Edifier MR5 Review

[Bleib]

Sadly not very linear but goes louder than the other speakers

 

[Jaeger]

Hi guys. I just bought a pair of MR5 to replace my old pioneer bookshelf speakers. I want to ask that since the MR5 has a downward firing sub, can i put it on top of insulation foam? I intend to use the foam to isolate the speakers with my desk. Will there any negative effect doing this?

Not that I've noticed. I bought some JBER acoustic isolation pads for my MR5 speakers to isolate them from my sheet metal desk and angle them more towards my ears.
I'm happy with the result.

 

[kyuu]

Woofer looks like it's crossed over around 150Hz, and output is basically non-existent before 500Hz. At those frequencies, it's omnidirectional so the fact that it's facing downwards is basically irrelevant.

 

[lucian]

How does the speaker handle the different inputs? Does it mixes it them and plays them all together?

I looked through the manual - but its not very clear on this.

 

[flagshipper]

How does the speaker handle the different inputs? Does it mixes it them and plays them all together?

I looked through the manual - but its not very clear on this.

Yes it's mixing all. Headphone output is noisy.

 

[sphenicstands]

In terms of measure I think it's okay as long as we crossover the bass <60-70Hz to a proper sub, which would reduce port noise and distortion by a lot. The directivity at higher freq is what I don't like, but expected.

Would it be worth adding the Edifier T5s to the MR5? It's specs only go down to 35Hz and probably -N dB at that. I'm rather happy with the MR5s but now they've made games sound so much more immersive, I'm curious about what a sub would do, especially for rumbling sound effects, and if it's possible to get a decent one that isn't significantly more expensive than the MR5s.

 

[olymind1]

Would it be worth adding the Edifier T5s to the MR5? It's specs only go down to 35Hz and probably -N dB at that. I'm rather happy with the MR5s but now they've made games sound so much more immersive, I'm curious about what a sub would do, especially for rumbling sound effects, and if it's possible to get a decent one that isn't significantly more expensive than the MR5s.

Someone made a post about T5s here at ASR.

 

[machineglow]

Hey Guys,

I recently took the plunge and bought a set of MR5's and overall, it sounds great BUT I found a specific track lo groove (https://music.apple.com/ca/song/lo-groove/302888003) while testing that absolutely caused an ugly rattle/vibration that sounded like loose damping material on the inside. I can partially get rid of it by adjusting the low end drop off in the ConnectX app but I don't like the idea of artificially nerfing the low end of the speakers since that was the whole point for buying these speakers. (vs. buying a smaller speaker and pairing with a sub).

I returned the first set and bought a second set and while the initial rattling is not as bad, there's still a lot of low end rattle that sounds muddy and ugly. On top of that, the 2nd set appears to have a crackling sound during bass tones that I didn't notice from the 1st set.

Am I expecting too much from these speakers? Should I just get the T5s sub to handle the low-end freq and cut my losses with the MR5? Thinking of returning the MR5 and getting an MR4 or MR3. I only want to use these speakers as a bedroom casual listening setup.

Or is this this one of those "the track you're testing with is shit" scenarios? I feel like I can't unhear the low end limits of the MR5 now while my initial impressions were quite good.

Thanks,

 

[sphenicstands]

Hey Guys,

I recently took the plunge and bought a set of MR5's and overall, it sounds great BUT I found a specific track lo groove (https://music.apple.com/ca/song/lo-groove/302888003) while testing that absolutely caused an ugly rattle/vibration that sounded like loose damping material on the inside. I can partially get rid of it by adjusting the low end drop off in the ConnectX app but I don't like the idea of artificially nerfing the low end of the speakers since that was the whole point for buying these speakers. (vs. buying a smaller speaker and pairing with a sub).

I returned the first set and bought a second set and while the initial rattling is not as bad, there's still a lot of low end rattle that sounds muddy and ugly. On top of that, the 2nd set appears to have a crackling sound during bass tones that I didn't notice from the 1st set.

Am I expecting too much from these speakers? Should I just get the T5s sub to handle the low-end freq and cut my losses with the MR5? Thinking of returning the MR5 and getting an MR4 or MR3. I only want to use these speakers as a bedroom casual listening setup.

Or is this this one of those "the track you're testing with is shit" scenarios? I feel like I can't unhear the low end limits of the MR5 now while my initial impressions were quite good.

Thanks,

I'm a noob but are you certain the rattle/vibration is from within the speakers themselves? It may be vibration of objects in your environment you're hearing due to room modes or possibly even vibrations from direct contact with surfaces. An example of what room modes can do to frequency response: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/room-modes.51257/#post-1845475 If that's the case, I doubt getting a sub is going to solve the issue and more likely you would need to EQ out the offending frequencies. If you're having room mode issues with the MR5, getting a sub may actually make matters worse without EQ as low sub bass will be louder than the MR5 can produce. I've experienced this myself, as I started with the MR5 but added the T5s, only to find 30-60Hz from the T5s causing significant vibration in my timber floor, and when turned up further, window rattling. It doesn't even have to be that audibly loud for these phenomena to occur. There's some T5s specific discussion here and here about taming frequencies. I was very happy with the MR5 on their own but decided to add the T5s after reading about subs on this forum and overall I'm happy I did because it adds sub bass the MR5 can't produce on its own and certain music tracks, as well as games, sound more complete now, even though I still have some investigation to try and tame the floor vibrations more.

I tried the lo groove track purely on the MR5, with the default 30Hz, -24dB/octave low cutoff, albeit on YouTube since I don't have Apple Music, and there were no odd sounds to me but I also don't know how loud you're listening to it. I listen in a near field desktop setup so I don't have it that loud. It does clearly miss sub bass, though, which is heavily attenuated so if you're expecting that, then yeah, a sub is the way to go, just be prepared to mess around trying to get the sub to play well in your listening environment.

How have you positioned the MR5s? Directly on a desk, stands on desk, floor stands, bookshelf etc.? In my situation, having them directly on a desk produced muddy, boomy base. Stands on desk removed the issue. Prior to that I used books as makeshift stands and also tried placing the MR5s on chairs to get a feel for how proper stands might change the sound. I believe repositioning can also change the effect of room modes. There's a thread about MR5s and stands. Even with my current setup, using the tone generator at https://www.xbitlabs.com/ 80Hz with volume turned up beyond normal listening volume produces very noticeable vibrations in my desk and floor.

What inputs are you using? "Crackling" I tend to associate with input signal issues. I've experienced crackling in two situations. One was signal interference between multiple sources. IIRC, even though only one was actively playing, the other seemed to be generating noise that wasn't audible on its own. The other situation was the optical connections to my DAC. One of the optical cables wasn't fitting well in my optical switch. Had to use a different cable. It might be worth double checking all cables are firmly inserted.

 

[billou5767]

Hey Guys,

I recently took the plunge and bought a set of MR5's and overall, it sounds great BUT I found a specific track lo groove (https://music.apple.com/ca/song/lo-groove/302888003) while testing that absolutely caused an ugly rattle/vibration that sounded like loose damping material on the inside. I can partially get rid of it by adjusting the low end drop off in the ConnectX app but I don't like the idea of artificially nerfing the low end of the speakers since that was the whole point for buying these speakers. (vs. buying a smaller speaker and pairing with a sub).

I returned the first set and bought a second set and while the initial rattling is not as bad, there's still a lot of low end rattle that sounds muddy and ugly. On top of that, the 2nd set appears to have a crackling sound during bass tones that I didn't notice from the 1st set.

Am I expecting too much from these speakers? Should I just get the T5s sub to handle the low-end freq and cut my losses with the MR5? Thinking of returning the MR5 and getting an MR4 or MR3. I only want to use these speakers as a bedroom casual listening setup.

Or is this this one of those "the track you're testing with is shit" scenarios? I feel like I can't unhear the low end limits of the MR5 now while my initial impressions were quite good.

Thanks,

test what ? age , past speaker and competence / skill to test and conclusion of MR5 ?

 

[machineglow]

I'm a noob but are you certain the rattle/vibration is from within the speakers themselves? It may be vibration of objects in your environment you're hearing due to room modes or possibly even vibrations from direct contact with surfaces. An example of what room modes can do to frequency response: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/room-modes.51257/#post-1845475 If that's the case, I doubt getting a sub is going to solve the issue and more likely you would need to EQ out the offending frequencies. If you're having room mode issues with the MR5, getting a sub may actually make matters worse without EQ as low sub bass will be louder than the MR5 can produce. I've experienced this myself, as I started with the MR5 but added the T5s, only to find 30-60Hz from the T5s causing significant vibration in my timber floor, and when turned up further, window rattling. It doesn't even have to be that audibly loud for these phenomena to occur. There's some T5s specific discussion here and here about taming frequencies. I was very happy with the MR5 on their own but decided to add the T5s after reading about subs on this forum and overall I'm happy I did because it adds sub bass the MR5 can't produce on its own and certain music tracks, as well as games, sound more complete now, even though I still have some investigation to try and tame the floor vibrations more.

I tried the lo groove track purely on the MR5, with the default 30Hz, -24dB/octave low cutoff, albeit on YouTube since I don't have Apple Music, and there were no odd sounds to me but I also don't know how loud you're listening to it. I listen in a near field desktop setup so I don't have it that loud. It does clearly miss sub bass, though, which is heavily attenuated so if you're expecting that, then yeah, a sub is the way to go, just be prepared to mess around trying to get the sub to play well in your listening environment.

How have you positioned the MR5s? Directly on a desk, stands on desk, floor stands, bookshelf etc.? In my situation, having them directly on a desk produced muddy, boomy base. Stands on desk removed the issue. Prior to that I used books as makeshift stands and also tried placing the MR5s on chairs to get a feel for how proper stands might change the sound. I believe repositioning can also change the effect of room modes. There's a thread about MR5s and stands. Even with my current setup, using the tone generator at https://www.xbitlabs.com/ 80Hz with volume turned up beyond normal listening volume produces very noticeable vibrations in my desk and floor.

What inputs are you using? "Crackling" I tend to associate with input signal issues. I've experienced crackling in two situations. One was signal interference between multiple sources. IIRC, even though only one was actively playing, the other seemed to be generating noise that wasn't audible on its own. The other situation was the optical connections to my DAC. One of the optical cables wasn't fitting well in my optical switch. Had to use a different cable. It might be worth double checking all cables are firmly inserted.

Thanks for the reply!

I'm also a noob... I tried clearing everything off the dresser and still hear the "thwapping" sound on low bass tones. When I put my hand over the rear port, it makes the sound more noticeable. So is this just an issue with the air vibrations bouncing off the wall and not something loose inside? or is partially blocking the rear port making the inside stuff rattle even more?

I tried pulling the speakers as far away from the wall as possible on the edge of the dresser ~12" from wall but that didn't change anything. I'll try some more configurations in the meantime. I'm listening to >50% volume and 50% is the threshold that the sound also becomes noticeable.

regarding the crackling, this sound is noticeable even on lower <50% volumes. Happens via BT connection and via RCA (via AirPort Express Airplay 2 stream). they're very low pitched crackling. Not the typical popping crackling. but it does remind me as if the signal to the woofers is not clean somehow....

Will play around with placements some more.

THanks!

 

[machineglow]

test what ? age , past speaker and competence / skill to test and conclusion of MR5 ?

We could argue about the semantics of the phrase 'test', but we clearly know I'm just asking about strange audio behaviour and asking about possible causes so that I can try mitigating it.

 

[raindance]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm also a noob... I tried clearing everything off the dresser and still hear the "thwapping" sound on low bass tones. When I put my hand over the rear port, it makes the sound more noticeable. So is this just an issue with the air vibrations bouncing off the wall and not something loose inside? or is partially blocking the rear port making the inside stuff rattle even more?

I tried pulling the speakers as far away from the wall as possible on the edge of the dresser ~12" from wall but that didn't change anything. I'll try some more configurations in the meantime. I'm listening to >50% volume and 50% is the threshold that the sound also becomes noticeable.

regarding the crackling, this sound is noticeable even on lower <50% volumes. Happens via BT connection and via RCA (via AirPort Express Airplay 2 stream). they're very low pitched crackling. Not the typical popping crackling. but it does remind me as if the signal to the woofers is not clean somehow....

Will play around with placements some more.

THanks!

The thwapping sounds like port noise. You're pushing too much low bass to the speakers or trying to get more volume out of them than they are capable of.

 

[Tio]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm also a noob... I tried clearing everything off the dresser and still hear the "thwapping" sound on low bass tones. When I put my hand over the rear port, it makes the sound more noticeable. So is this just an issue with the air vibrations bouncing off the wall and not something loose inside? or is partially blocking the rear port making the inside stuff rattle even more?

I tried pulling the speakers as far away from the wall as possible on the edge of the dresser ~12" from wall but that didn't change anything. I'll try some more configurations in the meantime. I'm listening to >50% volume and 50% is the threshold that the sound also becomes noticeable.

regarding the crackling, this sound is noticeable even on lower <50% volumes. Happens via BT connection and via RCA (via AirPort Express Airplay 2 stream). they're very low pitched crackling. Not the typical popping crackling. but it does remind me as if the signal to the woofers is not clean somehow....

Will play around with placements some more.

THanks!

is the issue happen on both speaker (Left & Right) ?

 

[billou5767]

We could argue about the semantics of the phrase 'test', but we clearly know I'm just asking about strange audio behaviour and asking about possible causes so that I can try mitigating it.

all profuct in the world have a résonance point , a motor engine or a bridge ..at the exact Hz you have special thing or destroy .. soldier cannot go througt a bridge in aprade because of foot sound ..

you dont test with music , you test with special sound , idela for destruc the speeker

 

[machineglow]

The thwapping sounds like port noise. You're pushing too much low bass to the speakers or trying to get more volume out of them than they are capable of.

is >50% volume considered overdriving the speakers? Not trying to be hyperbolic. Just want to understand if these are just limits of the speakers. I know from an actual listening point of view, I'd only play it this loud if I was home alone and wanted to enjoy some thumping beats...

is the issue happen on both speaker (Left & Right) ?

My first set of speakers, there was a louder rattle only on the left channel(passive speaker side). the current rattle/thwapping shound is showing up on both speakers of the 2nd set. I've tried reversing the channels in the edifier app and it didn't change the issue.

all profuct in the world have a résonance point , a motor engine or a bridge ..at the exact Hz you have special thing or destroy .. soldier cannot go througt a bridge in aprade because of foot sound ..

you dont test with music , you test with special sound , idela for destruc the speeker

I hear ya. which is why I was hoping other owners could verify the behaviour with the track. That would tell me I'm just bumping up to the limits of the speakers and it's not something specific with my set. I already had a very noticable issue with my 1st set so I'm curious if the QC of these are just not to snuff.

 

[billou5767]

is >50% volume considered overdriving the speakers? Not trying to be hyperbolic. Just want to understand if these are just limits of the speakers. I know from an actual listening point of view, I'd only play it this loud if I was home alone and wanted to enjoy some thumping beats...



My first set of speakers, there was a louder rattle only on the left channel(passive speaker side). the current rattle/thwapping shound is showing up on both speakers of the 2nd set. I've tried reversing the channels in the edifier app and it didn't change the issue.



I hear ya. which is why I was hoping other owners could verify the behaviour with the track. That would tell me I'm just bumping up to the limits of the speakers and it's not something specific with my set. I already had a very noticable issue with my 1st set so I'm curious if the QC of these are just not to snuff.

verify what : not the same serial number , not same temperature and water in air , and remember the bass in the mr5 is a passive speeker .Moreover its mecanical a speeker need a little time to work as specified ?

the speeker right and left a not the same , electronic is in one , not the 2 ...not same temperature , not the same area in ..

 

[machineglow]

appreciate all the help from everyone.

I used a tone generator and the unwanted noise at low frequencies (from low 40hz and up) is noticable and more noticable on the passive speaker. The active speaker does exhibit a bit of the same noise, just not as loud/noticable compare to the passive speaker.

I moved the speaker away from the wall, pointed it so there’s basically nothing behind it and it still has the same noise. If I were to describe it, it’s say it sounds like a lower pitched version of blowing through a straw with some verbrato (using the tone generator). The Lo groove bass tone seems to exacerbate that sound.

Contemplating returning it and trying a third set unless there’s anything I could try.

Thanks!

 

[billou5767]

yes low 40 for a 46 official ..

 

[machineglow]

yes low 40 for a 46 official ..

I'm hearing it on all frequencies all the way up to 60's 70's and higher etc... You get it in low 40s only?