Review: ADAM A77X Monitors

ADAM Audio GmbH has been making high quality studio monitors since 1999, and with the A77X they are bringing their flagship dual driver technology to the small studio market.

The top of the AX Series line, the A77X (MSRP: $2,198/pair) is a three-way active monitor, built on the same innovative ADAM design that created the S-Series monitors, which made ADAM a household name with producers and engineers in the 2000’s burgeoning boutique audio subculture.

The basic premise is that a central ribbon tweeter is surrounded on either side by two woofers. One woofer functions with the tweeter as if it were any other two-way speaker, while the second woofer kicks in power in the 400Hz and below range. By effectively doubling the surface area of the woofer for only the low frequencies, ADAM has been able to avoid the pitfalls of standard crossover design, something to which the high retail cost of quality three-or-more-way designs is often attributed.

Like the rest of the AX series, and ADAM’s entire pro audio line, the A77X tweeter is based around the X-ART tweeter – which is not your standard ribbon transducer. This is ADAM’s own proprietary design based on the principles of Dr. Oskar Heil’s “Air Motion Transformer”. It functions by essentially squeezing the air out from between the leaves of a folded ribbon (read more about this here), allowing them to greatly increase the surface area without sacrificing frequency response or adding to the overall footprint.

ADAM A77X: an active three-way monitor with two 7″ woofers

OUT OF THE BOX

My first reaction on opening the box is that these speakers are larger than I would have expected. ADAM advertises the A77Xs as mid or nearfields, and when set up as nearfields they would most certainly be the largest ones in a multi-speaker setup. They’re also designed to be seated horizontally, which made it difficult to set up both the ADAMs and my NS-10s simultaneously in my studio, and as a result they were primarily compared to our mains – a set of soffit-mounted Dynaudio M3As – which is what we typically work to.

I set the speaker’s frequency adjustments to flat when I put them on the stands, but immediately found myself fidgeting with them a bit. Out of the box they struck me as extremely dark, and I wonder if it’s an intentional move by ADAM to accent the fact that they’re capable of handling much more low frequency content than traditional nearfields.

After a couple minutes of comparing them to our mains I was able to find settings that made them speak in a way I could understand, and I set right in to work on a mix for the band Cheri Cheri Jaguar.

IN USE

The A77Xs are extremely directional speakers, which is a traditional characteristic for ribbon tweeters, and seems to apply to ADAM’s X-ART tweeters as well. I found adjusting to them a little difficult when working at our desk at Strange Weather, since I was constantly moving outside of the sweet spot. However in a smaller room or with a computer setup I can imagine that would be a distinct advantage. Less of the signal is scattered to the side, which means less should reflect back and cancel at the mix position. It almost seems like they were designed intentionally to handle some of the shortcomings of smaller, untreated rooms.

Once I was situated in the center of the room, the A77Xs began to show some distinct advantages over more traditional nearfields. The upper midrange was an extremely easy place to make decisions. Cheri Cheri Jaguar like a lot of reverb on their mixes, and determining exactly how much I can get away with before completely swamping the lyrics can be a difficult task. The upper mids tend to get crowded quickly, and it’s important that whatever monitors I’m working on are particularly well defined in that range. With the A77Xs decision making was a breeze.

A side effect of that midrange clarity is that the stereo imaging was dramatic and clear without feeling overhyped, and when seated in the sweet spot the speakers presented a both pleasing and detailed picture

The band had recorded the drums at home with an Mbox and only a few microphones, but I was able to quickly find any modal issues. Using compression I was able to really bring out the sound of the room without exaggerating the room’s faults. Decisions in the extreme bottom and top-end translated predictably when I switched back and forth with the mains, which was a surprise after having used the onboard equalizers, but a pleasant one.

CONCLUSIONS

The A77Xs are not ideal for Strange Weather – due to their size, their placement disrupted use of our mains, and their directionality meant that I was constantly traveling back to the center of the desk in order to tell if decisions I was making were correct.

However for a smaller room or home studio setup I imagine that their advantages would really shine, and I’m considering purchasing a pair to use with a B-room/editing suite setup we’re potentially putting together in the next year.

ADAM once again live up to my expectation of building dramatically different, innovative monitors, whose particular strengths make them a fantastic choice for nontraditional spaces.

Marc Alan Goodman is a producer/engineer and co-owner of Strange Weather Brooklyn. He has worked with artists such as Jolie Holland, Marc Ribot, Shudder to Think, Dub Trio, Normal Love, Alfonso Velez, Angel Deradoorian and Pink Skull.

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