neither of the Audioengines has an iPod dock. The company says there aremany good ones and it didn't want to add to the cost of the product byincluding something not all users would need. But you're free to connectone of the two inputs to a dock—I recommend the excellent DLOHomedock. Soft fabric bags give the Audioengine-unpacking process a ceremonialflourish. They're grey, versus Aperion's purple. Even the AC brick isbagged. Also in the package are two gold-tipped mini-plug cables, a 39-inch one for your PC and a 22-inch one for your music player. Enclosures are wood-based, not plastic. Large soft rubber pads cushion thebottom of each speaker to reduce resonance. As before, the back of theleft speaker has two inputs, mini-jack and RCA-type. There you'll also findthe power jack and a pair of terminals for the high-level connection to theright speaker. Audioengine supplies a six-foot pair of 18-gauge zip cordswith soldered tips though you're free to attach longer, shorter, or better