Presonus Eris E5 BT Review

[AudioSceptic]

View attachment 468870
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
View attachment 468845

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
View attachment 468847
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,
View attachment 468846
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
View attachment 468848
No clear design intent is apparent.
From the on-axis curve to the DI, there’s nothing smooth here.




Directivity
View attachment 468849
View attachment 468850
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.”





View attachment 468851
View attachment 468852
No comment.




Beamwidth
View attachment 468853
View attachment 468854
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
View attachment 468855
View attachment 468856
Good grief…




THD
View attachment 468857
Around 350 Hz, 2nd-, 3rd-, and higher-order harmonics all spike together — a typical sign of strong resonance.




View attachment 468858View attachment 468859View attachment 468860




View attachment 468861

Increasing the output only made the problem more apparent.




View attachment 468862
View attachment 468863
However, non-linear distortion from the woofer’s motor and suspension is even greater, partially masking the resonance in the THD plots.




Multitone Test
View attachment 468864
View attachment 468865
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~
View attachment 468866




View attachment 468867
View attachment 468868
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
View attachment 468869
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.

Thanks for this, but can I make a suggestion or 2?

It would be most helpful if you could always start a review with at least a basic description including price and dimensions (the units don't matter as long as we know what they are). The price is especially important as it must be considered against any faults: many can be forgiven in a $99 speaker but not a $999 one!

Also, a photo of the rear showing the connections would be most useful.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Very strange measured anomalies, although the lack of crossover and a tweeter waveguide probably account for them.

 

[Phorize]

Is it just me, or do so many of these 'woven cone' style bass-mid drivers have major issues further up. Nice looking boxes too, that may even pass muster in a domestic rig.

Mind you, what do you expect for £219 or so the pair in the UK? I bet they land at substantially less than that, so an inductor plus cap or something, to take the upper range off the bass driver over 3kHz or so wouldn't add many cents to the cost, surely?

There is quite a lot of competition at this price point. For example the Edifier MR3 performs respectably and is available in Amazon UK for a bewildering £89.

 

[AudioSceptic]

There is quite a lot of competition at this price point. For example the Edifier MR3 performs respectably and is available in Amazon UK for a bewildering £89.

Is it really £89 for a *pair*? That really is bewildering. There's also the M60, which is smaller but might perform better, for a still reasonable £160/pair.

 

[DanielT]

It will certainly improve the performance. But these cheap product often sells in big volume. I have seen things worse than this making thousands of sales per month (worldwide). A passive network like what you described cost a few $. That adds up... Most companies won't just give up these profit.

This profit, always this profit.

Then, as mentioned in the thread, it's a question of how audible it is? It doesn't look that good on paper, but it's such a narrow Q, so, well, maybe not.
By the way, anyone with PEQ can test that. Create an equally deep and wide valley around 5.5 kHz and then listen. Provided that you have speakers with straight FR from the start. Should it be done really properly, then with and without dip listening blind tests, ...but that might be overkill. Or not for some bored Hifi nuts to tinker with on a weekend when they have nothing better to do.

Thanks for the extensive measurements! I considered those for a second a couple of weeks ago looking for an upgrade of computer speakers for a friend. Then I remembered some amir's review and finally bought the KRK Kreate 3, with similar functionality, for 70 bucks less at thomann (europe). https://www.thomann.es/krk_kreate_3.htm. And now this... oh boy, take people's comments on thomann with a grain of salt...

Interesting. From KRK themselves:

Kreate 3 Powered Studio Monitor, Pair

The KRK KREATE SERIES monitors bring amazing value and legendary KRK studio monitoring performance to musicians, engineers, producers, and content creators. Available in three sizes, these best-in-class two-way studio monitors are designed specifically for the diverse needs of creative...

www.krkmusic.com

 

[DSJR]

Is it really £89 for a *pair*? That really is bewildering. There's also the M60, which is smaller but might perform better, for a still reasonable £160/pair.

I have a tale of a well reviewed, popular and attractively finished speaker which retailed for £320pr a fair while ago. UK trade on that would have been around £200 or so, yet *apparently,* they were rumoured to enter the UK for $14pr, boxed and ready to ship to dealers... The source is utterly trusted.

 

[xaviescacs]

This profit, always this profit.

Then, as mentioned in the thread, it's a question of how audible it is? It doesn't look that good on paper, but it's such a narrow Q, so, well, maybe not.
By the way, anyone with PEQ can test that. Create an equally deep and wide valley around 5.5 kHz and then listen. Provided that you have speakers with straight FR from the start. Should it be done really properly, then with and without dip listening blind tests, ...but that might be overkill. Or not for some bored Hifi nuts to tinker with on a weekend when they have nothing better to do.

Interesting. From KRK themselves:
View attachment 469139
View attachment 469139View attachment 469140View attachment 469141View attachment 469142View attachment 469143View attachment 469144View attachment 469145

Kreate 3 Powered Studio Monitor, Pair

The KRK KREATE SERIES monitors bring amazing value and legendary KRK studio monitoring performance to musicians, engineers, producers, and content creators. Available in three sizes, these best-in-class two-way studio monitors are designed specifically for the diverse needs of creative...

www.krkmusic.com

I saw the plots and thought they weren't that bad. I guess the average windows must be wide. My surprise was the bluetooth, which I didn't expect. Subjectively, on a glass table, decent spl for a desktop speaker, highs a bit harsh, low end a bit artificial but with some presence and the only thing that wasn't convincing at all was orchestral, no idea why, perhaps there is some issue around the crossover that isn't shown on the plots... After some trials I left them with -2 in HF and LF unchanged, so like red + blue on the frequency plot. For the price, a very nice package that is hard to beat, IMO.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I have a tale of a well reviewed, popular and attractively finished speaker which retailed for £320pr a fair while ago. UK trade on that would have been around £200 or so, yet *apparently,* they were rumoured to enter the UK for $14pr, boxed and ready to ship to dealers... The source is utterly trusted.

Gulp!

 

[Azrael]

I guess the DSP amp chipset inside this speaker only has 2 channels, and then you only put a small series capacitor on the tweeter as a protection/high pass, no low-pass filter on the woofer at all, you wired the woofer and tweeter+cap in parallal and then you just EQ the response of the whole system until it becomes sort of OK-ish. Yes, the woofer cone-breakup remains as an issue, and the directivity is completely screwed up - But Hey! There are only very limited ways of making an active product at this price point without actually losing money, so...

That's exactly what I thought when I saw the measurement results: Loveless protective high-pass filters for the tweeters, then an over-all correction with a DSP.

I think it is difficult (but not impossible) to show even less competence in speaker development.

I find this highly embarrassing, especially for a manufacturer that claims to develop studio monitors.

 

[kyuu]

Thank you for the thoughtful comment.

First, “Active–Passive” here refers to what is widely known as a Master–Slave configuration.

Since I am not a native English speaker and my cultural understanding of Western contexts is limited, I unintentionally caused discomfort to someone in a previous AIYIMA S600 review.

Primary/secondary or parent/child are good alternatives.

 

[yewneek]

View attachment 468870
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
View attachment 468845

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
View attachment 468847
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,
View attachment 468846
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
View attachment 468848
No clear design intent is apparent.
From the on-axis curve to the DI, there’s nothing smooth here.




Directivity
View attachment 468849
View attachment 468850
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.”





View attachment 468851
View attachment 468852
No comment.




Beamwidth
View attachment 468853
View attachment 468854
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
View attachment 468855
View attachment 468856
Good grief…




THD
View attachment 468857
Around 350 Hz, 2nd-, 3rd-, and higher-order harmonics all spike together — a typical sign of strong resonance.




View attachment 468858View attachment 468859View attachment 468860




View attachment 468861

Increasing the output only made the problem more apparent.




View attachment 468862
View attachment 468863
However, non-linear distortion from the woofer’s motor and suspension is even greater, partially masking the resonance in the THD plots.




Multitone Test
View attachment 468864
View attachment 468865
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~
View attachment 468866




View attachment 468867
View attachment 468868
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
View attachment 468869
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.

You can't polish a turd, but you sure can roll it in glitter!

 

[AudioSceptic]

You can't polish a turd, but you sure can roll it in glitter!

I can't give you a "like" because the image is too unpleasant!

 

[AnalogSteph]

I was afraid that these would be a step down from the regular old E5 (which is a proper active 2-way sold at around the same price point), and this proves it. They're more like the E4.5. They're in dire need of a proper crossover with a notch filter for the nasty breakup mode.

 

[milosz]

"Studio Monitors" - monitors for someone with a tin ear that lives in a studio apartment.

 

[Bleib]

"Studio Monitors" - monitors for someone with a tin ear that lives in a studio apartment.

One of my worst experiences is with Alesis studio monitors, Elevate 6. Would be fun to read measurements if they give a hint on why

 

[prerich]

One positive (just kidding) - the horizontal directivity's psychedelic sheep head


View attachment 468920

I thought it looked like one of the guys from Devo!!!!

 

[Palladium]

There is quite a lot of competition at this price point. For example the Edifier MR3 performs respectably and is available in Amazon UK for a bewildering £89.

I'm quite sure by now even cheapo portable BT speakers will provide better performance.

 

[Hart]

There are are ton of these kinds of speakers on Amazon. Nice looking but thrown together without any fidelity goal in mind. They are the internet age version of the white van in the parking lot speaker. I will look but does ASR have a section dedicated to wizardly gimmicks like cables lifts that keep your cables from mixing with the carpet electrons, or pyramid feet for the amplifier? $20,000 interconnects? Mind boggling. It deserves its own section...

 

[AudioSceptic]

There are are ton of these kinds of speakers on Amazon. Nice looking but thrown together without any fidelity goal in mind. They are the internet age version of the white van in the parking lot speaker. I will look but does ASR have a section dedicated to wizardly gimmicks like cables lifts that keep your cables from mixing with the carpet electrons, or pyramid feet for the amplifier? $20,000 interconnects? Mind boggling. It deserves its own section...

These speakers are not for music; they are for gaming, etc., on computers.

 

[AudioSceptic]

There are are ton of these kinds of speakers on Amazon. Nice looking but thrown together without any fidelity goal in mind. They are the internet age version of the white van in the parking lot speaker. I will look but does ASR have a section dedicated to wizardly gimmicks like cables lifts that keep your cables from mixing with the carpet electrons, or pyramid feet for the amplifier? $20,000 interconnects? Mind boggling. It deserves its own section...

Some of the cable nonsense is covered here <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-of-rca-cables-mogami-amazon-monoprice.27871/>