Edifier R1280T Powered Speaker Review

[Mookalafalas]

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.

 

[malone-m]

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).

 

[Koeitje]

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.

 

[Serjeant]

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?

 

[LTig]

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.

 

[Serjeant]

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…

 

[master_arthur]

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?

 

[somebodyelse]

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.

 

[flexy123]

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.

 

[evert]

Not sure about @Maiky76 , but you can find Amirs EQ at spinorama.org: https://www.spinorama.org/eqs.html?sort=date&reverse=false&search=R1280T

Usually you can also find some very good EQ variations in the first pages of the review thread.

This might be the right time to get a measurement microphone (such as a MiniDSP UMIK1) and REW and not only use EQ optimised for flat or preference score in an imaginary room, but optimize your own EQ-settings for YOUR room and listening position.
You will thank yourself later

Also: welcome to ASR

Do you know which profile is from Amir? I don't see any of them relating to him..

 

[Audiomaniac3]

My original tweeter broke,ordered aiyima 6 ohm tweeter,here is original bass speaker frequency response and aiyima 6ohm tweeter frequency response,also I remooved internals of r1280t and made active speaker passive,now I am bi-amping my edifiers with fir crossovers They sound better than ever.

 

[Audiomaniac3]

 

[Audiomaniac3]

Two downsides of edifier bass speaker, that it has resonance somewhere around 4800hz,which you can't fix with any passive crossover and bass speaker doesn't have any crossover at all,also there is speaker resonance somewhere around 30-50hz that can only be fixed with high pass filter,so I've added both subsonic filter(highpass filter) and active fir crossover at 3000hz -48db octave.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Two downsides of edifier bass speaker, that it has resonance somewhere around 4800hz,which you can't fix with any passive crossover

Actually you could, by using a notch filter. (Edifier obviously weren't going to if the beancounters could only spare a single capacitor XO to begin with.) Moreover, a series notch may be beneficial even when using active XO otherwise:

Low Distortion Filter for PTT6.5X04-NAA

purifi-audio.com

Given that this woofer won't have the super low motor distortion of a Purifi driver to begin with, the effect ought to be even more substantial. Can you hear a (H3) distortion peak at about 1.6 kHz now?

 

[Audiomaniac3]

Can you hear a (H3) distortion peak at about 1.6 kHz now?

I can't hear it what so ever,I wasn't measuring distortion properly,but here is what I got,there is something fishy going on at 1600Hz.

 

[AnalogSteph]

That's exactly it. I guess orange is H3? Also note the correlation between the FR bump at ~1.1 kHz and H3 bump around 370 Hz.

BTW, what's your measurement setup looking like? The noise floor seems unusually flat... it ought to look a lot more 1/f if limited by an electret capsule. My guess would be either too little preamp gain or some sort of onboard audio at work (a noisy mic bias voltage is a very common problem, to be addressed e.g. via an external preamp or by dropping output impedance, like via a Linkwitz mod).

 

[Audiomaniac3]

BTW, what's your measurement setup looking like?

It's cheap aliexpress soundcard and onkyo rz840 calibration microphone,but for my needs it's more than enough,I was measuring at low volume to avoid room interference.

 

[markusousa]

I would like to ask a question if someone could kindly help please. I have the Edifier R1280DB connect directly to my laptop since is my main source of listening music to the 3.5mm connection, If I buy the DAC SMSL-SU-1 would be any sort of improvement over the onboard soundcard in my case is a Realtek, or it will be barely marginal to none?
Thank you.

 

[AnalogSteph]

If I buy the DAC SMSL-SU-1 would be any sort of improvement over the onboard soundcard in my case is a Realtek, or it will be barely marginal to none?

Waste of money. Put it aside for an eventual speaker upgrade instead.

(This assumes that the onboard Realtek is not screwed up by manufacturer APOs or drivers. Which in case of an off-the-shelf PC motherboard it probably isn't. Realtek chips have been perfectly fine and audibly transparent for years.)

 

[markusousa]

Waste of money. Put it aside for an eventual speaker upgrade instead.

(This assumes that the onboard Realtek is not screwed up by manufacturer APOs or drivers. Which in case of an off-the-shelf PC motherboard it probably isn't. Realtek chips have been perfectly fine and audibly transparent for years.)

That I cant answer, I'm not techincal capable to distinguishe.