Presonus Eris 4.5 Active Studio Monitors, Pair

Presonus Eris 4.5 Additional Overview:

• Cheap computer speakers and home-stereo speakers are designed to make music sound good and hide the flaws, while most low-cost studio monitors are hyped to sound good in the store showroom. If you mix on those speakers, you won't hear problems that can show up in your final production.
• Not so with PreSonus Eris-series active studio monitors. Thanks to well-designed Kevlar® low frequency transducers, low-mass silk-dome tweeters, responsive Class AB amplification, and professional acoustic-adjustment controls, Eris delivers the goods.
• As you expect from PreSonus, they use quality components, are well constructed, and deliver professional audio quality. They're lightweight and compact and look as professional as they sound.
• But what really sets them apart from comparably priced systems are pro features such as user controls that allow you to tailor the speakers' response to your needs.
• Yet Eris-series speakers are ultra-affordable, making them a terrific value. And with three models, you can easily find the Eris monitor that best suits your studio needs.

You're in Control!

• It's easy to customize Eris' sound for your room and type of music.
• Today's music producers deal with a wide variety of musical genres and often work in more than one location. That's why Eris-series studio monitors offer extensive user controls not usually found in their price class.
• The most basic control is the Input Gain, which determines the signal level before it reaches the power amp. This is part of gain-staging your overall system-that is, setting the levels for every part of the recording chain in order to get the optimal level of clean audio all the way through. Once you've gain-staged your system, you can leave this control alone.

The Acoustic Space Control

• All Eris speakers provide three EQ controls in their Acoustic Tuning section: High, Mid, and Low Cutoff. These controls enable you to fine-tune the monitors and even to broadly approximate the sounds of different types of speakers so you can hear what your mix might sound like, for instance, on a car stereo or portable radio. The Low control also is useful when using the Eris with a subwoofer.
• Eris' Acoustic Tuning controls let you customize the speaker's sound with EQ. You get high-, mid-, and low-frequency bands.
• The High control is a high-frequency shelving filter that boosts or cuts all frequencies above 4.5 kHz by as much as ±6 dB. Use this control to fine-tune the reproduction of high frequencies, depending on your room's acoustic characteristics.
• In general, setting the High control to 0 (no boost or cut) will produce the best results. However, if the sound is generally too bright or shrill, try turning this control down below 0; if the sound is too dull and lifeless, try turning it up above 0. (In either case, check your mixer settings to see if anything's amiss.)
• Keep in mind that settings above 0 will also emphasize any high-frequency noise in the signal. It's always better to cut than to boost, if possible, and it's best to use the least cut or boost needed to get the job done.
• The Mid control is a mid-frequency peak filter that boosts or cuts frequencies centered on 1 kHz and extending about one octave above and below that frequency. Again, setting this control to 0 will generally produce the best results.
• If you want to emulate a car stereo, try turning the Mid control below 0 to approximate the common "smiley face" EQ curve. To emulate a cheap portable radio, try turning it up above 0. Try not to boost much, since this can add noise to the signal.
• The Low Cutoff control rolls off the low frequencies below the specified frequency (selectable, 80 or 100 Hz) at a slope of -12 dB/octave. Engage this control if you are using a subwoofer in conjunction with Eris monitors, and set it to the same frequency as the crossover to the subwoofer. If you're not using a subwoofer, set the control to Flat.
• If you want to emulate a cheap radio, engage the Low Cutoff at 80 or 100 Hz while boosting the Mid control.
• In addition to the Acoustic Tuning controls, Eris speakers offer a three-position Acoustic Space switch. This switch controls a second-order, low shelving filter that cuts the level of all frequencies below 800 Hz by a specified amount (-2 or -4 dB) to compensate for the boundary bass boost that occurs when the monitor is placed near a wall or corner. If you don't want to roll off those lows, set it to 0 dB.

Safety Matters

• Any loudspeaker is subject to an assortment of environmental and performance problems, and Eris monitors offer protection from most common of these.
• It would be wonderful if recording studios and equipment were immune from radio-frequency interference, electrical problems, heat, and so on. Since that's not the case, we've protected Eris monitors from the most common hazards.
• RF shielding protects against radio frequencies that could be induced into the signal and become audible. (If you've ever heard a radio broadcast unexpectedly coming out of a guitar amp, that's the result of RF interference.)
• Eris monitors also provide over-temperature protection to avoid heat-related issues, current-output limiting (to prevent damage should there be a short circuit on the speaker terminals), and subsonic protection to filter out extremely low-frequency vibrations that could interfere with the woofer's performance.
• Finally, Eris' power amplifiers have a "soft startup" so that you don't get damaging pops in the speakers when you power them up.

Making Connections.

• Eris monitors give you three different types of inputs so you can use them with a wide variety of audio sources.
• With three different types of audio inputs, it's easy to feed audio to your Eris monitors from a mixer, an interface, a media player, or almost any other line-level source.
• The Eris E5 and E8 provide balanced XLR, balanced ¼" TRS, and unbalanced RCA line-level inputs. When both balanced connections are in use, the TRS input will supersede the XLR input. The RCA input is summed into the signal path.
• With this selection, you'll have no problem hooking your Eris speakers up with virtually any line-level source. (If your signal source has unbalanced, ¼" TS outputs, simply use a ¼"-to-RCA adapter or adapter cable.)
• The E4.5 has balanced ¼" TRS and unbalanced RCA inputs, as well as unbalanced 1/8" inputs for your smartphone or MP3 player, giving you all the flexibility you need when replacing computer speakers or those old studio monitors that have misled your ears for the last time.
• Take a moment, if you will, to consider the E4.5's balanced TRS inputs; balanced inputs help you minimize noise-a pro feature you won't find on competing speakers in this class.

Components and construction

• 4.5-inch (E 4.5) / 5.25-inch (E5) / 8-inch (E8) Kevlar® low-frequency transducer
• 1-inch (25 mm), ultra-low-mass, silk-dome, high-frequency transducer
• Front-firing acoustic port for superior bass-frequency reproduction
• Optimized, resonance-suppressing internal bracing
• 100 dB (E4.5) / 102 dB (E5) /105 dB (E8) maximum continuous SPL

Other Features:

• "‹User controls:
• -HF Driver Adjust (±6 dB, continuously variable)
• -Midrange Driver Adjust (±6 dB, continuously variable)
• -Acoustic Space settings (flat, -2, -4 dB) for accurate mixing contour
• -Highpass filter (Off, 80 Hz, 100 Hz)
• Power and safety:
• -50 (E4.5) / 70 (E5) /130 watt (E8), Class AB biamplification
• -RF interference, output current limiting, over-temperature, transient, and subsonic protection
• -Amplifier "soft start" feature eliminates popping on power-up
• -Internal power supply with IEC connector
• -Power switch with on/off LED
• Inputs and outputs:
• -Balanced XLR/¼-inch and unbalanced RCA inputs (E5/E8)
• -Balanced ¼-inch TRS and unbalanced 1/8-inch TS, RCA inputs (E4.5)
• -1/8-inch stereo headphone output (E4.5)