Edifier R1280T Powered Speaker Review

[fordiebianco]

Just bought them for work. Impressive for the price. Leagues better than anything else available at that price I have tried.

 

[raistmar]

Hello, recently I've bought a pair of Edifier R1280Ts monitors - the one with sub out, but unlike R1280T I can't find frequency response graphics nor EQ presets available to correct the sound they reproduce (feels a little muffled and odd to my ears). I guess they both differ because the frequency response listed is different between them. R1280Ts frequency response range is 52Hz-20KHz, wich resembles more the R1280DB than the T one.

I'm not heavily experienced on these technical matters, so I would like to ask how can I evaluate and flatten the sound through EQ?

P.S.: They also came with the "Soundfield Spacializer" feature, turned by remote control that kinda makes the songs more echoed and in some cases cleaner, but in others it feels weightless and almost completely erases some frequencies. It is very good for games or movies, where it noticeably gives the soundstage a boost and make them feel more 3D.

I am fairly new to the audio world, so I'm not very sure if what I did was the most correct thing to do, but it certainly improved the sound of the R1280DB's that I own.

I downloaded the app "KRK Audio Tools" to my iPhone, there's an Android version too. Then I played white noise through the speakers and used the "Spectrum RTA" tool to get a plot of the frequency response of the speakers. First I adjusted the treble (+3 dB) and bass (-2 dB) knobs to get the most flat sound possible. Then I continued playing white noise and adjusted my EQ. I have a mac, and I have yet to find a parametric EQ for macs, so I'm stuck with the 10 band EQ in the Apple Music app that I use. The equalization that gave me the most flat and nice sound was this:
32 Hz: +1.5 dB
64 Hz: +3.0 dB
125 Hz: -1.5 dB
250 Hz: -3.0 dB
500 Hz: +0.0 dB
1 kHz: +0.0 dB
2 kHz: +4.5 dB
4 kHz: -10.5 dB
8 kHz: +1.5 dB
16 kHz: +0.0 dB
I do not know the Q factors that Apple Music implements in the EQ. I'll also attach the before EQ and after EQ plots of the speaker that I got with the KRK app.

Both are measured after I adjusted the treble and bass knobs; also both are obtained using the bluetooth connection.
Hopefully this process–or even this rough 10 band EQ–can be useful to you.

 

[_thelaughingman]

I think i might have gotten carried away with this. But i didnt' like the wood finish on the speakers so i decided to paint them gloss black. Look a lot better than the old scheme.

 

[opan]

I'm not sure if I should hijack this thread or make a new post.
Anyway here goes:
right now I am testing the 1280DB set.
So I stumbled on this thread, registered, and installed apo equaliser and the Peace frontend as per instructions on this forum.
I then downloaded and installed "Edifier R1280T APO EQ.txt" ( thank you Mikey 76 ).
I was disappointed with the result, sounded extremely muddy.

Then I remembered, I already mailed the Edifier importer to complain about the treble adjustments on the speaker not working, they replied saying that adjustments where relatively small.

I'm 70 years old and suffer from severe tinnitus; so I thought I'd better do some Youtube test to see what frequencies I can actually hear.
Turns out just above 6200 everything is gone!
So this is probably the reason I don't hear any treble adjustments.

I will be using this speaker set mainly for viewing video content on a pc, like youtube and streaming services, Netflix, Disney and Prime.
I do think the equaliser opens up possibilities for me to at least get decent sound, right now I have chosen for the Vocal setting.

I'd appreciate any advice you can give me regarding what settings I might use so I have a, as optimal as possible listening experience.
please be gentle, I'm an absolute noob in this field.

Thanks

 

[LunarisDream]

Is the volume knob not analog on the R1280Ts? They came in the mail today and I noticed they aren't the type to have a start and finish point, but rather turn infinitely and along preset notches. It's my first pair of "good" speakers and I'm a complete noob when it comes to audio. I've heard that one should set the device output volume to 100% and adjust the volume on the speaker itself, but I'm curious if that matters here when the speaker volume doesn't seem to have analog control, unless I'm mistaken and this is still analog.

 

[somebodyelse]

Is the volume knob not analog on the R1280Ts? They came in the mail today and I noticed they aren't the type to have a start and finish point, but rather turn infinitely and along preset notches. It's my first pair of "good" speakers and I'm a complete noob when it comes to audio. I've heard that one should set the device output volume to 100% and adjust the volume on the speaker itself, but I'm curious if that matters here when the speaker volume doesn't seem to have analog control, unless I'm mistaken and this is still analog.

The photo of the amp board of a closely related model in post #136, your description and the remote control of the volume suggest it's actually digital. The photo shows an ADC and an amp chip that only takes digital input and has onboard DSP and DAC. This is increasingly common even in low cost powered speakers. Most likely the microcontroller on the board reads the rotary encoder used for the volume knob, and the remote control, and sends the message to the amp chip to increase or decrease volume. The tone controls are most likely applied using the DSP in the amp chip too. This probably gives better performance than the analog options to implement remote control would in this price bracket.

As to the best way to control the volume, the advice to have it high at the device output, and control it on the speaker, is a fair general approach so long as it's not overloading the speaker input. You would have to do some measurements to be sure what's best, but I expect that's not an option. Given that we see some ADCs and device outputs increase distortion significantly at the maximum, but behave much better a fraction lower, I'd probably dial the device output back a fraction if you can.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Is the volume knob not analog on the R1280Ts? They came in the mail today and I noticed they aren't the type to have a start and finish point, but rather turn infinitely and along preset notches. It's my first pair of "good" speakers and I'm a complete noob when it comes to audio. I've heard that one should set the device output volume to 100% and adjust the volume on the speaker itself, but I'm curious if that matters here when the speaker volume doesn't seem to have analog control, unless I'm mistaken and this is still analog.

The photo of the amp board of a closely related model in post #136, your description and the remote control of the volume suggest it's actually digital. The photo shows an ADC and an amp chip that only takes digital input and has onboard DSP and DAC. This is increasingly common even in low cost powered speakers. Most likely the microcontroller on the board reads the rotary encoder used for the volume knob, and the remote control, and sends the message to the amp chip to increase or decrease volume. The tone controls are most likely applied using the DSP in the amp chip too. This probably gives better performance than the analog options to implement remote control would in this price bracket.

As to the best way to control the volume, the advice to have it high at the device output, and control it on the speaker, is a fair general approach so long as it's not overloading the speaker input. You would have to do some measurements to be sure what's best, but I expect that's not an option. Given that we see some ADCs and device outputs increase distortion significantly at the maximum, but behave much better a fraction lower, I'd probably dial the device output back a fraction if you can.

The PCM9211 ADC datasheet recommends <=3V for the analog inputs with an absolute maximum of 6.5V, and because most single-ended analog outputs top out at around 2V, most devices should be okay set to max. Couldn't hurt to verify, though.

 

[odyo]

I'm using this beauty for i don't know how many years. It's nice to see Amir's opinion on it. I really like it's sound.

 

[dfuller]

Looking at the nearfield per-driver measures... Do these even have a crossover on the woofer? Looks like it just rolls off naturally, breakup modes and all.

edit: Looks like it straight up doesn't have one beyond a cap on the tweeter. I have to wonder how much better performance would be just by putting a couple dollars of passives in this...

 

[Filio45]

Do these even have a crossover on the woofer?

this chap opens them up in this video. Edit: I would like to see the smaller and well-regarded Edifier S880DB measured by Amir:

 

[infinitesymphony]

Looking at the nearfield per-driver measures... Do these even have a crossover on the woofer? Looks like it just rolls off naturally, breakup modes and all.

edit: Looks like it straight up doesn't have one beyond a cap on the tweeter. I have to wonder how much better performance would be just by putting a couple dollars of passives in this...

Yes, just a single capacitor. Presumably the 22 biquads of speaker EQ in the TAS5713 chip are doing the heavy lifting.

 

[somebodyelse]

Yes, just a single capacitor. Presumably the 22 biquads of speaker EQ in the TAS5713 chip are doing the heavy lifting.

What makes you say that? The woofer and tweeter are driven from the same amp channel so the biquads can't be used for crossover, and the response shape doesn't look like something anyone would produce on purpose. I suspect they're using some of them for the tone controls and little else. They could probably take a leaf from Neumi's book and release firmware that gives a much flatter response.

 

[infinitesymphony]

What makes you say that? The woofer and tweeter are driven from the same amp channel so the biquads can't be used for crossover, and the response shape doesn't look like something anyone would produce on purpose. I suspect they're using some of them for the tone controls and little else. They could probably take a leaf from Neumi's book and release firmware that gives a much flatter response.

Just a guess based on how DSP is being used in speakers like the JBL LSR305P MkII. I didn't mean to suggest that the DSP was being used for the crossover here. I guess it's true that with access to that many biquads a better FR result should be achievable, and with speakers at this price point there's likely individual QC variation to overcome too.

 

[MarkWinston]

Just bought R1700BT for 82USD. I saw a few measurement online


View attachment 87290

View attachment 87291

both FR are from here and here <- (thanks)

The FR aligned with what I heard from online demo. kinda U sound with OK mids

and here's the effect of Treble / Bass knob on the FR. When both are tuned to lowest and EQ the dip in 1-2k, it looks promising to me.
Will received the speaker in 2-3 days and then we'll see. Won't held my breath on how it sounds just replacing my 15 years old Altec speaker for youtube / streaming .

View attachment 87292

-2 treble and -4 bass will seem to make the 1700 rather flat, bar that dip from 1.5k - 3k. What settings did you finally settle with without the use of an external eq?

 

[fciotolax]

Hi,

I just implemented a routine to automatically export the EQ I design as APO/Peace config file.

I suggest you use Peace on top of EQ APO:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/peace-equalizer-apo-extension/

You just need to import the file as @sweetchaos (thanks for pointing the info) shows here :
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-community-project.14929/page-14#post-536526

I have attached a the config file to import.
Note that there is an automatically generated Preamp gain that is based on the actual peak gain of the EQ rounded up for a tiny bit of headroom.

Hi, I imported your profile into APO / Peace.
How do I set the "Treble" and "Bass" knobs?

 

[crappypanther]

I once had such. despite the low price, I didn’t like them very much. you don't hear any details. muddy sound. its not for music. for example even cheaper little pc speakers f&d v520, although also uneven, but play legibly without haze.

 

[Kustomize]

In my country, the 1280db, r1700bt both go for nearly the same price. 1280t are not available. Is 1700t a good choice? Is it an upgrade over the edifier 1280t/db?

 

[MarkWinston]

In my country, the 1280db, r1700bt both go for nearly the same price. 1280t are not available. Is 1700t a good choice? Is it an upgrade over the edifier 1280t/db?

Definitely. For the R series, get the 1850/1855 if possible or the new 2850 if you are in Russia or Malaysia.

 

[Kustomize]

I can get the db2000 for just 50 usd extra over the r1700bts. Basically 135 usd for the r1700bts and about 190usd for db2000. I am really not sure how good the db2000 is over the r1700bts.

 

[MarkWinston]

I can get the db2000 for just 50 usd extra over the r1700bts. Basically 135 usd for the r1700bts and about 190usd for db2000. I am really not sure how good the db2000 is over the r1700bts.

The S series (S2000Pro and the superior S2000MKII) is definitely way ahead of the R series. If you can get the S2000MKII for that price, you can rest assure that you have onr of the best Edifiers to date. What I like about the R1700BTS and R1850DB/R1855DB is the sub out option, they dont have it on the S series. If you dont mind not having a sub out and can afford it, go for the S series.

If you meant you could get the R2000DB for an extra 50 bucks, it really depends as it sounds a wee bit better than the R1700BTS but do not have a sub out.