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The M-Audio BX5 D3 is rather ubiquitous among budget studio monitors, so I thought it only fitting that I purchase a unit and publish the first complete set of measurements.
This monitor typically retails for approximately €80 but I paid only €60 for this particular unit, so it has the potential to represent exceptional value for money. The front baffle design is quite unassuming and the small white power LED also functions as a listening axis indicator. When viewed off-axis, its intensity is attenuated.
The rear panel offers XLR and TRS inputs but no RCA. There is also an input gain control without detents or a unity point marker and a three position switch for LF attenuation. As we will soon discover, that switch is best left in the -4dB position.
These monitors make use of class AB amplifiers and so the rear plate tends to reach rather high temperatures when left idling. Thermal imaging reveals temperatures approaching 60°C (140°F) on the portion of the plate which sits directly behind the heatsink. For an exposed surface, I consider this to be excessively hot and would not feel comfortable leaving the monitor to idle unsupervised overnight.
As always, we begin with the on-axis and off-axis measurements. These utilize a composite of ground plane, nearfield and gated methods, which should be reasonably comparable to measurements acquired using a Klippel NFS or anechoic chamber. For these measurements, the LF attenuation switch was in the "Flat" position.
And the in-room response.
The on-axis response is very reasonable, although we can see a very large upper bass hump. In-room response tilt is quite steep as a result, which will sound slightly muffled. Directivity is smooth and with only a few simple PEQ filters, there exists the potential for an excellent response.
This is an example of what can be achieved using ten PEQ filters. For specifics, please see Maiky76's excellent post.
Next, we have nearfield measurements of all driver components. Port resonances are kept to very low levels, which is always nice to see. The tweeter bump at 14.6KHz appears to serve as correction for the waveguide rolloff, as it does not appear in farfield measurements. We can also see a slight crossover gap followed by a rise in tweeter response, which explains the 1.2KHz dip and subsequent bump that appears in the farfield results.
Next are polar and line charts for directivity. Horizontal directivity is lovely, with almost 50 degrees of freedom.
As is often the case with non-coaxial designs, vertical directivity is not so lovely. You will definitely want to remain within about 25 degrees on the vertical axis. If you must listen off-axis, then prefer above to below.
Finally, we have harmonic distortion. This data was captured as part of the ground plane measurement and should be reasonably accurate.
Subjective impressions were excellent but I immediately identified the large bump within the upper bass region. Moving the LF attenuation switch to the -4dB position effectively engages the baffle step compensation and fixes this problem completely. You can see the rather dramatic effect below. This measurement is only valid below 13KHz, so please disregard the high frequency rolloff.
A little bit of vocal emphasis remained but after placing a wide PEQ filter at 1.8KHz, the result was an immensely enjoyable experience as I shuffled through my Apple Music library. Hanaregumi's Dokuji no Life was a particularly pleasant track on these monitors. For silly fun, I then paired my single BX5 unit with a Mackie MR524 and generated an Audiolense correction for the odd pair with surprisingly good results!
For €60-80 per unit, this is rather incredible performance and I would highly recommend this monitor to anybody with a limited budget.
Thank you for reading and I hope this thread has been of help to you.
Please find attached the full spin data. Teardown will be added very shortly.
This monitor typically retails for approximately €80 but I paid only €60 for this particular unit, so it has the potential to represent exceptional value for money. The front baffle design is quite unassuming and the small white power LED also functions as a listening axis indicator. When viewed off-axis, its intensity is attenuated.
These monitors make use of class AB amplifiers and so the rear plate tends to reach rather high temperatures when left idling. Thermal imaging reveals temperatures approaching 60°C (140°F) on the portion of the plate which sits directly behind the heatsink. For an exposed surface, I consider this to be excessively hot and would not feel comfortable leaving the monitor to idle unsupervised overnight.
As always, we begin with the on-axis and off-axis measurements. These utilize a composite of ground plane, nearfield and gated methods, which should be reasonably comparable to measurements acquired using a Klippel NFS or anechoic chamber. For these measurements, the LF attenuation switch was in the "Flat" position.
And the in-room response.
The on-axis response is very reasonable, although we can see a very large upper bass hump. In-room response tilt is quite steep as a result, which will sound slightly muffled. Directivity is smooth and with only a few simple PEQ filters, there exists the potential for an excellent response.
This is an example of what can be achieved using ten PEQ filters. For specifics, please see Maiky76's excellent post.
Next, we have nearfield measurements of all driver components. Port resonances are kept to very low levels, which is always nice to see. The tweeter bump at 14.6KHz appears to serve as correction for the waveguide rolloff, as it does not appear in farfield measurements. We can also see a slight crossover gap followed by a rise in tweeter response, which explains the 1.2KHz dip and subsequent bump that appears in the farfield results.
Next are polar and line charts for directivity. Horizontal directivity is lovely, with almost 50 degrees of freedom.
As is often the case with non-coaxial designs, vertical directivity is not so lovely. You will definitely want to remain within about 25 degrees on the vertical axis. If you must listen off-axis, then prefer above to below.
Finally, we have harmonic distortion. This data was captured as part of the ground plane measurement and should be reasonably accurate.
Subjective impressions were excellent but I immediately identified the large bump within the upper bass region. Moving the LF attenuation switch to the -4dB position effectively engages the baffle step compensation and fixes this problem completely. You can see the rather dramatic effect below. This measurement is only valid below 13KHz, so please disregard the high frequency rolloff.
A little bit of vocal emphasis remained but after placing a wide PEQ filter at 1.8KHz, the result was an immensely enjoyable experience as I shuffled through my Apple Music library. Hanaregumi's Dokuji no Life was a particularly pleasant track on these monitors. For silly fun, I then paired my single BX5 unit with a Mackie MR524 and generated an Audiolense correction for the odd pair with surprisingly good results!
For €60-80 per unit, this is rather incredible performance and I would highly recommend this monitor to anybody with a limited budget.
Thank you for reading and I hope this thread has been of help to you.
Please find attached the full spin data. Teardown will be added very shortly.
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