Presonus Eris E5 Video Review
As audio equipment can get quite pricey, it’s a wonderful way to dip your feet into some more higher grade equipment while still staying at an affordable price. The Presonus Eris E5 still stands as one of the best budget options when it comes to intermediate level studio monitors and it is a wonderful choice for anyone looking to invest in a home studio.
This specific studio speaker is standing at a crossing line when it comes to audio gear as the price is just below certain, more expensive, consumer grade electronics. But, when compared to professional gear, the price is really hard to beat.
When it came to making this speaker, it seemed like Presonus had a very clear goal in mind, to make a monitor to produce a sound that is very honest and clear that makes mixing a pleasure.
Eris E5 is the entry level studio monitor by Presonus standing in between Eris E4.5 (a medium reference monitor) and its bigger brother, the Eris E5 XT (which is a more expensive next step after the E5).
Currently, you can buy the Presonus Eris E5 pair for around USD$400 from verified third party distributors.
What makes this studio monitor so special is the accurate and flat response you get. As your production can only be as good as your worst piece of equipment, it’s comforting to know that you can trust your monitors to deliver an accurate sound response that lets you pinpoint the intricacies of your mix.
The Presonus Eris 5 has a 5.25” woofer and a 1” silk dome tweeter. The frequency range is a decent 53HZ – 22KHZ with a rather impressive peak pressure limit of 102dB which allows it to compete with some higher end equipment while still staying at an affordable price.
The highs and mids are very clear and crisp while the low end suffers just a bit based on the smaller woofer but that doesn’t take away from the generally honest and amazing response you get.
Taking a look at the back of the monitor, we can go over some of the options you get. The Eris E5 supports a single balanced XLR and ¼” TRS and an unbalanced RCA input. Just above these you can see a few knobs for acoustic tuning.
You get a leeway of +/- 6 dB for the highs and mids and you can set the low cutoff to 100HZ, 80HZ, or flat while also adjusting the acoustic space by -4dB and -2dB
If you are worried about the safety of your equipment, Presonus provides a list of safeguards to keep your gear running and functioning at peak condition including: over temperature, output current limiting, and external mains fuse.
If you want a better sense of the size of these monitors here are the detailed specifications: 176mmx195mmx266mm and the weight is 4.63kg.
What is it actually like to use these monitors for your day to day studio needs? Well, from personal experience, it took a few days to get used to the flat and natural response compared to more consumer grade audio equipment.
