TEST: Monkey Banana Lemur 5

 What is already common practice in live sound reinforcement, has now also gained a firm foothold in the studio monitor sector. We're talking about DSP control of the monitors, which is used in part to optimize the existing arsenal or, as in the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 speakers we tested, to emulate other speaker types. Let's see if this interesting concept offers any real advantages in practice.

Appearance and construction of the Monkey Banana Lemur 5

Even when unpacking the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 near-field monitors, you can tell that the German manufacturer with Chinese production places great emphasis on fancy looks. Already the outer packaging of the monitors appear in Robinson Crusoe wooden box imitation style and also the red color scheme of the case in our case show a bold appearance in terms of optics. Whether the Hubba-Bubba gum red appeals to you is up to you, but in a "modern" electro studio, the eye-catching look will certainly meet with approval, while in a "traditional" studio, it will probably fall through due to the bite with the parquet floor.

As expected, the "Lemur 5" features a 5 inch Kevlar bass speaker and a 1 inch aluminum tweeter. The woofer is fed with 80 watts Class D, the tweeter with 30 watts Class D. The frequency response is 55 Hz. The frequency response is given as 55 Hz to (unfortunately once again nonsensical) 30 kHz, separated at 2.8 kHz. With dimensions (W x D x H) 190 mm x 277 mm x 214 mm and a weight of 4.45 kg, the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 can be described as quite handy. The case, which is rounded at the edges on the front, avoids comb filter effects and even gives a hint of Luigi Colani design.

On the back, we find a rather elaborate connection and sound processing periphery. As one of the few home recording monitors, the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 not only features the XLR (balanced, +4 dBu) and RCA (unbalanced, -10 dBu) connectors common in this performance class, but also offers the TRS (balanced, +4 dBu) standard as input jack. The final volume can be determined via a volume control rasterized at 0 dB. Furthermore, 6 mini switches give the possibility of a room and sound adjustment. From left to right: A double Acoustic Space reduction of -2dB and -4dB when placing the speakers in corners, a high pass filter at 47 Hz and 80 Hz, a mid boost / reduction of + / - 2 dB (frequency range and quality could unfortunately not be found out), a treble boost / reduction of + / - 2 dB at 10kHz, deactivation / activation of the limiter and deactivation / activation of the standby circuit, which takes effect after 12 minutes.

The presets of the Monkey Banana Lemur 5

As already mentioned, the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 monitor has a selection of presets, which can be switched via a push button on the back of the case. This is a good idea, but the implementation is completely impractical. Let's take a typical home studio in exactly the room of the apartment where there is still space. Where are the monitors placed in the majority of cases? Correct, on the wall in the corner. If you want to switch a preset, you have to take the box, pull the box forward, turn the box, switch the preset, put the box back and do the whole thing twice.

The feature only makes real sense if you perform this action via a remote control with display of the selected preset on the front of the cabinet, or if you have an iPhone / Android app that handles this process via Bluetooth. Thus, you will quickly lose the joy of the added value of the system and remain primarily stuck with a preset. But which presets, respectively emulations does the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 have?

Besides the house preset and a loudness-emphasized setting called "HiFi", the 4 remaining abbreviations, which may not be named for trademark protection reasons once again, make your ears prick up. I guess they are the following emulations:

"DIN 8030" - (Genelec 8030A)
"White Cone" - (Yamaha NS-10)
"Cube 5" - (Auratone 5C)
"RKT 5" - (KRK Rokit 5)


In general, it should be kept in mind that emulations in the near-field monitor sector also struggle with the same problems that have been the case in the guitar sector for years. An emulation is always only the attempt of a replica, in that one wants to bring transients, impulse behavior, frequencies etc. as close as possible to the original, without ever reaching it to the last detail due to the basic physical principles. This does not have to be a problem, but one should not be under the illusion that one could save the purchase of additional monitor systems for ambitious studio use, since one now has everything in a pair of loudspeakers. However, the quick switch between characters can save one or the other monitor controller.

The Monkey Banana Lemur 5 in practice

Let's start with the house preset of the Monkey Banana Lemur 5. The first impression shows strengths and weaknesses. The strengths clearly include the high-frequency range, which is well resolved and comparatively soft, and the low-mid range between 500 - 1 K, which places itself well present in the mix. The high-mid range is a bit "tinny", but is still in the green zone. The weak point of the sound is the bass range, which is practically non-existent. Everything below about 200 Hz can only be assumed and cannot be defined in any way in a mixdown or even mastering process. Since there is also no active bass boost in the settings, a subwoofer would have to be used in any case. Impulse response, depth staggering and spatial imaging are good.

The HiFi preset somewhat compensates for the aforementioned bass hole, but also doesn't offer a real boost around 150 Hz and lower. As expected, the mids are taken back a bit, which makes the sound much more "pleasing". Here you have to be careful not to get too comfortable in the so difficult midrange, otherwise a "nice" preset without any special occurrences.

In the Genelec preset, the Monkey Banana Lemur 5 tries to copy the classic "relaxed" sound of the Genelec range, but it does not quite succeed. The bass range is now clearly boosted and even shows ranges up to 100 Hz, but the sound lacks the characteristic "subtlety" in the highs and high mids, which is especially to the detriment of the vocal frequencies. Nevertheless, a pleasing setting, which one likes to pick up once in a while.

I was quite critical of the KRK emulation, since the Rokit series is a real bestseller in terms of price / performance, but can not necessarily be seen as a sonic reference. Interestingly, however, exactly this preset turns out to be the sonic highlight so far. A lot of emphasis is placed on the low-mid / bass range and for the first time you can even perceive deep bass in the sound image. In turn, the mids are taken back in their bite, but without breaking away sonically, paired with a pleasing treble reproduction. My favorite preset so far.

Now let's move on to the "biters." For decades, the Yamaha NS-10 and the Auratone 5C have not been about a "good" sound, but solely about surviving tonally in the mix. It is still true that if a mix is bearable on an NS-10, it will sound good on any other system. A special position is taken by the Auratone, which already in the eighties had the task to simulate playback devices at the lower edge of the quality scale, i.e. cheap kitchen radios, notebook speakers or car radios of the first generation.

With both presets, I think the engineers meant it a little too well. Yes, the NS-10 consists almost only of mids, but the bass range is better developed in the original than offered here. And yes, the Auratone has very little bass and noisy mids in the original, but to give the preset such a hard low cut does not do justice to the original.

In summary, the different presets offer good variety for the human ear, and the switch between the different characteristics can be a good help both in terms of fatigue and performance. However, in terms of sound, the presets are only rudimentary in the sound spectrum of the targeted originals; they cannot be a true replacement for the originals.

Conclusion

The Monkey Banana Lemur 5 is a decent sounding nearfield monitor for home recording on the market, whose preset concept offers an interesting approach. Provided that the 2.0 version comes up with a better management of the presets by means of a remote solution and comes a little closer to the copied models in terms of sound, I see very good chances for maximum sound utilization with minimal space.

Additional Informations:

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