I have the Eris 4.5, is it worth upgrading to Yamaha HS5 or HS7 ?
I have a small room,
It's for mixing and listening to music
Will it make a huge difference ?

 

not really worth it imo, with small room you want front firing bass reflex port, bigger woofer will lack clarity in vocal midrange,
if budget isn't problem, you'd better look at Kali Audio IN-5 which are coaxial 3-way monitors, not that crazy expensive for the sound they give

I used to have old Eris E5 and they're good monitors, I doubt they'd be much better than 4.5 though

 

I'd rather go: Presonus Eris E7/8 or R65/80 ... or Mackie MR/XR 624/824

It could be argued that a 6,5" speaker is all you need,
8" only worth if you've got a Big Room to accommodate..

 

It is worth it if you want to buy bigger better speakers, does that mean you will stick with it and keep making music.

I myself have the HS5 - they are enough to fill my room with sound.
I just have a quarter of the volume turned up. They are sufficient.
I adjusted the volume once many years ago and haven't changed anything since.
They are loud enough and very neutral in their reproduction.
The workmanship is of a high standard and they look smart. A clear buy tip from me.

https://en.audiofanzine.com/active-monitor/yamaha/hs50m/user_reviews/

 

If not yet existing, it could be a better idea to invest in an active subwoofer to better represent the deep frequencies. I have the Eris 5 and I'm really satisfied, but you need this addition to work more realistic.

 

I have the 3.5 bl and the hs7
the hs7 sounds great but the yamaha has a big problem with grounding noise and i tried to find a solution with no luck so i use them often

 

JBL 305 MKI
I think you can get some Used/NOS at a good price because there are MKII

 

better "upgrade" would be JBL 306 or 308
with the 8" you´ll need some trapping, at least so much that the
listening position sounds/is right. (dont need the whole room to sound well)

 

Wait and see what these new Adam Audio A Series monitors are going to be if you're interested in that brand.

 

This is the only correct answer. JBL 305P MKII. Can't get any better for this price.

Then apply those settings to Equalizer APO:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pierreaubert/spinorama/develop/datas/eq/JBL 305P Mark ii/iir-autoeq.txt
You are going to be in top league then.

Won't ever need another monitor for thousands of $$$.
(Besides a subwoofer of course if you need to go really deep)

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2022

if I was in OP's boat, I would get the hs5. and a switch for the monitor pairs so you can use them both in some configuration. And then add the sub if you need it.

 

You should consider the Kali lp6 2nd wave. I had the first version. I sold them becuse of the self noise they had. It drove me crazy. The 2nd edition is -12dB quieter. If that`s true, it is one of the best monitors for under 500 bucks in my opinion. In my opinion they are better than eris 5, Adam t7v and a lot better than the yamaha hs7 hs5.

And no the yamahas wont be a (big) difference to your eris 4.5. Add a presonus eris sub 8 to your 4.5s and your system is far superior to the yamahas.
Why do I know this? I have the eris 5xt, the yamaha hs7 (because they look cool in white ) and a pair of neumann Kh 120 as main monitors.

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2022

Eris 5 is updated to XT model and it now has a wave guide. For a small room this is more than enough, and I use mine with room correction software.

https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E5-XT

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2022

He said "small room". In a small room a sub will just give you incredible audio balance assessment problems. If your room is not at least like 5m wide and 10m long and treated with bass traps, forget the sub because your mix will sound like trash on headphones and pretty much bassless everywhere. Working with smaller speakers that go down to about 60Hz is perfect for a small room and 6.5" drivers can achieve that [7" in HS7 case - excellent speakers]. Front bass reflex ports are also recommendable for small rooms, yes.

One of the most important things is also listening to a lot of nicely produced music on your system so you will know it by heart, I mean ear.

 

You need acoustic treatment BEFORE anything else.
That's where you need to put your money ... trust me, i used several "small rooms".

They are a nightmare in mid bass/bass territory.
I even had one "L" shaped room giving me -18dB hole in the 60-80 Hz (heigh room was like width)
Square small room is EVEN worse.

The only mean i found was using headphone A/B with reference tracks to mix bass/low mids

Basstraps and panels are better investment in ANY room BEFORE new monitors.
There are cheap DIY solutions on the net

 

I have to agree with PifPafPif, Sinewave, Dondada, Lieglein and saram.
They all speak the truth.

Anybody saying that X monitors are best is just wrong.
At this level the room will make the most difference. Placement next then brand of speakers a long way down the track.
Speakers will vary a bit, but they are just there to make stuff louder cleanly. In the good monitors league they sound different but not better or worse, on the whole.

Personally, I considered a sub but my 5" or 6" Adams are just fine at home.
A sub would have muddied the sound in s small space: standing waves, wave cancellation etc. BTW the JBLs are just as good in a studio. All this brand culture is advertising and comes from audiopills of the mid to late last century. PiffPoffPiff is right about acoustic treatment. Just cheap treatment is ok though, read up on the original Motown vocal booth.

Try it with a TV/AV sub. You may get an improvement but it is quite localised and you have to do the 'subwoofer crawl' to find a sweet spot. That may end up being on your head or in your aunty's rocking chair. Worth a try though. I used a sub for a while but I prefer direct near field monitoring for any sound work. A sub can make you think there is plenty of mid bass. Then you play a track on earphones to find it is all trebles on small gear.

 

Last edited: Oct 18, 2022

the funny thing about monitors is if you listen to a commercial recording it will probably sound good in an untreated room because it was mixed by someone with a lot of experience. so the expense of the speakers or the treatment of the room can't correct for that experience.