i have them
do yourself a favor
get out your credit card

I've been A/Bing monitors for the last few weeks around melbourne, and on every pair of Adam 7's the particular track I reference with has a kick drum all through it which distorts on the right A7. the dyne's, focals, krk's etc etc don't distort with that kick drum. neither do outdoor pa's as ive played this track out plenty of times.

So essentially, the A7's can't handle much volume with certain bottom end frequencies..

I've owned my Adam A7's for 2 years and between my Korg M3,Propellerhead Reason 4 software & my NI Komplete 6 software,I've run every sound imaginable through them,with no distortion issues-whatsoever.

Do you honestly think that Adam A7's...one of the most brilliantly engineered speakers on the planet and some of the most expensive as well,are actually garbage?
Is that what your implying??

Do you possess any shred of common sense whatsoever...what is your thinking?
Were you thinking?

Did it ever occur to you-that due to the A7's very high resolution,that these monitors simply revealed some audio anomalies of the source material,that the other monitors weren't capable of articulating...and that you've made an error in judgment?

-Elwood

-Elwood

Its obviously something in the particular wav form of that kick drum, it must have something difficult to tame on the right channel. Naturally, if it distorts on the Adam A7's at medium to high volumes it is an SPL handling issue. They do not distort at low volumes on that kick drum. What I have discovered with this track, is the limit to what the Adam's can be pushed to. Not a fault in the Adams. You could argue that it is a fault in the artists kick drum, and I won't defend against that. However, the artist is writing deep minimal techno, designed for big outdoor festival PA's... He is by very nature of the genre going to push the limit of what amounts of bass he can use. SO I discovered that the Adam's are no good for me, as they can't let me explore that territory. If they were coupled with a sub they may be fine. I haven't tried this.

I don't think the Adam A7's are garbage, just making my observation known.

One thing I had not considered till now, is the 2 sets of adams i have noticed this on, may not be worn in yet? They were demo models though, which probably get lots of use so this is unlikely.

In terms of what other speakers I have been demoing this track on, Event Opals, Focal SM11's, twin and solo 6's, cms 65's, Dynaudio Bm 5,6 and 15's, mackie 824 mk2's, etc...

I feel that people need to know what I have observed. It is a valid observation, confirmed on several different pairs of A7's

relax.

Look...don't take this the wrong way & I am not trying to insult you,but I don't see how your observation is going to be of any help to anyone...here's why;

Studio monitors are matched pairs that are calibrated to perform equally,so allegedly...that perceived disortion that you heard in only the right channel,does not make any sense(unless the recording is unbalanced),which seems to be the case,& I'm guessing it's not commercially produced?

The Adam A7's bass response performs down to 46Hz,so if your music dips below this level & you push any monitors with this range really hard,you will get the same result & hear the "noise" that you mentioned.
I checked out all of the brands you mentioned of equal size and all of them but one(the Focals),had a bass response of only 50Hz,so you most certainly would hear the distortion on those as well.
It's not fair for you to assign blame on any particular brand for this issue your having,as you either simply need to invest a considerable amount more of money in a 6" monitor of a more advanced design for a lower frequency response,or go with an 8" inch monitor.

Yes....the Adam A7's need a week to be properly broken in,but being that they're demo models,they probably have been subjected to a lot of abuse.

For the life of me,I cannot digest why you would even make mention of the Event Opals as a basis of comparison to the A7's,as the Opals are in an entirely different category(size-wise & price-wise).
Bear in mind also,that for a $1,000(USD) & they're size,the Adams perform incredibly well overall and if you really need a pair of monitors that can handle any sub bass frequencies that you care to run through them,then you'll certainly have to go larger if you want to remain in this price range.

That being said,do yourself a favor and check out the M-Audio CX8's,as they go down to 37Hz.I have the M-Audio CX5's and the bass is amazing for their small size.

I don't know the pricing in Australia,but you may seriously want to check out the upcoming Adam AX8's,if your budget allows for this.If price is not an issue,I think that the Even Opals are a no brainer(the most impressive specs I've ever seen for a two-way 8" monitor)!

-Elwood

Get yourself a pair of Altec Voice of the Theater speakers with the big green horn and see if you have the same problem? You won't need much more than a 100 W amplifier. You might also try listening levels that make sense? Did you make sure your 1/8 inch connector was plugged in fully?

Theater of the ridiculous
Mx. Remy Ann David

it was not distortion in the track, It was an SPL handling capability on the Adam's woofer. It couldn't handle the SPL of the kick drum. However, YES the kick drum was obviously riding very close to distortion! It is a big kick designed for big festival systems... The artist Stephan Bodzin is quite succesful.

The Event Opals are not the only speakers worth more than the Adams here, all of the other speakers I was demoing cost more. What I learn't from this was that for the kind of music I want to produce, at the kinds of volume I want to be able to occasionally monitor at, I will not be able to use the Adams... thats all. Its not just about what frequency monitors go down to, its also what SPL they can handle.

Try it for yourself, the track is by Stephan Bodzin off his album 'Liebe Ist' If I remember correctly it is track 7 - Kerosene (there is a chance it is track 8, I use both to reference with)
My observation was that it was clear, until i turned it up to a medium volume.

I am not attacking the speaker! just making a note of where it stops being effective. Its not a high end speaker, so it will have limits! It is however a kick ass speaker for its price bracket!

Hi - I own a pair of A7s and love them, but as Xen Ochren pointed out, they do distort at low frequencies even at relatively moderate levels depending on the material (at least the pair I have does - I can't say ALL do, and who knows, maybe I got a bad batch?).

I have been too busy to do any serious troubleshooting so far (in the meantime I've opted to turn the volume down). I'm not sure if it's the woofer distorting or if it's the cabinet (eg there's a plastic insert for the bass port that could be a source of noise if it was at all loose).

I'll definitely fiddle with this and let everyone know if I can figure out what the issue is. That said, I still love the A7s and would buy them again anytime. The amount of detail you can hear in the mids and highs makes them exceptional speakers for most of the work I do. I have considered adding a sub to help take the load off these speakers (this would likely solve the issue whether it was the woofer or the cabinets).

It'll be interesting to hear from users how the new updated versions sound at low freq's

FWIW, I have heard speakers so clear I thought they were distorting. Only to later hear the distortion on other speakers later, but just less prominent. IOW, it was on the recording.

Dan