M
moosensquirrel
New member
Hey, all.
I had been drooling over the Adam A7 studio monitors for about two years (couldn't buy because of other expenses), but I was reading on the new Mackie HR824 monitors, and frankly, I was sold. ...until I tested them. Don't get me wrong, they were good, just not great. The bass was muddled, and compared to the Adams, well ... the Adams sounded like a singer, and the Mackies sounded like a good recording of a singer. But there is a pretty big difference.
Unfortunately, the Mackies were too high and almost next to each other on the wall at GC. Even more unfortunate, the Adams were spread way across the room. I tried to concentrate on just one speaker, putting my head in front of just one so I wouldn't be bothered as much by improper distances and imaging, and also room icky-ness. I think the Adams would work wonderful as nearfield monitors, sounding much better than they did in the store if they were on proper stands, away from the wall, on monitor pads, and frankly, just a whole lot closer together and to the listener.
But the bass was so lacking...
...and Kirk was showing me all the different cheapo subs they had in order to compensate for the bass lack. His favorite was a Yamaha, and then there was a Blue Skye ... and I was again reminded that bass can't be had for less than a couple grand, much less a couple hundred ...
But I figured out that the subs seemed to burp a whole lot less and give that clean, low sound a whole lot more if I simply turn down the crossover point. So I did, and a KRK 10s El Cheapo sub started to sound pretty good with those little Adam A7 monitors. I think the sub goes for $360 or so, which isn't much.
Am I crazy? Or just not listening closely enough to the right things? Because the Adams had what none of the rest of the wall of monitors had to make a voice sound like a voice, but it just had no lows. It's like you're missing a whole couple of octaves, with all the weight behind the kick and the bass guitar. You can hear them, just like on bad headphones, but not in the same way. Not in the right octave...
I'm pretty set on the Adam A7s, and that's not from reviews or others' opinions. I've decided based on my own ears. But would it be a shame to match them with a dirt-cheap sub? And maybe I shouldn't trust the dirt-cheap crossover likely to be found on the back of that sub to separate the bass from the treble for the monitors. But should this be considered at all? Or maybe I should just save up a while longer, suck it in, and by the Adam sub? What do we know about the Adam Audio Sub8?
Will be used for junior mixing and mastering, as tools to do my homework for such wonderful classes as Pro Tools I, Pro Tools II, Audio Engineering I, etc. (Yeah, you're jealous. :-D) But it will also be used for listening, primarily rock, piano-pop, dark and moody classical, and many forms of jazz. The majority of the music I'd be making would be alternative rock ... pretty standard stuff, and acoustic stuff too.
I had been drooling over the Adam A7 studio monitors for about two years (couldn't buy because of other expenses), but I was reading on the new Mackie HR824 monitors, and frankly, I was sold. ...until I tested them. Don't get me wrong, they were good, just not great. The bass was muddled, and compared to the Adams, well ... the Adams sounded like a singer, and the Mackies sounded like a good recording of a singer. But there is a pretty big difference.
Unfortunately, the Mackies were too high and almost next to each other on the wall at GC. Even more unfortunate, the Adams were spread way across the room. I tried to concentrate on just one speaker, putting my head in front of just one so I wouldn't be bothered as much by improper distances and imaging, and also room icky-ness. I think the Adams would work wonderful as nearfield monitors, sounding much better than they did in the store if they were on proper stands, away from the wall, on monitor pads, and frankly, just a whole lot closer together and to the listener.
But the bass was so lacking...
...and Kirk was showing me all the different cheapo subs they had in order to compensate for the bass lack. His favorite was a Yamaha, and then there was a Blue Skye ... and I was again reminded that bass can't be had for less than a couple grand, much less a couple hundred ...
But I figured out that the subs seemed to burp a whole lot less and give that clean, low sound a whole lot more if I simply turn down the crossover point. So I did, and a KRK 10s El Cheapo sub started to sound pretty good with those little Adam A7 monitors. I think the sub goes for $360 or so, which isn't much.
Am I crazy? Or just not listening closely enough to the right things? Because the Adams had what none of the rest of the wall of monitors had to make a voice sound like a voice, but it just had no lows. It's like you're missing a whole couple of octaves, with all the weight behind the kick and the bass guitar. You can hear them, just like on bad headphones, but not in the same way. Not in the right octave...
I'm pretty set on the Adam A7s, and that's not from reviews or others' opinions. I've decided based on my own ears. But would it be a shame to match them with a dirt-cheap sub? And maybe I shouldn't trust the dirt-cheap crossover likely to be found on the back of that sub to separate the bass from the treble for the monitors. But should this be considered at all? Or maybe I should just save up a while longer, suck it in, and by the Adam sub? What do we know about the Adam Audio Sub8?
Will be used for junior mixing and mastering, as tools to do my homework for such wonderful classes as Pro Tools I, Pro Tools II, Audio Engineering I, etc. (Yeah, you're jealous. :-D) But it will also be used for listening, primarily rock, piano-pop, dark and moody classical, and many forms of jazz. The majority of the music I'd be making would be alternative rock ... pretty standard stuff, and acoustic stuff too.
.
. Also, I don't know how things are these days, but a subwoofer in a dorm room may not be exactly smiled upon by your dorm neighbors.
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