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[yngve hoeyland]

I'm looking to buy a pair of ADAM monitors for our SSL9000 room, it's about 30m square. The studio is primarily a mixing facility, although we also do a fair bit of tracking. All genres.


I've mixed on the s3a (first make) monitors previously, but only a few sessions. I really liked them, and now we're looking to buy main/midfield monitors and the question is should we go for the s4a mk2 or the s5a mk2?


If any of you have any previous experience with these two models, I would appreciate your input. Feel free to do comparisons with other std. monitors such as genelecs - I've worked quite a bit on both 1030s, 1031s and 1037/38s.

Best regards,
Yngve Hoeyland
Studio Voss
Norway

[Fibes]

I own and love my S3as but I don't see them filling a 30mx30m room. To me they are near/mid monitors and work fine for that but don't like to be pushed loud.

As per a comparison to Genelecs, if you are used to the genelec top end you will have a transitional period that you may not come out of positively. The top on the Adams is different but makes me do things i like up there. The other thing of note is that the Adams are less tiring (at least to my ears).

I am a huge fan of Adams but they aren't for everyone. Give 'em a try, and give them a bit of time.

[Tidewater]

The room is so important for these speakers. IMO, they would work fine in a large room, because the acoustics become somewhat less imoprtant at the volume the Adams like.

More natural than 1031s (hah!).. no hyper-reality in the kick, and sizzle.

They aren't very loud.

In the right room, I give them a 9/10. Very nice. Worthy.



M

[yngve hoeyland]

Thanks for the input guys.

We're not going for the s3a's. They're too small for the room I think - which is fairly dead sounding, or,  it's more like a good sounding (balanced) living room than the anechoic approach many go for these days...I just can't work when my ears feel they're floating around in a vacuum. I may get a pair of s3a's and whack them in a flight for off-site recordings though...

For the records: To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of the genelec's top-end. But I know where it sits, so I can mix on them. I do like the s3a tweeters though.


This is my ultimate quest for mid-to-large, honest sounding monitors. What I don't want is something that will sit in my control room and sound like a set of Boxers. It's not about finding the most "bang", "bling" or "boom" for the buck. I need a monitor large enough to tell me what's going on in the very-lows (50Hz region), without coloring the mids and highs. I guess you all know what I'm getting at here.

I do a lot of jazz recordings/mixing, and the phase behaviour of my monitors is crucial. The adams have word on them for being one of the best in that respect too. I'm just afraid that I'll gain something and lose something else - especially in monitors as large as the s5a's (MK2).

To cut an already too long post, short - I want to know what's wrong with these things. New technologies usually bring new problems. What are they? All I can find is (biased) magazines going crazy over these things. I just can't trust a review that takes price into account...


Again, if anyone has ever even listened to the bigger ADAM's then I would really appreciate it if you would share your experiences.

Best regards,
Yngve

[Fibes]

The one fault you may find with the larger ones is where the middle sits in relation to the sides. The imaging is great on these things (the big and little ones) but on the S3a and up, depending on placement, the placement of the low end drivers can be a bit misleading and throwing the vocal/center panned stuff in you lap a little more than you may care for. For me, it keeps my tendencies in check.

[yngve hoeyland]

Thanks.

What is the low end like - do they live up to their reputation? Linear, firm and "dry" lows? 'All the way down'....?

The 'issue' with the midrange seems more like an advantage for my personal taste... as with you.

[Fibes]

yngve hoeyland wrote on Wed, 06 September 2006 18:56

Thanks. What is the low end like - do they live up to their reputation? Linear, firm and "dry" lows? 'All the way down'....? The 'issue' with the midrange seems more like an advantage for my personal taste... as with you.

I like the low end, as a former NS-10 addict I found them to be the NS-10 with all the bass and none of the gargle.

I mean that in a very good way.

The NS-10s never got turned on after the first week and neither did the rest of the monitors.

I'm a one pair guy now, no "checking."

Try 'em, you'll like 'em.

[Tomas Danko]

I'm thinking of getting me a pair of ADAM's, and the S3A's are the top most interesting among the models. However, I'm sitting in a small room (5 meter wide, 2.8 meter deep) so I'm concerned about the size of them and what you just said.

However, if this would cause the mid range and vocals to sink further into the mix than they really are it'd probably just do me good. Since I like to set the vocals until they're embedded into the mix. But in the end I know I should usually bring it out a tad bit, since it's going to translate better everywhere else.

With this "flaw", I'd be able to set the vocals to my liking and find them not to be too buried elsewhere and that would be swell.

Do you think I should aim for a smaller set of speakers in this room?

Cheers,

Tomas Danko

[Tidewater]

Maybe you can make that work.

Until we rebuilt this room, I had doubts about the low end, and imaging.. period.

They work nicely now. Try them out.


M

[Tomas Danko]

The problem here up in the cold north is that nobody carries the full ADAM range. One place would let me borrow a bunch of monitors so that I could mix on them in my room before buying, but they only have the S2A's in at the moment and they're not sure when/if they will get the S3A's.

The other place selling ADAM monitors only has the A7, P33-A and P11-A. The P33-A's could be an option I guess. Not too sure what the benefits are stepping up to the S3A's.

...And if you want to compare them to Genelec 8040's you've got to go to a third place that only sells Genelec or low end crap.

It's that darn YMMV that's troubling me here!

[yngve hoeyland]

We'll be buying the ADAMs from the danish retailer - he also covers Norway. Maybe he's got Sweden too? Dunno. You'll find him through ADAM's offical site. When I spoke to them today our man mentioned he had a pair of demo s3a's that he'll sell cheap. Maybe you should get in touch?

Anyway, I think you'd struggle to find a place that retails both larger ADAM and Genelc series monitors - AND that has a listening facility.

The deal we've worked out is great - we borrow the s5a's for two weeks, and I've got a friend who will lend me his genelec "range" in the same time period. Which, in turn, means I get to do a comparison - in the room that the monitors is being bought for. Nice!

[Tomas Danko]

yngve hoeyland wrote on Fri, 08 September 2006 14:43

We'll be buying the ADAMs from the danish retailer - he also covers Norway. Maybe he's got Sweden too? Dunno. You'll find him through ADAM's offical site. When I spoke to them today our man mentioned he had a pair of demo s3a's that he'll sell cheap. Maybe you should get in touch? Anyway, I think you'd struggle to find a place that retails both larger ADAM and Genelc series monitors - AND that has a listening facility. The deal we've worked out is great - we borrow the s5a's for two weeks, and I've got a friend who will lend me his genelec "range" in the same time period. Which, in turn, means I get to do a comparison - in the room that the monitors is being bought for. Nice!

Futureware in Denmark covers Scandinavia, which means most places will only special order besides the smallest models. I think I'll start with listening to the A7, P33A and P11a against a Genelec 8030 to begin with. If ADAM is still the way to go, I'll wait until S3A's arrive at another place, or I'll check out S2A's and see where I end up.

Thanks for the help!

[DigitMus]

I think the S5As will be the minimum "mains-mids" for a room that big. I mix in my big room (about 14m x 12m) with the S4C-As (column config. S4s), and find them adequate, but definitely not over powered. If I had a bigger room, or predeliction for louder monitoring (I try to keep things below 85db SPL, except for the occasional translation check), the S4s might not be sufficient.

     Scott

[yngve hoeyland]

Also check out Malcolm Jackson in London, www.mjq.co.uk

He deals in used and new pro audio eqipment and can really cut the prices if you push him a little.

[Tomas Danko]

yngve hoeyland wrote on Mon, 11 September 2006 10:11

Also check out Malcolm Jackson in London, www.mjq.co.uk He deals in used and new pro audio eqipment and can really cut the prices if you push him a little.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye on that site every now and then.