This is a 5-inch class studio monitor from Presonus.
It’s an active–passive design and also supports Bluetooth mode.
Let’s dive straight into the data.
Frequency Response
Right from the start, things don’t look promising.
The -6 dB low-end extension comes in at a reasonable 51.8 Hz with a 22 dB/octave slope.
Leaving aside the overall tonal balance, the high frequencies are a complete mess.
As with most things in audio, the cause of a phenomenon often matters more than the phenomenon itself.
If we think purely in terms of the loudspeaker’s transfer function, a narrow high-Q dip in the extreme treble might not be a fatal issue by itself.
So, let’s look deeper below.
Nearfield Measurements
Indeed, the real issues lie elsewhere.
First, look at the sharp spike near 5 kHz in the woofer’s response — a strong breakup mode peak.
This resonance likely wreaks havoc on the summed on-axis response.
Second, this could have been minimized if a proper crossover filter had been implemented, but for reasons other than cost-cutting, it’s hard to see the design logic.
Third,
A naturally measured tweeter response rarely shows such a broad rise in a specific band — yet here it does.
Coincidentally, the woofer response shows the same rise over the same band.
This leads me to cautiously speculate that the manufacturer boosted that band during voicing to achieve a target tonal balance, inadvertently emphasizing the woofer diaphragm’s breakup mode frequency at the same time.
(This is just my subjective guess.)
CEA-2034
No clear design intent is apparent.
From the on-axis curve to the DI, there’s nothing smooth here.
Directivity
Without a crossover and without even a waveguide, the mismatch between the drivers’ directivity is obvious — resulting in bizarre, uneven horizontal dispersion.
To be blunt… “It’s not easy to make something this bad.”
No comment.
Beamwidth
Again, there’s no sign of controlled design here.
Worse, the 2 kHz–5 kHz range — more than a full octave — is riddled with large directivity errors.
Polar Plot
Good grief…
THD
Around 350 Hz, 2nd-, 3rd-, and higher-order harmonics all spike together — a typical sign of strong resonance.
Increasing the output only made the problem more apparent.
However, non-linear distortion from the woofer’s motor and suspension is even greater, partially masking the resonance in the THD plots.
Multitone Test
It’s unrealistic to expect much from a speaker without even a crossover filter.
Even for a 5-inch unit, expectations should be tempered.
80Hz~
Distortion was already high to begin with, and it climbed further with increased output.
At 96 dB SPL, the level of multitone distortion actually exceeded that of the 76 dB test signal.
Compression Test
No comment.
Final Thoughts
I’m sorry this review contains so much criticism — and even a few “no comment” sections.
However, this product is marketed and sold as a studio monitor offering studio-quality sound.
Presonus is a long-established brand in the music production industry, and for such products I inevitably apply stricter standards than I would for casual home or desktop speakers.
While the far-field on-axis response has been tuned reasonably close to a flat target, the abundance of high distortion and uncontrolled resonances leaves me skeptical.
Perhaps its colorful tonal character might be enjoyable to some listeners — but as a tool for accurate studio monitoring, I cannot agree that it meets the necessary quality standard.
That’s all.
