AVI DM10 active speakers

[Prep74]

Just wondering if anyone here has had experiences/opinions on these actives. Information on them is quite sparse with reviews tending be polarised, mainly due to AVI’s proprietor Ashley rather than the speakers themselves. The manual that comes with the speakers is also sparse and I haven’t found any good measurements for them.

https://avihifi.com/pdfs/DM10_Instructions.pdf

I have a pair of the preceding DM9T speakers with a SVS sub in another room and they do sound quite smooth and clear (though perhaps a bit ‘polite’) and with precise imaging. I just wonder how they compare with other actives at their 1,800 pounds price point.

https://avihifi.com/legacy/adm9.html

 

[Vetal]

Bought these speakers Jan 2017 from AVI and still enjoying. The sound is very detailed, good imaging but for “real” lows I moved them to a smaller room.
Should be great with sub and some room correction With bass management.
Using with bluesound node2i optical output to AVI optical in.
Greetings from East Europe

 

[Bkbingley]

Yep, got the DM10s. Previously had DM9Ts. 10s are very smooth with better bass than the 9s. Excellent versatile speakers, fully active with built in amps and DACs. Can play loud without distortion. Added a miniDSP Dirac room correction device and that’s made the already excellent speakers even better by taming unwanted room nodes and in general tightening up the sound. Also have a BK Elec sub, but that’s more for home cinema duties.

 

[Prep74]

Yep, got the DM10s. Previously had DM9Ts. 10s are very smooth with better bass than the 9s. Excellent versatile speakers, fully active with built in amps and DACs. Can play loud without distortion. Added a miniDSP Dirac room correction device and that’s made the already excellent speakers even better by taming unwanted room nodes and in general tightening up the sound. Also have a BK Elec sub, but that’s more for home cinema duties.

Sounds like you've got a fairly good setup with the miniDSP added.
Apart from the bass, do you hear the DM10 as a 'massive' improvement as described by Ashley (who is reknown for being over the top) over the 9Ts? The main difference i can see is it now has an 8th order active crossover compared to the 4, which may further tighten the imaging. Is it a worthwhile update to the 9Ts given i already run a sub? It's frustrating that AVI does not provide detailed measurements for either of those speakers.

 

[Moonhead]

I have there bigger brother DM12, I had ADM40 previously. DM10 has the same drivers as my 12s, so even though I haven’t listen to 10s I can safely say it’s a big improvement to your 9T, as I know the in between model 9RS quite well to.

But Neumann might be better still,
especially at retail price of Avi.

 

[Prep74]

I have there bigger brother DM12, I had ADM40 previously. DM10 has the same drivers as my 12s, so even though I haven’t listen to 10s I can safely say it’s a big improvement to your 9T, as I know the in between model 9RS quite well to.

But Neumann might be better still,
especially at retail price of Avi.

The pair I have are the 9RST, the model superseded by the 10. So how is it a big improvement-eg clarity etc.

 

[Moonhead]

9RS can hardly provide soundstage and bass is woolly and detail is there but not very articulate. Voices and instruments are much more lifelike in the 10s and most people will find them somewhat bright (without sub) especially compared to the charming but warmish and lacklustre 9RS.
DM10 has a brilliant driver but not the best tweeter, certainly not the worse either, but at the asking price, I would go for KH80 or KH120 from Neumann or even some Genelec 8030c

Are you located in Scandinavia?

 

[q3cpma]

6.5" woofer to 1" tweeter at 2 kHz without waveguide will get you a bad directivity. Add to that the probably resonant port and diffraction of the sharp cabinet and I don't see their point, especially for this price.

 

[Bkbingley]

Sounds like you've got a fairly good setup with the miniDSP added.
Apart from the bass, do you hear the DM10 as a 'massive' improvement as described by Ashley (who is reknown for being over the top) over the 9Ts? The main difference i can see is it now has an 8th order active crossover compared to the 4, which may further tighten the imaging. Is it a worthwhile update to the 9Ts given i already run a sub? It's frustrating that AVI does not provide detailed measurements for either of those speakers.

Firstly, I found the bass extended deeper than the 9.1s, so much so that I didn’t miss a sub for the type of music I listen to. The DM10 midrange was also quite a bit smoother and things like piano music and voices were a little more lifelike. And the imaging was indeed slightly better as well (although using the Dirac DSP has taken that up another level as well). I was pleasantly surprised at the differences between the 9.Ts and the 10s, especially since I bought the 10s at the lower price of £1200 when they were still available direct from AVI. I think the 9RS are closer to the 10s in terms of performance, and the bass is similar. So as far as the 9.Ts are concerned, not a ‘massive’ improvement, but definitely worthwhile IMO. They’re no longer in production so servicing would be an issue. They are very robust and well built though.

On Ashley, he was always very polite and courteous with me. I think he just pushed back (in his own style) against the outspoken ’audiophiles’ who were quoting measurements well beyond the limit of human hearing and swearing they could hear a substantial difference.

 

[dkmaier]

Yep, got the DM10s. Previously had DM9Ts. 10s are very smooth with better bass than the 9s. Excellent versatile speakers, fully active with built in amps and DACs. Can play loud without distortion. Added a miniDSP Dirac room correction device and that’s made the already excellent speakers even better by taming unwanted room nodes and in general tightening up the sound. Also have a BK Elec sub, but that’s more for home cinema duties.

How did you connect the miniDSP to the DM10s? I have a bluetooth device attached to my DM10s, could I go from computer to speakers using bluetooth?

 

[Pauper]

I had the DM 5’s...lovely speakers. I regret letting them go.

 

[Bkbingley]

How did you connect the miniDSP to the DM10s? I have a bluetooth device attached to my DM10s, could I go from computer to speakers using bluetooth?

I’m not entirely sure where you have a minidsp in your audio chain but I simply use the SHD as a preamp hooked directly to my ADM10s.

The miniDSP SHD has both analogue and digital outputs so either of those can be used as the ADM10s have digital and analogue inputs. The digital inputs of the DM10s are Toslink (optical) whilst the SHD digital outputs are SPDIF, so you’d need a cheap Spdif to optical converter (about £10 on eBay) If you hooked up digitally.

 

[dkmaier]

Thanks. I'm still just figuring this stuff out.

 

[AlmaAtaKZ]

I have DM10s and subjectively absolutely love them.
Would be very interested to see comprehensive measurements.

 

[AlmaAtaKZ]

I had the DM 5’s...lovely speakers. I regret letting them go.

Had these as well and loved the sound, too.
The signal sensing power did not work for me (they switched off when listening at low levels), so I reluctantly returned them.

 

[HLC]

I have a DM10. Had been working perfectly for 3 years. But I am having problems with the volume control which effectively is the remote control. It seems to function properly in that it can select the source - AV, D1 etc. But the volume control function seems not to be working. I can only increase the volume by increasing the source vol output.

Has anyone had this issue? Any quick fix??

 

[AM88]

I have a DM10. Had been working perfectly for 3 years. But I am having problems with the volume control which effectively is the remote control. It seems to function properly in that it can select the source - AV, D1 etc. But the volume control function seems not to be working. I can only increase the volume by increasing the source vol output.

Has anyone had this issue? Any quick fix??

Perhaps try another remote or test to see if the buttons for volume are working by using your phone's camera and pointing it at the IR sensor to see if a light shines from it when you press the button. I have 9.1s and sub and dm5s. My 9.1's remote did die on me and I got a replacement one for all remote that did the job nicely. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B012741LRW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've had them in total for about 10 years? They were a great purchase at their price and much better and enjoyable then the previous typical hifi setup I had of PMC, Arcam and Unison research....I too would love to see any AVI speaker measured. If anyone could ship to Amir for a reasonable amount, I'd pitch in for the shipping. From where I live it would cost 100s of USD one way...

 

[HLC]

Perhaps try another remote or test to see if the buttons for volume are working by using your phone's camera and pointing it at the IR sensor to see if a light shines from it when you press the button. I have 9.1s and sub and dm5s. My 9.1's remote did die on me and I got a replacement one for all remote that did the job nicely. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B012741LRW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've had them in total for about 10 years? They were a great purchase at their price and much better and enjoyable then the previous typical hifi setup I had of PMC, Arcam and Unison research....I too would love to see any AVI speaker measured. If anyone could ship to Amir for a reasonable amount, I'd pitch in for the shipping. From where I live it would cost 100s of USD one way...

Thanks for the tip. The "light" appears to be working OK. Anyway, I will try to get hold of another remote to confirm the problem. I am using it as external speakers to my TV. So I have now bypass the DAC using an analogue signal and using the TV to control volume. So all is well for the time being!!

 

[oivavoi]

Discovered this thread right now. Another very happy DM10 owner here! Just wrote a bit about these speakers in comparison with a pair of more expensive speakers in another thread: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...iew-powered-monitor.28039/page-49#post-982445

I think "smooth" and "just sounding right" are the subjective terms I would use for describing them.

I kind of wonder what makes me like these speakers so much, though. In theory they shouldn't match up with a lot of other offerings, given the directivity pattern etc. But if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right...

I do think they benefit from subwoofers and eq to taste, though.

 

[Marc v E]

If you guys love these speakers so much, could you send one for measurement by Amir?