Adam T8V Studio Monitor Review

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I had also tested the t8v and was not convinced overall. Especially the lower mids were missing for me. Furthermore, the imaging was clearly missing. The sound was very clear in the presence range, but the connection to the midrange was missing.
I'm from Germany and spoke to an Adam technician who said to wait a few more months. Then comes a new series that is cheaper alternative to the ax series but is supposed to be better than the t series.

Just wonders if you were sitting too close to the speaker so the sound isn’t integrated yet ? And also any idea of speaker placement? Missing power mids sounds like some sort of room modes more to me

 

[Vinbeeh]

I already have knowledge about correct set up do not worry. The weakness in the lower mids was interestingly also confirmed to me by the Adam technician. Moreover, my Neumann speakers do not have this weakness in the same room

 

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I already have knowledge about correct set up do not worry. The weakness in the lower mids was interestingly also confirmed to me by the Adam technician. Moreover, my Neumann speakers do not have this weakness in the same room

Right, just wonders as it sounds like not very inline with measurement at the first glance, then now I revisit and saw the directivity error at crossover region, maybe that's the cause? Neumann have almost perfect directivity so I imagine at that region it would be much better. Personally I had experience in my friend's T5V set up in a small living room and is quite pleased, but since room and EQ wise it's very different from my own Genelec setup so cannot compare directly.

 

[companyja]

From what I remember on their youtube channel, they announced the A series which is likely what the technician told you, though they're probably still going to be a price bracket above the T series (which was launched rather recently to be obsoleted)

 

[companyja]

I already have knowledge about correct set up do not worry. The weakness in the lower mids was interestingly also confirmed to me by the Adam technician. Moreover, my Neumann speakers do not have this weakness in the same room

Their weakpoint is the lower mids though weak imaging is mostly going to be a room/placement issue - it's likely the adams need to be repositioned to find the same phantom centre/stereo image. I don't know the size of your other speakers but typically bigger nearfields require a bit of distance, and especially the adam tweeters which crossover rather high for nearfields. Of course if you want to keep your listening and speaker position, auditioning another pair might be better

 

[Vinbeeh]

This is possible, but it doesn't explain why other studio speakers don't show this weakness in my room.

 

[Vinbeeh]

The other speakers were the Fluid fx 8, but I found them much less precise in the bass and not as clear in the treble. However, the midrange was more precise.

 

[companyja]

I doubt you can get a better balance between flat, extended, precise low-end and sharp, precise, detailed high-end than the T8V, but because of the bigger woofer and sort of high crossover, the woofer can't handle the lower midrange as well as smaller speakers and woofers that don't go as low as the T8V. In my room, the T8V comfortably reproduce 35hz, they weren't lying on the spec sheet that it goes down to ~33hz. But the ideal setup is always a 3-way or a subwoofer; I imagine a T7V with a subwoofer would do better than the T8V but that's way pricier and way less practical if you don't want to deal with a sub/don't want the floor shaking.

With some EQ I think you could bring up the crossover region some to get more detail out of the lower midrange but with active speakers and especially active 'budget' speakers that have only 70W of headroom for the woofer, I don't like to mess with EQ much. I think the actual speakers in these are so good that I wonder if I'm going to mess with DIY in the future and if you can add additional headroom to these without losing the DSP crossover profile that's baked into their DAC/AMP boards - with more power and voltage handling, I reckon the light 8" woofer could do better than with the bare minimum amplification most companies use for these affordable monitors to achieve a monitoring-level performance; I also wonder if there's a way to reduce tweeter hiss, that would probably be the only big problem with these monitors for me

 

[Vinbeeh]

Your comments are very interesting. The Adam technician recommended the same to me. The T7V are somewhat more precise in the mids due to the smaller bass driver. Nevertheless, he recommended that I wait a few months until the new series comes out.

 

[dfuller]

I doubt you can get a better balance between flat, extended, precise low-end and sharp, precise, detailed high-end than the T8V, but because of the bigger woofer and sort of high crossover, the woofer can't handle the lower midrange as well as smaller speakers and woofers that don't go as low as the T8V. In my room, the T8V comfortably reproduce 35hz, they weren't lying on the spec sheet that it goes down to ~33hz. But the ideal setup is always a 3-way or a subwoofer; I imagine a T7V with a subwoofer would do better than the T8V but that's way pricier and way less practical if you don't want to deal with a sub/don't want the floor shaking.

Further reinforcing my belief that the vast majority of 2 way speakers should not go beyond a 6.5" nominal midwoofer. Bass extension be damned - use a sub if you want that.

 

[companyja]

Further reinforcing my belief that the vast majority of 2 way speakers should not go beyond a 6.5" nominal midwoofer. Bass extension be damned - use a sub if you want that.

It depends for me; if I'm going to go out there and really spend cash, I would always go for a proper 3-way speaker setup instead of even multiple subs that you have to leave space for and mess around with to find the right balance. A lot of people (like myself) just use their rooms to the best of their abilities and treat them to satisfactory/usable levels. I'd much rather wait to save up enough and create a suitable enough space for big floor standers/3-way monitors than do patchwork with smaller speakers and subs before I get to that. Big woofers tend not only to extend lower but to handle low-end power better (iirc?) and provide cleaner low-end as well as the flat response (for example, Amir hasn't measured the T7V but seeing the T5V and a few other T7V measurements, the T8V low-end is not only further extended but way flatter for longer)- if you use a sub and cut to let's say 120hz on the satellites, then this is moot, but when deciding which size monitor you want to use without a sub, I think it falls between a 6.5" and 8" woofer. I was always a bit of a V-shaped headphone man, I really value the down low and the up high, but I don't want the monitor to sound hollow or wonky - does the T8V excel in the lower midrange? Of course not, every competent 5-6.5" woofer should do better. Does it sound bad in the lower midrange? I don't think so, I think it's adequate if underwhelming compared to the rest of the package. The only thing I don't like about the T8V presentation is that the vocals are not as forward as I feel like they should be, but they don't sound disconnected or hollow, so they get a pass for the midrange for me. Luckily the tweeter takes over a bit earlier than the smaller T series monitors, before the woofer really goes off the rails

 

[Vinbeeh]

By chance I compared the Presonus r80 with the t8v and have to say that the Presonus are clearly more harmonic and stronger in the lower mids. What surprised me was the spatial sound and the very precise listening to different instruments. Here, the Adam did not stand a chance, which resolves well in the highs, but the midrange can not quite keep up.

 

[Puppy2022]

Has anyone compared them with Mackie CR8-XBT? I don't need them as a studio monitors, but I would like to replace my old Hi-Fi setup of typical amplifier and two very old big 3-way speakers (110 x 40 x 45 cm) with two active speakers only that takes less of space. I believe that the loudspeaker technology has improved so I can get similar or even better sound with smaller speakers compared to those more than 40 years old.

I listen music from computer via external soundcard, electronic style only like this, so the low frequencies are important, but I'd like to try it without a subwoofer first. The frequency response of the Adam T8V looks good, but the Mackie CR8-XBT is 25 percent cheaper and have active/passive speaker setup that is a bit easier. I haven't found a review here yet, but this site has reviewed both:

ADAM T8V — восьмидюймовая модель бюджетной серии | ProSound

prosound.ixbt.com

Mackie CR8-XBT — восьмидюймовая модель активных мониторов новой серии CR-X | ProSound

prosound.ixbt.com

The low frequency response looks good for both, but I'd prefer a personal experience. I am also worried about the hiss/hum issues that aren't present in the Hi-Fi setup with a typical Sony amplifier from 90's.

Or should I rather go for a pair of T5V/T7V and T10S subwoofer for this purpose? Here it sounds promising (versus original source) without it:

Thank you.

 

[companyja]

In my personal experience, I have a nasty null at around 70hz so I have some problems with disappearing bass notes in certain situations, but the Adams in my room are comfortably audible down to 30hz. You're getting pretty much full extension, maybe without that last few notes of sub-bass. The main difference between a T8V and a T5V with a sub is going to be the midrange which will be better on the T5V, but mostly the tactility. By using the T8V without a sub, and if you properly decouple them on individual stands, you're getting the whole range with great extension and flatness, but you're not going to be shaking your floor and feeling the room shake. If you want the floor shaking, you're going to want a sub to bottom-fire into your floor. For electronic music I think the T8V extend low enough, and the midrange deficiency is hidden beneath all the synths. For example, in this nervious_testpilot track which is full of low-end rumble, the T8V have a great properly punchy sound while sounding effortless in the high range as well, but if you want to feel the sub on your feet as well, you will have to get a sub no matter which studio monitor you choose, unless it has a bottom firing sub like a floorstander.

Also keep in mind that these are nearfield studio monitors, and as such their waveguides are configured to be very vertically-specific as to avoid desk and floor bounce - this means that you're going to need to be more careful with the vertical position of the tweeter, and also you're going to need more volume for the same SPL if you're listening far-field compared to the nearfield, thus increasing distortion and asking more from the limited amplification inside these budget boxes.

 

[audio2920]

I'd say T5V+Sub could be the best of those options. CR8 may be OK; as you say, experience would be good. But the lower models don't do so well:

Mackie CR3-X Powered Monitor Review

Mackie CR3-X Powered Monitor Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

That's doesn't prove whether the CR8 is or isn't a fair bit better though.

I briefly owned a pair of T8Vs and they were fine as listening speakers, just a bit bright and/or lacking in the mids for mixing. I'd hazard a guess that they tune them a hair bright to give the illusion that there's something magic and detailed about that U-ART tweeter (but IMHO there isn't - which is really neither good nor bad news!)

Without external EQ I wouldn't have been able to tame the excess bass I got from the T8Vs in their "almost on the wall" position I was trying them in. At least with a sub you have a bit more control (position, level, x-over) even without active EQ in your chain. The T-series only has +/-2dB trim top and bottom, and I found -2 LF wasn't down enough, nor at the right frequency, in that particular setup. Hence, T5+10S.

(Plus the previously mentioned fact that the T8V is comparatively slightly compromised in the mids and around the crossover due to the larger driver)

The only downside is system complexity and cost, of course

 

[Puppy2022]

Thanks for both replies. I already use software equalizer, of course. The cost isn't such problem, but the complexity and space requirements is. Especially I expect to tune the volume balance of the subwoofer and satellites isn't easy. As for the T5V or T7V with T10S option, my other concern is the hiss. According to the Hiss List sheet, the T5V and T7V produces 30 dBA noise, while the T8V 25 dBA "only". I live in a quiet apartment and my computer is also almost silent.

 

[companyja]

Basically, if you look at the list and the distances on the right, if you plan to be further away than those distances from the speakers, the hiss will not be reaching you. In personal experience, the hiss is weirdly horizontally directional, if I get my head in certain positions I hear it quite prominently, if I get it in others I can't hear it at all in a close-ish, ~1.5m monitoring position. It is annoying but I manage.

 

[Puppy2022]

But the three meters is too much This is the most frustrating part of the audio equimpent upgrade, as my 30 years old Hi-Fi amplifier Sony TA-F545R produces no audible hiss more than 10 cm away the tweeter.

 

[audio2920]

but the complexity and space requirements is

T8V may be the way to go then. They don't lack bass capability!

I personally wasn't bothered by the hiss on these at all, but I'm from the analog mixing days so I'm used to a bit of system noise and I'm probably not a good benchmark

 

[Puppy2022]

I am 50+ so I no longer hear the high frequencies so well anyway I just don't have an idea how bad the hiss actually is, but I noticed there are heavy discussions about it. For me it is a mystery how it can be so bad while having such great electronic components nowadays compared to the 80-90's era I remember when I was young and building speakers and amplifiers (we were able to design and build amplifier with 100+ dB SNR). It is either a bad design or excessive cost saving.