Sound On Sound - PRESONUS Eris E5 Information Sheet

The Eris Monitor Phenomenon
™
We didn't set out to create a stir. we discovered that entry- level-
We just wanted to make monitors priced monitors were also inflexible
that would go with our affordable monitors. They have a "sound" —
USB and FireWire interfaces; moni- usually designed to impress you in
tors that would be a comfortable fit the show room with a lot of bonk
for our StudioLive AI digital mixers. and wheeze. But they lacked the
On the high end, we uncorked our adjustments needed to tailor them
CoActual Sceptre s. And if you to your studio's room acoustics.
™ ™
have the money, you should drop Without these controls, you're
this brochure, forget about Eris, and going to be fooling yourself — and
immediately buy a pair of Sceptres. creating mixes that don't travel well.
But what if you're on a budget? So we created Eris. Powerful.
When we surveyed the competition, Musical. Accurate. And affordable.
Beware of "monitors"
that have VOLUME
controls that only
change the output level
of the speaker. Eris'
INPUT GAIN control
lets you optimize the
level and signal-to-
noise ratio coming
into each Eris speaker,
much like you do when
you set gain levels on a
mixer channel.
What happens if you
add a subwoofer but
don't have this control?
You hear lots of bass.
You style your mixes
accordingly. Then,
when the mix is played
on another system, it
lacks low-end punch.
The LOW CUTOFF
switch helps coordi-
nate the bass output
of your Eris monitor
system.
Depending on the size
of the subwoofer, you
can eliminate Eris
output below either 80
or 100 Hz, where the
subwoofer takes over.
Critics have given them a warm
welcome. Several competitors have
panicked and slashed the prices of
their small monitors. But at the end
of the day, it's about which monitor
sounds best.
Don't take our word for it. Read
on and see why top editors and
reviewers like Eris.
Are you mixing in a "live" room
with a lot of reflective surfaces?
In a room with lots of acoustic
treatment? Is your mid- and
high-frequency hearing starting
to falter after playing in loud
bands for 20 years? MIDRANGE
and HIGH frequency controls
are designed to address these
situations. They balance your
monitors' sound to your ears,
your room, and your musical
preferences.
Where you place your monitors
in your control room has a huge
effect on the amount of bass
you hear (and add or don't
add to your tracks and mixes).
Room corners act as amplifying
"horns" that exaggerate bass.
If you don't compensate for this
with the -4 dB ACOUSTIC SPACE
setting, you'll hear a lot of bass
— but you'll probably end up
with bass-shy mixes.
Monitors placed on each side of
a computer monitor, with a wall
behind them, also boost bass,
although to a lesser extent
(-2 dB setting).
Only if you're lucky enough to
be able to place your monitors
toward the middle of a room will
you hear accurate bass without
having to compensate (0 dB
setting).
That is why Eris' E8 and E5
Acoustic Space adjustment is
so important. It lets you control
bass output so that the monitor
is working with your studio
layout.

SOUND on SOUND

PreSonus Eris E5 & E8
Gimme Five!
By Paul White
Taking the E5 first, its outwardly
It's no secret that, as the process of
conventional two-way front-ported
recording and mixing music has been
box houses a 5.25-inch Kevlar-coned
increasingly taken over by software,
woofer and a one-inch silk-dome
audio hardware manufacturers are
tweeter, protected behind its own
looking more to the start and end
metal grille. Powered by a 45W and
of the audio chain to provide them
35W Class-AB amplifier for the lows
with an income. That's why there's
and highs, respectively, the speakers
so much choice these days when
cross over at 3 kHz. The specs give a
it comes to mics, preamps, audio
useable frequency response of 53Hz
interfaces and studio monitors.
to 22kHz, and a surprisingly loud
Based in Baton Rouge, in the extreme
maximum SPL of 102dB at one metre.
south of the US,
"I've heard speakers costing
PreSonus are well
established in the
twice as much that don't deliver
preamp and audio
nearly such 'adult' results."
interface market,
and in recent
years, they've
made their mark with their Studio-
Built from vinyl-finished MDF, the
Live digital mixing consoles. Now
internally braced cabinets measure
they've added loudspeakers to their
a compact 178 x 195 x 260 mm and
portfolio, with the new Eris range
weigh a reassuring 4.63kg each. The
aiming for the affordable studio mon-
slot-shaped port is located on the
itor market. The Eris E5 is the smallest
baffle below the woofer while the
of the new speakers, while if you need
baffle is curved and slightly sculpted
something a little larger, there's the
around the drivers to smooth out
Eris E8. Both models are designed in
any sharp angles that might other-
the US and assembled in China —a
wise result in diffraction. A discrete
common scenario these days.
Presonus logo illuminates when the
speakers are switched on.
Audio input is via a choice of bal-
anced XLR, balanced quarter-inch
TRS jack or unbalanced RCA phono
socket, and power is on the usual
IEC socket. A red slide switch selects
the appropriate mains voltage. Many
small monitors lose out on rear-pan-
el adjustment, but the Eris E5s are
particularly well appointed in that
department. In addition to the usual
gain control, there's an acoustic space
switch that may be used to optimize
the bass response to compensate for
placement near to walls or corners.
This offers a choice of flat, -2dB or
-4dB responses below 800 Hz. Then
there's a low cut-off switch with
November 2013
settings for flat, 80Hz and 100Hz,
the last two engaging a 12dB/octave
high-pass filter. Finally, both the mid-
range and high end are separately ad-
justable — a pair of centre-detented
rotary controls gives —6dB of adjust-
ment for each range. What you don't
see is that the amplifier pack also
includes filtering to reject RF inter-
ference and damaging subsonic lows.
Output current limiting, over-tem-
perature and transient protection are
also present.
Crazy Eights
With exactly
the same con-
nectivity op-
tions, frequency
response tailor-
ing and design
ethos, the E8 goes down to 35Hz
and has more power in the amplifier
department, with 75W available to
the woofer and 65W to the tweeter,
adding another 3dB to the maximum
SPL of the E5. The crossover frequen-
cy is lower, at 2.2kHz, and the cabinet
work is larger and heavier to take
the eight-inch woofer and 1.25-inch
tweeter. Measuring 250 x 299 x 384
mm, these speakers are more than
twice the weight of the E5s at a hair
over 10kg each, but follow the same
style and general construction.
Switching on the E5 speakers
doesn't result in any unwanted pops
or bangs as the circuitry is designed
to have a 'soft start-up' . I made sure
all the controls were centred and set
the environment bass switch to flat,
as the speakers weren't particularly
close to either the side or rear walls.
In comparison with a couple of other
sets of monitors costing around
three times the price, the sound was
extremely revealing and not at all
what I'd expected from such small
and inexpensive speakers. Other
than the larger speakers having more