PreSonus Eris E4.5 BT - compact monitors for listening

The Eris E4.5 BT is a Bluetooth-enabled version of the previously introduced Eris E4.5 compact monitors, offering almost the same specs in terms of performance.

If King Harald, who baptized Denmark at about the same time as Mieszko/Mesiko/Dagome (delete as appropriate) of the land later called Poland, had known that he would be called the Blue Tooth, then three hundred generations later this nickname would become the name of wireless technology transmission of data, he would probably have fallen into deep thought. Mainly because the desire attributed to him today to "unite" the Scandinavian peoples had little to do with the modern understanding of such an activity.

However, let's leave reflections on these issues to historians, who, describing those places and times, invent more than state facts. For us Bluetooth will be the protocol that was used in the monitors PreSound Eris E4.5 BTand in fact only one of each pair, because the other is completely passive. In addition, Bluetooth is only an addition to the standard method of delivering audio signals, i.e. through sockets and in analog form.

One of the monitors in the set is active and sends a speaker signal to the other, which remains a passive structure (other than speakers and a simple crossover, it has no electronics).

design

The design of the monitors is standard for compact multimedia kits - one contains all the connectors and all the electronics, and the other contains only a passive monitor, to which we feed the loudspeaker signal from the base. Both have an x-shaped structure and are double-sided, although they do not work in mode. This means that the signal is applied to both transducers at the same time, and the separation of higher frequencies is done passively through a simple crossover. That's how the vast majority of so-called audiophile kits are, so there's nothing wrong with that. Moreover, sometimes simple 6db crossovers allow you to get very interesting final effects, of course, subject to the optimal selection of drivers.

The resulting performance of the monitors at medium and extreme settings of the low and high shelving filters.

And in this case, it has a rigid woven diaphragm with a diameter of 4,5″ and a very large deflection for such dimensions, and a 1-inch one with a fabric dome carefully covered with a steel mesh. On the front panel of the active monitor there is a master volume control, a power switch, an external stereo input and a headphone output, the last two connectors are 3,5 mm TRS; the signal applied to n is added to the signal applied to the inputs on the rear panel or via Bluetooth; in turn, after inserting the plug into the socket, the speakers are turned off.

The controls in the section are low (100 Hz) and high (10 kHz) shelving filters operating in the range of ±6 dB, allowing you to adjust the sound to your room or user preference.

Characteristics of the individual components of the set ( , and tweeter) against the background of the resulting characteristics of the whole. There is a strong parasitic resonance, which is effectively neutralized in the resulting characteristic.

Activating a Bluetooth connection comes down to activating this mode on the transmitting device (usually a smartphone or laptop), pressing a button on the PreSonus monitor, and confirming the selection in the transmitter. The monitor remembers two different signal sources, so it can work interchangeably with two transmitters.

The active set of the E4.5 BT system is powered directly from the mains and can operate with voltage from 100 to 240 V. The body of the monitors is made of MDF, and the front panel is made of plastic placed on MDF. board. The kit includes a power cable, a speaker cable (2m), a 3,5mm TRS/TRS cable (1,5m), and a 3,5mm RCA/TRS cable (1,5m). There is also a user manual and eight silicone feet that can be inserted under the speakers.

Characteristics including harmonic distortion. As is common with small loudspeakers, distortion is greatest at the resonant frequency.

On practice

With a 10 decibel drop in efficiency, the monitors handle signals from 75 Hz to over 20 kHz, and they do it very conscientiously. Due to the dimensions of the tunnel, noise and interference are inevitably introduced into it, which will be heard in the 60-100 Hz band when playing a sinusoidal signal. Therefore, working on the sound of the foot will not be a key area of ​​\u4.5b\u10buse for the E6,8 BT. The distance between the acoustic centers of the transducers is XNUMX cm, so in the range of XNUMX kHz there is a violation of the processing characteristics associated with the application of a wideband signal.

Despite the obvious flaws in the design of monitors, they are optimally balanced in terms of price, quality and functionality. The presence of the Bluetooth protocol in practice turns out to be very convenient - if we want to play music from a portable device, we do not rely only on a cable.

Summation

Market competition for Eris E4.5 BT is mainly Maki CR4/CR5 BT (and recent CR-X versions) and JBL 104-BT. As you can see, other manufacturers are not very smart when it comes to creating monitors with Bluetooth connection - as if sensing that the implementation of this protocol gives monitors a specific "consumerism", undermining their professionalism.

Yes, converting audio from AC to digital, encoding with an encoder that compresses data, radio transmission, decoding, and finally processing to analog form will not make this sound better than just transmitted over a cable.

There are no strong arguments that would dispute the qualitative advantage of the cable over the digital radio channel. But let's face it, what can we say about compact monitors - while praising their bass, crystal clear highs, efficiency and transparency, they are not capable of sounding accurate when compared to purebred studio monitors. And this is not the point, but rather in emulating how our music will behave on such sets (and usually much weaker ones) from which it will be played most often. And in this context, the presence of Bluetooth in the Eris E4.5 BT only increases their credibility.