PreSonus Sceptre S6 Monitor Review

[DSJR]

I've had to rely on the UREI 813s a lot when working in Studios throughout LA back in the day, and I always did rather well with these. Wouldn't mind having a pair today, but one would need to have a bigger house, and possible revert to being single.

It appears that many of my favourite 'sounding' 80s albums were mixed using Ureis from the studio info I've tried to glean. Would I be right in saying the upper response 'lumpiness' varies a bit with listening distance and angle?

 

[Koeitje]

It is, but at the same time, have to wonder, if its really "That" bad in reality?

I mean the variations are all within 5db, and yeah it looks bad, but without buying these just curious if it would be audible as horrible, or just a bit flawed??

I don't know either, but combined with high distortion for a 6" driver and a high price I ended up giving it a poor.

 

[GeekyBastard]

I used to own a pair of S8, the DSP inside constantly lost factory calibration data or run in diagnostic mode after power on, results in ear piercing sounding treble, or no bass at all etc.. Apparently it's a common problem, and I read from an old post in the Presonus forum that you have to press some combination of keys on the back while power on to restore the DSP to correct working status, it must be a design flaw, and there's no permanent solution from Presonus officially whatsoever, sold them to a buyer who's willing to deal with those bugs.

(Might be the tutorial I followed at that time)

 

[amirm]

BTW, I forgot to mention that I tested for the angle making a difference when listening to the speaker. Move to the left or right and highs distinctly go down and then back up as the interference pattern changes.

 

[Curvature]

BTW, I forgot to mention that I tested for the angle making a difference when listening to the speaker. Move to the left or right and highs distinctly go down and then back up as the interference pattern changes.

Spectral shift with movement is an intolerable characteristic in speakers, whether moving horizontally or vertically.

 

[kyuu]

It is, but at the same time, have to wonder, if its really "That" bad in reality?

I mean the variations are all within 5db, and yeah it looks bad, but without buying these just curious if it would be audible as horrible, or just a bit flawed??

While this is much, much better than the other recently reviewed Presonus, it's still not good. Keep in mind that the FR graph has variable widths, so despite some of the dips and peaks appearing narrow many are actually covering an entire kHz. I'd wager that's plenty audible.

 

[mhardy6647]

Speaker companies have a strange sense of cutting edge design.

View attachment 463188

yeppers.
Reading @amirm's comment about the horn - uhh - waveguide covering much of the woofer cone's real estate, I thought, well, that's nothing new!

e.g., https://www.parts-express.com/B-C-6HCX51-6.5-Neodymium-Coaxial-Speaker-70-x-70-8-Ohm-294-5762

image from: https://en.toutlehautparleur.com/coaxial-speaker-b-c-speakers-6fhx51-8-8-ohm-6-5-inch.html

CX12N351 COAXIAL - RCF

The CX12N351 is a top class coaxial design that provides an excellent frequency response linearity withvery low distortion. The CX12N351 is powered from an integrated high power neodymium magnetic structure that guarantee high dynamic and sensitivity for both components. The mid-bass section...

www.rcf.it

Sound doesn't exactly behave like light

 

[Torin Krell]

Perhaps you could consider it’s smaller brother the Urei 811.

However my memory of the Urei 811’s performance suggests that they would be best used today with a sub (or two) - especially if they are not properly soffit mounted.

 

[Torin Krell]

Spectral shift with movement is an intolerable characteristic in speakers, whether moving horizontally or vertically.

Agreed - especially since spectral consistency over a variety of listening angles (vertically and horizontally) is one of the main reason for choosing coaxial monitors!

 

[Curvature]

yeppers.
Reading @amirm's comment about the horn - uhh - waveguide covering much of the woofer cone's real estate, I thought, well, that's nothing new!
View attachment 463444
e.g., https://www.parts-express.com/B-C-6HCX51-6.5-Neodymium-Coaxial-Speaker-70-x-70-8-Ohm-294-5762

View attachment 463449
image from: https://en.toutlehautparleur.com/coaxial-speaker-b-c-speakers-6fhx51-8-8-ohm-6-5-inch.html
View attachment 463450

CX12N351 COAXIAL - RCF

The CX12N351 is a top class coaxial design that provides an excellent frequency response linearity withvery low distortion. The CX12N351 is powered from an integrated high power neodymium magnetic structure that guarantee high dynamic and sensitivity for both components. The mid-bass section...

www.rcf.it

Sound doesn't exactly behave like light
View attachment 463446

Like the 1970s Altec Lansing 604-8G

Or the 1940s Altec Duplex.

Not full coverage, but not for lack of trying.

 

[TurtlePaul]

Keep in mind that the FR graph has variable widths, so despite some of the dips and peaks appearing narrow many are actually covering an entire kHz. I'd wager that's plenty audible.

The frequency (x-axis in hz) and power (y-axis in dB) are both presented on logarithmic scales because our hearing is also logarithmic. 100-200 hz covers one octave, as does 1000-2000 hz. It is best to measure the width of a peak via its Q value.

 

[mhardy6647]

Like the 1970s Altec Lansing 604-8G

View attachment 463453

Or the 1940s Altec Duplex.
View attachment 463454

Not full coverage, but not for lack of trying.

I used Duplexes (with Mastering Labs XOs) here for years; only switched to the current Frankenaltec configuration due to the limited dispersion ('sweet spot') of the 604E's quasi-multicell horns. I love the Duplexes.

604E by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Besides the 604E, there's a pair of 604B here, as well. Like the first-gen Duplex shown above, the B has the larger, true multi-cell horn. Somewhat limited HF extension, but glorious midrange.

The "politely-sized" horns of the Duplexes, are a far cry from the mongo-horns of the UREI variants nor [EDIT: not to mention] the modern coaxes I invoked, though, in terms of "woofer coverage" -- which @amirm had mentioned in the review of these PreSounuses.

 

[AnalogSteph]

BTW, I forgot to mention that I tested for the angle making a difference when listening to the speaker. Move to the left or right and highs distinctly go down and then back up as the interference pattern changes.

Can't say I'm surprised. No matter how much DSP you throw at them, you can only line up sound origin in stick-out coax designs in one dimension. If it's perfect on-axis it'll be way off at 90° and vice versa. And while the distance with a fixed waveguide largely eliminates Doppler distortion, you get cavity resonances instead. I guess you'd need a 3-way à la ME Geithain before things start lining up reasonably well.

 

[kyuu]

The frequency (x-axis in hz) and power (y-axis in dB) are both presented on logarithmic scales because our hearing is also logarithmic. 100-200 hz covers one octave, as does 1000-2000 hz. It is best to measure the width of a peak via its Q value.

Fair enough, the deviations in the higher frequencies are fairly high Q. However, given that there are a number of them and they are of fairly large magnitude, I don't think they can be summarily dismissed. Plus of course there are a couple of low Q deviations in the lower frequencies.

All in all not the most offensive of responses, but there are designs that do much better.

 

[amirm]

Spectral shift with movement is an intolerable characteristic in speakers, whether moving horizontally or vertically.

That's not what i said. I said depending on angle, you hear more or less treble, in other words, clear lobing/interreference pattern.

What is normal is gradual drop off in treble.

 

[Curvature]

That's not what i said. I said depending on angle, you hear more or less treble, in other words, clear lobing/interreference pattern.

What is normal is gradual drop off in treble.

We are saying the same thing.

 

[Flaesh]

https://en.toutlehautparleur.com/coaxial-speaker-b-c-speakers-6fhx51-8-8-ohm-6-5-inch.html

or

18HTX100 8Ω - Triaxials - B&C Speakers

www.bcspeakers.com

[this has already been discussed, but maybe not everyone read that thread]

 

[dfuller]

That's not what i said. I said depending on angle, you hear more or less treble, in other words, clear lobing/interreference pattern.

What is normal is gradual drop off in treble.

This is worse than typical directivity error which if nothing else is predictable - this isn't following a relatively monotonic trend.

 

[MZKM]

Reserved.

 

[dasdoing]

The concept is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gunness
which he applies in the coaxials from Fulcrum Acoustic (pro speakers).
It seems he worked with Presonus on these, but obviously, the goal was to build a rather cheap speaker.

@ernestcarl could chime in, afair he has/had the Sceptres for quite some time