Whether you are a casual music listener, a music maker or an avid audiophile, you are going to need some type of good quality reference monitor that allows you to enjoy some of your favorite hits with good clarity and one which also packs a punch.
Some of the best studio monitor models are fairly pricey. However, if you are looking for affordable and reliable studio monitors, you might have to decide on a PreSonus Eris 4.5 vs Yamaha HS5 speakers. They are both two-way powered studio monitors with woofers and tweeters. They are both of excellent quality and would be a good choice for someone in need of high-quality speakers. They are relied upon for their performance and good accuracy within an affordable and accessible package.
In this article, we offer you a detailed comparison of PreSonus Eris 4.5 vs Yamaha HS5 studio monitors and look at details such as their build quality, audio performance, setup, terminals, and sound quality to help you pick the perfect options for your needs.
PreSonus Eris 4.5
The PreSonus Eris 4.5 model is part of the Eris series of studio monitors. It makes for a great selection for someone who is serious about making music and will take in any line source. You will derive a smooth and accurate frequency responses from this versatile studio monitor. The Eris 4.5 is a professional grade studio monitor that includes a suite of acoustic tuning features that let you adjust the acoustic response for the room.
The frequency response in this PreSonus reference monitor is smooth and accurate so you can always trust to “speak the truth” and perfectly reproduce what’s actually in the tracks and the mixes. Its suite of acoustic tuning controls enables you to precisely adjust the room acoustics. The build and features mean that the PreSonus Eris 4.5 studio monitor allows you to accurately hear everything and produce top-notch quality work.
The PreSonus Eris 4.5 has a 4.5-inch woofer that belts out clean sounds. The woofer in this Eris-series studio monitor features a woven composite, low-frequency driver for a constant dispersion pattern in its entire frequency range. The audio you will get out of this is cleaner and does not have much time smearing.
The sweet spot in the PreSonus 4.5 is smoother and wider. This a two-way studio monitor with a silk dome tweeter for an overall smooth and refined sound. The Eris 4.5 will accurately reproduce even the transients and high frequencies. The tweeter in the Eris 4.5 can radiate the audio with a wider dispersion pattern for a larger optimal listening area, commonly referred to as the “sweet spot”. Even when you move about, you will still get first-class audio output out of this studio monitor.
The PreSonus Eris 4.5 has three types of audio inputs so you can easily channel the audio to the Eris monitors from an interface, a mixer or media player. In fact, the Eris 4.5 will take in any other line-level source. This studio monitor has RCA, ¼”, and 1/8” inputs. You can even feed it from your smartphone. The PreSonus Eris E4.5 also has a headphone amplifier, allowing you to check the mix in a headphone of your choice or to remove the overdubs without needing repatch cables.
Features
- 4.5-inch transducer
- High and low frequency controls
- Supports almost any line source
- 50-watt class B amplification (25 watts for each speaker) gives sufficient volume and headroom to accommodate nearfield monitoring
Yamaha HS5
The Yamaha HS5 studio display has been around for several years and is a much-hyped up speaker. The fact that it has been here for long, going as far back as 2013, makes this a reliable and solid choice of a studio monitor. This would be a good choice if you are shopping for a dependable speaker for monitoring work. Its affordable pricing enables you to easily build out the rest of it.
Like the PreSonus Eris E4.5, it is a two-way speaker with a tweeter and is one of the better-known speakers in the HS line. The Yamaha name is also a mark of reliability in musical instruments.
Unlike the PreSonus 4.5, it has a slightly larger 5” cone woofer. It also features a 1” dome tweeter. The HS5 packs a punch with a high-performance 70W power amplification, room control as well as High TRIM response controls. You will get fairly balanced signals from the Yamaha HS5 thanks to its XLR and TRS phone jack inputs.
Design Comparison
The Eris 4.5 looks pretty much like the other studio monitors in the Eris line. It is packed inside a simple, somewhat minimalist, black box design with the brand logo located just below the woofer, slightly to its right, and illuminates blue when you activate the unit. It is a 4.5-inch low frequency transducer, fashioned out of a woven composite, which gives a clean and well-balanced sound. The Eris features plenty of controls for customizing the sound to meet room requirements.
Like the Eris 4.5, the Yamaha HS5 is also a good choice for a musician looking for top-notch audio for less. It is the budget studio monitor option you simply can’t afford to overlook. The HS5 is about the same size as the Eris 4.5 and with curved joints to minimize injuries in case you accidentally bump onto it. The Yamaha HS5 is available in two designs, a full black and a full white with a logo that is illuminated when you power it on.
Performance Comparison
Many users have praised the PreSonus Eris 4.5’s performance. You get a soft start with the studio monitor without any jumps. In fact, you will get a superior performance out of it compared to similar studio monitors in the same class and within the same price range or even a higher price point. The Eris E4.5 has smooth, richly detailed and revealing sounds, with good clarity. Even though the bass doesn’t have as much depth, it is still pristine. Overall, you can derive tight and solid sound out of this.
The same can be said of the Yamaha HS5 which is a 5-inch, fully-featured speaker that works best in small rooms. The bass is satisfactory although it doesn’t have the level of definition that you’d get in higher end models. You get a natural sound out of the HS5 in the mids and highs. Like in the Eris 4.5, the sound also has good clarity.
A Comparison of the Terminals
Both of these are ported speakers. You will set up the Yamaha HS5 via a terminal located at its back. It is also designed with a bass reflex for the equalization of the pressure between the inside and the outside. The Yamaha HS5 also features the standard TRS and XLR phone jacks for sending audio signals inside. Like other speakers in Yamaha’s HS series, it’s built with response controls that have detailed settings for the customization of the surface acoustics to suit the room environment, primarily, size and shape of the room. If you need to make additional adjustments to the sound, you can use its high trim options. The HS5 is so versatile that you can seamlessly use it with a wide array of both balanced and unbalanced input sources ranging from the mixers to keyboards and even the TRS and XLR audio interfaces.
All the controls and terminals are located at the back of the PreSonus Eris 4.5. These have been further labeled for ease of use. Inputs in the Eris 4.5 are available in a balanced ¼-inc TRS, a balanced XLR as well as unbalanced RCA phono socket. It is powered via an IEC socket. A red slide switch at the bottom of the speaker helps you choose the appropriate mains voltage. It also features a gain control and an acoustic space switch for customizing the sound to the size of the room.
Pros and Cons
The PreSonus is a studio monitor with excellent sound quality. There won’t be a need for amplifiers as they are plug in and active monitors. They loudspeakers pump out a clean, accurate and well-balanced sound even though it is only has a 4.5 woofer.
Thanks to this PreSonus Eris’ low and high frequency controls, you can achieve the desired room acoustic effect by fine tuning the speakers to accommodate your spaces.
You won’t get much harshness from this thanks to its woven composite and low frequency transducer that assures you of an accurate and well-balanced sound.
On the flipside, the 4.5inch woofer in this studio display may not give you the desired booms that you would derive from a bigger speaker.
Like the PreSonus 4.5, the Yamaha HS5 is a two-way studio monitor with a strong, punchy and well-balanced sound.
It packs new transducers that deliver a smooth response over a wide bandwidth, giving you very smooth and natural sonic transitions.
You will get very high-resolution sound from the Yamaha HS5 thanks to its high-performance amp unit.
The response controls in the Yamaha HS5, like those in the PreSonus Eris 4.5 enable you to adapt the studio monitor’s surface acoustics to different shapes and sizes of rooms. They have a good high-frequency detail that allows you to fine tune your mixes.
However, the Yamaha HS5 tend to have a high noise floor.
The Verdict
The PreSonus Eris 4.5 and the Yamaha HS5 are both great options, particularly if you are looking for a good quality studio monitor on a limited budget. They are both highly versatile and deployable on entertainment. The two monitors also have the controls that you can use to customize the sound according to the shape or size of your room.
In terms of the quality of sound, you will get cleaner highs in the PreSonus Eris 4.5 than in the Yamaha HS5. However, the lower end of both is more or less the same.
Conclusion
Both of these studio monitors are reasonably priced and of very good quality with tons of features. These are a good choice if you are shopping for a studio monitor that will bring the studio sound into your home environment. Both of these speakers are affordable and within reach if you are on a low budget. Performance-wise, you get one of the most precise and honest references you can have in for reference speakers in this class. Both the Eris 4.5 and Yamaha HS5 deliver a great sonic platform that should meet your needs in the mixing process.
