Adam A4V Monitor Review

[Matias]

In the market for new speakers myself.
The A77H looked promising.
Active 3 way for 2600 euro a pair.
Given this review I have a feeling I need to look elsewhere.

Check the Kali speakers.

Kali Audio LP-6v2 (Second Wave) 2-Way Studio Monitor Review

Kali Audio LP-6v2 2-Way Studio Monitor Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[Draki]

I purchased it new for US $500.

That is for a pair or for a single unit?

 

[Robbo99999]

I find it hard to believe a company that makes professional monitors would put one out there with a 7db hole at, of all places, 1khz, regardless of it's Q.

Btw, Amir, you show a "Q" of 11.0 to correct that dip. A typo? Also the one at 637 shows a "Q" of 7.0.

I too was amazed by the choice of that very sharp large boost filter used at 1kHz. Yes it's there to fill the hole in the response, but the distortion levels at 1kHz were large there anyway, which would only worsen by boosting that point. Also it's bad practice to use High Q large boost filters due to ringing. So I was surprised by that choice. I'd agree with the sharp cut filter at 637Hz, I don't think that should be problematic as it's a cut & not a boost. Not particularly impressed with this speaker even though it gets some stuff right, I'm sure there are some better options for the money.

I initially used 11 dB of correction but that caused digital clipping. So I backed it down to 5 dB with similar effect but without the clipping.

 

[dfuller]

how often we hit 96 dB in normal listening, exclude hans zimmer?

Music is tilted pretty heavily towards the bass region. If you're listening at a pretty moderate 78dB SPL at 1khz at 1m, I would expect the bass region to be quite a bit louder, closer to 88-90dB.

 

[3125b]

I voted „poor“ on this one.
The port issue is nothing new for Adam, it didn't come as a surprise. This speaker was completely newly designed with computer simulations and all kinds of measurement options at their disposal - yet they completely failed at designing the port, a semi-competent DIYer could do much better just by ear.
There is no excuse and the speaker is not competitive in its market segment.

 

[behappybevegan]

If these issues occur in all speakers in the A series they won't sell many to the professionals.
Now I understand why Adam didn't release any graphs.

 

[SMAC88]

Just wondering if pairing the A4V with a sub should solve the problem?

 

[3125b]

Just wondering if pairing the A4V with a sub should solve the problem?

Using one would allow to plug the port which would help.

 

[amirm]

That is for a pair or for a single unit?

Each. Pro monitors are almost always sold individually.

 

[behappybevegan]

“Our R&D team has been working behind closed doors for many years to create this 3rd generation A Series line" Christian Hellinger CEO of ADAM Audio.

I know it's just one review but maybe their best engineers went to Eve Audio, Hedd and possibly Neumann.

 

[amirm]

In designs with bass reflex channels at the rear, these noises do not appear or are very reduced when measured in an anechoic environment where the monitors are normally measured. This looks very good in the published data. Nevertheless, they are there and audible behind the monitors in non-absorptive acoustics.

The path length is increased with rear reflections. This in turn significantly reduces their volume relative to on axis response.

 

[amirm]

I too was amazed by the choice of that very sharp large boost filter used at 1kHz. Yes it's there to fill the hole in the response, but the distortion levels at 1kHz were large there anyway, which would only worsen by boosting that point.

This is why I listen and tune the filters that way. Distortion was also not high there. It was the ratio that made it look that way.

 

[3125b]

Our R&D team has been working behind closed doors

So like the door between the R&D people and the speaker was always closed? That would explain the result ...

 

[natna]

For the price I'm not impressed.
4" woofer

mdf thickness seems inadequate
It's a pro labelled product with "youth problems"...

Thank you so much for your hard work @amirm

 

[PeteL]

Every small front ported speaker that I’ve measured has had this issue with the port(s). I know the front port is popular in the “pro” audio world and I’ve heard that this is because the bass doesn’t ‘bounce’ off the front wall. In truth, real bass is omni and anything higher than that is going to be involved with SBIR anyway. Just put the ports in the back for goodness sakes.

Bass may be omni (actually sub bass are, it's easy to localise a sub if it's crossed over above 80 Hz or so), but in this case, Amir measured a 1kHz peak coming out of the port. There is no reason to think this resonance would not be present on a back port, and that this 1K would not be reflected from hard surfaces behind the speakers and change the In room response. Or what am I missing? I am not a speaker designer myself but generally speaking I think it's a truth that putting a speaker close to a hard surface, back ported or not, change the frequency response, no? How come having higher output directed at a hard surface wouldn't matter? Seriously asking.

 

[thewas]

The path length is increased with rear reflections. This in turn significantly reduces their volume relative to on axis response.

Surely, but this is not SOTA engineering as also explained by him also for the other reasons he wrote, better to have clear port output instead trying to "hide" it in the rear.

 

[PeteL]

For the price I'm not impressed.
4" woofer

mdf thickness seems inadequate
It's a pro labeled product with "youth problems"...

Thank you so much for your hard work @amirm

Is there a MDF thickness spec somewhere? don't forget this backplate is screwed into something, there is no reason to think what is visible represent the enclosure thickness.

 

[natna]

Is there a MDF thickness spec somewhere? don't forget this backplate is screwed into something, there is no reason to think what is visible represent the enclosure thickness.

There is no such spec so far...

That's why I used the verb "seems".
I have this feeling...
Yes, I could be wrong...

 

[3125b]

mdf thickness seems like a joke?

I don't think so. Pretty sure they use a SMPS, so 5.8kg seems on the heavy side for that size of monitor which would lead me to believe the housing material has to be on the thick side. The front plate is MDF as well.

Is there a MDF thickness spec somewhere?

Looked around quite a bit, couldn't find it.

 

[Jon AA]

When you have a box resonance leaking through the port, this can often be greatly reduced or even eliminated by adding more damping to the box. I've found fill in the middle of the box is more effective than more/thicker lining on the walls. This tends to lower the tuning frequency and reduce efficiency measurably so don't overdo it.

If it's an actual port resonance, the above has no effect.