Name: Presonus Studio Monitor (Eris E5)
Brand: PreSonus
SKU: HACP4IJH0
Price: 251.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

Presonus Studio Monitor (Eris E5)

Sale price: MRP: €251,00
Regular price: ~~€418,00~~
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2-way active studio monitors with 5.25-inch Kevlar low-frequency transducer and 1-inch (25 mm), ultra-low-mass, silk-dome, high-frequency transducer, along with a front-firing acoustic port for superior bass-frequency reproduction
80 watt, Class AB amplification
Acoustic Tuning control for accurate mixing contour: Midrange (6 dB, continuously variable), HF (6 dB, continuously variable), High-Pass (Off, 80 Hz, 100 Hz) and Acoustic Space settings (flat, -2, -4 dB) for accurate mixing contour
Optimized, resonance-suppressing internal bracing and RF interference, output current limiting, over-temperature, transient, and subsonic protection
Balanced XLR 1/4-inch and unbalanced RCA inputs
102 dB maximum continuous SPL

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly Good Monitors at a Surprisingly Comfortable Price Point Let me first start by saying that this is not my first pair of small near-field monitors. I've owned two other pairs of similarly-sized monitors in the past, both of which sounded like cheap junk. These days, I do my listening and mixing on a pair of Yamaha HS8s on two isolating stands in a very dampened (though largely untreated) bedroom, but I needed a slightly more portable pair of speakers that could accompany my laptop and a small interface to production sessions away from home. I wanted something with above-average sound quality at a price that wouldn't hurt my feelings if they somehow got damaged during transport.I read tons of reviews both here and at every reputable pro-audio retail website, and chose these over every other similarly priced and sized model because of their consistently glowing reviews. Of course, I was still skeptical because I have a hard time trusting the opinions and expectations of others when it comes to reviews on entry-level studio monitors. As a self-proclaimed "reasonable audiophile" and someone who has been producing and mixing music for a little more than 10 years now, I'm sure even my credentials (and my ears) will come into question during this review, and they should. It's always best to be skeptical about the type of claims I'm going to make here, especially when it comes to speakers or headphones that you haven't personally had the opportunity to audition before buying. Keeping that in mind, here are my thoughts on the Eris E4.5 monitors.Wow.At the time I purchased these, they were selling here for just under $200. I feel comfortable saying that these are the unicorn exception to the "you get what you pay for" rule of audio equipment. They don't blow me away in the same way that larger, more expensive speakers often do, but to say that I was initially stunned by the sound of these speakers would be an understatement. Because I purchased these speakers for mixing, I was most interested in how they perform at low-to-moderate levels. They certainly get loud enough to fill a room with sound, even uncomfortably loud in the right room, but I'll never need them to be that loud.At a level just slightly above the volume of the average speaking voice, these things sound unbelievably good for their size. The bass and sub-bass response isn't going to shake your foundation, but it's more than good enough for my purposes. They feel sturdy and don't have a lot of strange resonances that are difficult to work around; they don't "ring" a lot when you rap on them with your knuckles. The included adhesive foam pads didn't do anything special in terms of isolation, but they stick well and helps them to not slide around so easily on a smooth surface. If you really need to isolate these from the surface they're sitting on, just spring for some Auralex or a pair of small desktop stands.On the whole, they perform well across the frequency spectrum. They're far from flat, but they're also nowhere near as colorful as other similar small near-field monitors I've used; make no mistake, this lack of extreme coloration is a very good thing. They really shine in the midrange and treble frequencies, though. At low volumes, they deliver audio with impressive clarity. If you're working a quiet room, you should have no trouble hearing your changes on these little workhorses.I've already traveled with them once; took a trip to a cabin in the mountains and these had no problems keeping up when inspiration struck. I produce primarily electronic rock music, so being able to hear and understand what's going on at the bottom of the mix is extremely important in most of what I do. Again, the bass won't rock the house, but it's there and it gives you just what you need if you know what to listen for.When they're at home, they're hooked up to my turntable; a very modest AT-LP120 and a MicroPhono preamp (yes, the Behringer unit). The manual included with these monitors states that you should use the on-board "low cutoff" control to attenuate the bass frequencies if you plan to back them up close to a wall, but I've gotten the best results by ignoring that advice, leaving that switch at 0 and keeping them about 2" from the wall atop a bookshelf. I'll need to upgrade at least two other parts of my vinyl chain before I can feel like it has outgrown these speakers.To sum this all up, these monitors sound far better than they have any right to, considering their size and at the price they're being sold for. I won't waste your time waxing poetic about the subjective, unquantifiable aspects of the sound these monitors produce, but I can't emphasize enough that you'll get more than your money's worth out of these. If you have realistic expectations of what near-field monitors of this size and price will sound like, you'll probably be just as impressed as I was. 5Great monitors, cheap tag These are fantastic for powered + passive! The heat from the powered speaker is there, but very minimal. It's as loud as you would need for small areas/where 3.5" monitors would be appropriate. Would I use them to produce? For amateur work, absolutely. For professional work, I'd step up to dual-powered, as a minimum requirement.The best features are the convenient size, light weight, and the acoustic tuning. For only $100, having acoustic tuning is a pretty big deal. It could do with a bit better output to headphones (I use 600 headphones and I have to really crank them up), but it's manageable. The plastic feels a bit cheap, but they're very sturdy.Main issue is the lack of integrated RF protection. I have a GSM phone, which when placed to close to the powered speaker, presents very audible feedback. Again, easy enough to workaround; just move the phone away from the speakers. 10-12" away seems to be fine.For the price, the sound is great, no question. But it's still lacking range, making uncompressed audio files not so much different from a high-quality compressed file, so I can't give it a 5-star.I definitely recommend them for amateur music makers, or those who want good, neutral media speakers for their desktop. 4They sounded great and worked fine up until then Stopped working within two days. They sounded great and worked fine up until then.. I went outside for an hour and left them on. When I came back in I heard a rustling noise upstairs. It was the passive monitor. Turn on some music and find the passive monitor doesn't work period. Mind they were working just fine before I left the room. Unplug it from the from the interface and it still makes the sound. Plug it into my laptop, same issues. This product makes me really question if checking review ratings on amazon products even means anything because a quick google search will show that the issues i've posted about are common, and I likely have to ship them back for maintenance or replacement. You'll barely find evidence of that here in the reviews. 1What You Are Buying Let's start with what you're buying.A pair of 6.42" wide x 9.45" tall x 7.09" deep, vinyl-laminated MDF cabinets weighing 13 lbs.A 25 watt stereo amp, in one cab, to power a pair of 4.5" and 1" speakers through a x-over at 2.8 kHz. These are not bi-amp speakers.A 6 dB +/- adjustable high and mid control and there's a low end cutoff for better use with a sub, a boundary bass control of -2 or -4 dB and an input sensitivity or volume control.Balanced TRS and RCA inputs.1/8" input and headphone output.These have many built in protection circuits, they'll power up on voltage from 100 to 240 and they use rear porting.Interconnect CablesTRS to TRSDual RCA To Dual RCA and RCA to 1/4-Inch Adaptors3.5 mm TRS to Dual 1/4Just some ideas, do some shopping for what will work for you.You are buying reasonably accurate, great sounding, small, powered speakers at a very reasonable price that include room tuning controls.You are not buying real, near field studio monitors, although in a pinch, these would be much better than most home stereos. The worst part is the rear ports.Rear ports work fine and allow you to adjust the speaker to a wall for the best bass...or the way you like it. But how you like it is less important than the speakers accurately reproducing a flat frequency response, enabling you to create a mix correctly to be played on a variety of different systems. This is the main reason that I can not call these real near field monitors, you will have to work at it to set them up for the flattest response and with front porting you eliminate inherent problems. You'll see that the E5 is front ported and the S6 is also coaxial, to keep the image of the sound emanating from a single location.Let me touch on the use of the boundary controls. When the cabinets are placed in an enclosed space like a bookshelf, effectively creating a second cabinet or the port's tuned frequencies reflect and cause booming, it's called a boundary effect, which amounts to overemphasizing those frequencies. The ability to cut by -2 or -4 dB will help control these frequencies for a flatter response. However, with front ports they will have to cross you and the room before they reflect, which almost eliminates the effect.If you become experienced with your equipment, that experience can overcome your equipment's shortcomings to a point. Before opening my first recording facility, I had many recordings on the radio, done from my basement and mixed through an accurate home stereo. So these will work for mixing, if you're capable and become so familiar with them that you know, what not to do.At a couple of Benjamins, these are a pretty good value for whatever reason you're buying them. Two things that I should point out to those of you unfamiliar with using studio styled speakers for general music listening, one is that they have a very forward, present feel to them. Their sound makes me think of what you wish would happen when you remove the grills on normal consumer speakers. The second thing is that most people will think that the sound quality vs price is extraordinary...and they'd be right, because expensive, pretty cabinets are not what comes first when designing for the best audio reproduction.The quality of sound for many, will be quite unexpected for $200 worth of 25 wpc amp and bookshelf sized speakers.While I'm on the subject of smart shopping, Google The Camelizer and check it out. It tracks prices so that you will know how today's price compares to past prices on amazon and two other shopping sites.Powered speakers like this also work great with keyboards and other electronics for writing and practice.I'm an engineer and have been an owner of a recording facility for 25 years and I enjoy listening to these as desktop speakers with a Subwoofer. I'm sorry if I'm not quite as excited as other reviewers here....these aren't my first set of studio monitors or my 5th or 10th, but they are pretty good sounding and a good value, I like them and the price. 4Amazing Output for Small-ish Near-Field Monitors! Before going into the details of the review it's important to point out that these speakers are actually designed as "near-field" monitors, not home-audio loudspeakers. I've seen a handful of complaints about lack of bass reponse, hollow sound etc.Near-field monitors are designed to reproduce sound with a *flat* response to give an accurate, faithful reproduction of the original audio without enhancements. And the name implies their intended usage, to be listened "near" to the speaker itself at low-to-medium volume levels, not from 10-20 feet away with room-filling sound.By contrast, "loudspeakers" are used for home audio and they typically have boosted bass and or treble response (low and high frequencies) to make the sound more punchy and colorful, especially since nearly all consumer audio sources come from highly compressed MP3 sources where much of the dynamic range of the original music track has been lost.The PreSonus Eris series are all designed to be professional near-field monitors used for making critical mixes for audio or film/video production, and in that intended usage the Eris 3.5's shine.The response is definitely flat with a little more low-end punch than I would have expected for a monitor this size. In fact I'm outright surprised how much low-end (bass) comes out of this small-ish pair. The rear-porting coupled with being close to a wall provides ample if not a tad too much bass reinforcement. I think for future design evolution having a front-ported enclosure would most likely make the bass response a bit more accurate, however I'm totally pleased with the output they provide.One thing that sets this pair apart from the competition other than it's accurate sound reproduction, is that they have both a high and low-end tuning knobs on the back of the primary unit (left side). All others simply have a volume or output level adjustment, but no way to actually TUNE the speakers to the environment. That's a big plus and normally only found on larger and pricier units.Although these are monitors and not loudspeakers they do provide a ton of physical sound output, far louder than I would have expected for such a small near-field monitor. (Remember, near-fields are designed for up-close low-to-medium volume levels.)I considered several different models at this size and for the money you can't get or expect a better pair of monitors, they rock! Mine haven't even broken-in yet (new drivers need a break-in period to maximize their potential) and I'm already in love - it will only get better with time.As long as you clearly understand the difference between what a loudspeaker and a near-field monitor is supposed to do then you'll be amazed at how good the Eris 3.5's sound. Get a pair and enjoy!!! I definitely am. 5Awesome Speakers!!! These speakers are awesome!!!!!!!!I love being part of the music, feeling it....more than just listening to it. These little speakers can certainly make you feel it (without having to crank the volume all the way up), and not by the regular way that cheap setup do...it's not all grumble and shaking walls...but rather by putting you in the middle of the sound. I have never had speakers that immersed me in the sound so well. I am not a musician nor do I do recording/mixing, I just love clear and crisp music where you can actually hear individual instruments as if you were in the presence of the musicians. These certainly deliver....They do not have a colored sound profile, it is pretty flat as there are intended to be studio monitors.I have not broken these in all the way, but I can hear them loosening up a bit (some bass notes are sounding smoother than when I just unboxed them). I really like the many adjustments that can be made to these speakers....the attenuation based on placement, the mid and highs + o r- decibel adjustments, and the cut-off of the low end if you decide to connect a woofer later on. Very good options for the price point without the need to a receiver to adjust.Currently I have them setup as computer speakers. They are connected through a 3.5mm audio jack output on my dock to the RCA cables on the back of the speakers. I have the volume knob a little past 50% and control the rest form the computer volume controls. I am not getting any Hiss or feedback noise from these with this setup. I do plan on adding a tube pre-amp DAC just to clean up the sound even more.I listened to Rocket 5's, JBL 305's, M-Audio Bx5 and my favorite were the BX5's. The guy behind the counter at Guitar Center insisted that the the Eris 4.5 still were better than the BX5's and that the Eris e5 hands down were better than the others listed above. I took his advise and got the Eris e4.5 with no regrets. There are a few comparisons of these speakers online, particularly comparing the JBL 305's (The top monitor speaker in the 5" drivers by many audiophiles), but I still loved the clarity of the mids and highs with these. If the bass does not release any more, for less than $100 you can add an 8" powered sub, that would plug directly to the speakers.Overall I'm very satisfied with these speakers. I certainly would recommend to anyone looking to have amazing sound in a computer speaker setup. 5Easy hook up to my Mac Mini and they sound great!!! Ok so first I must say I know hardly anything about hi-fi, speakers, speaker technology, so I was going into this sorta blind. I was replacing 15 year old JBL Creature II's which worked and sounded great (for their small footprint) for years until recently when they started to degrade in sound quality. So I browsed the reviews on Amazon for days trying to find a pair of "desktop speakers" that I could use with my computer (Love playing music from my computer; always have as I don't own a traditional stereo). So I decided to take a chance on these even though they are marketed as "studio monitors". Based on a few reviews where users ended up using them as speakers, I felt I wanted to try them as such as well. I am not disappointed! The sound sounds great to me (good enough for me; comparable to the ones I was replacing, but then again I am not a sound connoisseur... just sayin'.Plus they look great. A few of the other similar monitors didn't appeal to me from an aesthetic perspective (I am a product designer by trade, so I judge on looks too). But these are minimalist black and easy to hook up (though I at first was a bit intimidated by all the cables, I was able to figure it out). And they don't take up a lot of room on my large desk.FYI: They do require a bit of break-in... as initially I wasn't too fond of the sound coming out of them. Can't put my finger on it but they initially didn't sound as good as they do now. After some research online, turns out most good speakers require you to play them for a while (even at loud levels) to break the speakers in. I am glad I waited because at first I felt they sounded "weird". But not now. Love 'em! 5Best monitors you'll find for the price (this is a review of the PreSonus Eris E3.5 model)Good:- Sound is neutral- Very accurate sound stage- The 'acoustic tuning' it's called allows you to adjust for environment- aux in on front- professional look that isn't flashy and full of leds trying to call attention to itself.Cons:- Cables you get are pretty mediocre- Cabinet build quality feels cheapA quick background. While I'm no audio engineer and I wouldn't classify myself as an audiophile I do have several headphones in the $100-$300 range and a headphone amp and dac. I was looking to upgrade my 15 year old set of pc speakers that work but I knew I could get better.Sound wise these are called "Multimedia Studio Monitors" and by that definition these are really accurate. I also primarily have headphones with a flat response curve so these very much sound like headphones in that regard. They do have bass but it's not going to rock the place. I'm going to skip getting in to details on audio since other reviewers have done a great job already and I agree with all of them. But if you are looking for accurate speakers for a computer just get these and you ll be happy. I would not recommend them for a television or something where you are trying to fill an entire room with sound.The rest of this review is for people that do buy them and it s their first pair of studio monitors .First off while they seemed to use excellent components for the monitors the cables they give you are pretty mediocre. I included a picture of what's included (power cable is already plugged in and not pictured). The speaker wire that goes between the two speakers is about 6 feet and almost look like 18 AWG wire. I ended up buying 14 AWG wire but knowing what I know now I'd have just got 16 AWG and it would be a little easier to work with. I then connected them to pc using an 1/8" to RCA jacks. The cable they give you is around 5 feet and my computer was further away so had to buy a new cable for that. Any of the 1/8" to RCA should work fine. The power cable is a standard IEC7 non polarized connector and was maybe around 6 feet.Some setup tips. First off the full manual is not included but can be obtained from presonus.com and searching for eris e3.5 and going to downloads. This explains far more about placement and adjustment than the quick start that's included or even what I say here. The manual explains the details but the volume on the monitor should be around the 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock position in most situations. Once you set that don't touch the volume control on monitor, adjust the audio from the source. With the monitors set to 11 o clock the signal coming from the computer was too hot (too loud). I would have only been able to turn the volume up to 10% and it was really loud. RCA attentuators will reduce the volume by a certain amount just before entering monitors. Oddly amazon doesn't have them, or they were really overpriced. Search online for "Harrison Labs 12 dB RCA Line Level Attenuator" and it should be in the $30-$40 range as of March 2018. This allowed me to have a greater working range on volume. I now typically listen at around 40% level on computer but occasionally turn it up or lower it. One last thing I bought were Wellcn 26 Pcs Ferrite Cores - EMI RFI Noise Filter Clip for 3mm/ 5mm/ 7mm/ 9mm/ 13mm Diameter-Black. Place those on the power and RCA cables a couple inches before they connect to monitor. I got some occasional crackling sounds and those removed it. I also put one on the aux cable I use to connect my work laptop to these when working from home. It's not needed on the speaker cable going between the monitors but also won't really hurt anything. **See update below on how I've changed this**From where you are normally positioned there should be an equilateral triangle between you, the two monitors, and the space between the monitors. Meaning if you're head is 3 feet from front of monitor they should also be 3 feet apart and then be turned to face you. If done right you won't see the sides of monitors. You want your ear to be lined up with the small tweeters. Because mine are mounted on a wall a little high I have them tilted down and also on their side, which these monitors support. If you do this make sure to mirror the monitors. Meaning have the tweeters on the outside to get a larger sound stage. Once this is all setup don't touch the equalizer or "acoustic tuning" as they call it. Just listen to music for a few days to get used to them. There also may be a little bit of break in needed. Only after a few days should you make small adjustments to the acoustic tuning options. It's preferable to turn down a setting than boost it. If you ve edited photos you may have noticed trying to boost the brightness on a dark image looks worse than darkening a bright image. Same idea here. So if it sounds to tinny or harsh you want to turn down the highs slightly. This reduces the highs and thus the lows will be more prominent. Initially it sounded tinny but after a couple days it either went away or I got used to it I haven't had to touch mine.One last thing I'd recommend. Since these are fairly portable, but all my wires are routed around desk I don't want to undo them if I decide to take monitors with me somewhere. I bought me an extra power cable and then use the 1/8" to rca cable and speaker cable they give you and put in a small ziplock bag. Now all I have to do is disconnect everything from monitors, grab my ziplock bag of stuff and I'm ready to go.I know that was a lot of information but I hope you found this information helpful and enjoy these.(update: December 2018)So far these have been holding up well and have had no issues. In fact considering buying a second pair to have over by my workbench. Since writing above I changed my setup so now I have a Maker Hart Loop Mixer < https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M68UK38 > that I connect my computers and to and then audio goes from there to PreSonus. It lets me adjust levels and I still have some inputs open so I've done things like be on a conference call but also have music playing while I'm waiting for them to start. I also got rid of the RCA Line Level Attentuators. May buy more but only -3 or -6db as the loop mixer doesn't get as loud. 5Great, Inexpensive Monitors, but Can Be Packaged with Wrong Power Cord Keep in mind that I am not a professional; I am just a guy who likes music to sound good and likes making personal audio projects.The monitors look very nice, and they are very straightforward when it comes to hooking up the included cords. Dont be disappointed when hearing them for the first time; they're not made to sound good necessarily. Monitors are supposed to provide a flat response in order for the mixer (you) to get a clear, unbiased reproduction of the sound you are engineering.If you want them to sound better, play around with your equalizer. I have two profiles set up on my Realtek software. One is lively, with a Party preset for the equalizer and the environment set to Room, and the other one is just the default flat sound. You can also play around with the knobs on the back of the main monitor to adjust the highs and lows.The logos on my monitors don't light up when on; I thought they were supposed to. It's not too much of a bummer, but it would've been nice to see.I remember hearing something about breaking in new monitors when you get them. If the sound sounds weird no matter what you do, try playing bass-heavy music constantly for at least 24 hours. I'm pretty sure it is recommended that you do it for a longer time, but it's been a while since I heard how exactly the process works.Now I would like to mention my main issue with my order: the power cord that came with it was not made for the monitor. The monitor takes a figure-8 style plug, but I received one that is round on one side and square on the other. I registered my product on the Presonus website and filed a support ticket last Thursday. After an hour, they apologized for the inconvenience and asked for a shipping address, ostensibly to send me a replacement cord. I provided that information to them, but received no other updates. On Tuesday night, I decided that it was time my Paperweight 3.5s became Presonus 3.5s, and I ordered a power cable myself with one-day shipping. The one I got was the CIMPLE CO polarized double-round figure 8 something or other. It shouldn't be too hard to find on here. It's very cheap if you can hold off on the one-day shipping (which I didn't). For me it was about an extra 12 bucks that I shouldn't have had to spend, but I'm not mad. I'm just glad I can listen to my music without using headphones all the time. I am aware of at least one other reviewer who bought these this month (May 2018) and received the wrong power cord like me, so be prepared for that if you order these monitors, but don't let that put you off. There's nothing wrong with the equipment itself; it's just a packaging issue that may happen.So again, I am not a professional, but I like the way they look on my desk and the way they sound. I definitely recommend them, especially for the price. 5Nice clean loud sound for the price! These are pretty awesome studio monitors. I use them primarily for mixing and recording metal. They have a good flat sound without being non lively with good bass response. They sound a lot cleaner if you use stands or isolation pads. So if you get these monitors plan on something like that to really get the most out of them. 5

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Customer Reviews

Surprisingly Good Monitors at a Surprisingly Comfortable Price Point Let me first start by saying that this is not my first pair of small near-field monitors. I've owned two other pairs of similarly-sized monitors in the past, both of which sounded like cheap junk. These days, I do my listening and mixing on a pair of Yamaha HS8s on two isolating stands in a very dampened (though largely untreated) bedroom, but I needed a slightly more portable pair of speakers that could accompany my laptop and a small interface to production sessions away from home. I wanted something with above-average sound quality at a price that wouldn't hurt my feelings if they somehow got damaged during transport.I read tons of reviews both here and at every reputable pro-audio retail website, and chose these over every other similarly priced and sized model because of their consistently glowing reviews. Of course, I was still skeptical because I have a hard time trusting the opinions and expectations of others when it comes to reviews on entry-level studio monitors. As a self-proclaimed "reasonable audiophile" and someone who has been producing and mixing music for a little more than 10 years now, I'm sure even my credentials (and my ears) will come into question during this review, and they should. It's always best to be skeptical about the type of claims I'm going to make here, especially when it comes to speakers or headphones that you haven't personally had the opportunity to audition before buying. Keeping that in mind, here are my thoughts on the Eris E4.5 monitors.Wow.At the time I purchased these, they were selling here for just under $200. I feel comfortable saying that these are the unicorn exception to the "you get what you pay for" rule of audio equipment. They don't blow me away in the same way that larger, more expensive speakers often do, but to say that I was initially stunned by the sound of these speakers would be an understatement. Because I purchased these speakers for mixing, I was most interested in how they perform at low-to-moderate levels. They certainly get loud enough to fill a room with sound, even uncomfortably loud in the right room, but I'll never need them to be that loud.At a level just slightly above the volume of the average speaking voice, these things sound unbelievably good for their size. The bass and sub-bass response isn't going to shake your foundation, but it's more than good enough for my purposes. They feel sturdy and don't have a lot of strange resonances that are difficult to work around; they don't "ring" a lot when you rap on them with your knuckles. The included adhesive foam pads didn't do anything special in terms of isolation, but they stick well and helps them to not slide around so easily on a smooth surface. If you really need to isolate these from the surface they're sitting on, just spring for some Auralex or a pair of small desktop stands.On the whole, they perform well across the frequency spectrum. They're far from flat, but they're also nowhere near as colorful as other similar small near-field monitors I've used; make no mistake, this lack of extreme coloration is a very good thing. They really shine in the midrange and treble frequencies, though. At low volumes, they deliver audio with impressive clarity. If you're working a quiet room, you should have no trouble hearing your changes on these little workhorses.I've already traveled with them once; took a trip to a cabin in the mountains and these had no problems keeping up when inspiration struck. I produce primarily electronic rock music, so being able to hear and understand what's going on at the bottom of the mix is extremely important in most of what I do. Again, the bass won't rock the house, but it's there and it gives you just what you need if you know what to listen for.When they're at home, they're hooked up to my turntable; a very modest AT-LP120 and a MicroPhono preamp (yes, the Behringer unit). The manual included with these monitors states that you should use the on-board "low cutoff" control to attenuate the bass frequencies if you plan to back them up close to a wall, but I've gotten the best results by ignoring that advice, leaving that switch at 0 and keeping them about 2" from the wall atop a bookshelf. I'll need to upgrade at least two other parts of my vinyl chain before I can feel like it has outgrown these speakers.To sum this all up, these monitors sound far better than they have any right to, considering their size and at the price they're being sold for. I won't waste your time waxing poetic about the subjective, unquantifiable aspects of the sound these monitors produce, but I can't emphasize enough that you'll get more than your money's worth out of these. If you have realistic expectations of what near-field monitors of this size and price will sound like, you'll probably be just as impressed as I was. 5Great monitors, cheap tag These are fantastic for powered + passive! The heat from the powered speaker is there, but very minimal. It's as loud as you would need for small areas/where 3.5" monitors would be appropriate. Would I use them to produce? For amateur work, absolutely. For professional work, I'd step up to dual-powered, as a minimum requirement.The best features are the convenient size, light weight, and the acoustic tuning. For only $100, having acoustic tuning is a pretty big deal. It could do with a bit better output to headphones (I use 600 headphones and I have to really crank them up), but it's manageable. The plastic feels a bit cheap, but they're very sturdy.Main issue is the lack of integrated RF protection. I have a GSM phone, which when placed to close to the powered speaker, presents very audible feedback. Again, easy enough to workaround; just move the phone away from the speakers. 10-12" away seems to be fine.For the price, the sound is great, no question. But it's still lacking range, making uncompressed audio files not so much different from a high-quality compressed file, so I can't give it a 5-star.I definitely recommend them for amateur music makers, or those who want good, neutral media speakers for their desktop. 4They sounded great and worked fine up until then Stopped working within two days. They sounded great and worked fine up until then.. I went outside for an hour and left them on. When I came back in I heard a rustling noise upstairs. It was the passive monitor. Turn on some music and find the passive monitor doesn't work period. Mind they were working just fine before I left the room. Unplug it from the from the interface and it still makes the sound. Plug it into my laptop, same issues. This product makes me really question if checking review ratings on amazon products even means anything because a quick google search will show that the issues i've posted about are common, and I likely have to ship them back for maintenance or replacement. You'll barely find evidence of that here in the reviews. 1What You Are Buying Let's start with what you're buying.A pair of 6.42" wide x 9.45" tall x 7.09" deep, vinyl-laminated MDF cabinets weighing 13 lbs.A 25 watt stereo amp, in one cab, to power a pair of 4.5" and 1" speakers through a x-over at 2.8 kHz. These are not bi-amp speakers.A 6 dB +/- adjustable high and mid control and there's a low end cutoff for better use with a sub, a boundary bass control of -2 or -4 dB and an input sensitivity or volume control.Balanced TRS and RCA inputs.1/8" input and headphone output.These have many built in protection circuits, they'll power up on voltage from 100 to 240 and they use rear porting.Interconnect CablesTRS to TRSDual RCA To Dual RCA and RCA to 1/4-Inch Adaptors3.5 mm TRS to Dual 1/4Just some ideas, do some shopping for what will work for you.You are buying reasonably accurate, great sounding, small, powered speakers at a very reasonable price that include room tuning controls.You are not buying real, near field studio monitors, although in a pinch, these would be much better than most home stereos. The worst part is the rear ports.Rear ports work fine and allow you to adjust the speaker to a wall for the best bass...or the way you like it. But how you like it is less important than the speakers accurately reproducing a flat frequency response, enabling you to create a mix correctly to be played on a variety of different systems. This is the main reason that I can not call these real near field monitors, you will have to work at it to set them up for the flattest response and with front porting you eliminate inherent problems. You'll see that the E5 is front ported and the S6 is also coaxial, to keep the image of the sound emanating from a single location.Let me touch on the use of the boundary controls. When the cabinets are placed in an enclosed space like a bookshelf, effectively creating a second cabinet or the port's tuned frequencies reflect and cause booming, it's called a boundary effect, which amounts to overemphasizing those frequencies. The ability to cut by -2 or -4 dB will help control these frequencies for a flatter response. However, with front ports they will have to cross you and the room before they reflect, which almost eliminates the effect.If you become experienced with your equipment, that experience can overcome your equipment's shortcomings to a point. Before opening my first recording facility, I had many recordings on the radio, done from my basement and mixed through an accurate home stereo. So these will work for mixing, if you're capable and become so familiar with them that you know, what not to do.At a couple of Benjamins, these are a pretty good value for whatever reason you're buying them. Two things that I should point out to those of you unfamiliar with using studio styled speakers for general music listening, one is that they have a very forward, present feel to them. Their sound makes me think of what you wish would happen when you remove the grills on normal consumer speakers. The second thing is that most people will think that the sound quality vs price is extraordinary...and they'd be right, because expensive, pretty cabinets are not what comes first when designing for the best audio reproduction.The quality of sound for many, will be quite unexpected for $200 worth of 25 wpc amp and bookshelf sized speakers.While I'm on the subject of smart shopping, Google The Camelizer and check it out. It tracks prices so that you will know how today's price compares to past prices on amazon and two other shopping sites.Powered speakers like this also work great with keyboards and other electronics for writing and practice.I'm an engineer and have been an owner of a recording facility for 25 years and I enjoy listening to these as desktop speakers with a Subwoofer. I'm sorry if I'm not quite as excited as other reviewers here....these aren't my first set of studio monitors or my 5th or 10th, but they are pretty good sounding and a good value, I like them and the price. 4Amazing Output for Small-ish Near-Field Monitors! Before going into the details of the review it's important to point out that these speakers are actually designed as "near-field" monitors, not home-audio loudspeakers. I've seen a handful of complaints about lack of bass reponse, hollow sound etc.Near-field monitors are designed to reproduce sound with a *flat* response to give an accurate, faithful reproduction of the original audio without enhancements. And the name implies their intended usage, to be listened "near" to the speaker itself at low-to-medium volume levels, not from 10-20 feet away with room-filling sound.By contrast, "loudspeakers" are used for home audio and they typically have boosted bass and or treble response (low and high frequencies) to make the sound more punchy and colorful, especially since nearly all consumer audio sources come from highly compressed MP3 sources where much of the dynamic range of the original music track has been lost.The PreSonus Eris series are all designed to be professional near-field monitors used for making critical mixes for audio or film/video production, and in that intended usage the Eris 3.5's shine.The response is definitely flat with a little more low-end punch than I would have expected for a monitor this size. In fact I'm outright surprised how much low-end (bass) comes out of this small-ish pair. The rear-porting coupled with being close to a wall provides ample if not a tad too much bass reinforcement. I think for future design evolution having a front-ported enclosure would most likely make the bass response a bit more accurate, however I'm totally pleased with the output they provide.One thing that sets this pair apart from the competition other than it's accurate sound reproduction, is that they have both a high and low-end tuning knobs on the back of the primary unit (left side). All others simply have a volume or output level adjustment, but no way to actually TUNE the speakers to the environment. That's a big plus and normally only found on larger and pricier units.Although these are monitors and not loudspeakers they do provide a ton of physical sound output, far louder than I would have expected for such a small near-field monitor. (Remember, near-fields are designed for up-close low-to-medium volume levels.)I considered several different models at this size and for the money you can't get or expect a better pair of monitors, they rock! Mine haven't even broken-in yet (new drivers need a break-in period to maximize their potential) and I'm already in love - it will only get better with time.As long as you clearly understand the difference between what a loudspeaker and a near-field monitor is supposed to do then you'll be amazed at how good the Eris 3.5's sound. Get a pair and enjoy!!! I definitely am. 5Awesome Speakers!!! These speakers are awesome!!!!!!!!I love being part of the music, feeling it....more than just listening to it. These little speakers can certainly make you feel it (without having to crank the volume all the way up), and not by the regular way that cheap setup do...it's not all grumble and shaking walls...but rather by putting you in the middle of the sound. I have never had speakers that immersed me in the sound so well. I am not a musician nor do I do recording/mixing, I just love clear and crisp music where you can actually hear individual instruments as if you were in the presence of the musicians. These certainly deliver....They do not have a colored sound profile, it is pretty flat as there are intended to be studio monitors.I have not broken these in all the way, but I can hear them loosening up a bit (some bass notes are sounding smoother than when I just unboxed them). I really like the many adjustments that can be made to these speakers....the attenuation based on placement, the mid and highs + o r- decibel adjustments, and the cut-off of the low end if you decide to connect a woofer later on. Very good options for the price point without the need to a receiver to adjust.Currently I have them setup as computer speakers. They are connected through a 3.5mm audio jack output on my dock to the RCA cables on the back of the speakers. I have the volume knob a little past 50% and control the rest form the computer volume controls. I am not getting any Hiss or feedback noise from these with this setup. I do plan on adding a tube pre-amp DAC just to clean up the sound even more.I listened to Rocket 5's, JBL 305's, M-Audio Bx5 and my favorite were the BX5's. The guy behind the counter at Guitar Center insisted that the the Eris 4.5 still were better than the BX5's and that the Eris e5 hands down were better than the others listed above. I took his advise and got the Eris e4.5 with no regrets. There are a few comparisons of these speakers online, particularly comparing the JBL 305's (The top monitor speaker in the 5" drivers by many audiophiles), but I still loved the clarity of the mids and highs with these. If the bass does not release any more, for less than $100 you can add an 8" powered sub, that would plug directly to the speakers.Overall I'm very satisfied with these speakers. I certainly would recommend to anyone looking to have amazing sound in a computer speaker setup. 5Easy hook up to my Mac Mini and they sound great!!! Ok so first I must say I know hardly anything about hi-fi, speakers, speaker technology, so I was going into this sorta blind. I was replacing 15 year old JBL Creature II's which worked and sounded great (for their small footprint) for years until recently when they started to degrade in sound quality. So I browsed the reviews on Amazon for days trying to find a pair of "desktop speakers" that I could use with my computer (Love playing music from my computer; always have as I don't own a traditional stereo). So I decided to take a chance on these even though they are marketed as "studio monitors". Based on a few reviews where users ended up using them as speakers, I felt I wanted to try them as such as well. I am not disappointed! The sound sounds great to me (good enough for me; comparable to the ones I was replacing, but then again I am not a sound connoisseur... just sayin'.Plus they look great. A few of the other similar monitors didn't appeal to me from an aesthetic perspective (I am a product designer by trade, so I judge on looks too). But these are minimalist black and easy to hook up (though I at first was a bit intimidated by all the cables, I was able to figure it out). And they don't take up a lot of room on my large desk.FYI: They do require a bit of break-in... as initially I wasn't too fond of the sound coming out of them. Can't put my finger on it but they initially didn't sound as good as they do now. After some research online, turns out most good speakers require you to play them for a while (even at loud levels) to break the speakers in. I am glad I waited because at first I felt they sounded "weird". But not now. Love 'em! 5Best monitors you'll find for the price (this is a review of the PreSonus Eris E3.5 model)Good:- Sound is neutral- Very accurate sound stage- The 'acoustic tuning' it's called allows you to adjust for environment- aux in on front- professional look that isn't flashy and full of leds trying to call attention to itself.Cons:- Cables you get are pretty mediocre- Cabinet build quality feels cheapA quick background. While I'm no audio engineer and I wouldn't classify myself as an audiophile I do have several headphones in the $100-$300 range and a headphone amp and dac. I was looking to upgrade my 15 year old set of pc speakers that work but I knew I could get better.Sound wise these are called "Multimedia Studio Monitors" and by that definition these are really accurate. I also primarily have headphones with a flat response curve so these very much sound like headphones in that regard. They do have bass but it's not going to rock the place. I'm going to skip getting in to details on audio since other reviewers have done a great job already and I agree with all of them. But if you are looking for accurate speakers for a computer just get these and you ll be happy. I would not recommend them for a television or something where you are trying to fill an entire room with sound.The rest of this review is for people that do buy them and it s their first pair of studio monitors .First off while they seemed to use excellent components for the monitors the cables they give you are pretty mediocre. I included a picture of what's included (power cable is already plugged in and not pictured). The speaker wire that goes between the two speakers is about 6 feet and almost look like 18 AWG wire. I ended up buying 14 AWG wire but knowing what I know now I'd have just got 16 AWG and it would be a little easier to work with. I then connected them to pc using an 1/8" to RCA jacks. The cable they give you is around 5 feet and my computer was further away so had to buy a new cable for that. Any of the 1/8" to RCA should work fine. The power cable is a standard IEC7 non polarized connector and was maybe around 6 feet.Some setup tips. First off the full manual is not included but can be obtained from presonus.com and searching for eris e3.5 and going to downloads. This explains far more about placement and adjustment than the quick start that's included or even what I say here. The manual explains the details but the volume on the monitor should be around the 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock position in most situations. Once you set that don't touch the volume control on monitor, adjust the audio from the source. With the monitors set to 11 o clock the signal coming from the computer was too hot (too loud). I would have only been able to turn the volume up to 10% and it was really loud. RCA attentuators will reduce the volume by a certain amount just before entering monitors. Oddly amazon doesn't have them, or they were really overpriced. Search online for "Harrison Labs 12 dB RCA Line Level Attenuator" and it should be in the $30-$40 range as of March 2018. This allowed me to have a greater working range on volume. I now typically listen at around 40% level on computer but occasionally turn it up or lower it. One last thing I bought were Wellcn 26 Pcs Ferrite Cores - EMI RFI Noise Filter Clip for 3mm/ 5mm/ 7mm/ 9mm/ 13mm Diameter-Black. Place those on the power and RCA cables a couple inches before they connect to monitor. I got some occasional crackling sounds and those removed it. I also put one on the aux cable I use to connect my work laptop to these when working from home. It's not needed on the speaker cable going between the monitors but also won't really hurt anything. **See update below on how I've changed this**From where you are normally positioned there should be an equilateral triangle between you, the two monitors, and the space between the monitors. Meaning if you're head is 3 feet from front of monitor they should also be 3 feet apart and then be turned to face you. If done right you won't see the sides of monitors. You want your ear to be lined up with the small tweeters. Because mine are mounted on a wall a little high I have them tilted down and also on their side, which these monitors support. If you do this make sure to mirror the monitors. Meaning have the tweeters on the outside to get a larger sound stage. Once this is all setup don't touch the equalizer or "acoustic tuning" as they call it. Just listen to music for a few days to get used to them. There also may be a little bit of break in needed. Only after a few days should you make small adjustments to the acoustic tuning options. It's preferable to turn down a setting than boost it. If you ve edited photos you may have noticed trying to boost the brightness on a dark image looks worse than darkening a bright image. Same idea here. So if it sounds to tinny or harsh you want to turn down the highs slightly. This reduces the highs and thus the lows will be more prominent. Initially it sounded tinny but after a couple days it either went away or I got used to it I haven't had to touch mine.One last thing I'd recommend. Since these are fairly portable, but all my wires are routed around desk I don't want to undo them if I decide to take monitors with me somewhere. I bought me an extra power cable and then use the 1/8" to rca cable and speaker cable they give you and put in a small ziplock bag. Now all I have to do is disconnect everything from monitors, grab my ziplock bag of stuff and I'm ready to go.I know that was a lot of information but I hope you found this information helpful and enjoy these.(update: December 2018)So far these have been holding up well and have had no issues. In fact considering buying a second pair to have over by my workbench. Since writing above I changed my setup so now I have a Maker Hart Loop Mixer < https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M68UK38 > that I connect my computers and to and then audio goes from there to PreSonus. It lets me adjust levels and I still have some inputs open so I've done things like be on a conference call but also have music playing while I'm waiting for them to start. I also got rid of the RCA Line Level Attentuators. May buy more but only -3 or -6db as the loop mixer doesn't get as loud. 5Great, Inexpensive Monitors, but Can Be Packaged with Wrong Power Cord Keep in mind that I am not a professional; I am just a guy who likes music to sound good and likes making personal audio projects.The monitors look very nice, and they are very straightforward when it comes to hooking up the included cords. Dont be disappointed when hearing them for the first time; they're not made to sound good necessarily. Monitors are supposed to provide a flat response in order for the mixer (you) to get a clear, unbiased reproduction of the sound you are engineering.If you want them to sound better, play around with your equalizer. I have two profiles set up on my Realtek software. One is lively, with a Party preset for the equalizer and the environment set to Room, and the other one is just the default flat sound. You can also play around with the knobs on the back of the main monitor to adjust the highs and lows.The logos on my monitors don't light up when on; I thought they were supposed to. It's not too much of a bummer, but it would've been nice to see.I remember hearing something about breaking in new monitors when you get them. If the sound sounds weird no matter what you do, try playing bass-heavy music constantly for at least 24 hours. I'm pretty sure it is recommended that you do it for a longer time, but it's been a while since I heard how exactly the process works.Now I would like to mention my main issue with my order: the power cord that came with it was not made for the monitor. The monitor takes a figure-8 style plug, but I received one that is round on one side and square on the other. I registered my product on the Presonus website and filed a support ticket last Thursday. After an hour, they apologized for the inconvenience and asked for a shipping address, ostensibly to send me a replacement cord. I provided that information to them, but received no other updates. On Tuesday night, I decided that it was time my Paperweight 3.5s became Presonus 3.5s, and I ordered a power cable myself with one-day shipping. The one I got was the CIMPLE CO polarized double-round figure 8 something or other. It shouldn't be too hard to find on here. It's very cheap if you can hold off on the one-day shipping (which I didn't). For me it was about an extra 12 bucks that I shouldn't have had to spend, but I'm not mad. I'm just glad I can listen to my music without using headphones all the time. I am aware of at least one other reviewer who bought these this month (May 2018) and received the wrong power cord like me, so be prepared for that if you order these monitors, but don't let that put you off. There's nothing wrong with the equipment itself; it's just a packaging issue that may happen.So again, I am not a professional, but I like the way they look on my desk and the way they sound. I definitely recommend them, especially for the price. 5Nice clean loud sound for the price! These are pretty awesome studio monitors. I use them primarily for mixing and recording metal. They have a good flat sound without being non lively with good bass response. They sound a lot cleaner if you use stands or isolation pads. So if you get these monitors plan on something like that to really get the most out of them. 5

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