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We are in need of a new "fun" topic so here it goes: :D

these questions are seperate of each other

1. What is the next piece of gear that you intend to buy?

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2. What is your favorite plugin and favorite hardware piece in categories: preamp ( plugins not included in this one), EQ, and COMP, and of course converter (again plugs not included in this one). Lastly what is your favourite Dither. I guess we should include monitors or loudspeakers too.

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3. Is the piece of gear that you intend to buy on that list?

Just something new for those who want to see what people like and are using.

I'll start:

1. I intend to buy a new set of B&W loudspeakers to replace my Mackies. I ordered them yesterday.
2. My favorite
a. Plugins..
EQ: Sonalksis EQ, UAD-1 Pultec
Comp: Oxford Comp., UAD-1 Fairchild, Sonalksis Comp
Dither: Pow-r, UV22
b. Outboard...
EQ: (this is hard). Manley Massive Passive, Prism Sound MEA- 2, Manley Pultec
Comp: Manley Vari-Mu, Manley Slam, GML 8900
Pre: All Manley Tube pres, and ANYTHING Great River
Converters: CRane Song Hedd, Apogee D/A, A/D
Dither: Waves L2 with dither, UV22 Box
Monitors: Those Adam Mastering series (11,000 a monitor :!: )
3. No! I can't afford those Adams and won't be able to for the forseeable future, but i'll settle for the B&Ws.

Topic Tags

Comments

Ammitsboel Fri, 11/19/2004 - 01:56

Re: What would you buy, and your favorite piece of gear? Sur

Ben Godin wrote: We are in need of a new "fun" topic so here it goes: :D

1. What is the next piece of gear that you intend to buy?

hmm... an ADC that actually works, I'm sick and tired of trying out ADC's that all have very big drawbacks!!

Ben Godin wrote:
1. I intend to buy a new set of B&W loudspeakers to replace my Mackies. I ordered them yesterday.
2. My favorite
a. Plugins..
EQ: Sonalksis EQ, UAD-1 Pultec
Comp: Oxford Comp. , UAD-1 Fairchild, Sonalksis Comp
Dither: Pow-r, UV22
b. Outboard...
EQ: (this is hard).... Manley Massive Passive, Prism Sound MEA- 2, Manley Pultec
Comp: Manley Vari-Mu, Manley Slam, GML 8900
Pre: All Manley Tube pres, and ANYTHING Great River
Converters: Crane Song Hedd, Apogee D/A, A/D
Dither: Waves L2 with dither, UV22 Box
Monitors: Those Adam Mastering series (11,000 a monitor :!: )
3. No! I can't afford those Adams and won't be able to for the forseeable future, but i'll settle for the B&Ws.

Favorite speakers... the ones i have(Audio Note ANE SEC Signature)
Plugin... dunno!?
Hardware... don't know yet.

Note: i wouldn't even think about putting those ADAMS in a Mastering studio, have you heard them?

Best Regards,

Ben Godin Fri, 11/19/2004 - 07:23

Well i have some good gear at the recording studio, but my mastering gearlist is stil not up to where i want it. I'm looking to make investments once my mastering studio is making more money. BTW (of course it is a wishlist, thats why i titled it favorite gear)

YES! I have heard the adams. I went to a local recording store here in charlotte and they had a pair on display. All i can say is they are gods of loudspekers and they ARE the wholy gail of listening. :D

Ammitsboel Fri, 11/19/2004 - 11:28

Ben Godin wrote:
YES! I have heard the adams. I went to a local recording store here in charlotte and they had a pair on display. All i can say is they are gods of loudspekers and they ARE the wholy gail of listening. :D

...and what is your reference? Have your ever heard a pair of Audio Notes?
What are you listening to in the performence when you audition speakers?

I know that some mix engineers like the ADAMS but their are some clear reasons why ADAMS is not suited for mastering monitors fx. the ribbon units don't play together with the woofers resulting in a very unhomogenic speaker.
There is altso examples of mix engineers that makes rather difuse and weak mixes in the top range as a result of the ADAMS.

Best Regards,

Ben Godin Fri, 11/19/2004 - 12:44

Henrik, we are not talking about the ADAM monitors, we are talking about the ADAM PM1-A, a set of loudspeakers developed by ADAM FOR mastering. They cost 11,000 a speaker, and honestly, to those who can afford them, are like a wholy grail. Sorry if you got mixed up.

When i audition speakers i listen to the warmth and "sound" of the speaker itself. I should be able to listen to the speaker at high volume for a long period of time without getting annoyed. Also i like it when the speakers translate well on other systems.

iznogood Fri, 11/19/2004 - 13:05

maybe i should give the mp's a listen....

we borrowed them for a listen..... didn't have the energy to try them out.......but i must say that every adam speaker i have heard so far sounds like crap......

heard the one with a 6.5 inch and ribbon.... sounded like a ns10!!!!

in my opinion ribbon speakers and electrostatics are really not suited for mastering..... and yes i've heard and owned electrostatics

Ammitsboel Sat, 11/20/2004 - 03:11

Ben Godin wrote: Henrik, we are not talking about the ADAM monitors, we are talking about the ADAM PM1-A, a set of loudspeakers developed by ADAM FOR mastering. They cost 11,000 a speaker, and honestly, to those who can afford them, are like a wholy grail. Sorry if you got mixed up.

When i audition speakers i listen to the warmth and "sound" of the speaker itself. I should be able to listen to the speaker at high volume for a long period of time without getting annoyed. Also i like it when the speakers translate well on other systems.

Yes it's exactly those I'm talking about!! Not suitable for mastering IMO.

I think you will get better result by comparing speakers by contrast and not by reference, otherwise you might end up with something that may sound nice* but is totally useless.

*I don't think the ADAMS sounds nice... more like plastic or a multiband compressor.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Ammitsboel Mon, 11/22/2004 - 09:40

BobYordan wrote: If I had the money I would buy this one. :)

(Dead Link Removed)

Cheers
Bob
:roll:

Restore classic 16-bit recordings to modern standards, enhancing and revealing inner ambient details befitting a 24-bit world. You may not believe it until you try it!

Yearh... count me in, I don't belive that one!
But I would like to hear it.

Best Regards

Cucco Mon, 11/22/2004 - 09:49

Hmm.... Back to topic here:

Next piece of gear I intend to buy:
DAD Axion AD/DA Converter for DSD/DXD/PCM

Preamp: Grace 801's
EQ:
plug-in - Timeworks Parametric EQ (Don't know why, I just like it over the Waves junk)
hardware - Weiss EQ1 (Hey, you didn't say we have to own it, just lust after it...)
Compressor:
Sorry, don't use 'em. I do classical only, no need for comps.
Converter - EMM Labs (Again, don't have to own, just lust!)
Dither:
Analog

And to monitors - You can't go wrong with B&W 802's or 800's.

BTW... I second the majority of the opinions here, the ADAMs, at least to me, didn't sound worth anywhere near $20,000. My 10 year old NHT's sounded clearer with more definition and they only cost me $1,500.

J...

anonymous Tue, 11/23/2004 - 09:41

I think price has a big influence on the way people judge certain products. "If it's the most expensive piece of gear, it must be the best!" This is not true. So from what info I gathered here, those adams don't seem to be good, although one person is convinced they are the holy grail...maybe the price of a product shouldn'T be your #1 criteria when testing speakers.

anonymous Sat, 12/11/2004 - 16:21

We have recent installed the ADAM mastering towers in place of other speakers the EgglestonWorks Savoy (also very nice), but the ADAMs are much much better. We were happy with the Savoy (and sell them if you are interested to buy); they are beautiful speaker, but ADAMs give a much clearer sense of what is going on especially with over-"premastered" mixes with bad plugins and sofort. They are not so pretty-sounding as Savoys. But ADAMS give (for us) very excellent translation to other listening environments and sofar no surprises; while we had sometimes surprises (and of course then problems to fix) with the Savoys and previous Duntechs.

Also to say that ADAMs is bad speaker is silly. :roll: Many thousands of quite serious people prefer them, even lower models like P11 and P22.

Ammitsboel Sat, 12/11/2004 - 17:08

KlausHussmann wrote: We have recent installed the ADAM mastering towers in place of other speakers the EgglestonWorks Savoy (also very nice), but the ADAMs are much much better. We were happy with the Savoy (and sell them if you are interested to buy); they are beautiful speaker, but ADAMs give a much clearer sense of what is going on especially with over-"premastered" mixes with bad plugins and sofort. They are not so pretty-sounding as Savoys. But ADAMS give (for us) very excellent translation to other listening environments and sofar no surprises; while we had sometimes surprises (and of course then problems to fix) with the Savoys and previous Duntechs.

Also to say that ADAMs is bad speaker is silly. :roll: Many thousands of quite serious people prefer them, even lower models like P11 and P22.

My experience with ADAMs is that they have an unthrough articulated high end that doesn't swing together with their woofers, witch I see as a very big problem when my job is to judge the whole thing.
Although you might think you are hearing more datails with your ADAMs, those details are a product of their unableness to play homogenic... and therefor i think you may by time experience other problems.

I haven't heard the savoys or the other speakers you mention, but my speakers have been tested for "contrast" diffferences between very different material and they are better than the ADAM mastering speakers in differences... and funny enough, details also, and they are the most homogenic speakers I've ever heard.

because many people go the wrong way doesn't mean the you have to go there too... It could be that they have used the wrong methods to go there and will suffer from it in the long run.

Best Regards,

anonymous Sat, 12/11/2004 - 17:24

Ammitsboel wrote: [quote=KlausHussmann]We have recent installed the ADAM mastering towers in place of other speakers the EgglestonWorks Savoy (also very nice), but the ADAMs are much much better. We were happy with the Savoy (and sell them if you are interested to buy); they are beautiful speaker, but ADAMs give a much clearer sense of what is going on especially with over-"premastered" mixes with bad plugins and sofort. They are not so pretty-sounding as Savoys. But ADAMS give (for us) very excellent translation to other listening environments and sofar no surprises; while we had sometimes surprises (and of course then problems to fix) with the Savoys and previous Duntechs.

Also to say that ADAMs is bad speaker is silly. :roll: Many thousands of quite serious people prefer them, even lower models like P11 and P22.

My experience with ADAMs is that they have an unthrough articulated high end that doesn't swing together with their woofers, witch I see as a very big problem when my job is to judge the whole thing.
Although you might think you are hearing more datails with your ADAMs, those details are a product of their unableness to play homogenic... and therefor i think you may by time experience other problems.

I haven't heard the savoys or the other speakers you mention, but my speakers have been tested for "contrast" diffferences between very different material and they are better than the ADAM mastering speakers in differences... and funny enough, details also, and they are the most homogenic speakers I've ever heard.

because many people go the wrong way doesn't mean the you have to go there too... It could be that they have used the wrong methods to go there and will suffer from it in the long run.

Best Regards,

Of course as everyone knows the first rule of audio is there is no "right" and "wrong". So for you to describe me, and many others of great fame and reputation who use these speakers with great success, of being "wrong" is just make yourself look silly, you know that, yes?

Unless you think yourself God perhaps? :wink:

anonymous Sat, 12/11/2004 - 22:12

Ammitsboel wrote: How do you test your speakers Klaus?

Also my "because many people go wrong..." was just an answer to your "Also to say that ADAMs is bad speaker is silly. Many thousands of quite serious people prefer them, even lower models like P11 and P22."

Best Regards

I don't test them I use them of course. 8)

Ammitsboel Sun, 12/12/2004 - 05:59

KlausHussmann wrote: [quote=Ammitsboel]How do you test your speakers Klaus?

Also my "because many people go wrong..." was just an answer to your "Also to say that ADAMs is bad speaker is silly. Many thousands of quite serious people prefer them, even lower models like P11 and P22."

Best Regards

I don't test them I use them of course. 8)

Well, congrat's to you.
But then don't come and say that you have a valuable argument for recomenting them.
I've never heard of an ME that doesn't test his/hers speakers before use... at least there is a test period they have to run before making a decision.

...or maybe you are just joking with me? I'm too serius to see that at the moment!?

Best Regards,

anonymous Sun, 12/12/2004 - 07:33

Henrik, of course I am to joke here. :) I think it is silly to say a high quality speaker of any brand is "bad". All speakers are highly nonlinear of course, as are all rooms and of course a room is really just the secondary resonating chamber for the speaker. So to "test" a speaker has not much meaning without many other factors. (But that's just my opinion.)

But all in fun. :)

Michael Fossenkemper wrote: well we seem to have quite a selection of monitors among us.

We seem to be the united nations of monitors. That right there tells me that everyone is looking for something different in their monitors.

Exactly the point I was hoping to make. Thank you, Michael. :) Better said than I could obviously.

FifthCircle Sun, 12/12/2004 - 09:11

Next Gear I intend to buy- Probably a replacement Powercore (a firewire one) and a pair of DAV Electronics Preamps

Favorite plug- Probably the Algorithmix Linear Phase EQ and Restoration pack (now if I could only afford them!)

Fav Comp- depends on the use. When I'm recording jazz, I use the Vac Rac Limiters, I also dig the Manley Vari Mu and a few others- don't really use compression much, though.

EQ- I use plugs most of the time- If I could afford to buy my own hardware, I'd look seriously at either a Millennia EQ or a Cranesong Ibis.

Didn't like the ADAM mastering monitors... Well, let me qualify, for the price I didn't like them. For that kind of dough, I'd rather have ATCs or perhaps K&H.

Right now, I'm not buying much gear... I have to be realistic- I'd love to get more, but my clients can't justify the extra expense. They like what I'm doing now, so I'll keep doing it. I'll keep my Sequoia rigs in good shape and that is probably the extent of my gear buying. My DAWs make me by far the most money of anything I do.

Also, if I were to do anything, I should upgrade my room as it is really pretty far from perfect. To buy gear and not upgrade my listening/work environment is doing myself a disservice.

--Ben

Pez Sun, 12/26/2004 - 11:03

more on Adams

Monitors are a very personal choice. I have the Adam nearfields and so far have been very pleased with the translation of the units. If one's mix sounds bad on them then there's a good chance that you're just hearing things you never heard before. It took me a while to learn to trust them instead of adjusting my mix to compensate for flaws in my previous monitors. Now if it sounds good then it will translate well. Pretty nice feeling. I've had no problem losing high end on mix down personally. Those ribbon tweeters really show all what's happening in the high frequency. I can kind of understand what was said about the woofer and tweeter working together but for me I like it that way. I didn't buy these for entertainment. I bought them to achieve an ass-kicking final mix with no "back to the drawing board" remix BS.

Ammitsboel Mon, 12/27/2004 - 18:03

Re: more on Adams

Pez wrote: Monitors are a very personal choice. I have the Adam nearfields and so far have been very pleased with the translation of the units. If one's mix sounds bad on them then there's a good chance that you're just hearing things you never heard before. It took me a while to learn to trust them instead of adjusting my mix to compensate for flaws in my previous monitors. Now if it sounds good then it will translate well. Pretty nice feeling. I've had no problem losing high end on mix down personally. Those ribbon tweeters really show all what's happening in the high frequency. I can kind of understand what was said about the woofer and tweeter working together but for me I like it that way. I didn't buy these for entertainment. I bought them to achieve an ass-kicking final mix with no "back to the drawing board" remix BS.

As long as people don't claim that they are acurate in regards to dynamics over the whole spectrum, it's ok with me.

Best Regards,

anonymous Tue, 01/04/2005 - 18:43

Ben Godin wrote:
YES! I have heard the adams. I went to a local recording store here in charlotte and they had a pair on display. All i can say is they are gods of loudspekers and they ARE the wholy gail of listening. :D

Jeez, I can't remember a good mix coming in to be mastered from clients using Adams. Seems like there are always problems. Maybe they take a long time to adapt to?