Ocean Way HR5 Studio Monitor Review

[amirm]

Thanks again for measuring distortion in two different spl levels, @amirm ! This makes me wonder how much applied power affects performance. It's there a general rule of thumb on how much distortion rises per dB?

It depends on level of non-linearity so no way to predict it. Would need to sample at many points to then graph it. I started on that but have not finished the work.

 

[Jukka]

Can you please give some examples of speakers you've heard with those criteria (high-quality measurements, similar results, different price ranges)?

High quality measurements are not something that are readily available, even if they exist. To compensate, I will compare two speakers of same brand, with similar geometry, only their tweeters and a lot difference in price: Amphion Helium3 and Amphion Two15. The former is one of the cheapest (450 €/piece) and the latter is a studio monitor (1800€/piece, would love to see this measured by Amir!) from this brand. Both are 2-way, xover 1600 Hz, 1" tweeter, 5" woofer, same waveguide, OEM drivers sourced from SEAS (afaik). They differ in drivers, number of drivers, xover components, cabinet tuning (ported vs. passive radiator). I auditioned both in the same spacetime, treated room, electronics etc. But let's focus on mids and highs performance.

For detail Two15 is like a sharp pencil while Helium3 is a paintbrush. The cheaper simply doesn't have the level of microdetail the other one has. For "speed" and accuracy Two15 is like a rifle shot and Helium3 is a loose balloon when comparing to each other. I could also use the same words Amir used in this thread to describe differences in sound between the two speakers.

Flatters gonna hate, but there is more to loudspeakers than FR. I haven't heard them myself, but I assure you, this is going to sound very "dull" compared to this although they have quite similar form of FRs.

 

[ctrl]

Before the points to be criticized are addressed, first something positive about the radiation of the loudspeaker.
Between 600Hz and 8kHz the HR5 shows good CD behaviour. The 70° frequency response measurement is almost parallel to the axis frequency response.

Unfortunately, the frequency responses below 70° horizontally radiate a bit too much sound power in the range 3-9kHz and above 8kHz too little.
This imbalance is corrected by the axis frequency response with a wide dip between 3kHz and 9kHz and above 9kHz the 5dB boost overcompensates a bit.

The sound was rather harsh.

I can't say for sure if it's just the (especially horizontal) radiation, but I had the same listening experience with a similar (slightly wider radiating) loudspeaker. Especially tightly struck cymbals sounded very aggressive (because of the sound power in the 5-7kHz range?). That sound was not for me.
For comparison, here are the normalized measurements (Peerless HDS830990 with ScanSpeak 851100):

I would like to pick out another unusual point, the bad decay behavior around 800Hz. After 10ms, or eight oscillation periods, the resonance has only decayed by 17dB.

My guess is that the resonance is caused by the diffraction slit in front of the 7'' chassis or that a surround resonance is amplified by it. Since the resonance slightly changes the pitch as it decays, according to the measurement, I would consider this relevant in this case, since the damping after 10ms is just -17dB.

 

[edechamps]

By the way, I was shocked to see Loudspeaker Explorer compute an Olive preference rating of -1.0(!) for that speaker… turns out that score is wrong, the shape of the frequency response is confusing the LFX calculation:

View attachment 67895

Looks like I will have to tweak the formula in Loudspeaker Explorer to go no further than the leftmost crossing of the threshold… maybe @MZKM will face the same hilarious issue, depending on how its formula for selecting the LFX frequency works.

Okay, I'm done tweaking the formula. Here's the new definition Loudspeaker Explorer is using:

And here we go, all good now:

And we get back to the 1.8 score @MZKM found, without affecting the score of other speakers besides this one.

 

[Sergei]

I was perplexed to hear an Ocean Way "professional monitor" inside a respectable studio some years ago. It was jarring, especially compared to a smooth large ATC in their other mixing room next door.

Turned out the Ocean Way was on an extended free evaluation at the studio, for several months already. With free quick turnaround maintenance no less. This was a good salesmanship, and a way to build a brand during the times of easy credit.

The only redeeming quality I noticed was how relaxed it seemed to sound from two steps outside the mixing room's open door. I guess all that combing and beaming resulted in a more random far-field pattern of reflections, smoothing out the sound.

 

[Draki]

Tested in SOS
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ocean-way-hr5

 

[xykreinov]

Tested in SOS
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ocean-way-hr5

What a mess of a review. Crazy how infatuated people will get with romantic stories.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Tested in SOS
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ocean-way-hr5

Do they always avoid showing the total frequency response in one graph? "Here's the LF response measured one way, and now here's everything else without the LF response measured a different way."