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Studiomonitor- Adam T8V


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So, why a studio monitor review in this forum?

Spoiler

because I think that these speakers are also interesting for people who don't make music, don't have a lot of money but want the best possible performance. on the other hand, you could be disappointed quickly if you don't know what kind of speakers you have in front of you.

i'm not a fan-boy of any company, but i have to admit that i have a weakness for the manufacturer because they build really good near- and midfield monitors. whether the price of the upper class is justified is another question ...but with these speakers, adam is pushing the boundaries. When I look at where we are technically going, I see that as a step backwards. Theoretically, we have reached a digital spectrum that exceeds our information strength when listening and we can manipulate sound on a digital stage that is so precisely that we could really hear it in ultra-high quality. but what do we do: we squeeze a 2" loudspeaker into a cheap plastic box, slap a few china chips on it and sell it as high-definition. since the 50s we know that the box is just as important as the loudspeaker itself and since the 60s we know that stereo sounds better as mono, so the 300 € jbl-mono-sub-super-bass-bluetooth-monster sounds "cool" at first impression but has lost its breadth compared to two "real" speakers in the same price class.

"studio properties":

Spoiler

if you want to set up a professional studio and spend 2000eur on your sound card or ad/da converter then you should spend at least as much on the speakers. so thats not your best choice.
i have a motu ultralite mk3 which - i think - has unbelievably good audio properties but is a bit old in terms of the surface.
So i doesn't want to open a discourse on what is "studio" or "professional" and I have no possibility of a/b comparison. but i know the yamaha hs, krk rokit, alesis mk2, jbl studio 530, samson rubicon, adam s/a, neumann and others.
I have to admit that I never really liked the yamaha. they are good - no question - but they always sounded a little like plastic or "in the box" to me. the krk, on the other hand, are far too bass-heavy and "sound hypend" so a great party box but nothing to listen to.


I will spare you all the details that can be found in other reviews and there are everywhere on the net.
I should only mention that the loudspeakers have their volume control, on/off switch and power-LED on the back, so they are not easy to reach.

it is the Adam T8V. a neafield monitor that is almost a midfielder. you need space. it is definitely bigger than a normal nearfield monitor, not too huge in the front but rather deep.
So actually so deep that it no longer fits on a desk and want a stand.

let's start at the top:

the heights are incredibly beautiful and soft. sometimes a bit sharp or s-heavy which I attribute strongly to the recordings and also here not really intrusive but demonstrative. with percussion i hear details that i have never heard from any speaker in this price range. With voices and real instruments you have reached a level of information that I only know from speakers that are 10 times more expensive.

the middle is also very precise and there are crazy depths and widths that I didn't know about in some of the songs before. i miss the lower mid a little bit, but i would put it 100% to my room because it is not acoustically processed and i have similar problems with other speakers. but we're talking about nuances that may be important when mixing or making music but play no role in hi-fi and gaming.

the bass: hmm, a sub for 600eur can do more. a four-way system too. but for a 2-way box that didn't cost 250 € each, I've never heard of anything like that. of course they don't have as much pressure as a sub at 38hz but a punch of a bass drum is physically perceptible and when you hear ennio morricones - hateful 8 as wav loud, you are not only struck by the high altitude thunderstorm but also by the thunder in the width.

stereo spectrum and depth: a 3000 euro neumann monitor sounds more defined and broader. the adam sound different. I can't say whether they are less or more wide than other speakers. at the beginning i missed the panorama a bit but i started to hear other things around it. I would describe them as subtle, whatever that means^^ as described below, the 3-d location has become much better and compared to logitech, alexa and bose it is just divine but I think in a comparison test with yamaha or jbl could many classify the Adam as inferior. I don't know if I see it that way...

anyone who listens to a lot of pop on mobile or laptop, uses alexas and co. will not have fun with these speakers. many inferior mp3's are no longer really audible because every bug is revealed. I also assume that you can run into trouble with the unbalanced connection to the onboard sound card... symmetrical, out of my motu, I can't make these speakers loud enough that I could hear a hum or other interfering noises. heavily compressed, inferior or poorly produced music also sounds the same through these speakers. you don't want to hear it. a normal hi-fi box colors music and mostly makes it more pleasant. However, these monitors are interested in reproducing things exactly as they are made. so actually more analytical tools than party boxes. on the other hand, if you can already hear the difference between a 128kbps and a 320kbps mp3 and you don't think autotune is a divine talent, this speaker might be interesting... 

Spoiler

if you make or listen to electronic music anyway, you should definitely listen to this speaker before you settle down at krk or yamaha. the bass foundation is amazing. compared to more expensive monitors/subs the bass is undefined but compared to ALL of the speaker manufacturers mentioned above (in the same priceclass), the t8v is ultralinar and you don't run out of pressure. even with hard minimal tec the adam is effortless and clean down to the very bottom... but if you have more than 18 square meters, maybe a sub makes sense...

as already mentioned, if you wanted a "real" studio environment, you need something bigger. but when it comes to home/bedroom/project studios and a low budget, you've found your box.
In the home area too, if you consider a few things:
the box is big and heavy. too big for a usual nearfilder. you hear much louder with it than with a "logitech" desk alternative and you do that automatically because you want to hear the full stage. so you should have stable neighbors.

since near-field monitors have a spot, they usually do not emit a good sound in the room. therefore near field... you sit in front of it. But since these devices are so brutal, I can use them to cover my entire apartment and the classification near field only half fits here. So due to size, power and weight, I would rather pack them in the midfield corner. but due to the great sweetspot and the relatively linear properties, they are near field...

correctly set up the speakers have a sweetspot that easily goes around 1 meter in the width. you no longer have to stay in one position and can move. you don't fall out of the sweetspot like with other loudspeakers, but you slowly start to locate one of the two loudspeakers more strongly in the sweetspot and notice that you have to go back to the middle.
for "normal" music enjoyment you need an equalizer and you have to know a little how to use it. eg lower the middle, do not increase the bass...the speakers would immediately show you the distortion!
I can't really judge how the "gaming" sound is because I don't compare it enough. With PR, however, local tracking has become significantly better. you not only hear more precisely from which direction the shot came, but you can better locate tanks, apc and the like in the background noise.
if i don't hear any music in the background i can tell from the sound of the footsteps whether it is opfor or blufor. I've never noticed that before.

the first apc-shot:
"WHOOOOOP, WHOOOOP!" and i felt the bass in my stomach and floor. the mechanical noise above it never sounded so great. But all in all so loud that I had to turn it down, which of course exactly lost this effect.

Spoiler

the first 12 hours i thought that this box doesn't like rock. teckno, funk, blues, soul, jazz everything sounded great, but rock and punk were limp. the stones sounded like out of a box. "the end" by the doors was no longer a thunderstorm of suffering but a song and "holyday in cambodia" by dead kennedys was almost an insult to the ears.
as I said that was the first 12 hours. if I play the same records now they have full pressure and dynamic and come out convincingly. the end is exactly what it should be, holyday scares you and the stones are convincing again. give this box time to work in.

long story short:

this series includes 3 models that start at 5" and end at 8" with a price range of 150-250 € per LS or 300-500€ for the pair. I assume that the smaller models sound the same but dont go that low. anyone looking for a cheap tweeter for internet radio shouldn't have read this. But if you are looking for a really good speaker that you can use in the near field (computer/video editing/audio/mixing/sound design/gaming/etc), have some space, make music, are interested in linear sound, are not afraid of an eq and/or are looking for awesome hi-fi speakers or don't want to use a sub, you should give this speaker a listen.

 

Quote

“I never decide if an idea is good or bad until I try it. So much of what gets in the way of things being good is thinking that we know. And the more that we can remove any baggage we're carrying with us, and just be in the moment, use our ears, and pay attention to what's happening, and just listen to the inner voice that directs us, the better.”

-- Rick Rubin

 

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