Adam A5X Active Amplified Professional Studio Monitor Speaker

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The setup was pretty crappy, it must be said; whole banks of monitors set up with a comparator and itunes feeding it; all in an otherwise empty chamber of around 20ft x 14ft, with the speakers lining up against the long wall . But it was enough for me to make a choice. ssante, @Munro, haha I hear you guys! So far I see only positive things being said about both Genelec and Neumann. They are premium brands and are expensive, though. So going for either of these would keep me in the 5" territory, which I am afraid would be not ideal for techno… Which models do you guys have?

Although the ASP8s are fun listening in their own way (and may have a greater appeal to some listeners) if I had to mix on just one set of monitors, I’d trust the smaller A5Xs more. ADAM A5X Active Studio MonitorThe Adam A5X studio monitor builds on the technology found in the legacy A5 monitor, which managed to make itself a big name in both professional environments as well as in computer or desktop applications.Overall, it's a heady mix and IDEALLY suited to a DAC output like the Chord series which are so highly resolving-yet-musical that they deserve nothing less. Very popular but when watching online comparisons I felt like they accentuate higher frequencies a lot. Is that true? There must be a reason for the popularity? The price is also really nice. It didn't take long for me to confirm that the A5s really are just slightly scaled–down A7s: they have the same clarity and definition, as well as excellent stereo imaging; and given that some of Adam's speaker models are voiced differently, this is an important point to make. The A5s really are quite revealing, largely due to that unique tweeter — so if anything in the mix sounds a bit off-colour, they'll tell you, as good monitors should. By the same token, good mixes really shine, and given their size and price, there's nothing much not to like. Because the woofer is relatively small, the range of the two drivers meets nicely at the crossover point, delivering a confident and comfortable mid range, which is something that can't always be said of larger two-way monitors, where the woofer is sometimes asked to reproduce frequencies higher than is ideal. The AX series monitor cabinets feature chamfered upper corners on the front, helping to minimise edge diffraction so that phase cancellation is not an issue. The interior of the cabinet is equipped with a special fleece that prevents the internal resonances being disturbed as well as ensuring superior bass reflex tuning. The front panel houses the power switch, volume control and front-firing bass reflex ports, providing greater ease of use and allowing the monitor to be placed closer to a wall if needed.

The woofers on all AX series monitors are built using a construction of woven carbon and glass fiber with the synthetic material Rohacell. When these three materials are combined together, the result is an ultra-lightweight yet extremely rigid material that provides excellent transient responses. X-Art Technology Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.

A lot of engineers will love the sound just as it comes, but I initially found the overall tonal balance just a hint too sizzly at the top end for my personal taste. A small adjustment to reduce the tweeter level by around 1dB and to pull down the 6kHz filter by a notch brought the sound neatly into my comfort zone, after which I set about auditioning some test material. Once you have some ideas about which monitors are out there, see if you can hear the pair you’re considering at your local pro audio dealer. If 5" is too small then that would eliminate the Genelecs. I don’t have the budget for the larger models. Also, if they hiss, they would have to be out too…

Lastly, eliminating the Alpha 65 Evo’s because of their large footprint compared to the other remaining options and the space on my desk is limited.

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Ciaba, yeah the A5X’s are getting old now… Maybe I should go for A4V’s and use headphones, but I feel like I will really miss the low end. Getting a sub sounds like trouble for my room, but I’ve never used one before so have no experience whatsoever. Maybe at low volume it’s ok? up, the A5Xs; a much more balanced sound. And oddly much less apparent bass than the A3X (clearly the designers had hyped up the bass output of the little 3s) I felt the A3Xs may become overblown or "one-note" in the mid-bass; whilst they still sounded great I was a little wary (I would seriously love the little A3Xs as a "play speaker" to wow people with; they sounded so big and rich, it was a What! moment). I moved on to the A7Xs and A5Xs and listened to them in detail, in the end I felt that the A5Xs would be perfect because of their compact size, yet very full sound and defined bass. If the A7Xs and A5Xs had been the same price, I would have gone for the 7's of course, but there's about 430chf between 2 sets, which is a healthy wedge and certainly I wouldn't say the A5X's lagged, like, 30% behind in terms of SQ. Maybe even in my small space, the 7's would be too much. The ADAM Audio A Series delivers highly accurate, transparent sound across a full line of monitors that can be controlled remotely and in real time. Comprising five models, the A4V, A7V, A44H, A77H and A8H are the right fit for an array of professional and home studios — as well as broadcast, fixed-installation, 3D, immersive, and home audio environments. Innovations such as rotatable HPS waveguide technology, and DSP-based room correction and voicings enable users to tune speakers for their room and ears. The line-level inputs are on the rear panel in both balanced XLR and RCA phono (unbalanced) formats, but the level control is on the front panel, alongside the circular power switch and blue power LED, which makes it easy to access. For those with no separate monitor controller, there are two additional stereo-link RCA phono inputs and outputs on each speaker, enabling the user to link them both via an included RCA phono cable — so you only need feed the stereo line signal from your DAW to one speaker. To do this, the slave speaker must have its level control set mid-way, so that you get the correct balance between the two speakers. As soon as the linking cable is connected, a white LED illuminates on the front panel to show the status of the system. You can't use the monitors balanced in linked mode, but that shouldn't cause any practical problems in most cases.