PRESONUS Eris E5 Information Sheet page 6

that can cut the level of frequencies to compensate for room conditions,
below 800Hz by either 2dB or 4dB. although we'd have preferred switch-
The rest of the controls, which
ing rather than a small rotary control
PreSonus call the 'Acoustic Tuning'
to keep left and right consistent.
controls, enable you to tweak the
PreSonus propose that use of the Mid
response to your taste or to emulate the
control can emulate other speaker
sounds of different types of speaker.
systems. They say that turning it
The High control is a high-frequency
down will emulate the smiley face
shelving filter that offers up to 6dB of
curve of a car stereo while turning
boost or cut for all frequencies above
it up (in combination with the low
4.5 kHz, while the Mid control is a
Cutoff switch) will emulate a cheap
mid-frequency peak filter that boosts or
portable radio. It's an unusual feature
cuts frequencies centred on 1 kHz with
to add to a studio monitor and it's
a bandwidth from an octave above to
an octave below. PreSonus' own choice probably no bad thing to have an
is a flat setting for both, so the rotary
extra tool in the box... as long as you
knobs for each are detented at OdB.
remember to reset it. The thing about
If you want to tweak the bottom
having your own set of studio mon-
end you get the 'Low Cutoff' three-
itors is familiarity, letting you make
way switch, which offers, besides a
sound mixing decisions based on the
flat response, a low frequency roll off
consistency of your listening experi-
at a slope of -12 dB/octave below a
ence. The E8 will let you do that but
frequency of either 80Hz or 100Hz —
we'd just set the EQ flat or tweak it to
useful if you want to add a subwoofer to
taste, leave it and get used to it.
the system.
God, planet or dog?
WB E8's or a dirty limerick?
OK, so we looked up what Eris
Listening to a variety of com-
meant. There are a couple of things,
mercially released tracks, mixes in
one being the Greek goddess of
progress and individual instruments
chaos, strife and discord, which
through the E8 the impression was
doesn't sound quite right for a studio
that here is a speaker that could easily
monitor, although it is designed to
take care of all recording and mixing
help you transmute the chaos and
possibilities if it was the sole monitor
discord of an unmixed track into a
in a small studio. Clarity is good and
"...a monitor that should fit
tidily into most rooms and
will let you hear the detail
in your mixes."
little speaker, perhaps? Or maybe the
the overall balance of frequencies is
designer named it after his dog...
one that you can work with, the top
Our view favours the first two
end coming through prominently
over the latter. The Eris E8s are no
and clearly revealing the detail, while
dogs, we'd be very happy to use
the bottom end is tight and focussed
them to mix our tracks and yes they
and extends down far enough to
can sound quite massive for such
allow you to make those important
a compact cabinet. What you are
mix decisions.
getting here is a monitor that should
As for the Acoustic Tuning controls,
fit tidily into most rooms and will let
the flat sound worked just fine for us,
you hear the detail in your mixes. At
but we could appreciate how a small
a street price of around £400 a pair it
cut or boost of the High control might
has quite a lot of competition, but is a
appeal to some tastes or be useful
valid choice in that price range.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN
PreSonus Eris E5 Studio Monitors
By Paul Lau
The PreSonus Eris monitors are part
of a new initiative for a company gen-
erally known for its stellar hardware
interfaces. I was pleasantly surprised
when I got the call to review these
new near field monitors. I have been
on the tail end of finishing a film
score and mixing and mastering a
separate album, so test-driving these
monitors with my PreSonus Studio-
thing of beau-
Live was certainly an appealing idea.
ty. Then there's
So what are these Eris E5s? They
Eris, the most
are billed as individually powered
massive known
"high definition active studio mon-
dwarf planet in
itors, " weigh in at about 10 lbs, and
the Solar System.
definitely have a bit of a kick with a
Massive dwarf?
5.25-in. Kevlar low-frequency driver
Big sound from a
and 45 W Class AB amp. They also
have a 1-in. silk dome tweeter pow-
ered by a 35 W Class AB amp. Their
peak is at 102 dB SPL with a frequen-
cy response from 53 Hz-22 kHz.
All of the speakers in the Eris series
have front-ported enclosures made
of vinyl-laminated, medium-density
fiberboard, which also helps with
proximity to walls.
The E5s welcome three types of
inputs: balanced XLR, balanced ¼-in.
TRS, and unbalanced RCA line-level
September 2013
"Overall, the E5s pack a punch,
yet have subtle qualities akin
to those of more expensive
offerings. The depth of control
allows the Eris E5 to act as a
'monitor chameleon'."
inputs. When both balanced connec- you also really want to get referenc-
tions are in use, the TRS input will es from multiple sources - laptop
supersede the XLR input. The RCA speakers, car speakers, etc. I found it
input is summed into the signal path. quite convenient simply dialing those
So what is it that makes the E5 a good tones up through one set of monitors
monitor? Actually, what makes any like the E5s. These varied EQ settings
monitor good or bad? My philosophy not only give you a flat/linear sound,
but can also give a more boomy,
is that most monitors intrinsically
serve a purpose; the question lies much rounder response, too. You can
with the listener and whether or not also detail with the bass control if you
you've learned what your monitors are using a subwoofer.
sound like in reference to other play- The E5 also has a three-position
back sources. Acoustic Space switch. This switch
Many monitors on the market controls a second order for frequency
are celebrated for a very particular control. The low shelving filter cuts
sound, but the E5 can easily be set the levels below 800 Hz by a specified
up to have different sound charac- amount (-2 or -4dB) to compensate
teristics thanks to its selection of for the boundary bass boost that
controls. The first control is the input occurs when the monitor is placed
gain stage, which allows you to set near a wall or corner. Hence, you can
the signal level and, in that, set a control the bass response relative to
clean signal level. You have to be able the proximity of your speakers to a
to produce a natural, non-distorted nearby wall. The E5s are also light-
sound between different frequencies weight and can be used in various
at different volumes. The E5 sounds situations and locations. The controls
very clean and generally round to me. allow you to give a great sounding
Next, the E5 provides three EQ playback in just about any situation.
controls in its Acoustic Tuning sec-
tion: high, mid, and low cutoff. With
these controls, you can adjust the
settings into different frequencies
and produce different characteristics
for playback. A simple example is to
make the monitors sound really flat
— easy enough to do with the E5 — to
give a trueness of sound, say for the
mixing process.
In mixing and mastering sessions,
E5 translates — very true in sound
colours and contours.
The E5 also has built-in current
output limiting and over-tempera-
ture protection to avoid heat-related
issues and also prevent any damage
from a short circuit. There is also a
current output limiting and subson-
ic protection to filter out extremely
low-frequency vibrations that could
interfere with the woofer's perfor-
mance. Another feature to mention is
that the power amplifiers have a "soft
startup" so that you don't get any
damaging pops in the speakers when
you power them up.
Overall, the E5s pack a punch, yet
have subtle qualities akin to those of
more expensive offerings. The depth
of control allows the E5 to act as a
"monitor chameleon. " All monitors
serve a purpose, especially if you
learn how they operate. I mix to
sound good and the PreSonus Eris
E5s make me sound great.
BONEDO.DE
September 2013
By Felix Klostermann
(translated from German)
The PreSonus Eris 5 and 8 are quality
made, well -equipped and good-
natured active speakers for near field.
The fairly linear tuning of the boxes
allows an amazingly balanced and
transparent sound reproduction, and
for a very attractive price.
RESIDENT ADVISOR
SEPTEMBER 2013
On my
By Phil Moffa
own proj-
[Eris monitors] definitely sound
ects, I have
comparable to or better than other
been using
speakers in their class and also have
the E5s and
plenty of useful features. Being able
then refer-
to tune them is a huge plus, and
encing back
they're equipped to be connected to
over to larger pretty much any setup...These are
certainly worthy of consideration for
boxes and
anyone on a budget.
it's impres-
sive how the