SC305 Review

The SC305 is Eve Audio’s most affordable three-way monitor system. The centrally located tweeter ensures that it’s equally at home in the middle position of a 5.1 surround system or a conventional two-way stereo setup.










Inside the SC305 are three independent 50-watt power amps, with one feeding each driver. The two woofers operate across different frequency bands. One handles everything from 50–350Hz as a dedicated ‘bass woofer’, while the other takes care of everything from 350Hz up to the crossover point of the tweeter at 3kHz. Eve Audio claims that this even distribution of frequencies optimises efficiency and dynamics and achieves a low noise floor.

Silver Surfers

Both SilverCone 5-inch woofers are specially made for Eve and are the same units that are installed in the smaller SC205 model. The AMT RS3 tweeter is the same too, but there’s a bigger front plate and a bigger internal magnet to drive it more efficiently.

When setting up the SC305s for the first time you should be aware of the DIP switch on the back panel that designates whether the left or right woofer functions as the bass driver. The bass driver should be the one on the outside. There are two other DIP switches that ‘fix’ the current volume level and filter settings.

All Eve speakers feature balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs. The volume knob on the front is a multi-function control. It switches the SC305s in and out of standby mode (where it idles at 1W power consumption) and provides access to several different filter settings to tailor the response to your working environment.

Pressing the knob once causes the volume to fade up gradually and it ramps down slowly when powering down. All the LEDs illuminate up to the preset volume level. If you press the knob again, the High LED lights up and you can twist the knob to select High, Desk or Low. Press the knob once more and you can fine-tune the settings in the selected frequency band. The LED display can also be changed or switched off altogether.

Best Of Bass

All of the frequency response parameters are controlled by high-resolution DSP electronics and your settings are stored at switch-off. A high-quality A/D converter from Burr-Brown for optimum signal quality supports the DSP engine and the PWM (Class-D) amplifiers are directly connected to the DSP.

Port distortion (aka port chuffing) is a common problem with ported cabinets. Eve Audio works around this by opting for a large rear rectangular port without hard edges to improve efficiency at lower frequencies. The first thing that struck us was the depth and solidity of the bass. We wouldn’t describe the SC305s as bassy speakers per se, but if low-frequency content is there in the source material, they will certainly enable you to hear it. Although the low-frequency limit is quoted as being 50Hz, test tones revealed that the SC305s go a lot lower than that. They are solid, weighty and even in response.

Climate Change

But there’s yet more good news, as the left/right stereo imaging is very crisp. Mix elements are firmly put in their place and there’s plenty of air in the front/back image. We found that we were up and running with these monitors very quickly, and very little acclimatisation time was required.

They almost sounded ‘right’ to us with the frequency controls set flat; however, after some experimentation we decided that a 3dB cut at 180Hz helped to remove a bit of the tubbiness in the low end. To be fair, that was probably attributable to reflections off our desktop rather than any fault with the SC305s, but it demonstrates just how little setup is required.

These monitors have a clean and effortless quality that opens a sonic window on your mix without being strident or too up-front. We found them easy on the ears over extended periods and the size of their sound belies the size of the cabinet.

Verdict

+ Power switch at front

+ Volume control at front

+ EQ at front

+ Well-controlled bass

+ Transparent acoustic quality

+ No port chuffing

+ Nice and loud

+ Ease of use

– Must be placed sideways

Another set of refined, beautifully made and great-sounding monitors from this new German company.

9/10

Here’s a vid from Digital Audio Service: