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Adam T5V Review (Studio Monitor)

Lorenzo74

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@amirm, thanks a lot for your endless work.

this thread went over the initial objectives, good to have brought it back on the right rails: ADAM T5V review eventually comparing to other products you measured. I think you realize how everyone here takes your data for Holy Grail, there are no comparable free data anywhere today. super-like!

if I may can you prioritize on your long list ADAM T7V and Kali LP8? those might allow everyone to chose the best value budget monitor...

don't get me wrong, we are already happy and thank you for what we have today but i believe it become now important to assess what those excellent manufacturers can deliver for less than 300€.
what ADAM, KALI, JBL, are doing today is remarkable! unfortunately not everyone in this business realize how much knowledge and engineering you can find in pro audio products (almost free for the high end audio where with 300€ you hardly get an RCA-RCA stereo esoteric cable... ).

you are educating to the importance of listening accuracy at the center of the User Experience, the "journey" cannot be "mix and match" adding "snake oil and magic fairy dust" according to personal taste... (apologize my last words ...;))

my deepest
Lorenzo
 
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Robin L

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Ok, so I just butchered up this thread, and tried to cut out the part that was more appropriate in another thread, and moved it to another thread.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/marching-onward-re-distortion.18188/

There were about 100 posts moved, so if this one seems a bit disjointed, that's why...but I felt it was just unfair for this speaker review to get quite so derailed.

Let's try to keep 'things' more contained in their appropriate containers...
Cheers.
It's ok. What I posted was a sign that something like this was about to happen anyway.

I'd like to think a self-powered mini-monitor that sounded decent and only cost $200 would be cause for celebration.
 

ctrl

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Dont think you should worry its the tweeter that have problems in a area that should be comfort zone for tweeter devices ...

Wanted to answer @dfuller's question actually already before hundred posts and have forgotten it totally - must be the age. So, thanks to @BYRTT for the reminder.

I would like to contradict this statement and rather assume that the AMT is responsible for the problem of high harmonic distortions around 4kHz - or maybe problems of AMT and woofer add up here.

In the frequency range 4-5kHz the AMT of the T5V and T8V (probably identical AMT) show a resonance in the FR - a unique identification feature ;)
1607369676843.png
1607369691215.png



Let us now look at measurements of an AMT with identical membrane area called Audiopur AMT9M. This AMT shows the same resonance between 4-5kHz, which is also visible in the CSD.
If @amirm measures a CSD of the T5V or T8V, you can assume that this slightly delayed decay of the AMT will also be visible in the CSD.

So the two AMT models should be well comparable, maybe they are even from the same manufacturer.

1607370634468.png
1607370643840.png


If we now look at the HD measurement at 95dB, we also see a significantly increased HD2 around 4kHz and which corresponds, with 2.5%, exactly to the value measured by Amir.

1607371251736.png


What is missing is the HD3 peak with 1.5%, could this be caused by the woofer? I have no clue.
 

dfuller

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@ctrl What I'm taking from this post is that there's an undamped resonance around that frequency on the AMT that's causing the distortion. Interesting that it only seems to get out of control at high levels - that would explain a lot of the weirdness I've associated with AMTs over time (I've used a fair number of high end monitors including some Adams - S3As, specifically - that would start to do weird things in that range when loud). Also interesting, the distortion spike exactly an octave under it. Seems to be more or less a non-issue on the whole speaker because it gets crossed over high enough to avoid it, but interesting nonetheless.
 

Urib

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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.

------------
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/
Hi, is this speaker maybe used in home environment or only as studio near field monitor?
 

dfuller

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Hi, is this speaker maybe used in home environment or only as studio near field monitor?
You could use it as a living room speaker, sure, depending on how loud you want it to be.
 

Aldoszx

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I actually reviewed the T8V: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/adam-t8v-studio-monitor-review.17118/

:)

The larger woofer/speaker play louder but the crossover is not quite as clean as this one. The smaller driver here helps with directiviy.

If you need the volume though, by all means get the T8V as nothing sounds worse than a speaker at its limit.
Thank you for your answer !
I think I'll go to the middle with T7V.
I really don't like the music to be loud.
 

ctrl

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@ctrl What I'm taking from this post is that there's an undamped resonance around that frequency on the AMT that's causing the distortion

At about 4.3kHz the increased HD2 is displayed, which means that the frequencies around 8.6kHz are also excited when a signal is applied at 4.3kHz.
The exact cause is not quite clear to me, it might have something to do with the small resonance around 8.6kHz in FR - which at high sound pressure might causes major problems.

1607373934829.png


that would explain a lot of the weirdness I've associated with AMTs over time (I've used a fair number of high end monitors including some Adams - S3As, specifically
Actually, AMT show rather low distortion, but for the models with very small diaphragm areas a high sound pressure could cause problems.
If the AMTs you've heard have always had rather small diaphragm areas, your observation might be correct.
 

dfuller

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Actually, AMT show rather low distortion, but for the models with very small diaphragm areas a high sound pressure could cause problems.
If the AMTs you've heard have always had rather small diaphragm areas, your observation might be correct.
They weren't small, but they were crossed over lower (1.8k for the S3As, which is the better part of an octave lower than any of the T series). It turns out the other ones I was thinking of, Griffin G2Bs, use planar magnetic ribbons, which I know very little about.
At about 4.3kHz the increased HD2 is displayed, which means that the frequencies around 8.6kHz are also excited when a signal is applied at 4.3kHz.
The exact cause is not quite clear to me, it might have something to do with the small resonance around 8.6kHz in FR - which at high sound pressure might causes major problems.
Yeah I misread the graph there. Whoops!
 

chaking

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I have these T5Vs with the Adam sub, T10S, and in a well treated small room (9'x9') they sounded great. Particularly like classical on them, so much so that in my old apartment I preferred listening to a number of songs on these guys over my much more expensive ones. For reference, I also have a pair of revel 228be, 226be, c426be, 4 SVS Ultra Bookshelves, and the SVS ultra center. Possibly was the dirac corrected space that helped so much, but with the sub and that space, I was in heaven. I recently moved into a house with tile floor and 10' ceilings - I have not been able to dial them back in yet.
 

thewas

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Just out of curiosity I traced the on-axis FR of the T5V from Sound & Recording and compared it to the ASR NFS measured one:

1607384002131.png


The S&R measurement shows a tad more then 1 dB bass which could also explain the perceived auditory impression. Maybe again the influence of temperature like at the KH80?
 

daftcombo

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Just out of curiosity I traced the on-axis FR of the T5V from Sound & Recording and compared it to the ASR NFS measured one:

View attachment 97889

The S&R measurement shows a tad more then 1 dB bass which could also explain the perceived auditory impression. Maybe again the influence of temperature like at the KH80?
Here again we see that bass is at 1 or 2 dB lower than mids and 3 or 4 dB lower than treble. 2 high shelves should be applied, not one.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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The S&R measurement shows a tad more then 1 dB bass which could also explain the perceived auditory impression. Maybe again the influence of temperature like at the KH80?
It could be. I think these smaller speakers may be more impacted. Right now my measurement space temp drops to 58 degrees F on its own. I raised it to 62 degrees with 6 hours of a heater going. That was like $1 worth of electricity!
 

ernestcarl

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Hmmmn... I've measured my KH120s with the ambient room temperature at 18 degrees and 21 (2 or 3 hours later) degrees celsius. The difference is almost about a dB or just a tad less. At 16 or 14 degrees I would expect even more... In the larger scheme of things, the effect is benign and temporary, but the difference with ambient temp definitely exists.
 

Promit

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The AMT tweeter is their main USP, and it’s marketed as improving transient response and producing “pristine” highs, so it seems plausible to speculate that the slightly hyped “air” range in their speakers is intended to create a subtle, distinguishing sonic effect that is designed to tie in with this image.

I should make clear though that this is nothing more than speculation on my part..
I've also been mulling this over and I believe that it might actually be a response to overdamped listening rooms. Especially the ones with Auralex type foam which will take down a lot of the highs and do nothing in the bass region. The predicted tonality graph with reflections assumes a certain profile for the reflected sound, which room treatment will mess with. Adam may have found that their speakers benefit from a high boost shelf in the places their customers actually use them.

That said, I would be happier if the control knobs were more effective in removing that house tuning without outboard EQ. At least it's simple to remove with an EQ.
 

andreasmaaan

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I've also been mulling this over and I believe that it might actually be a response to overdamped listening rooms. Especially the ones with Auralex type foam which will take down a lot of the highs and do nothing in the bass region. The predicted tonality graph with reflections assumes a certain profile for the reflected sound, which room treatment will mess with. Adam may have found that their speakers benefit from a high boost shelf in the places their customers actually use them.

That said, I would be happier if the control knobs were more effective in removing that house tuning without outboard EQ. At least it's simple to remove with an EQ.

That's a less cynical theory than mine, I like it :)
 

DDF

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Set them up in an equilateral triangle, point them straight ahead with no toe in and they're listened to at 30 degrees off axis. Pretty flat up top:
1607392315530.png

Set up this way, the off axis bouncing off side walls will probably be close to this as well (typical room), just what you want if you have a decent set up.

If you want a bit more ability to look into the mix, toe them in.

You'd almost think Adam knows what they're doing?
 

thewas

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Set them up in an equilateral triangle, point them straight ahead with no toe in and they're listened to at 30 degrees off axis. Pretty flat up top
So you mean they are the Dalis of monitors :D as Dali also tunes their loudspeakers like that? At least Dali recommends in their user manuals to not toe them in:

1607412267231.png

source: https://www.dali-speakers.com/media/1623/dali-opticon-manual.pdf

see also in their white paper:

1607412331064.png


source: https://www.dali-speakers.com/media/1669/opticon-whitepaper.pdf

but it would be rather an unusual setup for monitoring.

I think its more their "smile signature voicing" as it can be seen also in their expensive series which have 2 presets, one with it and a neutral one:

1607412545307.png


source: https://www.soundandrecording.de/equipment/messwerte-adam-audio-s3v/

and remember a guy in a different forum preferring it to the neutral Neumann KH310 one and choosing when wanting to buy one it which is fine for most of use who use it not to mix or master music but just to listen and enjoy. Hope though no one uses such settings for mixing and mastering as the results can be listened in many older recordings which were mixed with non flat monitors.
 
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