PreSonusEris 3.5 Studio Monitors, Pair — Powered, Active Monitor Speakers for Near Field Music Production, Desktop Computer, Hi-Fi Audio

Let me first start by saying that this is not my first pair of small near-field monitors. I've owned two other pairs of similarly-sized monitors in the past, both of which sounded like cheap junk. These days, I do my listening and mixing on a pair of Yamaha HS8s on two isolating stands in a very dampened (though largely untreated) bedroom, but I needed a slightly more portable pair of speakers that could accompany my laptop and a small interface to production sessions away from home. I wanted something with above-average sound quality at a price that wouldn't hurt my feelings if they somehow got damaged during transport.I read tons of reviews both here and at every reputable pro-audio retail website, and chose these over every other similarly priced and sized model because of their consistently glowing reviews. Of course, I was still skeptical because I have a hard time trusting the opinions and expectations of others when it comes to reviews on entry-level studio monitors. As a self-proclaimed "reasonable audiophile" and someone who has been producing and mixing music for a little more than 10 years now, I'm sure even my credentials (and my ears) will come into question during this review, and they should. It's always best to be skeptical about the type of claims I'm going to make here, especially when it comes to speakers or headphones that you haven't personally had the opportunity to audition before buying. Keeping that in mind, here are my thoughts on the Eris E4.5 monitors.Wow.At the time I purchased these, they were selling here for just under $200. I feel comfortable saying that these are the unicorn exception to the "you get what you pay for" rule of audio equipment. They don't blow me away in the same way that larger, more expensive speakers often do, but to say that I was initially stunned by the sound of these speakers would be an understatement. Because I purchased these speakers for mixing, I was most interested in how they perform at low-to-moderate levels. They certainly get loud enough to fill a room with sound, even uncomfortably loud in the right room, but I'll never need them to be that loud.At a level just slightly above the volume of the average speaking voice, these things sound unbelievably good for their size. The bass and sub-bass response isn't going to shake your foundation, but it's more than good enough for my purposes. They feel sturdy and don't have a lot of strange resonances that are difficult to work around; they don't "ring" a lot when you rap on them with your knuckles. The included adhesive foam pads didn't do anything special in terms of isolation, but they stick well and helps them to not slide around so easily on a smooth surface. If you really need to isolate these from the surface they're sitting on, just spring for some Auralex or a pair of small desktop stands.On the whole, they perform well across the frequency spectrum. They're far from flat, but they're also nowhere near as colorful as other similar small near-field monitors I've used; make no mistake, this lack of extreme coloration is a very good thing. They really shine in the midrange and treble frequencies, though. At low volumes, they deliver audio with impressive clarity. If you're working a quiet room, you should have no trouble hearing your changes on these little workhorses.I've already traveled with them once; took a trip to a cabin in the mountains and these had no problems keeping up when inspiration struck. I produce primarily electronic rock music, so being able to hear and understand what's going on at the bottom of the mix is extremely important in most of what I do. Again, the bass won't rock the house, but it's there and it gives you just what you need if you know what to listen for.When they're at home, they're hooked up to my turntable; a very modest AT-LP120 and a MicroPhono preamp (yes, the Behringer unit). The manual included with these monitors states that you should use the on-board "low cutoff" control to attenuate the bass frequencies if you plan to back them up close to a wall, but I've gotten the best results by ignoring that advice, leaving that switch at 0 and keeping them about 2" from the wall atop a bookshelf. I'll need to upgrade at least two other parts of my vinyl chain before I can feel like it has outgrown these speakers.To sum this all up, these monitors sound far better than they have any right to, considering their size and at the price they're being sold for. I won't waste your time waxing poetic about the subjective, unquantifiable aspects of the sound these monitors produce, but I can't emphasize enough that you'll get more than your money's worth out of these. If you have realistic expectations of what near-field monitors of this size and price will sound like, you'll probably be just as impressed as I was.

Awesome lil speakers, they absolutely get the job done and are super cheap. Awesome sound quality, pretty easy/ straightforward to use, nice sleek look great performance and nice to have for home studio/ portable speaker. Definitely buy for the price!

(this is a review of the PreSonus Eris E3.5 model)Good:- Sound is neutral- Very accurate sound stage- The 'acoustic tuning' it's called allows you to adjust for environment- aux in on front- professional look that isn't flashy and full of leds trying to call attention to itself.Cons:- Cables you get are pretty mediocre- Cabinet build quality feels cheapA quick background. While I'm no audio engineer and I wouldn't classify myself as an audiophile I do have several headphones in the $100-$300 range and a headphone amp and dac. I was looking to upgrade my 15 year old set of pc speakers that work but I knew I could get better.Sound wise these are called "Multimedia Studio Monitors" and by that definition these are really accurate. I also primarily have headphones with a flat response curve so these very much sound like headphones in that regard. They do have bass but it's not going to rock the place. I'm going to skip getting in to details on audio since other reviewers have done a great job already and I agree with all of them. But if you are looking for accurate speakers for a computer just get these and you’ll be happy. I would not recommend them for a television or something where you are trying to fill an entire room with sound.The rest of this review is for people that do buy them and it’s their first pair of “studio monitors”.First off while they seemed to use excellent components for the monitors the cables they give you are pretty mediocre. I included a picture of what's included (power cable is already plugged in and not pictured). The speaker wire that goes between the two speakers is about 6 feet and almost look like 18 AWG wire. I ended up buying 14 AWG wire but knowing what I know now I'd have just got 16 AWG and it would be a little easier to work with. I then connected them to pc using an 1/8" to RCA jacks. The cable they give you is around 5 feet and my computer was further away so had to buy a new cable for that. Any of the 1/8" to RCA should work fine. The power cable is a standard IEC7 non polarized connector and was maybe around 6 feet.Some setup tips. First off the full manual is not included but can be obtained from presonus.com and searching for eris e3.5 and going to downloads. This explains far more about placement and adjustment than the quick start that's included or even what I say here. The manual explains the details but the volume on the monitor should be around the 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock position in most situations. Once you set that don't touch the volume control on monitor, adjust the audio from the source. With the monitors set to 11 o’clock the signal coming from the computer was too hot (too loud). I would have only been able to turn the volume up to 10% and it was really loud. RCA attentuators will reduce the volume by a certain amount just before entering monitors. Oddly amazon doesn't have them, or they were really overpriced. Search online for "Harrison Labs 12 dB RCA Line Level Attenuator" and it should be in the $30-$40 range as of March 2018. This allowed me to have a greater working range on volume. I now typically listen at around 40% level on computer but occasionally turn it up or lower it. One last thing I bought were Wellcn 26 Pcs Ferrite Cores - EMI RFI Noise Filter Clip for 3mm/ 5mm/ 7mm/ 9mm/ 13mm Diameter-Black. Place those on the power and RCA cables a couple inches before they connect to monitor. I got some occasional crackling sounds and those removed it. I also put one on the aux cable I use to connect my work laptop to these when working from home. It's not needed on the speaker cable going between the monitors but also won't really hurt anything. **See update below on how I've changed this**From where you are normally positioned there should be an equilateral triangle between you, the two monitors, and the space between the monitors. Meaning if you're head is 3 feet from front of monitor they should also be 3 feet apart and then be turned to face you. If done right you won't see the sides of monitors. You want your ear to be lined up with the small tweeters. Because mine are mounted on a wall a little high I have them tilted down and also on their side, which these monitors support. If you do this make sure to mirror the monitors. Meaning have the tweeters on the outside to get a larger sound stage. Once this is all setup don't touch the equalizer or "acoustic tuning" as they call it. Just listen to music for a few days to get used to them. There also may be a little bit of break in needed. Only after a few days should you make small adjustments to the acoustic tuning options. It's preferable to turn down a setting than boost it. If you’ve edited photos you may have noticed trying to boost the brightness on a dark image looks worse than darkening a bright image. Same idea here. So if it sounds to tinny or harsh you want to turn down the highs slightly. This reduces the highs and thus the lows will be more prominent. Initially it sounded tinny but after a couple days it either went away or I got used to it I haven't had to touch mine.One last thing I'd recommend. Since these are fairly portable, but all my wires are routed around desk I don't want to undo them if I decide to take monitors with me somewhere. I bought me an extra power cable and then use the 1/8" to rca cable and speaker cable they give you and put in a small ziplock bag. Now all I have to do is disconnect everything from monitors, grab my ziplock bag of stuff and I'm ready to go.I know that was a lot of information but I hope you found this information helpful and enjoy these.(update: December 2018)So far these have been holding up well and have had no issues. In fact considering buying a second pair to have over by my workbench. Since writing above I changed my setup so now I have a Maker Hart Loop Mixer < https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M68UK38 > that I connect my computers and to and then audio goes from there to PreSonus. It lets me adjust levels and I still have some inputs open so I've done things like be on a conference call but also have music playing while I'm waiting for them to start. I also got rid of the RCA Line Level Attentuators. May buy more but only -3 or -6db as the loop mixer doesn't get as loud.