PreSonus Eris E3.5 Powered Monitor Review ($100/pair)

[Beershaun]

If Erin had a headless panther these would have earned it. nicely done. Hopefully this convinces a few people looking to buy their first "real speakers" on a budget to save their money and be patient.

 

[hyperplanar]

Wow, that’s a terrible spin. But I do wonder, perhaps the scoop out of the low-mids is intentional to compensate for their intended placement as a computer speaker, sitting directly on a desk below or to the sides of a monitor. The acoustic reflections off the desk from such a placement would boost the low mids quite a lot, but not enough to make it tonally neutral I’d guess. Doesn’t address the bump at 100 Hz either but that’s a popular tuning for these types of product.

 

[Biblob]

So disappointing!
The Neumi is a better buy, lol.

 

[hardisj]

So disappointing!
The Neumi is a better buy, lol.

And the Neumi is getting an update so it will be an even better buy. I'll be doing a revisited review on them. Neumi listened and have made adjustments.

 

[MarsianC#]

Neumi listened and have made adjustments.

Success! Making the world a little better (sounding)

 

[Ericglo]

If Erin had a headless panther these would have earned it. nicely done. Hopefully this convinces a few people looking to buy their first "real speakers" on a budget to save their money and be patient.

Well Erin does have a dog. Maybe this would deserve his dog going to the bathroom.

I believe Erin likes Disney. Maybe he could use Disney characters.

 

[hardisj]

The second, labelled Erin is his EQ with the default settings i.e. no tweaks.

Score EQ Erin: 4.9

Not half bad. But to be clear, those suggestions were built from REW.

 

[Fernando]

And the Presonus Eris 4.5? Are better?

 

[hardisj]

And the Presonus Eris 4.5? Are better?

no idea.

 

[Beershaun]

And the Presonus Eris 4.5? Are better?

The way the spec is written on their website I would say no. The frequency response has no +/-DB range specified. The amp also has no continuous and peak rating or indication of the freq. range or distortion level at that power rating. Those are conspicuous absences that I would have to assume means it is out of control like the 3.5.
https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E45/tech-specs

Performance
Frequency Response70 Hz - 20 kHz
Crossover Frequency2.8 kHz
LF Amplifier Power25W/speaker
HF Amplifier Power(not biamped)
Peak SPL (@ 1 meter)100 dB
LF Driver4.5"
HF Driver1” silk domeI
nput Impedance10 kΩ

 

[khark]

For many years this has been either the #1 or #2 selling powered monitor in both US and European Amazons. Yikes.

 

[Beershaun]

For many years this has been either the #1 or #2 selling powered monitor in both US and European Amazons. Yikes.

lower price=more sales.

 

[khark]

lower price=more sales.

True. And it's #2 at Thomann too currently. I guess at this price point one should not have unreasonable expectations.

 

[Beershaun]

True. And it's #2 at Thomann too currently. I guess at this price point one should not have unreasonable expectations.

Yeah but this is why Erin's work is super important. Consumers have no clear yardstick about price vs. quality and performance of a speaker. Especially speakers. It's still very much driven by brand perception. So Erin's and Amir's work creates a yardstick or baseline on what you should expect and what is available at a given price point. This is especially important at the lowest price points as well as putting that into perspective of the continuum of speaker performance so consumers can understand how bad a speaker really is, and what they need to spend to get a competently designed speaker.

I'll add another point to consider. I'm sure there is a group of people who are looking at speakers in this price range, that are likely on a tight budget and this is very dear money to them. They are enthusiasts or at the very least, care about audio and want to get into the hobby, else they wouldn't bother as they have more important things to spend their next $200 dollars on. So there is definitely an emotional investment in this choice to dip their toe into the audio hobby. These speakers should not be their first introduction to the hobby. I would feel scammed if I read this article after purchasing these speakers and likely be deterred from future purchases.

Good entry level stuff is super important to growing the enthusiast base for any hobby. Ala "The answer is always Miata" for entry level car enthusiasts.

 

[Matias]

Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: -1.3
With Sub: 4.3

Spinorama with no EQ:

• Not as Flat as i would expect, maybe because the multimedia usage?
• Pretty bad
• Ok Horizontal Directivity

View attachment 129956

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.
View attachment 129959
View attachment 129963
EQ design:
I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Erin is his EQ with the default settings i.e. no tweaks.
• 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, probably in the near field so no Score EQ this time (I checked it would be very close to the LW anyways)

Score EQ LW: 5.8
with sub: 8.3

Score EQ Erin: 4.9
with sub: 7.4

Presonus Eris E3.5 APO EQ LW 96000Hz
May162021-123909

Preamp: -0.1 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 54.6 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 1.24
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 107.9 Hz Gain -9.95 dB Q 1.5
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1037 Hz Gain -4.3 dB Q 1.51
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1654 Hz Gain -7.05 dB Q 4.13
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3382 Hz Gain -5.5 dB Q 1
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 6494 Hz Gain -1.77 dB Q 2.42
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 9160 Hz Gain -8 dB Q 0.73
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 17116 Hz Gain -5.56 dB Q 4

View attachment 129957

Spinorama EQ LW
View attachment 129955

Spinorama EQ Erin
View attachment 129954

Zoom PIR-LW-ON
View attachment 129953

Quite decent after EQ! This should be called "extreme makeover" lol.

 

[Beershaun]

Quite decent after EQ! This should be called "extreme makeover" lol.

Does the EQ score take into account the distortion limits of these speakers? I suspect boosting these things at all creates too much distortion very quickly.

 

[Matias]

Does the EQ score take into account the distortion limits of these speakers? I suspect boosting these things at all creates too much distortion very quickly.

For 100 bucks the EQ saved the day, now please the user should not listen loud.

 

[Vict0r]

Cheap and peaky! Not awful, considering the price, but far from ideal. Still, if you get these second hand for, say, $60 and you like fiddling with DSP, these could be a fun, first set of monitors to mess around with.

 

[Savi]

And the Presonus Eris 4.5? Are better?

I have the 4.5 to listen radio with bluetooth in my kitchen and even if I did not measure it, my feeling is that they are pretty much as bad as Erin 3.5 measurements. For the price (175euros) I was really desappointed even if this works fine for my use.

Thanks for the review ! I am going to try your tweak on my 4.5.

 

[Koeitje]

My reaction when looking at the spins: ???

What the actual fuck, this is so incredibly bad...