ADAM A7 Monitor Speakers Review

[admin]

The ADAM A7 ($1149/pr) is a two way near-field studio monitor with the aforementioned tweeter and a 6.5 in. carbon mid/bass driver. This is all powered by two 50-watt amplifiers (one per driver.) Housed in an attractive black cabinet that weighs 18 lbs and measures 13in. high x 7.5in wide x 11in deep, the top front edges are beveled to reduce surface reflections from the tweeter.

Discuss "ADAM A7 Monitor Speakers Review" here. Read the article.

 

[KEW]

It is great to see that Audioholics is including pro-audio studio monitors in their evaluations!
Any comments on the dispersion of the A.R.T. tweeters?
Are they very directional?

 

[TLS Guy]

The ADAM A7 ($1149/pr) is a two way near-field studio monitor with the aforementioned tweeter and a 6.5 in. carbon mid/bass driver. This is all powered by two 50-watt amplifiers (one per driver.) Housed in an attractive black cabinet that weighs 18 lbs and measures 13in. high x 7.5in wide x 11in deep, the top front edges are beveled to reduce surface reflections from the tweeter.

Discuss "ADAM A7 Monitor Speakers Review" here. Read the article.

I suspect one of the major reasons for your favorable review, is that the speakers are active with amps specifically designed for the drivers, especially that tweeter. Oscar Heil's patent has expired and now everyone is getting in on the act. That tweeter always needed an active design.

Basically all speakers need to follow that plan from now on. That will help relegate receivers to the ash bin of history were they have belonged for some time.

I see Adam have a nice line of active home speakers.

That A 7 can be had for $574.50 on Amazon.



So you could buy seven of those speakers around $4000.00. There is no need for pre/pro to cost more than receivers, but you could use a $500 receiver's pre outs, ad a sub and you have the audio covered for less than $6K. Add a plasma display and you have the whole works for around $7.5K. I have a feeling it would be light years away in performance compared to even a high end receiver driving speakers with passive crossovers.

It is high time the industry got geared this way.

 

[gene]

I suspect one of the major reasons for your favorable review, is that the speakers are active with amps specifically designed for the drivers, especially that tweeter. Oscar Heil's patent has expired and now everyone is getting in on the act. That tweeter always needed an active design.

One should never deal in absolutes, especially with speaker design. There are pros/cons to active speaker designs which must be considered by the designer based on system goals, budget and intended usage.

The likely reason these speakers scored so highly by the reviewer is b/c they are in fact good speakers which sound great in a nearfield environment. Nearfield monitors typically sound very good b/c the listener is in close proximity to them and getting predominately direct sound. Out of all my systems in my reference system, I enjoy my EMP Tube system the most for 2 channel listening at my desktop. Its absolutely amazing when used in my office but that all changes when placed in a larger room not listening in a nearfield environment. I suspect the Adams would not fair so well in a larger room for theater applications as they would be severly limited in dynamics. Hence one of the reasons why they market them as Nearfield monitors.

It is high time the industry got geared this way.

Unlikely. Many audiophiles still like their mega buck mono block amps to power their speakers. They won't settle for integrated amps into speakers just like they won't settle for using an A/V receiver to power their speakers.

 

[Cristofori]

I suspect one of the major reasons for your favorable review, is that the speakers are active with amps specifically designed for the drivers, especially that tweeter. Oscar Heil's patent has expired and now everyone is getting in on the act. That tweeter always needed an active design.

Basically all speakers need to follow that plan from now on. That will help relegate receivers to the ash bin of history were they have belonged for some time.

I see Adam have a nice line of active home speakers.

That A 7 can be had for $574.50 on Amazon.



So you could buy seven of those speakers around $4000.00. There is no need for pre/pro to cost more than receivers, but you could use a $500 receiver's pre outs, ad a sub and you have the audio covered for less than $6K. Add a plasma display and you have the whole works for around $7.5K. I have a feeling it would be light years away in performance compared to even a high end receiver driving speakers with passive crossovers.

It is high time the industry got geared this way.

What you are proposing here would be nice, but I have a feeling it wouldn't be practical or feasible in many real world situations, not to mention too complicated for the average person, with all the crossovers, adjustments, etc. They can't even set up their basic HT systems to sound good much less anything else!

I was inquiring about a pair of passive studio monitors at a music shop, and the shopkeeper told me that professional active studio monitors are generally not designed or meant to be played very loud, and to be listened to up close.

Also, as you know, an A/V receiver does a lot more than just power speakers. You would still need a good preamp/processer. Might as well make it a little bigger and put an amp in there as well. It would be more flexible than just to have a unit with pre-outs for powered speakers.

No... I don't see the A/V receiver relegated to histories dust bin just yet, unless all of it's functions can be put into the speakers as well as the amps. Wouldn't that be something? One synergistic hook up between the speakers with your tuner, CD/DVD/phono inputs, etc. built in. I wonder which speaker they would put the stuff in, or would they be split between the two? Ha! Ha!

Seriously though, I'd have to say no thanks. I'd prefer my speakers to be made by a dedicated home speaker company, and my amps/receivers to be likewise. The all-in-one/Jack of all trades thing doesn't appeal to me in that application. I'd also question the reliability.

And Gene is right, the audio enthusiasts would never stand for it. It would take a lot of the fun out of the hobby!

 

[jamie2112]

I have used Adam's several times mixing records and they are great.Very flat response and I have gotten great results....

 

[TLS Guy]

What you are proposing here would be nice, but I have a feeling it wouldn't be practical or feasible in many real world situations, not to mention too complicated for the average person, with all the crossovers, adjustments, etc. They can't even set up their basic HT systems to sound good much less anything else!

I was inquiring about a pair of passive studio monitors at a music shop, and the shopkeeper told me that professional active studio monitors are generally not designed or meant to be played very loud, and to be listened to up close.

Also, as you know, an A/V receiver does a lot more than just power speakers. You would still need a good preamp/processer. Might as well make it a little bigger and put an amp in there as well. It would be more flexible than just to have a unit with pre-outs for powered speakers.

No... I don't see the A/V receiver relegated to histories dust bin just yet, unless all of it's functions can be put into the speakers as well as the amps. Wouldn't that be something? One synergistic hook up between the speakers with your tuner, CD/DVD/phono inputs, etc. built in. I wonder which speaker they would put the stuff in, or would they be split between the two? Ha! Ha!

Seriously though, I'd have to say no thanks. I'd prefer my speakers to be made by a dedicated home speaker company, and my amps/receivers to be likewise. The all-in-one/Jack of all trades thing doesn't appeal to me in that application. I'd also question the reliability.

And Gene is right, the audio enthusiasts would never stand for it. It would take a lot of the fun out of the hobby!

A pre pro is the way to go. Amps are badly compromised in a receiver case especially seven of them.

A passive crossover causes lots of problems, and wastes at a minimum half your amp power, and not uncommonly 50 to 75%. Amps can be designed specifically for the driver they are connected to in an active speaker.

Actually a decent crossover passive crossover is a very expensive item. Unfortunately the vast majority of commercial speakers use cheap poor quality components and its all down hill after that.

I'm certain that if the industry geared to pre pros and active crossover with amps in the speakers, you could increase quality greatly at the same point.

With economies of scale active crossover could be produced much cheaper than good passive ones.

I think with energy mandates there will be a forcing to class D amps. That will basically mandate active speakers. Class D amps do not acquit themselves at all well with complex loads.

In professional circles active speakers are rapidly taking over even in the big fixed monitors.

There are just too many benefits to going to active speakers to pass it up.

Passive crossover are the biggest obstacle to progress.

 

[Cristofori]

what TLS guy proposed is really nice
with his built up he could get a HT system which could last him for quite some good years before he needs an upgrade.
if only the average person could manage the setup and the crossovers, adjustments etc etc
if not it would be a pain

True, as I said in before, the average person can't even get their basic HT systems to work right and sound good much less something like what TLS Guy proposed.

Then there is the question of reliability. It would seem to me that one high quality central unit from a good, dedicated amp manufacturer would be more reliable and practical then having seven or eight little amps all about. What happens if one of the active speakers or something else malfunctions, causing your whole system to be out of whack?

Not that such a set up couldn't be done or work well, but the active speakers/amps would need to be of the highest quality, and such a set up would be mostly for the very knowledgeable, pro audio techies only.

 

[TLS Guy]

True, as I said in before, the average person can't even get their basic HT systems to work right and sound good much less something like what TLS Guy proposed.

Then there is the question of reliability. It would seem to me that one high quality central unit from a good, dedicated amp manufacturer would be more reliable and practical then having seven or eight little amps all about. What happens if one of the active speakers or something else malfunctions, causing your whole system to be out of whack?

Not that such a set up couldn't be done or work well, but the active speakers/amps would need to be of the highest quality, and such a set up would be mostly for the very knowledgeable, pro audio techies only.

So cramming seven amps in a case with powerful processor and other electronics, and than wasting a half to 75% of your power in passive crossover, will be more reliable, than smaller amps in a space big enough to properly ventilate? Are you kidding?

What is the deal about the set up? Just plug the XLR outs from your pre pro and plug them into the XLR on the back of each speaker. Easy isn't it? Then do your set up the same as now.

Receiver get to be a dumber and less defensible product with each passing month.

 

[Tumara Baap]

I suspect the Adams would not fair so well in a larger room for theater applications as they would be severly limited in dynamics. Hence one of the reasons why they market them as Nearfield monitors.

The Adams mated to a subwoofer would sound better than anything Audioholics has ever tested, in small and large rooms alike. The one exception would be the NHT Xd. But then, even this design is not typical of consumer speakers and is closer to active professional monitors.

There is a lot of misconception as to what a nearfield monitor is. The professional world deals with speakers that are used in huge venues on the one hand to monitors sitting a few feet away on a meter bridge. In the early years of audio, a nearfield was designed with on-axis performance and directionality in mind, the idea being to minimize the role of the room in a mix. These are no longer considerations of nearfield design. Wide dispersion is a laudable goal regardless of how far you sit from the monitor and psycoacoustics research has upended lore about how the mixing room translates into the domestic space of a consumer. In actuality, the term nearfield is a marketing relic that is nearly meaningless. As long as the outputs from each transducer are temporally blended within the few feet of travel to the listen's ears, it's good enough to be marketed as a nearfield. A really good pair will sound just as great three away as 10 feet away (if not better).

 

[Tumara Baap]

Regarding the point of limited dynamics: Even when faced with a pro monitor with such a shortcoming, it can still sound better than just about every consumer speaker. This is because other performance parameters have been scientifically demonstrated to correlate better with end-point outcomes (listener preference).
Secondly, because of the engineering advantages conferred by active design (not to mention rigorous and rational engineering itself that places final performance over marketing brownie points), pro-monitor dynamics belie their compact size. So much so, that the dynamics of active two-way eight or ten inch monitors from Mackie, JBL LSR Pro, or Genelec can easily keep up with large consumer tower speakers that reviewers routinely fawn over.

 

[Cristofori]

So cramming seven amps in a case with powerful processor and other electronics, and than wasting a half to 75% of your power in passive crossover, will be more reliable, than smaller amps in a space big enough to properly ventilate? Are you kidding?

What is the deal about the set up? Just plug the XLR outs from your pre pro and plug them into the XLR on the back of each speaker. Easy isn't it? Then do your set up the same as now.

Receiver get to be a dumber and less defensible product with each passing month.

OK, I admit that I don't do HT or know much about studio monitors, and I don't think of my amp/receiver as "7 little amps" but one single unit with one power source.

But my fundamental question is if the set up you propose is so wonderful, why isn't everybody doing it? Most knowledgeable audio enthusiasts reference systems don't contain a bunch of little active speakers other than subwoofers, including those who run this website (I think), much less the average lay person.

Another question is how many affordable preamps are available that have all the traditional inputs, HT processing, with enough balanced XLR inputs to create an active/HT system that also doesn't happen to be ugly as sin (most pro gear)? My guess is not many.

Also, aren't you the guy who has the bizarre, custom room full of vintage audio equipment? In one post your telling me how great this stuff is (which I agree), and how we should really admire older technology more than we do (I also agree). Now your an ultra-progressive who is belittling and calling for the immediate destruction of traditional A/V set ups still used by the vast majority of people? If I really felt that way about the active speaker set up, I wouldn't be messing around with anything else.

I've read the review here on the Adam's, and although I have no doubt they are awesome studio monitor speakers, probably one of the best, and I don't doubt the authors sincerity, there was none of the "rigorous testing" usually associated with other reviews I've read here, just Absolute Sound/Sterophile style talk. Also, at the end of the review the author states: "Small but powerful, they will be a welcome addition to any project studio or any mix engineer's arsenal of nearfield monitors".

Why not recommend them to just any old lay person as a regular pair of home speakers if they are so obviously superior and simple to use?

P.S. No offence on the bizarre, custom room comment. That was actually a compliment!

 

[Cristofori]

The Adams mated to a subwoofer would sound better than anything Audioholics has ever tested, in small and large rooms alike. The one exception would be the NHT Xd. But then, even this design is not typical of consumer speakers and is closer to active professional monitors.

So what say you Audioholics? Would a complete test of the Adams mated to the best sub you know of sound better than any set up you currently use or ever had before? Seriously, I'd be the first in line to buy this stuff upon that revelation.

Even though you gave a stellar review of the Adams, you said no such thing, so apparently not using a sub must have been the deal breaker!