M-Audio Studiophile SP-5B Near-field Studio Monitors (Pair)

The M-Audio Studiophile SP-5B are active, bi-amplified near-field studio monitors originally released in the early 2000s. They are widely regarded as a solid, budget-friendly entry-level option for home studios, multimedia production and casual listening.  

These sound fine, but the woofer cones have cracks in them due to their age. These also don’t have great shielding, so you don’t want to place them inches from a cell phone or Wi-Fi hotspot. Lastly, their volume controls need to be cleaned and sometimes crackle when you are changing the volume. Once the volume is set, the crackling stops.

The front panel of the vinyl‑covered MDF cabinet carries a 5.25‑inch polypropylene bass/mid‑range driver, and a one‑inch silk‑dome tweeter. Both drivers are magnetically shielded.

The tweeter's mounting stands proud of the baffle such that the axis of the voice coil is some 30mm in front of that of the woofer. This also makes it very vulnerable to damage as the silk dome rises slightly proud. There is an unusual wave guide which can be angled to alter dispersion and directivity as required.

The metal rear panel supports the internal electronics and is fitted with an IEC mains inlet, complete with integral fuse holder and a rocker switch. Both XLR and TRS quarter‑inch jack sockets provide balanced line‑level audio input, and the two inputs are mixed internally with a single level control.

A large 1.5‑inch flared port is positioned at the top of the rear panel and extends about four inches into the cabinet. Data provided with each loudspeaker showed a fairly flat frequency response, although closer inspection of the graph axes revealed that the plot only covered the range from 200Hz to 20kHz, and a dynamic range from 20 to 120dBSPL. In fact, the speaker's on‑axis response fills a ±5dB window between 220Hz and 20kHz, with broad dips centered around 4kHz and 12kHz. The response peaked at 1kHz and seemed to tail off gently from there down, falling 8dB by 200Hz and looking like the trend would continue.

Key Features and Specifications

• Drivers: Features a 5.25-inch mineral-filled polypropylene woofer for bass/mid-range and a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter for highs.
• Design: Housed in a vinyl-covered MDF cabinet (measuring roughly 350 × 166 × 200 mm and weighing about 5 kg).
• Dispersion Control: Includes a unique, angled waveguide for the tweeter that can be rotated to adjust the sound's dispersion in your specific room.
• Connectivity: The rear panel features both balanced XLR and 1/4-inch TRS inputs, along with a power switch and volume/level control.