Adam T5V Review (Studio Monitor)

[FeddyLost]

Too many 'live' surfaces inside that box

I think in mass production proper damping of everything considered economically useless. You'll need a lot of hand work and result still will be limited by cheap drivers and amps.
Customer can always put bitumen pads everywhere by himself.

 

[vkvedam]

Wow!
I shall definitely have a listen to these.

 

[F1308]

Are you sure you want to recommend a product that may permanently damage your health?

View attachment 97338

On the plus side I didn't see a Proposition 65 warning for our friends in CA!

Yes, you could suffer some hearing loss (above 85dB); but also, being that bass so good, you could place one in your belly and get rid of stones in the kedny, if any.

If stones do resist, try with the new model...

https://www.adam-audio.com/en/news/industry/adam-audio-t8v-studio-monitor-available-now/

 

[flipflop]

A possible reason I can think of is the rear vs. frontal port which can couple differently to the room, some real listening position measurements would shed a light on that.

Why would it matter where the port is placed when the energy it produces is emitted omnidirectionally?

 

[andreasmaaan]

new member here. Looking at the Adam T5V , 306P, and the Kali Audio LP-6 sitting on my desk next to my computer monitor. Are these speakers too big for that application? and how close to the wall can I sit the T5V with its rear port. Thanks for your help.

As long as you leave a few inches (a good rule of thumb is to use the port diameter) of clearance between the port exit and the wall, there won't be an issue.

I explained this here in a bit more detail.

 

[thewas]

Why would it matter where the port is placed when the energy it produces is emitted omnidirectionally?

Not because of radiation which like you say is omnidirectional at those frequencies but because of the different location, especially if there is a boundary surface close, I see that on my desktop system with my KEF LS50 (rear port) vs. Neumann KH 120 (front port) where they give a similar bass response at the LP although the Neumann has a significantly more linear and deeper bass response anechoically.

 

[Helicopter]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Adam T5V Powered Speaker. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. The T5V costs US $200 each.

Much like the rest of Adam speakers, the T5V has a serious look to it:

View attachment 97304

Back panel shows good connectivity and usual controls:

View attachment 97305

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1% throughout most of the range.

Temperature was 58 degrees F (yes, it is getting cold here). Measurement location is at sea level so you compute the pressure.

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.

Reference axis was the tweeter center.

Adam T5V Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:

View attachment 97306

The elevation of treble seems to be on purpose and shows up in one other measurement I found. The sound filed gets kind of complex in the mid-range due to port interactions:

View attachment 97307

Thankfully the two resonant peaks from the port are around 1 kHz which is before the woofer crossover has taken its toll on it, making them less dominant when summed. Tweeter response is uneven as we have seen in this type of AMT tweeter type before (e.g. Adam T8V).

The following two graphs are designed for far field listening but still give us useful information:
View attachment 97308

View attachment 97309

The smaller woofer integrates well with the tweeter as far as dispersion (beam width):
View attachment 97310

View attachment 97311

And you have more than the usual vertical leeway for listening:
View attachment 97312

A lot of budget monitors in this price range have high distortion but here, it is controlled fairly well:
View attachment 97313

View attachment 97314

Notice how the bass distortion stays well below its frequency response (otherwise THD would be over 100%!). So not reference quality but better than what one expects as noted.

I wanted to measure the effect of trim switches but the Klippel software was acting up on me. So I manually captured on effect: the treble negative trim:

View attachment 97315

Was hoping that it would take that shelving down altogether. But instead, it has a slope to it and as such, will leave the elevated levels between 4 and 6 kHz. Still, it may be helpful. Note that the trimmed graph is smoothed but the other is not. So don't worry about that difference.

Adam T5V Speaker Listening Tests
Out of the box, slapped on my desk with half inch foam under it, the sound was very good. It was a tad bright so I dialed in a quick shelf filter:
View attachment 97316

Done! Track after track sounded beautiful. There was surprising amount of bass combined with ability to get quite loud. The low notes were creating a physical sensation and reverberated throughout my huge space. And my "speaker killer" tracks had no such attribute with Adam T5V. Even at extremely elevated levels there was either zero or just a hint of distortion in the deep bass. Superbly implemented tuning of the bass is in play here folks.

Figuring there would be a lot of interest in knowing how it compares to other speakers, I first paired it with Neumman KH80 DSP. No contest. The little KH80 while sounding smooth, could not remotely produce the same bass and loudness. As a result it sounded quite thin.

I substituted the JBL 305P Mark II. Again, no contest. The 305p had far less bass and could not play nearly as loud.

So I pulled in the Kali LP6. I was quite surprised that the Adam T5V with its smaller woofer was able to once again produce more bass. I think this is due to the shelving of the upper bass in LP6. Regardless, the T5V sounded much warmer and balanced due to more bass energy. And it could play even louder than the LP6!

Quick testing for hiss showed that I could not hear much past a few inches away from Adam tweeter. So really not a problem -- at least not in my sample.

I then sat back and just listened. And listened. Joy, oh joy!

Conclusions
There is a great line in one of my favorite movies, Good Will Hunting: "I don't know that she is perfect... the key is whether you are perfect for each other." The Adam T5V is not perfect but manages the compromises in the this very low price range incredibly well. The ability produce lots of bass and loudly so puts it a clear step ahead of the competition. Yes, you pay a bit more for that but it is well worth it.

Really, I live for days like this. Discovering a budget speaker that exceeds your expectations and produces great sound with almost no faults. No need for, "well you always need a sub." No, a good speaker should not need a sub to sound good. The subwoofer should be augmentation, not filling design deficiency. A bookshelf speaker needs to deliver enough bass to balance the rest of the response and the Adam T5V does that. Ditto for ability to get loud.

It is my pleasure to strongly recommend the Adam T5V.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Cool little speaker. Thanks for the review. Funny they didn't include something like your shelf filter in the design.

I noticed the $500 A5X and $750 A7X are assembled in Berlin, so that cool industrial space in the Adam Audio video is likely more than marketing, even though these ones are made in China.

I am not the first to say so, but these 5 inch drivers really seem like the sweet spot in a lot of 2 way designs and lines like this, the Revel F bookshelves, the Carmodys, and others. The FR curves for this speaker + the right sub if you decide to add it, really look good for many applications.

 

[thewas]

I am not the first to say so, but these 5 inch drivers really seem like the sweet spot in a lot of 2 way designs and lines like this, the Revel F bookshelves, the Carmodys, and others

Exactly, thats why 3-5" are also the usual choices for great midrange drivers and 5" are a good compromise for bass and mids at a 2-way driver.

 

[MediumRare]

Answer was in the review:

I listened to it with and without the switch and it was not as effect as my DSP correction although AB testing was hard.

Why is there such a marked difference between the bass in this graph and the Klippel graph?

 

[astrex342]

Why is there such a marked difference between the bass in this graph and the Klippel graph?

nearfield close-mic graph maybe?

 

[Robin L]

Serious question, but what does bass that is "warm" sound like? What does anything that sounds "warm" or "hot" or "cold" or "sterile" or "clinical" sound like? Over the years I have heard people use these and many other terms to describe the sound of audio equipment but I am still not sure what they really mean. I know my burrito that just came out of the fridge is cold and if I microwave it, it gets hot. But not sure how or even why these adjectives apply to audio. Is there an audio-dictionary that defines these terms?

Bump in output in the transition from bass to midrange, centered around 150hz.

 

[F1308]

Why would it matter where the port is placed when the energy it produces is emitted omnidirectionally?

Omnidirectionally until it hits something.
The rear wall, the side wall, your own chest...
I was told minimum distance to the wall receiving the omnidirectional energy from the port is precisely its diameter.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Omnidirectionally until it hits something.
The rear wall, the side wall, your own chest...
I was told minimum distance to the wall receiving the omnidirectional energy from the port is precisely its diameter.

Yes, but that's not related to its directivity. Rather, it's to ensure that the presence of a nearby surface doesn't significantly alter the port's tuning frequency. Directivity will be omni at low frequencies in all cases

 

[F1308]

Yes, but that's not related to its directivity. Rather, it's to ensure that the presence of a nearby surface doesn't significantly alter the port's tuning frequency. Directivity will be omni at low frequencies in all cases

So , please, what about sound cannons...?

 

[andreasmaaan]

The graph below shows the masking for a 150Hz masker at 70dB SL (sensation level = dB above the individual threshold of pure tone).
The amazing thing is that HD3 is even slightly better masked than HD2 (at higher masker frequencies the opposite is true) - even HD5 is masked as good or better than HD2.

That seems very strange to me, and anomalous with respect to other research.

I wonder if there wasn't a confounding factor in this particular test. They do say that:

All frequencies were tested at 40, 60 and 80 dB Sensation Level (SL) except the 150 Hz tone which was tested at 30, 50 and 70 dB SL because of a limitation in the equipment’s available output.

I suspect that distortion in the test equipment at 70dB SL, which apparently was its maximum output at 150Hz, is the most plausible explanation for the anomalous result here.

 

[andreasmaaan]

So , please, what about sound cannons...?

I'm afraid I don't follow...?

 

[escape2]

Sorry if this was addressed earlier... active speakers like these, with built-in DSP, don't they apply some kind of equal loudness curve depending on volume level, and if so, how does that factor into Amir's measurements?

Or is this not a factor because the gain on the speakers is set high enough where that curve is no longer being applied?

 

[PeteL]

I have the Adam F5 for my desktop setup, which has been discontinud and replaced with this. So not exactly the same speaker, but it was their affordable, 5 incher of the time, 7 years ago I believe (with zero issues so far). It'd be interested to know how much they've improved something already very good, but as Amir, at the time I did quite a bit of (arguably sighted) AB with all the competion and was quite surprised by how much margin it was a no contest winner, to my ears, and yes even talking about the Neuman effort of the time which was 3 times more expensive. I've read that this one include DSP so my point might be of weak relevance, it does changes everything, but in all cases Adam offer amazing value in their lower end segment.
That said, heck, it's a cheap speaker, perfect as my computer setup, but sometime you end up reading these reviews and feel like they are near perfect and that you should throw away your 5k$ monitors, I don't know, I feel we should tame this a bit. I find the F5 great, but quite far, I mean VERY far from my main speakers setup, which is not CRAZY expensive neither but still quite a bit more (A slightly modified Troels Gravesen simple 2 way scanspeak DIY design paired with Hypex amps). Just saying, sometimes, we hear something good, great even, and feel like we have a giant killer and almost the best speaker in the world, until we find greater.

 

[Bear123]

Preference Rating
SCORE: 4.2
SCORE w/ sub: 6.4

Based on the preference rating, seems like subs would sure be a much needed and drastic improvement for high fidelity. I can see the good bass performance is an important distinction for applications where a sub or subs aren't practical such as an apartment or severe lack of funds. However, I just snagged a decent little sub on sale for $169(Infinity R12), so it doesn't have to be a budget buster.

 

[richard12511]

new member here. Looking at the Adam T5V , 306P, and the Kali Audio LP-6 sitting on my desk next to my computer monitor. Are these speakers too big for that application? and how close to the wall can I sit the T5V with its rear port. Thanks for your help.

My guess is that they’ll be a great desktop speaker .