User Manual

3
A Brief Tutorial on Studio Monitors
Speaker Basics
You should familiarize yourself with a few terms before
going studio-monitor shopping. These will help you to
better understand what type of speaker will best suit your
needs.
Driver. The driver is the part of the speaker that produces
sound waves. The better the quality of the driver, the
better it will reproduce sound waves and take the wear
and tear a busy mix engineer can dish out.
High-frequency driver or “tweeter.” This is the part of
the speaker that is responsible for high- and upper mid-
frequency reproduction. High-quality drivers are usually
constructed of materials like titanium, silk, aluminum,
and beryllium. There are several dierent tweeter
designs. Some common types found in studio monitors
are:
Soft Dome. This round shape of
this type of design radiates
sound with a wide dispersion
pattern to create a larger sweet
spot. The larger the diameter of
the dome, the wider the sweet
spot. Usually made from a high-
quality textile, like the silk (as used in PreSonus Eris-
series monitors), these designs are known for their
smooth and refined sound.
Eliptical Waveguide. An
elliptical waveguide is designed
to shape the high-frequency
wavefront of a soft dome
tweeter, controlling the
dispersion pattern so that it is
as uniform and smooth as possible. By minimizing
early reflections, the response becomes more
consistent both on- and o-axis. For studio monitors
like the PreSonus Eris E5XT and E8EXT, this
facilitates widening the horizontal dispersion to
provide a wider sweet spot while maintaining a tightly
focused vertical plane. The result is greater detail
and depths that reveal subtle transients, delicate
reverb trails and a consistent listening experience in
any mix environment.
Air Motion Transformer (AMT).
This design employs an ultra-
light material that is inlaid with
an aluminum circuit that
functions as a voice coil. This
material is folded like an
accordian and moves like a bellows, launching sound
waves from the two surfaces rushing toward one
another. This design provides a much larger
projection area than a traditional dome tweeter, so its
sound coverage is much larger.
For example, the 6.8-inch
2
AMT
tweeter in the PreSonus R65 and
R80 provides coverage equivalent
to that of a 3-inch dome tweeter.
Because the AMT design is so
ecient, it is capable of a very fast
transient response, even at ultra-
high frequencies. This allows you
to hear more of the “air” and
“space,” providing a much more
natural sound.
Low-frequency driver or “woofer.” This driver
produces the low-mid and low frequencies. Because
it is responsible for producing larger sound waves, a
woofer requires a higher-power amp than tweeters do.
High-quality low-frequency drivers are usually made
from very tough and sti materials, like a woven glass
composite or glass-reinforced paper. Both materials are
able to withstand the abuse a woofer takes, and each
has its own unique set of benefits. A woven-composite
driver provides a constant dispersion pattern, using its
woven pattern to break up reflected energy, creating a
transparent, cohesive sound. A glass-composite speaker
is lighter, more ecient, and will reproduce the same
volume with less power, and is able to better reproduce
transients because of its fast response.
Note: In a two-way system, the high- and low-frequency
elements share the responsibility for mid-frequency
reproduction. A three-way system provides a separate
driver that is dedicated to mid-frequency reproduction.
While three-way studio monitors aren’t as common as
two-way systems in the studio monitor world, they are not
unheard of, so it’s important to mention the dierence.
Acoustic Port. Also known as the “bass reflex port,” an
acoustic port redirects the inward pressure produced by
the outward movement of the speakers. The backward
motion of the diaphragm pushes sound waves out of the
port and boosts the overall sound level. Ported speaker
designs are much more ecient because the power
moving the driver produces two sound waves instead of
one.
High-frequency driver
Low-frequency driver
Acoustic port
Eris Silk Dome Tweeter
Eris XT Waveguide
R-Series AMT Tweeter
R-Series AMT Tweeter