A stupendous compendium
of recent magazine reviews.
The Eris Monitor Phenomenon SOUND on SOUND November 2013
We didnt set out to create a stir. we discovered that entry-level- Critics have given them a warm PreSonus Eris E5 & E8 Gimme Five! settings for flat, 80Hz and 100Hz,
We just wanted to make monitors priced monitors were also inflexible welcome. Several competitors have By Paul White Taking the E5 first, its outwardly
the last two engaging a 12dB/octave
that would go with our affordable monitors. They have a sound panicked and slashed the prices of Its no secret that, as the process of high-pass filter. Finally, both the mid-
conventional two-way front-ported
USB and FireWire interfaces; moni- usually designed to impress you in their small monitors. But at the end recording and mixing music has been box houses a 5.25-inch Kevlar-coned
range and high end are separately ad-
tors that would be a comfortable fit the show room with a lot of bonk of the day, its about which monitor increasingly taken over by software, woofer and a one-inch silk-dome
justable a pair of centre-detented
for our StudioLive AI digital mixers. and wheeze. But they lacked the sounds best. audio hardware manufacturers are rotary controls gives 6dB of adjust-
tweeter, protected behind its own
On the high end, we uncorked our adjustments needed to tailor them Dont take our word for it. Read looking more to the start and end ment for each range. What you dont
CoActual Sceptres. And if you to your studios room acoustics. on and see why top editors and
metal grille. Powered by a 45W and
of the audio chain to provide them see is that the amplifier pack also
have the money, you should drop Without these controls, youre reviewers like Eris. 35W Class-AB amplifier for the lows
with an income. Thats why theres includes filtering to reject RF inter-
this brochure, forget about Eris, and going to be fooling yourself and and highs, respectively, the speakers
so much choice these days when ference and damaging subsonic lows.
immediately buy a pair of Sceptres. creating mixes that dont travel well. cross over at 3 kHz. The specs give a
it comes to mics, preamps, audio Output current limiting, over-tem-
But what if youre on a budget? So we created Eris. Powerful. useable frequency response of 53Hz
interfaces and studio monitors. perature and transient protection are
When we surveyed the competition, Musical. Accurate. And affordable. to 22kHz, and a surprisingly loud
Based in Baton Rouge, in the extreme also present.
maximum SPL of 102dB at one metre.
south of the US, Crazy Eights
Ive heard speakers costing
Beware of monitors Are you mixing in a live room
with a lot of reflective surfaces? PreSonus are well With exactly
that have VOLUME
In a room with lots of acoustic established in the
twice as much that dont deliver
controls that only the same con-
change the output level treatment? Is your mid- and preamp and audio
high-frequency hearing starting nectivity op-
of the speaker. Eris
ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN
and inputs (RCA, TRS, and XLR) as
Well-balanced sound that, in the case well as volume and EQ controls on
of the E5, belies both the price and April 2013
the back. The Gain control provides
physical size.
up to 35 dB of boost for the unbal-
CONS anced input and 31 dB for either bal- PreSonus Eris Monitor Speakers this have to do with speakers? The smoother bass and extends down
Given the size and cost I cant find anced input. The High control gives By Craig Anderton Eris is PreSonuss Volkspeaker. Yes, further. For studio monitors, the E8
anything not to like. you a 6 dB shelf at 10 kHz. The Mid they have their Porsche equivalent is worth the extra bucks (and bigger
SUMMARY control gives 6 dB centered around Eris targets price pointbut adds the pricier Sceptre monitors, which footprint). The bass is tight and de-
These are the first PreSonus monitors 1 kHz. And the Low Cutoff provides a some novel twists. got the buzz at Winter NAMM. But fined, with solid transient response,
Ive listened to under studio condi- 12 dB/octave filter at either 80 or 100 My first car was a used 1966 Beetle, you dont need a Porsche to get from and the highs are accurate. If youre
tions and I have to say that Im very Hz, for use with a subwoofer. There and it refused to die. But in 2000 it point A to point B, and you dont really tight for space, the E5 will do
impressed by what their designers is also an Acoustic Space setting, became almost impossible to find need to spend a bunch o bucks for the job; as long as youre aware of
have achieved. which compensates for bound- certain parts, and figuring I owed speakers that let you create solid the E5s bump, youll find the mixes
ary (wall or corner) bass boosts. A Volkswagen some brand loyalty, I mixes. translate well to other environments.
cute little diagram on the rear of bought a used 2000 Beetle. (I did get Sound The E5 has a slight bump But also note the various rear-panel
the speaker shows which setting a diesel model, though.) What does around 100Hz, while the E8 has a controls make it easy to emulate car
speakers or desktop speakers. If you have the sort of airiness I associate level of quality for a given price point. probably double-check other parts of beginning our critical listening; our the very ear-friendly range of 75 to 80
have a monitor control system just with, for example, ribbon tweeters. PreSonuss special sauce is the set your listening chain, or the room it- first impressions came (literally) dBA SPL.
itching to switch between your big But accuracy is paramount in the of controls, but listen carefully to the self, as a very large boost or cut thats straight out of the box. As usual, our We tweaked the controls around a
speakers and smaller, real-world studio, because transportability is E8: The sound is even, projects well, set within the speakers is applying a listening materials included well- bit and determined that the High and
speakers, the E5 could be an excellent crucialand the E8 scores high in and lets you reference accurate mixes bandage to a much larger problem. known and very simply recorded Mid EQ can in fact get really extreme
choice. Compared to more expensive that regard. at a reasonable price. Like I saida The Acoustic Space switch is a low rock, jazz, acoustic singer/songwriter if overused; we ended up setting
speakers, the main difference is the Conclusions Like mic pres, speak- Volkspeaker. shelving control that can either be
character of the highs; Eris doesnt ers have reached a pretty consistent set flat or to 2 or 4 dB of attenuation The E5 costs a bit more per
pair than a set of cheap-ass
with a corner frequency of 800 Hz.
This switch is specifically designed
FUTURE MUSIC
Absolutely. And if I was primarily sibling but has a smaller footprint.
your money you get monitors you At 178 x 260 x 195 mm and weighing
an acoustic recording engineer who July 2013
can actually use for real engineering. in at just over ten pounds (4.63kg), the
worked with small groups, I would
The E8 is even more of a no-brainer: E5 will suit smaller studio spaces and
appreciate the privilege. Its true that
it basically allows recording musi- PreSonus Eris E8 & E5 monitors their entry level powered monitor for could be ideally placed on a desktop next
for larger rooms, and/or for heavy to your computer. A 5.25-inch LF driver
cians who want proper full-range home and project studios, available
rock or electronic music with more
studio monitors, but dont yet have PreSonus first studio monitors driven by a 45W amp and a 1-inch tweet-
in two versions, the E8 and the small-
bass, there might be better choices
the budget for high-end products, have plenty of added ingredients. er with a 35W amp is quoted as putting
er E5. We are taking a look at the E8
out therewhich leads me to...
to get into the game without hurting Trevor Curwen checks out the E out a 102 dB SPL peak sound level and
but have also checked out the E5 (see
Listening to the E8 themselves. numbers. its true that these can push out quite a
The Jive on the Five at right). lot of volume if you want them to.
Our listening setup for the E8 was on Later this year, PreSonus will ship PreSonus have been known for The E8 is quite a large nearfield The overall sound character is pretty
speaker stands well away from walls the Sceptre monitors, DSP-assisted their mixers, audio interfaces and monitor. Nice-looking in an under-
and corners in a well-treated room; we much the same as the E8 although, as
coaxial designs. Well be very curious even monitor controllers but sur- stated way, the cabinet is vinyl-lam-
werent expecting to need any of the might be expected from a quoted
to give them a try when theyre ready, prisingly monitors have not been in inated MDF, all in black but with a frequency response of 53Hz to 22kHz,
rear-panel acoustic tweaks, and quick but in the meantime, the Eris speak- their roster. Thats all changed now
tests confirmed that fact. As with the touch of blue in the woven pattern of the bottom end is much lighter. That
ers make for a very auspicious debut. as the Louisiana-based company the Low Frequency drivers cone and being said, once you get familiar with the
E5, we ended up doing all of our listen-
They bring honest-to-gosh studio unveiled two distinct new studio with a PreSonus waveform logo that E5s, theres enough there to give you a
ing with all rear-panel controls set flat.
monitoring into the price range of monitor ranges at the NAMM show lights up blue when you turn on the reasonable indication of whats going on
The highs and mids on the E8
just about any studio, and they do it back in January. One of those was power. for some types of music but if you are
were very similar to the E5; vocals making bass-heavy dance music, youll
with class. the Sceptre, a high-tech offering As is the norm for two-way studio
and midrange instruments tended probably want to check your mixes on a
that combines a coaxial design with monitors, the E8 is bi-amped. The
to be very far forward, and there was bigger system.
heavy-duty DSP. The other is the Eris, 8-inch Kevlar low-frequency trans-
that can cut the level of frequencies to compensate for room conditions, E5 translates very true in sound
below 800Hz by either 2dB or 4dB.
The rest of the controls, which
PreSonus call the Acoustic Tuning
although wed have preferred switch-
ing rather than a small rotary control
to keep left and right consistent.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN September 2013
colours and contours.
The E5 also has built-in current
output limiting and over-tempera-
controls, enable you to tweak the
Overall, the E5s pack a punch,
PreSonus propose that use of the Mid ture protection to avoid heat-related
response to your taste or to emulate the control can emulate other speaker issues and also prevent any damage
sounds of different types of speaker.
yet have subtle qualities akin
systems. They say that turning it from a short circuit. There is also a
The High control is a high-frequency
down will emulate the smiley face current output limiting and subson-
monitor chameleon.
an octave below. PreSonus own choice probably no bad thing to have an startup so that you dont get any
is a flat setting for both, so the rotary extra tool in the box... as long as you damaging pops in the speakers when
knobs for each are detented at OdB. remember to reset it. The thing about you power them up.
If you want to tweak the bottom inputs. When both balanced connec- you also really want to get referenc-
having your own set of studio mon- Overall, the E5s pack a punch, yet
end you get the Low Cutoff three- tions are in use, the TRS input will es from multiple sources - laptop
itors is familiarity, letting you make have subtle qualities akin to those of
way switch, which offers, besides a supersede the XLR input. The RCA speakers, car speakers, etc. I found it
sound mixing decisions based on the more expensive offerings. The depth
flat response, a low frequency roll off input is summed into the signal path. quite convenient simply dialing those
consistency of your listening experi- of control allows the E5 to act as a
at a slope of -12 dB/octave below a So what is it that makes the E5 a good tones up through one set of monitors
frequency of either 80Hz or 100Hz
ence. The E8 will let you do that but monitor chameleon. All monitors
PreSonus Eris E5 Studio Monitors monitor? Actually, what makes any like the E5s. These varied EQ settings
useful if you want to add a subwoofer to wed just set the EQ flat or tweak it to serve a purpose, especially if you
monitor good or bad? My philosophy not only give you a flat/linear sound,
the system. taste, leave it and get used to it. By Paul Lau learn how they operate. I mix to
is that most monitors intrinsically but can also give a more boomy,
God, planet or dog? The PreSonus Eris monitors are part sound good and the PreSonus Eris
WB E8s or a dirty limerick? serve a purpose; the question lies much rounder response, too. You can
of a new initiative for a company gen- E5s make me sound great.
Listening to a variety of com- OK, so we looked up what Eris with the listener and whether or not also detail with the bass control if you
meant. There are a couple of things, erally known for its stellar hardware
mercially released tracks, mixes in youve learned what your monitors are using a subwoofer.
progress and individual instruments one being the Greek goddess of interfaces. I was pleasantly surprised
when I got the call to review these
sound like in reference to other play- The E5 also has a three-position BONEDO.DE
through the E8 the impression was chaos, strife and discord, which back sources. Acoustic Space switch. This switch
doesnt sound quite right for a studio new near field monitors. I have been September 2013
that here is a speaker that could easily Many monitors on the market controls a second order for frequency
monitor, although it is designed to on the tail end of finishing a film By Felix Klostermann
take care of all recording and mixing are celebrated for a very particular control. The low shelving filter cuts
help you transmute the chaos and score and mixing and mastering a (translated from German)
possibilities if it was the sole monitor sound, but the E5 can easily be set the levels below 800 Hz by a specified
discord of an unmixed track into a separate album, so test-driving these The PreSonus Eris 5 and 8 are quality
in a small studio. Clarity is good and up to have different sound charac- amount (-2 or -4dB) to compensate
thing of beau- monitors with my PreSonus Studio- made, well-equipped and good
teristics thanks to its selection of for the boundary bass boost that
a monitor that should fit ty. Then theres Live was certainly an appealing idea. natured active speakers for near field.
controls. The first control is the input occurs when the monitor is placed
Eris, the most So what are these Eris E5s? They The fairly linear tuning of the boxes
tidily into most rooms and
gain stage, which allows you to set near a wall or corner. Hence, you can
massive known are billed as individually powered allows an amazingly balanced and
the signal level and, in that, set a control the bass response relative to
will let you hear the detail dwarf planet in high definition active studio mon- transparent sound reproduction, and
clean signal level. You have to be able the proximity of your speakers to a
the Solar System. itors, weigh in at about 10 lbs, and for a very attractive price.
in your mixes.
to produce a natural, non-distorted nearby wall. The E5s are also light-
Massive dwarf? definitely have a bit of a kick with a
sound between different frequencies weight and can be used in various
5.25-in. Kevlar low-frequency driver
Big sound from a
little speaker, perhaps? Or maybe the and 45 W Class AB amp. They also
at different volumes. The E5 sounds
very clean and generally round to me.
situations and locations. The controls
allow you to give a great sounding
RESIDENT ADVISOR
the overall balance of frequencies is
designer named it after his dog... have a 1-in. silk dome tweeter pow-
one that you can work with, the top Next, the E5 provides three EQ playback in just about any situation. SEPTEMBER 2013
Our view favours the first two ered by a 35 W Class AB amp. Their
end coming through prominently controls in its Acoustic Tuning sec- On my
peak is at 102 dB SPL with a frequen- By Phil Moffa
and clearly revealing the detail, while over the latter. The Eris E8s are no tion: high, mid, and low cutoff. With own proj-
dogs, wed be very happy to use cy response from 53 Hz-22 kHz. [Eris monitors] definitely sound
the bottom end is tight and focussed these controls, you can adjust the ects, I have
All of the speakers in the Eris series comparable to or better than other
and extends down far enough to them to mix our tracks and yes they settings into different frequencies been using
have front-ported enclosures made speakers in their class and also have
allow you to make those important can sound quite massive for such and produce different characteristics the E5s and plenty of useful features. Being able
a compact cabinet. What you are of vinyl-laminated, medium-density
mix decisions. for playback. A simple example is to then refer- to tune them is a huge plus, and
getting here is a monitor that should fiberboard, which also helps with
As for the Acoustic Tuning controls, make the monitors sound really flat encing back theyre equipped to be connected to
fit tidily into most rooms and will let proximity to walls.
the flat sound worked just fine for us, easy enough to do with the E5 to over to larger pretty much any setupThese are
you hear the detail in your mixes. At The E5s welcome three types of certainly worthy of consideration for
but we could appreciate how a small give a trueness of sound, say for the boxes and
a street price of around 400 a pair it inputs: balanced XLR, balanced -in. anyone on a budget.
cut or boost of the High control might mixing process. its impres-
has quite a lot of competition, but is a TRS, and unbalanced RCA line-level
appeal to some tastes or be useful In mixing and mastering sessions, sive how the
valid choice in that price range.
Eris. Affordable studio monitors
that dont treat you like a kid.
available from: