Eve Audio SC207 Review

By comparison to Eve Audio’s SC205, the greater internal volume of the rear-ported bass-reflex enclosure and the larger woofer of the SC207 combine to extend the bass response down an extra 9Hz, to 44Hz.

This 6.5-inch SilverCone woofer has a honeycomb structure and glass fibre coating for maximum stiffness. It’s driven by a sophisticated magnet system with a 1-inch voice coil to optimise linear excursion and dynamic range.

The resemblance between Eve’s folded ribbon tweeter and those featured in Adam monitors isn’t merely skin-deep – Eve company founder Roland Stenz was a co-founder of Adam (in charge of production and finances though not product design or R&D) in 1999 and remained with the company until 2010. This RS2 AMT (Air Motion Transformer) ribbon tweeter was designed and manufactured specifically for Eve monitors and features a bigger front plate and a larger magnet.

A PWM amplifier with built-in limiters to protect the drivers provides 50 watts for the tweeter and 100 watts for the woofer – so it’s 50 watts up on the SC205. Of course, it’s not so much about maximum volume but rather pre-distortion headroom. Headroom is important because you’ll experience greater clarity and less ear fatigue. Eve claims a maximum output level of 106dB (SPL@1m), which should be more than enough for any project studio.

Between the analogue inputs (RCA and XLR) and the re-emergence of the sound waves into the physical world, the signal is processed digitally. Burr-Brown converters handle the transformation from A to D, after which the signal can be manipulated by Eve’s DSP engine before entering the PWM amplifier stages.

This onboard processing has enabled Eve to install an ingenious multi-function control knob on the front panel. It switches the SC205s in and out of standby mode (where it idles at 1-watt power consumption) and provides access to several different filter settings to tailor the response to your working environment.

Filter Fun

Press the knob once and the volume ramps up gradually. This is a nice safety feature, plus they ramp down on switch-off, too; the LEDs illuminate up to the preset volume level. Press the knob again and the High LED lights up, and you can move the knob to select High, Desk or Low. Press the knob once more and you can adjust the levels at four pre-selected frequency bands.

It has to be said that setting the frequency response using a front-mounted control with clear metering was a real treat for us – far better than having to climb over a pile of gear to peer at tiny DIP switches. We found the ‘Desk’ midrange cut superb and the SC207s integrated into our monitoring system seamlessly with a further 1.5dB of treble filtering.

Verdict

+ All controls on front panel

+ Impressive low-end weight

+ Transparent acoustic quality

+ No port-chuffing

+ Nice and loud

+ Ease of use

+ Standby mode

– Best placed away from walls and corners

A fine-sounding pair of monitors with excellent sound quality and über-convenient and practical front-panel controls.

9/10