PreSonus Active Studio Monitor Eris E5, 2-Way, 5.25 Inch

Product Information

Good response down to around 65 Hz (higher than the advertised 53), so you'll need a sub if you want any sub-bass. Response is exaggerated by 5-10 dB from 65-450 Hz, resulting in noticeably exaggerated bass. It's quite flat after that, resulting in a very clean non-bass sound. The PreSonus Eris E5 monitors come with 4 thin foam pads which help to stop acoustic energy transferring into the desk. This helps to tighten up the bass, avoiding a muddy and unfocused sound. I’ve already mentioned the underwhelming mids in an earlier section. This is where you can refine and adjust output to balance out the profile. While I always prefer things to be smooth out of the box, the PreSonus Eris Studio 5 gives you the tools to fix issues. For my taste, a slight bump in the mids and fine shaving of the highs worked best for my studio space.

The PreSonus Eris 5 monitors are solid performers. There’s a depth of detail and clarity that you’d normally associate with studio monitors at a much higher price point. With technology steadily advancing, there are now more options than ever for anyone in need of affordable studio monitors. Many of these monitors fall short of the E5 in key areas, but there are a few that are worth your consideration. Before you spring for the Eris E5, make sure you’ve taken a look at these competitors as well. KRK Rokit 5 G4 I've been using these for about a month on PC, along with a Topping DM7 DAC, Temblor T10 sub, Gator isolation pads, and some Jumperz Gold cables. Measurements were taken with a basic Umik measurement mic from MiniDSP.It's no secret that, as the process of recording and mixing music has been increasingly taken over by software, audio hardware manufacturers are looking more to the start and end of the audio chain to provide them with an income. That's why there's so much choice these days when it comes to mics, preamps, audio interfaces and studio monitors. Based in Baton Rouge, in the extreme south of the US, PreSonus are well established in the preamp and audio interface market, and in recent years they've made their mark with their StudioLive digital mixing consoles. Now they've added loudspeakers to their portfolio, with the new Eris range aiming for the affordable studio monitor market. The Eris E5 is the smallest of the new speakers, while if you need something a little larger there's the Eris E8. Both models are designed in the US and assembled in China — a common scenario these days. Gimme Five!

Pairing a 5.25-inch Kevlar woofer with a one-inch silk dome tweeter, the Eris E5 delivers a solid frequency range – 53 hertz to 22 kilohertz – and an impressively loud maximum SPL of 102 decibels. The performance may fall a bit short of high-end studio gear, but the E5 is a great monitor for the price.At a distance of around 1m, off-axis (facing straight forward) measurements were mostly consistent with on-axis, so these aren't super sensitive to angle, within reason. I use about a 20 degree angle with mine. This is where it’s also worth pointing out that these are near-field monitors, not home stereo speakers. If you are expecting room-filling sound, you won’t get that from these. I would suggest you look at investing in a subwoofer for your studio if you want more body on the low end.

Switching to the E8s reveals, as expected, greater bass extension and a little more headroom. They have a very similar sound, and, as with the E5s, the bass is reasonably tight sounding rather than being boomy and flabby. The larger tweeter still manages to deliver detailed but smooth highs, while the mid-range carries vocals well and provides a detailed window into instrument sounds. Conclusion It’s easy to feed audio to your Eris E5 XT studio monitors from an audio interface, mixer, monitor controller, or almost any other line-level source. Eris E5 XT monitors provide balanced XLR, balanced ¼” TRS, and unbalanced RCA line-level inputs. You’ll have no problem hooking your Eris speakers up to virtually anything. Accuracy defined. Before we really dig into the details of this PreSonus Eris E5 review, it’s helpful to explore what actually makes a good studio monitor. The truth is that there’s no objective standard for the “best” near-field monitors, so part of the process always comes down to personal preference. Still, there are a few important things you should consider. With exactly the same connectivity options, frequency response tailoring 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 frequency 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.

Sonically, the E5 BT has a pretty open sound and the separation and imaging are both good. As you would expect, the bass extension is reasonable and the low frequency tail-off smooth. Sweeping the oscillator down revealed useful audible bass information to about 45Hz. The onboard amplification delivers plenty of volume and at louder volumes the bass porting creates plenty of punch. For this test, I set all switches, knobs and filters to default and held my phone about 6 inches away from the monitor. I then played white noise using a synthesis plugin in my DAW. I recorded roughly 2 minutes worth of white noise in the analyzer using both linear and logarithmic scaling. Below are the results. Looking at the +/- 12v to the I/O board there's no hum/ripple - but it's very spikey with about 10mV p2p. Not sure of frequency, but probably around 30kHz, but with lots of lower level noise between peaks. You can adjust the high end up to plus or minus 6dB to match the treble response to the room. Sometimes untreated rooms have a lot of reflections in the top end which need taming. Fully treated rooms may even need a slight boost. Be very sparing if making any adjustments.