Are the Presonus Eris 8's the best solution?

Argh, I hate trying to decide on monitors. Since emigrating and leaving my old Absolute 2's behind, I have had a my ATH050 and some Vietnamese 6" powered monitors to use. The cone went on one, luckily the one that doesn't hold the internal amp, and the amp has 2 inputs for both channels so was easy to set up as a a mono speaker.
 
I'm kind of unemployed at the moment and I have some savings, but I can't really blow it, being 10,000 Km from my Native home. But I also now have time on my hands, something I've not felt for the past year or so. Like many I listen to a wide range of music, Jazz, acoustic folk, through to Hip Hop and Drum and Bass. I'm not even sure where I am headed myself musically nowadays. So I'm looking for a new speaker, and putting my thoughts out there, in the hope it helps clear things a liittle, but I'm also stubborn and terrible at taking advice.
 
Why Thomann, because in Vietnam, there is no choice, and what there is is out dated and still at the retail price of that time. It's cheaper to import, and Thomann were happy to do so with my bass last year, so they have my confidence.
 
What am I looking for from a studio speaker:
Clear enough to mix on.
lively enough to inspire writing on.
Enjoyable enough to listen to general music on.
Deep enough to play bass on (Via Overlouds Mark Bass) so really at least 6"cones.
Nice enough to look at (This is shear Vanity, but when stuff is in my studio (as in bed is in the living room, not room full on music gear, though it is) room, I want to like it.
 
I was thinking, just go with the KRK Rokit6 G3's, I know I loose some clarity, but I'd enjoy general listening, probaly playing bass, may help inspire when writtng and I think they look cool. But before pressed submit on the order, the breaks went on. 
 
I'm not keen on the white cone of the Yamahas, and the look as bland as they are meant to sound. Seems they only really tick one box for me, that's clarity.
 
I noticed that the JBL LSR308 were a little more. I'm kind of not happy about getting cabinet that looks as big as my old Absolute 2's, but the 8" cone should help with playing the bass, and enjoying general listening, and they appear to be considered clear. Confused by these 2 reviews (The first being interesting as he DIY hacks it in the same way that I'd probably think off, but not to much success):
This seems to say (if I'm reading correctly) the sweet spot is really narrow http://noaudiophile.com/JBL_LSR308/
Where as this seems to say it's wide http://www.emusician.com/gear/1332/review-jbl-lsr308-active-monitors/46579
 
Jeff seems keen on the Yamaha's http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3057773
 
The Thomann page of choices
http://www.thomann.de/int...s.html?pg=4&oa=pra
 
 
 EDIT: Thread title changed
 

Any experiences anyone, links to anything that can help me decide. I even started looking at HS8 but at 334 mm deep, I think it's just a bit big, and being rear ported would end up really close to the wall.

Just realised that the HS8 are really close to both my HiFi speakers stacked together when placed on their side, with the tops facing me. Ives me an idea of the size, Petty big, but I seem to be talking myself into it.
Being I'm also looking to get stands with them and the stands are part of an offer for the HS8s, this is how they compare.
 
Yamaha HS8  - 495 Euros (250 x 390 x 334 mm)

JBL LSR8 - 407 Euros (254 x 419 x 308 mm)
 
So 92 euros more for the HS8s. I wish I hadn't read that article showing how poorly built the LSR8s are.
 

LOL... You might want to revamp the title Scott, that last part made me burst out laughing to what you changed it to... maybe "do I really need 8" cones?" and leave it at that.

I have a feeling it will, but is all good. I did alter the title in my reply above so it shows up in the "recent posts" portion.

I have:
Adam A5X (front ported)
Yamaha HS8 plus H8S sub
Neumann K120 (front ported)
 
The Adams were my first monitors, not cheap yet they have faults which I'd like to pass on because it was part of my learning curve:
 
They "sound great", but as time went on, I discovered the bass ports boost bass around 50Hz, then drop off rapidly. This caused me to deliver bass-heavy material twice which didn't do my reputation any good. The reason is the front ports give the illusion of nice, tight bass but in fact you are not hearing the very bottom frequencies at all. Secondly, the (fantastic) tweeter does not manage to get into the upper mids. The crossover frequency is set to 2.5kHz, not the more usual 2kHz. So the woofer has to try cover this range, too, and it fails. There is a dip in the mids which means the sound is "scooped" and after some experience I found I cannot hear mid-frequency detail. But "scooped" speakers "sound good" and this is what fooled me when I was looking for my first set of monitors.
 
The Neumann K120s are front-ported but are very good. Strong in the mids, good non-directional highs from a conventional dome tweeter and better bass than the Adams (aluminium box instead of wood). But they are expensive.
 
The Yamahas are not too expensive (sorry to hear they are pricey where you are). I got them because the second time I delivered bass-heavy productions I was summoned to a studio where I was played back my material over exactly these speakers. And my boomy bass was all to obvious. The mids are surprisingly clear for an 8" which may be the reason the bass is weak (but real). What I mean by "real" is, if you have a sine wave at 30Hz, you will hear it. With the smaller Adams and Neumanns I do NOT hear it. But the lifted 50Hz fools me into thinking I am hearing full bass when I play a full production.
 
The Yamahas are, as you said, back ported. When I do my final check, I put them on stands away from the walls and I walk around the room and also into the chillout room next door to listen for any boominess
 
So some time later I added a subwoofer to take the bass away from the HS8s so I can get a sense of the bass when I am still doing pre-final work. But for the final mix I disconnect the subwoofer and just listen over the HS8s.
 
One thing that I learned: When I play normal commercial CDs (or even my own work) over the Yamahas or the Neumanns, the music sounds harsh, unpleasant. If I were a beginner, I would think they are rubbish. I know better now.
 
I also have some small computer speakers, one Logitech gaming loudspeaker set and a pair of really cheap M-Audio "Studio Monitors" with horrible, sharp-sounding tweeters. These are all just to check there are no unexpected resonances that might show up when heard over typical systems like these.
 
HTH. Good luck choosing. The monitors are the next most important thing after the microphone.

currently have Presonus Sceptre S6s, JBL LSR305s, and Urei 809s...
 
I've listened to Adam, Genelec, K&H/Neumann, and others.

I love the Sceptres, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the 809s. Some of our biases come from the past<G>!

I also really like the JBLs, but they are a very different sound.

I've heard the Eris, and I'd say they sound a lot like the JBLs. I think most folks could create mixes that translate well with either, but I think you probably have to work a little harder to do so because, well, they both sound nice, and sometimes you want hones over nice.

For the multiple uses you're describing, I'd suggest smaller monitors (5") with a subwoofer. I have M-Audio BX8 D2 monitors and love them, so I feel confident in suggesting the M-Audio BX5 D2 monitors.
 
I looked through Thomann catalog and would suggest the second least expensive sub they have, they Swissonic Sub10. Looks like a really good bang for the buck. Given that, and I know you said you weren't fond of the white cones in the Yamaha monitors, but you might want to consider the Swissonic ASM5 monitors that are matched to the Sub10. Swissonic is a Thomann house brand that gets good reviews.
 
Here are 4 links, 3 back to the Thomann catalog and a 3rd to a really good personal-use review of the ASM5/Sub10 pair. The review is in German. If you can't make enough useful info out of it and you're interested in the combo, let me know and I'll do a quick translation for you.
 
http://www.thomann.de/intl/maudio_bx5_d2.htm
http://www.thomann.de/intl/swissonic_asm5.htm
http://www.thomann.de/intl/swissonic_sub10.htm
http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-100-2337.html
 
Edit: The reviewer stated that two ASM5 monitors + one Sub10 + cables cost him about 400€. The review was written about a year ago.

I hadn't considered a sub and 2 smaller speakers. I read you post a few hours ago, and have been lulling it over. I have kind of got over the white cones on the Yamahas, but it was the talk offatugue and brittle sounding high eeds that put me off. So I had a look at the swissonic option, with the sub, stands and either the asm5's or the BX5s its looking around 370 Euros. I think I'd rather getting a larger pair of monitors than add keep it simple.
 
It's a good suggestion though, gave me a good alternative to consider.
 
I think I'm going for the Prosonus ofver the JBL as I'm put off by the build and materials.
 
Thank for the suggestions
 
 

Thanks for the warning.
 

I'm don't really drive my speakers hard or hit them with a lot of bass. They are pretty cheap 6" speakers from a Vietnamese company that started with PC speakers. I doubt it's been from my music production. Even my general listening isn't particulaly loud. I first noticed when watching films and some of the deep bass that comes them.