Adam A7s

[antichef]

I figured it was time to get some better monitors, so I just went to GC and picked up a pair of Adam A7s, and a KRK 10s subwoofer to go with them.

The sales guy helped me listen to a few different models - I didn't want to listen to the extremely high dollar ones, because I wasn't going to get them, and didn't possibly want to get bummed because they sounded better.

The sales guy really tried to talk me out of the A7s, saying I'd get ear fatigue - he showed me some M-Audio ones for about the same price, but to me they were hiding too much detail - maybe easier to listen to, I guess. Between those two, the A7 was really more what I was hoping to hear.

Do you all with A7s get ear fatigue?

 

[darrin_h2000]

My cousin has them and they seem to be fine...those kids at GC get more money for pushing certain brands over others, so the notion that one of them cares if you get better results or not is laughable.

 

[Dogbreath]

Hey dude!

I've had the A7's for almost 2 years now (I think) and the only times I've noticed any fatigue was when I'd spent about 8 hours in front of em.

They're good monitors. I'm still pretty happy with em. Good high and mid, bass is not bad but I see you've got that covered. I've grown especially fond of the ribbon tweeters.

I dare say you'll dig em.

I'm off to go check out how much yer sub was now.

 

[antichef]

Thanks - I noticed you can dial back the tweeter in on the back of the unit if you want.

I don't even have them set up correctly yet, and it's a night and day change over what I was doing before. I think my next challenge will be calibrating the gain on the subwoofer so that it's correctly proportional to the A7s. There's nothing I don't like about the subwoofer at this point, btw - seems very clear and easy to work with.

I sensed that the GC kid knew more than I did (not saying much ), and he set up what seemed to me like an apples-to-apples comparison of the A7s with the M-Audio ones, insisting that the sound of the M-Audios was more what I wanted/needed, when to me, the A7s were *very clearly* more what I wanted/needed, based on the comparison. When it came to fatigue - the 8 hour session is exactly what he mentioned -- I told him that I'm lucky to get an 8 minute session, and so I want all the ugliness in my face (for some reason, I'm hearing that song "I'm sorry, I can't rock you all night long" in my head)

I do suspect that the profit margin is higher on the M-Audios, so I can't blame him for trying - at least he set things up so that I could use my own ears to decide.

 

[iownrocknroll]

I always thought the adams sounded toooooooooo good

I had a hard time with my mixes on them translating well.

The room I was mixing in was somewhat small as well.

 

[Dogbreath]

RocknRollDude

ya gots some bass traps set up? That made a pretty big difference with translation as well.

just wonderin.

 

[CoolCat]

i was just deleting a "room" comment...but DB, said the same...

a room/setup change was a huge impact for me too.

a 3ft triangle and all that, some traps. at a minimum take the "handclap drywall" sound out, you can use anything, I had a big bed set on its side that absorbed a lot of the ear-bleed drywall sound....703 is much better and easier to work with.

a crappy setup can make the best speakers sound like crap.

A7's sounded good to me when I did a store listen. Never had the fun to try them at home.
There's some science and reason most mfg's use 4,5,6 for near field....6,8,10 for far field etc..... popping a sub in a small room? will be tricky, probably a great sound but a lot of room-effect.

 

[darrin_h2000]

I am a little suspect of any monitors that have adjustments to EQ them to a room...that changes the way the signal is heard to our ears and turns the results into a lie...your room needs to be ready...I have mine with 11 of the inside corners covered with bass traps and foam over every other inch except where the window is...and I cover that with a blanket during mixing.

 

[WhiteStrat]

I am a little suspect of any monitors that have adjustments to EQ them to a room...that changes the way the signal is heard to our ears and turns the results into a lie...your room needs to be ready...I have mine with 11 of the inside corners covered with bass traps and foam over every other inch except where the window is...and I cover that with a blanket during mixing.

A room in which "every inch is covered with foam" is lying to you more than an EQ adjustment on a speaker.

 

[antichef]

I haven't done any room treatment, because my studio room isn't ready yet. Right now I've got them in the bedroom - pretty big, with 10' ceilings, 100 yr old plaster walls, and an oak floor (my studio room will be smaller, and with an 8' ceiling ). I've got kids, and so I have the Wall-E DVD, and at the end is a Peter Gabriel song - I figure it could be better than CD quality because it's on a DVD - anyway, I'm sort of using that for reference as I place the A7s and the subwoofer. Amazing. Sounds very good, of course, but it's more about the near-visual placement and clarity of the different instruments, vocalists, and parts of the song.

The GC guy tried (gently) to sell me a KRK Ergo system, which is one of the ones where it plays a reference sound through your monitors and you take measurements with a microphone at various points in the room, and then it creates a room correction profile and applies it if you want. I passed - assuming systems like that work at all, I might go for one someday, but I'll think of it as secondary to room treatment. Cool idea, though.

 

[darrin_h2000]

A room in which "every inch is covered with foam" is lying to you more than an EQ adjustment on a speaker.

Its damn near an anechoic chamber...there is not much echo to speak of...the tracking room is a bit more live of course...but the control room is very controlled.

If you change the way a monitor is tuned what is the use?...its like when you play a song perfect on a guitar that is out of tune...no matter what it isnt going to sound right.

Now I have adjustments like those on a pair of old stereo speakers...but I dont mix with those...my current set of monitors dont have those adjustments...only volume...and damn near every tune on the radio is referenced on that same set.

 

[antichef]

Still really liking the A7s - one of them had some play in the gain knob, such that it was a little difficult to pinpoint where it was positioned - GC let me exchange it tonight (actually the GC I got it from didn't have it in stock, but directed me to another one in town, and they exchanged no problem) -- just thought I'd drop a good GC story in among the frustrating ones.