Whenever one mentions studio monitors, it seems like they scream professionalism and that’s a definite fact! If you are a professional in the “world of sound” or you are planning to become one, studio monitors are the first things that one needs, but still, they come in different sizes and one of the most important ones is the woofer’s size.
In this article, you will be able o find some of the best 5-inch studio monitors that can be found in the nowadays market! I’ve included many picks and listed them for what are the best.
Without further ado and without losing you too much time, let us take a closer look at the best 5-inch monitors that I chose for you!
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Best Budget  | 8.6 | Check Latest Price | |
Best for DJs  | 8.5 | Check Latest Price | |
Best Bluetooth  | 9.1 | Check Latest Price | |
Best Runner-Up  | 8.8 | Check Latest Price | |
Best Overall  | 8.6 | Check Latest Price |
The Top 5 Best 5-Inch Studio Monitors
5. PreSonus Eris E5 – Best Budget
PreSonus Eris E5 is the first studio monitor that I chose to start this article with. It comes from a very professional brand in the music studio field, and it is definitely one of the greatest.
Cooming in black color, this studio monitor is one of those that looks good wherever you may want to put it. It measures 11 x 14 x 10 inches and it weighs 10.2 pounds; meaning that it can be moved around easily.
As long as the type of the monitor is important, the PreSonus Eris E5 is a two-way monitor which includes a woofer and a tweeter. The woofer measures 5.25 inches, and it is made of woven composite, meanwhile, the tweeter includes a low-mass silk-dome, and it is 1 inch big.
In order to connect this monitor, you can use XLR and RCA inputs which are one of the most used inputs in different studio monitors.
Coming at the audio quality, the PreSonus Eris E5 is a great performer! The woofer is in charge of bringing you great low frequencies of sound, mostly dealing with the bass, and the tweeter does a great job bringing you amazing high frequencies. In the budget range, these are probably the best studio monitors you can buy.
- Frequency Response: 80 – 20 kHz
- SPL: 100 dB
Why Should You Buy It?
Budget devices are somehow one of the first choices that catch up a person’s eye, and the PreSonus Eris E5 knows how to do so. This one is definitely for people who don’t want to spend a lot of money on 5-inch studio monitors.
4. Pioneer DJ VM – Best for DJs
Again dealing with a super professional brand, Pioneer always knows how to satisfy their buyers when it comes to the monitors that they may need. Here it goes!
The Pioneer DJ VM is a monitor that comes in two choices of colors. It comes in black and white so that you can choose, all based on your preferences. As for the measurements, this monitor is 11.3 x 13.74 x 16.73 inches, and it weighs around 12.2 pounds. As listed, it is one of the most durable studio monitor speakers that you can find.
Just like the monitor already mentioned, the Pioneer DJ VM is also a two-way device that includes the main parts, the woofer, and the tweeter. The woofer is 5.25 inches and is made of Aramid cone, and the tweeter is 1 inch big and made of silk soft dome.
This monitor includes three types of inputs and can be connected. There is one XLR/TRS combo and an RCA unbalanced input.
As for the audio quality, in general, this monitor is quite powerful and it knows how to deal with everything that you may be listening to. What deserves to be mentioned here is that this monitor has EQ settings to allow you to choose between different frequencies.
These can be considered professional studio monitors, because of their broad sound stage, accurate sound reproduction and they are good enough for critical listening. They are a favorite of many music producers.
- Frequency Response: 40 Hz – 36 kHz
- SPL: 107 dB
Why Should You Buy It?
Based on the EQ settings that this studio monitor owns, it is one of the most used by DJs all around the world when producing! In case you are one of them, I would definitely advise you to take a closer look at Pioneer DJ VM.
3. Mackie CR5-XBT – Best Bluetooth
I bet you are tired of only one monitor and the Mackie brand surely heard you! Here comes Mackie CR5-XBT which comes as an amazing pair, and it is the only pair in this article.
The monitors are very good looking. They are made of wood mostly and they come in a pretty matte black color with a green line all over them. The measurements are 9.3 x 6.9 x 10.2 inches, and the weight is 14.9 pounds. The size and weight are based on each monitor.
Chosen as a 5-inch studio monitor, you already got how big the woofer is, right? Well, the woofers that these studio monitors own measure 5 inches, they are polypropylene coated, and the tweeters are 0.75 inches big and made of a ferrofluid-cooled silk dome. Again, we have two-way studio monitors.
I listed the Mackie CR5-XBT studio monitors as the best Bluetooth right? Well, as the main connectivity technology these ones use Bluetooth, and it works in the best way possible. Besides that, they also own RCA inputs and can be connected with other different devices.
Even though known for the connections, these studio monitors also do a great job, for the thing that they are supposed to be bought. That thing is the sound quality. They definitely know how to sound good in different places in whatever frequencies.
- Frequency Response: 50 Hz – 20 kHz
- SPL: 105 dB
Why Should You Buy It?
Connections, connections, connections! This is the main reason why this pair of studio monitors should be bought. It is one of the greatest studio monitors that shines amazingly in the connectivity part.
2. Yamaha HS5 – Best Runner-Up
Yamaha is one of the oldest and one of the most famous names that you will find whenever searching for professional devices for studios. Well, here Yamaha appears with the amazing HS5, which is one of the most used monitors.
Coming in two colors such as black and white, Yamaha HS5 definitely knows how to look good in the corners of your studio. Many people say that wherever you put this monitor, the place will shine, and that’s how good-looking they are. As for the size, this monitor measures 7 x 9 x 12 inches and weighs 12 pounds. It is quite portable, and it can be easily moved around.
With a cone woofer of 5 inches and a dome tweeter of only one inc, this monitor can be easily distinguished as a two-way speaker, but still, this one also has a bass reflex.
As for the inputs, this monitor uses XLR and TRS phone jack inputs that allow many connections, with many devices.
All the parts that I mentioned above are able to bring to you an exceptional amazing sound quality in general and particular as well. The bass is driven by the bass reflex that it has, and it is one of a kind, meanwhile, the other frequencies are brought by the woofer and the tweeter.
- Frequency Response: 54Hz – 30kHz
- SPL: 100 dB
Why Should You Buy It?
As the best runner-up you can notice that it has a lot of features within, and still, I would like to mention that one of the greatest ones stands the bass accuracy that it has. The bass comes in the best way possible so if you are a bass lover, this one makes you fall in love all over again.
1. JBL Professional 305P MKII – Best Overall
Here at the end, the last but not least appears the greatest studio monitor of all the ones mentioned above, the JBL Professional. It is more professional than you can ever think of!
As a whole, this studio monitor has a pretty good look, and it looks super good wherever you want to put it. It comes in a pretty shiny black color that makes you look at it while working because it is very modern! The measurements of this one are 14 x 12.2 x 13.93 inches, while it weighs 10.12 pounds.
Being the best overall 5-inch studio monitor it is more than clear that this one has a woofer that measures 5 inches while there’s the tweeter that measures 1 inch, and it is a neodymium one. Neodymium is a very strong magnet that is mostly used in speakers, and JBL cannot miss this one.
JBL added two types of inputs to this monitor, and it is the balanced XLR and a 1/4 inches TRS.
JBL describes this monitor as a big sound out of a box, and the sound is indeed super big regarding the quality. Everything that you will be listening to with this monitor, let it be a song that you just produced or music listening as a leisure activity, is able to perform in the greatest way possible. There are EQ settings as well which let you adjust the sound however you want. Overall, they are a pair of great active monitors.
- Frequency Response: 49Hz – 20kHz
- SPL: 108 dB
Why Should You Buy It?
What can be said besides the greatest of them all! This monitor is for those people that love quantity and quality combined together. The sound is more than amazing and every frequency is brought just as it is supposed to!
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a studio monitor?
I mentioned above that p[professionals all need studio monitors but didn’t quite mention what these devices are. Well, studio monitors are professional types of speakers that are mostly used in music studios by different musicians or sound producers. They are not basic speakers because they tend to be a bit better when it comes to sound quality in general.
What should I consider a buying guide for the best 5-inch studio monitors?
As the first and most things that should be considered when looking for a studio monitor are the frequency response, the sensitivity of the monitors, and how will they sound (sound quality).
As you can notice above, I mentioned the frequency response as a key specification in every product that I mentioned because it definitely is the key to how the monitors sound.
What exactly do 5-inch stand for in studio monitors?
We basically get that a studio monitor cannot be 5 inches big for a general size, they definitely are bigger. The 5-inch in this case stands for the woofer measurement! That’s basically what the 5-inch stands for and what it tells.
Do studio monitors bring good audio quality?
A simpler answer to this question would be yes, they definitely do! Well, I want to talk in detail, and detail isn’t meant to be a yes they do.
Studio monitors, being devices that are used by professionals, bring an amazing sound quality and I would gladly say that I talk in general. Every studio monitor that you will purchase will deliver to you a great sound in all low, mid, and high frequencies.
Are studio monitors expensive? / Are they worth it?
Based on the studio monitors that I chose as the best 5-inches, they are not really expensive. Plus, they all come with a price tag under $500. Again, as different brands produce different devices, the prices differ from one another and they are not all the same.
However, what I would like to mention here is that studio monitors are really worth it even if they are the most expensive devices that you can find. But still, being budget and worth it is better than everything.
Active vs. Passive monitors
The biggest difference is that passive speakers don’t require any power, but active ones do. For a more detailed explanation, you can read our article on active vs. passive speakers.
Final Words
Coming to the end of this article, I would gladly say that all the studio monitors that I mentioned above are amazing! They come from very professional brands, they are all well built, and they all bring a great sound quality, which is one of the most important things.
What I hope is that this article will help you choose the best 5-inch studio monitor that you are searching for!
Further Reading
What can I add more besides the fact that the monitors mentioned above are one of the greatest ones that you can find? Oh well, there is something else that I would like to mention and that is the fact that there are some great studio monitors under $1000.
Now, if you are or found yourself in this article you are definitely a professional or are on the way to becoming one. Since there are many questions asked, I would like to answer the main question which is “Why do musicians wear headphones while recording?” By the way, I also would like to share some tips on how to stop headphones from leaking sound.
In case you have professional headphones used in your music studio, you know that there’s nothing better than Sennheiser, right? Well, here is a comparison between Sennheiser HD 600 and Sennheiser HD 650.
Have fun!
Audio Engineer
You’ll never find anyone more passionate about audio as me. I love to share my knowledge with others and help people find the right equipment for them.
