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Edifier S2000 Pro Review (Powered Monitor)

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Edifier S2000 Pro monitor (powered speaker). It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $400 on Amazon including Prime shipping.

The S2000 looks better than its cost indicates:

Edifier S2000 Pro Review  Powered Speaker Monitor.jpg


Connectivity is a lot richer than professional monitors anywhere close to this price range including a remote control:

Edifier S2000 Pro Review  Back Panel Powered Speaker Monitor.jpg


I only had this master unit for testing. I like the large controls in the back though the rotary control for volume has no indication. So you are adjusting it blind. There is also no detent to indicate neutrality on the bass and treble controls. I tested the unit as you see. Pressing the volume control in selects the input and a small display on the front indicates which input is chosen.

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1%. Temperature was 70 degrees F.

Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.

Reference axis was the tweeter center. The front baffler is slanted back. I measured it however as if it were not.

Edifier S2000 Pro Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:

Edifier S2000 Pro Frequency Response Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Other than a small bass boost, the measurements look OK until you get to a few hundred hertz where things start to get progressively more variable. If we look at the near-field measurements we can see some of the reasons why:

Edifier S2000 Pro Driver Frequency Response Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


The cabinet/port resonances start to mix with the response above 500 Hz causing the variations. The tweeter itself has very uneven response which may be due to all the structures in front of it. Despite use of DSP, it doesn't seem like it was used to correct any of these deficiencies.

Early window reflections which is more indicative of far-field listening is a bit smoother/better:

Edifier S2000 Pro Early Window Frequency Response Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


That helps predicted in-room response some as a result:

Edifier S2000 Pro Predicted In-room Frequency Response Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Horizontal beam width is variable:

Edifier S2000 Pro horizontal beam width Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Edifier S2000 Pro horizontal directivity  Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Vertical response is not centered on measurement axis due to slanted tweeter:

Edifier S2000 Pro Vertical directivity  Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Seems like response would have been better if they had not slanted it. Regardless, don't go below 90 degree horizontal line.

CSD/Waterfall graph indicates a number of resonances:

Edifier S2000 Pro CSD waterfall Frequency Response Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Distortion was high and quite out of control at 96 dBSPL as I could hear the speaker make a lot of odd noises:

Edifier S2000 Pro distortion percentage THD Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Edifier S2000 Pro distortion Measurements  Powered Speaker Monitor.png


Listening test after the measurements were complete indicated that turning up the gain in the back and lowering the signal sent to the unit improved the sound. So part of the problem at higher SPL may be this. Then again the amplification available is very modest (12/50 watts) so the limit is not going to be that high anyway.

Edifier S2000P Pro Listening Tests and Equalization
As is the sound was a bit boomy and not very enjoyable. I took out my EQ tool and started to correct response deficiencies one by one:

Edifier S2000 Pro Equalizatrion EQ Powered Speaker Monitor.png


I was still not happy with the results. Right before giving up, I realized I had to really push the speaker to get loud and it would generate a cracking sound at limit that often occurs due to digital clipping. So I turned up the gain in the back and boy did that make a nice difference. Now I could get good dynamics and with the EQ correction, the sound was quite good. The slight boost around 4 kHz opened the sound a bit. And taking down the rest of the peaks seem to not only impact the frequency response but level of distortion as clarity was increased as well.

Conclusions
The S2000 Pro is a very feature rich speaker for its price. Objective measurements though indicate a number of response errors. Subjective listening confirmed the same with rather lackluster performance. Equalization helped fair bit indicating that if they had done this in the on board DSP, they would have had a winner on their hands.

As is, I can not recommend the Edifier S2000 Pro. It is just too imperfect. If you have it though, equalization helps a lot to turn it into a good sounding speaker at a great price.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Starting to harvest some vegetables from the raised beds. Picked a few BoK Choi (second from front) which was absolute delight. So delicate and sweet compared to store bought version:

Veggies.jpg


Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Attachments

  • Edifier S2000 Pro Frequency Response.zip
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View attachment 135896View attachment 135897
This is a very cheap speaker in China, usually selling for less than $265,And several eq curves can be controlled by remote control.
The MKII & MKIII are different models than the one tested (Pro). I'm under the impression that MKIII should be the best of the 2000 series, would like to see that reviewed here as well.
 
Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

These EQ are anechoic EQ to get the speaker right before room integration. If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that usually not optional… see hints there: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...helf-speaker-review.11144/page-26#post-800725

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 4.6
With Sub: 6.7

Spinorama with no EQ:
  • So bad HF not too smooth
  • Some resonances
Edifier S2000 Pro No EQ Spinorama.png

Directivity:
Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/20deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.
Edifier S2000 Pro 2D surface Directivity Contour Only Data.png


Edifier S2000 Pro LW better data.png

EQ design:
I have generated one EQ. The APO config file is attached.
  • The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.
  • Compared to Amirm EQ
  • Some boost at HF, be careful with the preamp gain. you've are warned.
Score EQ Amirm: 5.2
with sub: 7.3

Score EQ Score: 5.9
with sub: 8.1

Code:
Edifier S2000 Pro APO EQ Score 96000Hz
June162021-130001

Preamp: -2.8 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 43.80 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 0.97
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 96.00 Hz Gain -2.19 dB Q 1.48
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 578.50 Hz Gain -1.90 dB Q 10.60
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1186.00 Hz Gain 2.00 dB Q 3.94
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 2016.00 Hz Gain -1.63 dB Q 1.87
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1349.00 Hz Gain -2.44 dB Q 6.41
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4798.00 Hz Gain 3.72 dB Q 1.63
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 6000.00 Hz Gain -1.00 dB Q 0.67
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 8058.00 Hz Gain -2.00 dB Q 4.68
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 10100.00 Hz Gain 3.35 dB Q 5.93

Edifier S2000 Pro EQ Design.png


Spinorama EQ Amirm
Edifier S2000 Pro Amirm EQ Spinorama.png


Spinorama EQ Score
Edifier S2000 Pro Score EQ Spinorama.png


Zoom PIR-LW-ON
Edifier S2000 Pro Zoom.png


Regression - Tonal Flat after EQ Score
Edifier S2000 Pro Regression - Tonal.png


Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Nice improvements
Edifier S2000 Pro Radar.png

The rest of the plots is attached.
 

Attachments

  • Edifier S2000 Pro APO EQ Score 96000Hz.txt
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro Vertical 3D Directivity data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro Vertical 3D Directivity data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro Horizontal 3D Directivity data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro Horizontal 3D Directivity data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro Normalized Directivity data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro Normalized Directivity data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro Raw Directivity data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro Raw Directivity data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro Reflexion data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro Reflexion data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro LW data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro LW data.png
    145.4 KB · Views: 212
  • Edifier S2000 Pro 2D surface Directivity Contour Data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro 2D surface Directivity Contour Data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro 3D surface Vertical Directivity Data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro 3D surface Vertical Directivity Data.png
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  • Edifier S2000 Pro 3D surface Horizontal Directivity Data.png
    Edifier S2000 Pro 3D surface Horizontal Directivity Data.png
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Surprising outcome given it seems like they could have done so much better if they had just tweaked the dsp a little bit more.

I typically love Edifier as desktop speakers for greatest bang for buck, as shown in their prior R1280T review
 
Seems like response would have been better if they had not slanted it.
Or if you had set the reference axis in accordance with the inherent tilt? :)

Thank you for the review!

Did you do the listening test at your desk?
 
The MKII & MKIII are different models than the one tested (Pro). I'm under the impression that MKIII should be the best of the 2000 series, would like to see that reviewed here as well.
Yeah I've been curious in the Mkiii. It seems to have gotten a lot of positive reviews, with some people even preferring it over the higher-priced s3000pro
 
Or if you had set the reference axis in accordance with the inherent tilt? :)
The tilt is too high for practical listening that way in near field.
 
Tweeter mountain range response is likely the waveguide design, does it have any curve to it or is just an inverted sports marker cone?
 
Yeah I've been curious in the Mkiii. It seems to have gotten a lot of positive reviews, with some people even preferring it over the higher-priced s3000pro

Some S2000MKiii feedback/reviews I have come across mention an inconsistency in sound between the master & slave speaker (maybe due to difference in amount of free internal dimension).
Some “powered” speakers get around this by closing off empty space in the slave speaker to give it identical internal dimensions to master speaker.

I am particularly interested in the performance of Airpulse A300Pro which is their first Active design (both speaker’s have built-in amplifiers and power-supply) which can be used with internal DAC (one speaker has extra input-board and DAC) or each of the speakers can be switched to disconnect from this input-board and work like traditional studio monitors via XLR.
 
Some S2000MKiii feedback/reviews I have come across mention an inconsistency in sound between the master & slave speaker (maybe due to difference in amount of free internal dimension).
Some “powered” speakers get around this by closing off empty space in the slave speaker to give it identical internal dimensions to master speaker.

I am particularly interested in the performance of Airpulse A300Pro which is their first Active design (both speaker’s have built-in amplifiers and power-supply) which can be used with internal DAC (one speaker has extra input-board and DAC) or each of the speakers can be switched to disconnect from this input-board and work like traditional studio monitors via XLR.
Interesting. From some of the reviews and demos the Airpulse series has been said to have elevated/piercing treble
 
has been said to have elevated/piercing treble

Yes I also remember reading this, I believe the word used was “accentuated” treble.
Would still like to see measurements of Airpulse A300Pro (not the measurements from Edifier).
 
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Reference axis was the tweeter center. The front [baffle] is slanted back. I measured it however as if it were not.

Vertical response is not centered on measurement axis due to slanted tweeter:

So I am confusion.

Measurements show +10°V fills in the 4kHz dip, is that 10° even if it were tilted so the baffle was straight?
 
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Balanced input is 750mV,RCA is 650 mV max.Higher input will distort sound.
 
Did you have the remote control? This speaker has four EQ modes, DSP, only selectable on the remote, which one did you use for measurements?
The speaker might use the last EQ preset selected, if no reselection is done via the remote.


edifiers2000.jpeg
 
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Did you have the remote control? This speaker has four EQ modes, DSP, only selectable on the remote, which one did you use for measurements?
The speaker might use the last EQ preset selected, if no reselection is done via the remote.


View attachment 135962

I believe he mentioned he didn't receive the remote for testing:

I only had this master unit for testing. I like the large controls in the back though the rotary control for volume has no indication. So you are adjusting it blind. There is also no detent to indicate neutrality on the bass and treble controls. I tested the unit as you see.
 
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