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Edifier R1280T Powered Speaker Review

This is an album of Bach keyboard works played on a mini-organ. Really challenging for speakers--huge range of tonality, from piercing flute-like trills to rumbly bass. I'm amazed at how well the Edifiers are handling it.
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I really don't understand this review. Maybe the r1850's I had were much worse than these even though they were more expensive? The low-end was just a bunch of distortion and the rest felt unbalanced. I just used them for Youtube plus a bit of gaming and they were adequate for that.
That doesn't seem very likely to me. Unbalanced - well, compared to monitors, yes. But the "distortion" - was it objectively measured by the appropriate method or is it an "impression" given by some tonal imbalance? I'm guessing the latter option (if you didn't crank them up to max volume with a 0 dBFS input signal of course).

 
That doesn't seem very likely to me. Unbalanced - well, compared to monitors, yes. But the "distortion" - was it objectively measured by the appropriate method or is it an "impression" given by some tonal imbalance? I'm guessing the latter option (if you didn't crank them up to max volume with a 0 dBFS input signal of course).

Its a 4" midwoofer, its going to run into limitations remarkably quickly. I didn't measure, I just noticed that the low end started to distort more than I wanted to. Just buy a 5" speaker OR high-pass it and use a subwoofer. At 96 dB the r1280t reviewed here proves my point: its a complete mess. You can reach that easily when listening to an average SPL of like 80dB.
 
I bought a pair of Edifier R1280DB speakers almost a year ago to go with an Audio Technica turntable (upgrade from my old Crosley) for listening to operas and classical music LPs but I recently noticed a problem with them:

On high notes (e.g., like what Joan Sutherland sings in this track), there will be distortion but only in the left (passive) speaker; when I disconnected the speaker wires I couldn't hear any distortion in the right (powered) speaker.

Could this be a problem with the speaker wire? Is one of my pair defective? Or are R1280 speaker just not powerful/refined enough for operatic high notes?
 
I bought a pair of Edifier R1280DB speakers almost a year ago to go with an Audio Technica turntable (upgrade from my old Crosley) for listening to operas and classical music LPs but I recently noticed a problem with them:

On high notes (e.g., like what Joan Sutherland sings in this track), there will be distortion but only in the left (passive) speaker; when I disconnected the speaker wires I couldn't hear any distortion in the right (powered) speaker.

Could this be a problem with the speaker wire? Is one of my pair defective? Or are R1280 speaker just not powerful/refined enough for operatic high notes?
Change the speaker wires at the amplifier side and check wether the problem stays at the left speaker or moves to the right speaker.

If it moves I think the distortion is caused by the vinyl, either bad pickup adjustment (anti skating, ...) or the record has been destroyed by too much playback with worn needles.
 
I fiddled around with them a bit more but I'm starting to get discouraged.

Playing Bluetooth input I noticed the same kind of distortion (and in the right speaker this time! so the problem isn't caused on the vinyl end)

I suspect my problem is that the Edifier 1280BD just is not powerful/refined enough to handle the voice of Joan Sutherland and her ilk…
 
Thanks for the review.

What I find most fascinating in this review is that it probably has the highest disparity between measurements and subjective performance.

Is it from the equalization or there are aspects of the speakers that the measurements don't evaluate?

It has excellent bass that doesn't fall apart even at elevated levels with a single speaker playing. Track after track sounded good no matter what the genre. I have had much more expensive speaker with flatter on-axis response that fail such tests because they run out of power and bottom out/distort heavily. Not the Edifier R1280. That little woofer seems to have good power handling plus proper low frequency tuning.

How is this possible when measurements show high woofer distortion?

Let's remember that I am bothered for speakers that hit limits too quickly. This one has a very gentle limit. This is not something frequency response measurements show.

Is this aspect of the speaker not measurable, or it would require a different type of test?
 
How is this possible when measurements show high woofer distortion?
The measurements show high levels of low order distortion (2nd, 3rd), which is relatively hard to hear, especially at low frequencies. Drivers bottoming out are much easier to hear, more like clipping in an amplifier.
Is this aspect of the speaker not measurable, or it would require a different type of test?
It would show up in the compression tests like those Erin does. Those show variations in frequency response at different output levels more clearly. Typically for small active speakers this will show bass levels reduced relative to higher frequencies as the output level increases, preventing the driver from exceeding its excursion limits. The more advanced forms of this take the driver's thermal characteristics into account to avoid overheating too, so results may change depending on how long it's been playing at high levels.
 
I have a love/hate relationship with these, but I still kept them for fun testing (EQing etc.).

It is true that they perform best near field (ie. desktop) and this makes them great as surrounds close to my couch, together with much more expensive quality fronts/center/sub. They EQ very well and the quirks can be ironed out. I am using shelving/PK filters to shape their curve a bit, to make treble a tad bit less pronounced and lift a dip in mid-frequencies. To make their sound more balanced, curve approximating my fronts.

Respond well to "DynamicEQ" with Marantz AVR (bass boost etc.) , this makes these speakers really come to life, they take it well without "falling apart", alright.
I have looked into better surrounds, but many are too big, their small size is a big advantage for how I placed them now.

I also eyed Dali Spektor 1 (would have same size) as "better" surround speakers, but the problem with the DALIs is that they're designed to be positioned off-axis to MLP, which probably makes them not good as surrounds at all.

On my desk (for testing and EQing) the Edifiers are astonishing, they just don't perform well at distance.
 
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