Recording - February 2016 - 53

switches; one is for Low Cut (Flat, 80 Hz,
100 Hz) to combine the speakers with an
external subwoofer, and the other is for
Acoustic Space (Flat, -2 dB, -4 dB), a
shelving EQ with a corner frequency of
800 Hz to compensate for placement
near walls or in corners. For my tests, I
ran the speakers flat and at unity gain.
A different angle
Traditional MTM speakers are set up
vertically, with one mid/woofer above the
tweeter and one below it. This provides
the best on-axis response with the tweeters at ear level and a wide sweet spot
when moving from side to side, but can
raise issues when moving vertically (standing up, leaning over a console). But the
E44 can be set up horizontally, and I was
intrigued by what this placement offers.
You'd normally expect a horizontal MTM
to have a fairly narrow sweet spot, with significant timbral alteration from fairly small
movements from side to side. However, the
E44 was remarkably well-behaved in this
respect, with a tightly focused center image
that held strong even with small movements.
Center-panned instruments and voices
seemed to pop out of the soundstage a bit.
Admittedly, when I moved more than a couple of feet in either direction, I started hearing phase effects, but the overall sweet spot
was wide enough for two engineers to work

side by side. The horizontal placement also
means that vertical movements have little
effect on the audio, which makes it ideal for
placement on a console's meter bridge.
The rest of my listening tests were done
with the E44 in a more traditional vertical
orientation, and the sweet spot was
indeed considerably wider with smoother
behavior at the outer edges. There was
still a clear sense of a stereo center,
although not as dramatically "in front of
you" as in horizontal placement.
Regardless of placement, the E44 delivered a solid midrange presence, and
clear highs that were never shrill. As
might be expected, the one place where
the E44 lacked a little was in the extreme
lows; a 4.5" driver isn't going to give you
a lot of bass, and the quoted 55 Hz-22
kHz frequency response (no tolerances
given) seems a believable number. A subwoofer like PreSonus' own Temblor T10
(reviewed February 2015) would make a
good match for these speakers.
The sense of space with these monitors
is very interesting. As you move around
the sweet spot, you don't get the noticeable changes around the crossover frequency (2.9 kHz) that make you question
what you're hearing. My experiences
working with my own music were a revelation; that slightly "out of the plane" center
allowed me to work on lead instruments

and kick/snare tones with fine detail, and I
found my mixes translated well to my usual
check systems once the lowest lows were
tweaked.
Final thoughts
The biggest question you'll need to
address if you get these monitors is whether
you'll want to set them up horizontally or
vertically. Some studios may be constricted
in dimensions or gear layout and you might
find you have no choice. If possible, though,
I strongly recommend setting them up and
working with them in both configurations.
Vertical placement will give you a more conventional listening experience, with advantages in sweet spot size that you won't realize are there until you try to move around
while listening to other monitors. On the
other hand, horizontal placement has that
remarkable 3D aspect to its phantom center
that some engineers would really enjoy.
If you've never heard of Joseph
D'Appolito and aren't interested in all of
the technical details, focus on this: these
affordable little monitors let you get in on
much of the benefit of a high-end MTM
system without breaking the bank. They're
well worth a test drive!

Price: $249.95 each
More from: PreSonus, www.presonus.com

http://www.presonus.com http://www.cloudmicrophones.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2016