Adam T8V Studio Monitor Review

[SMJH]

In fact, I am increasingly convinced that these may have one of the best-quality woofers in a budget 8". Bass level handling is nothing special for the size (BR tuning may be relatively deep to facilitate a low f3), but a lot of budget drivers will fall apart in the midrange before even reaching their bass limits, and this one should be quite well-behaved in that regard. The tweeter is... good enough, I guess. Ribbons and AMTs tend not to look too hot compared to ordinary domes, but then again what sort of levels does a tweeter really have to handle.

Besides horn loaded PAs I have laying around, the T8V tweeters definitely deliver the best, most effortless vocal S's I've ever heard. What's also interesting is the crossover region, it shows no dip in my room. I'll call that luck though. They're somehow flat from 150Hz up to 4Khz, only needing EQ in the bass region due to acoustics, especially at ~60 and ~120Hz, huge room corner resonances. I have some comb filtering issue I can't seem to fix above 4Khz but it's faint on the graph, I can't hear it. That being said, think cheapo corner bass traps would do the trick? I definitely want to reduce my reliance on high Q minimum phase filters.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I have some comb filtering issue I can't seem to fix above 4Khz but it's faint on the graph, I can't hear it.

How exactly are you measuring? Getting any degree of accuracy up there requires either MMM or a sub-ms IR window in stationary measurements. Keep in mind an omni mic "hears" quite differently than we do up there.

That being said, think cheapo corner bass traps would do the trick?

They're unlikely to be very effective (if at all) at 60/120 Hz. Treble wise, absorbers tend to be best placed at reflection points of indirect paths. A second person with a mirror may be very handy for identifying those. Typical areas of concern would be side walls, ceiling, floor and any wall behind the listening position.

Panel absorbers and CBTs are quite handy when it comes to generally reducing reverb times.

 

[SMJH]

How exactly are you measuring? Getting any degree of accuracy up there requires either MMM or a sub-ms IR window in stationary measurements. Keep in mind an omni mic "hears" quite differently than we do up there.


They're unlikely to be very effective (if at all) at 60/120 Hz. Treble wise, absorbers tend to be best placed at reflection points of indirect paths. A second person with a mirror may be very handy for identifying those. Typical areas of concern would be side walls, ceiling, floor and any wall behind the listening position.

Panel absorbers and CBTs are quite handy when it comes to generally reducing reverb times.

Thanks for the info!! I'm new to this. Guess I'll have to do a better job with MMM. Some 'notches' make no sense in my measurements, they suggest reflections as close as 3 cm from my drivers.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Some 'notches' make no sense in my measurements, they suggest reflections as close as 3 cm from my drivers.

Despite using MMM? Mind letting us have a look? The tweeter waveguides terminates rather abruptly on the baffle, with sharp edges, I would expect some oddities as a result of that. Effectively, the sudden change in acoustic impedance should result in part of the sound being reflected back to the AMT. Does 3 cm sound about right for waveguide depth?

I've had some fun with AMTs having their ups and downs in my EVE SC203 saga. Possibly the grilles had a hand in that. The good news is that IME this should EQ out fine. I actually never went back and remeasured with MMM... don't mess with perfection and stuff. Stitching EQs for multiple ranges together is a bit tedious.

 

[SMJH]

Despite using MMM? Mind letting us have a look? The tweeter waveguides terminates rather abruptly on the baffle, with sharp edges, I would expect some oddities as a result of that. Effectively, the sudden change in acoustic impedance should result in part of the sound being reflected back to the AMT. Does 3 cm sound about right for waveguide depth?

I've had some fun with AMTs having their ups and downs in my EVE SC203 saga. Possibly the grilles had a hand in that. The good news is that IME this should EQ out fine. I actually never went back and remeasured with MMM... don't mess with perfection and stuff. Stitching EQs for multiple ranges together is a bit tedious.

Waveguide depth is about 3 cm yes, but its sharp shape seems typical for ribbons.
I don't believe they would ship the product measuring like that. It'd show up in 3rd party anechoic measurements as well.

My setup is 99.99% at fault here. Those are the first speakers I try to room EQ this hard.
I'll redo measurements when I get the time, most likely this weekend, and try to change my PC screen placements as well, it could very well be reflections from that.
Last measurements were done with the screens sitting almost flush with the baffles. Right now they're recessed about 6 cm.

Excuse the mess, and yes I'm still waiting for my DAC to arrive, running them straight from the motherboard at the moment.
Oh, and the wall behind me is basically one big closet filled with clothes, fabrics, and what have you. I literally just open it up when listening to music, the room sounds dead when I do so, reflections are absorbed and I get way better phantom center as a result. I've read dispersion is better there but for nearfield, in a small room? I don't see that.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Which is better T7Vor T8v?

 

[starfly]

I had bought the T8V last week. I thought the tweeter was a touch bright/harsh and something seemed slightly off about the soundstage, like the sound was really just emanating from the speakers (in a near-field setup) vs. creating a wide soundstage.

Decided to also try the Kali IN-8 V2, which just arrived. Set it up and just right out of the box I like the sound better already. Highs are a bit smoother, soundstage is much better. And well, it's a 3-way speaker, really like the wide dispersion of the coaxial driver. The T8V had a relatively small sweetspot (I have them up on speaker stands behind my monitors pointing down towards my ears), especially vertically. The IN-8 much less finicky where I place my head.

So all to say, the T8Vs are going back, and I'm keeping the Kali

 

[kyuu]

At some point I'm going to want some little active monitors for a desk setup. The Adams have a lot that appeal to me, but I keep getting turned off by their insistence in using AMTs across the board. Those things just... misbehave. Wish they had some models with a proper dome/waveguide tweeter solution.

 

[SMJH]

Heya, finally got the time to properly re-do room EQ with REW. I started measuring via MMM, with Flipflop's PEQ settings found on Spinorama GitHub already applied. The screenshot shared is a final measurement after applying REW's generated EQ! Sounds phenomenal, with only a few tweaks made by ear later on in the 35Hz and 12Khz regions. Whatever was causing combing had been eliminated, I'll blame the PC screens...

 

[SMJH]

Which is better T7Vor T8v?

Technically T7V measures flatter, but will require a subwoofer, and might not have enough headroom for room EQ (50W RMS woofer). So, in the real world, I'd say T8V is better. My $0.02

 

[SMJH]

I've been experimenting with target curves for these speakers, as Flat in-room does tend to sound boring at times. I've tried the Harman curves and Dr. Toole's to no avail. The former all sounded way too colored (especially the Harman for headphones curve, which I admit is fun to try on speakers), while the latter sounded too close to flat, so much so that I preferred flat anyway.
If anyone's in the same boat, I have found two curves that I really truly enjoyed:

First (and best imo), Adam Audio's own "UNR voicing" which you can try to replicate from the Adam A8H response chart. It's engaging, rumble inducing, yet crystal clear, and works on any content.
Your mileage may vary, but for my room, my ears and my PEQ, this is what sounded best:
+4.75 dB low shelf at 105Hz
-1 dB PK Q2.5 at 3.5Khz
+4.75 dB high shelf at 5Khz
Again, I encourage you to go check out the UNR chart yourself, and modify to your liking.

Second, well, you'll need a bit more headroom for this one, and kiss goodbye any semblance of accurate music reproduction, but it's an approximation of the sound I'm getting out of my vintage Hi-Fi system with tone controls dialed in: Scott 299C + Bose 501 Series IV. Basically, you'd want to boost 40Hz and 8Khz by about 7dB each, and have their Q at around 0.35
Yes, it's basically a big 'ol V-shaped sugarbomb, and obviously wouldn't work for any low DR recording.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

They do sound fantastic but one should bare in mind that feeding that high-end DAC into these speakers is pointless.

This is a total non issue. The differences between DACs are inaudible and it takes quite a few cycles of ADC to DAC conversion before any degradation becomes audible.