Presonus C3.5 BT Channel Studio Monitor

To clarify, I'm not a professional sound technician, nor do I claim to be well-versed in hi-fi sound setups. I'm just an independent filmmaker who needs these speakers for editing and viewing my films (and also to listen to my vinyl. Yeah, yeah call me a hipster. Whatever.)I had read a few reviews for Presonus's Ceres line of speakers, and just from those, I knew they were the ones for me. I was worried about the amplifier hum that so many people seemed to encounter, but I took the plunge anyway. The sound quality that people were talking about seemed to outweigh that potential pitfall.I ordered my 4.5 BT set two days ago (at the time of this review) and they arrived this afternoon. The box was in perfect condition--no scratches or tears.Upon opening the box, you're greated with a nicely organized and extremely well put together product. There's the normal warranty/product info pamphlet, instructions, and in this case, a really neat letter welcoming you to the Presonus family.As far as box openings go, I was really surprised at how far Presonus went to prepare and ship the product, and then to top it off, they personalize it a little more with the letter. It's a nice touch.Once the speakers are removed from their protection and plastic covers, it's a pretty straight forward install. Connect a few wires to the coordinating slots on the back of the left speaker, plug in the power supply, and Bob's your uncle.For me, I decided to test out the speakers with my turntable. I plugged my RCA cables into my preamp, then into the back of the speakers, laid down my original Star Wars Episode IV OST, hit the power button, and dropped the needle.But low and behold, as soon as I turned them on, that dreaded amplifier hiss engulfed my ears and throttled me into a state of pure dispair. It's utterly pervasive and weaves it's way into whatever other sounds are coming out of the speakers.I was obviously not ok with this, which led me to Presonus's half terrible, half amazing customer service. It's a mixed bag really, and here's why:If you call into Presonus's hotline, and then go through the numerous menus you have to go through to get to the correct section, you be put on hold. And then you'll wait.And wait.And wait.I waited for about an hour, and then the call dropped.I did this twice.Finally, I called the number again, and mashed the 0 button on my phone until someone answered.And therein lies the trick: just mash 0 on your phone and a real person will answer and get your problem sorted. I went through with the Presonus worker on the phone and explained my problem. He had me fill out an online ticket and put my problem into the description, and then wait.Less than ten minutes later, I had someone helping me. However, we couldn't figure out the problem, and it was decided that my speakers were defective. I went to Amazon and started the refund process, sadly printing out my slip because I had wanted these speakers to work so badly.Then a thought hit me.Maybe it wasn't the speakers. Maybe it was the source audio.So I tried the Bluetooth on my phone.No dice. The hiss was still there, as prominent and annoying as ever.Distraught, I started to unplug cables from the back, starting with the RCA cables that went into my preamp.Suddenly, the hiss was gone.The music from my phone that was still playing over Bluetooth was as crisp and as clear and as beautiful as I had imagined it would sound, only this time, the amp hiss was absent.I racked my brain as to why the preamp could possibly be making the hiss, and I realized it was because it wasn't grounded. Most cables nowadays have a ground wire built in, but my preamp didn't. So now, I'll have to manually ground it, which isn't a big deal in order for me to get perfect sounding music and films.Moral of the story: make sure that your source audio (and anything that it has to go through in order to reach the speakers) is grounded! Otherwise you'll get a feedback loop/hiss like I did.Aside from my issues, these speakers are incredible. The sound quality is absolutely astonishing, especially for the price that Amazon has them for. Highs and lows sound punchy and present, and there's no muddiness or muffling, which is rare to find in speakers this well priced.The build quality is also phenomenal. These things are solid and feel appropriately weighty when you pick them up.The Bluetooth is also a very nice nice touch and works perfectly. There's no lag whatsoever and is syncs with my 5S extremely fast every time.So, if you're looking for a really well-built, amazing sounding set of speakers, and you're not willing to spend upwards of $400-$700 for a hi-fi setup, these Presonus Ceres speakers are exactly what you need.

I have recorded music on and off (as a hobby) for almost 30 years. Needless to say, I've used a lot of speakers over the years, ranging from decent studio-quality near-field monitors to hi-fi speakers.Now, I'm a dad, which means two things: (1) I don't have a lot of time for hobbies and (2) I have even less space. (It's amazing how two toddlers can completely colonize your house.) Still, I like to play music and occasionally record stuff, so I was looking to get some new speakers.My main need is for something small that can fit on a tiny desk where I have a mac mini and a keyboard controller. I'm not looking to re-master the Beatles, here. I just want something small, that sounds decent when I play virtual instruments, and in theory, I could use to do some simple recording/mixing.I looked around and settled on the Presonus Ceres 3.5BT. Presonus has been a mainstay of home recording studios for years, and it seemed like these speakers incorporated some of the features of their current low-end Eris monitors (such as Kevlar woofers) in a smaller package. They also have a nicely flexible set of inputs -- RCA, TRS, 1/8 inch, and bluetooth (although I really don't need that feature, it's a nice extra for when I listen from my iPhone).The main question you are probably wondering, if you are reading this: how do they sound? I'd say, pretty good. Way better than the cheap logitech powered speakers I previously had hooked up to my mac. They actually do sound like real monitor speakers. They have clear high-end and nice heft/body to the mid-range. The bass is pretty good, considering the size. I'd describe it as slightly "tube-y" (not vacuum tube-y, but acoustically tube-y). What I mean by this, I think, is that the mid-low end can sound a bit crowded to my ears. This is almost certainly an artifact of trying to squeeze bass out of a pair of 3.5 in drivers. Maybe it has to do with the porting design, I don't know. But don't get me wrong -- this is a really solid speaker. I don't know of any other speaker this size at this price that sounds this good, for listening or music recording.In case you are wondering about the size, each speaker measures 5.625"W x 6.44"D x 8.31"H (I found this on another site -- it seems accurate to me). In my research, I compared the Ceres 3.5BT against several others (for size). In general, the Ceres is about 1/2 to 2/3 the size, by volume, of most 4-inch studio monitors. If you are space constrained, you should give these speakers a look.What would I change? Maybe a few things (hence the 4-stars....always room for improvement!* I wish the volume knob were a bit bigger (it doesn't protrude out much, hard for fat fingers to turn)* I wish the speaker were front-ported rather than rear-ported. Most people using this size speaker will, I suspect, put it near a wall, where the boundary effect is an issue for rear-ported designs. Yes, there are some room-tuning adjustments, which help, a bit.* I'd like to see a USB input for audio to add to the nice collection of other inputs. This is a great way to get sound from the computer to the monitor without having to fiddle with levels, etc. Keep it in the digital domain.* A second headphone jack would be nice to have -- could work in quiet with a friend, when needed.* Finally, how about making a version with a pair of those nice PreSonus audio inputs built-in? (i.e., a USB audio interface) That would make this a really nice "studio in a box" solution for home musicians.All in all, a nice little piece of gear. I realize I am reviewing this more from the home recording angle than from the casual bluetooth listening angle (which seems to be PreSonus' main target market). So take my comments in that context.