Studio Monitor Upgrade - Adam T7V

[AndyR]

I did this a while back, a couple of months ago at least.

I remember Ferryman going for them, and I think a few others spoke highly of them.

I know there are others wondering about them. So this is a sort of review... in my usual rambling way

I give them... FIVE STARS
I'm sure others are good, but these are the ones I bought.
I believe the message is: "it's worth spending on monitors, it'll make things easier, it'll make it so you can actually hear, understand and learn some of the mystical things that you read about mixing/eq/etc on the interwebs"

That's the short version. Here's the waffle...

I ummed and aahed for ages, but now I'm thinking WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS BEFORE?

I know why, I was concerned it wouldn't make much difference in the tiny little space I work in. I was so wrong.
My wife was concerned, when they were on order, that I'd be disappointed. So was I actually, but I was resigned to "this could be a costly non-improvement" before I hit buy!
When they'd arrived, and I'd plugged them in, even before "playing them in" as specified, the first thing I listened to was The Bee Gees, Main Course. On the choruses of Jive Talking, in the backing vox, I could distinguish the actual voices, I could even hear EXACTLY where in the stereo image they'd panned Barry, Robin, and Maurice.

They're stunning monitors. The top end is revealing but not harsh. I can hear, for example, some commercial remasters (especially rock music, eg The Scorpions) have HUGE amounts of added top end (and high mids) to give them more "crunch". On my hifi, it's "harsh" and unpleasant when they've done it too much - I have to turn the treble down. On these monitors, it's not unpleasant at all, just a bit excessive!


I've actually forgotten all about these monitors now, I just use them. But when I think about them it's just "WOW!"

Before, with the old ones (some cheap, but loud, things), I was constantly thinking about speakers and the effect they were having. When listening/mixing, I'd be looking at the speakers straining to "see" the music as it really was. I even had a second set that I could switch between to try and identify what was going on.

Now, I just set the volume on the desk, hit play, and I never think about where the sound is coming from - I rarely even look at the speakers - I just trust what I'm hearing.

I know my room is affecting it, I always have done. Not from any measurement or special treatment apart from rugs on walls and the ceiling lowered with an old sheet. I've had the top-end tamed for years, but I still get the standing waves and "hot-spots" for bottom-end.

I wasn't expecting the Adams to fix any of that, and they didn't. BUT they did make it so I could more easily identify and therefore pick out the "room noises" - a quick check on the headphones and I can go "oh, that's what it is", ignore the issue and carry on. I was worried the T7Vs might be overpowering for my room, and would make the standing wave stuff worse. I feared I ought to go for T5Vs, but in the end I decided to risk it. As it turns out, the Adam T7Vs are actually quieter than the things I had there before, but I can turn them up louder before anything "naff" starts happening. So the 7s were a good choice.

What I've learnt over the last few months is that it's all about "trust", trusting what you hear and being able to trust your own judgement. I didn't have the tools to learn that before. Now, yes, I'm in a crap room, but that doesn't matter, because I can tell what it's doing and I know how to get round it (also, mixing and mastering In The Nick Of Time involved a lot of running up and down stairs and hearing booming on our hifi, then identifying what the tell-tale signs were on the monitors in the studio)

I had something funny happen the other day - that illustrates this trust thing. It showed what these monitors can't fix, they revealed and helped me identify the problem, but they can't fix it.

I've been remastering stuff, I was doing "She Was Dead When I Put Her In The Ground". It's an acoustic and vocal track. There was this awful resonance going on in the mix that I hadn't noticed before. Usually I'm mastering in headphones, to take the room out of the equation, but I was tired, so I was doing the initial run on the monitors.

I could hear this awful "woooom" going on (my relationship with the old monitors and the room meant I didn't even know it was there on the original mix/master). But with the Adams it was "JEEEZ! How did I miss that before?!?!"

I found the frequency (~127Hz, by the way, was where the worst of it was), I was notching it out, doing this, doing that, cutting more and more bottom end in both the mid and sides of the mix - would it go away???! Would it buggery...

I knew what this "woooom" was. It was the interaction of my acoustic guitar and mic placement in the room I'd recorded in, and possibly my use of EQ on the mix (other songs recorded the same way did not have the same problem, although they weren't in the same key).

So I'm trying to EQ this thing out, and it WAS NOT going. I thought I was going crazy.

And then I realised... I'm SAT in the same bluddy room!! So I got the headphones on, and yeah, the notching etc WAS getting rid of it, it wasn't getting sent to the speakers or headphones, anymore... but the room was adding it back again as I was listening to the monitors!!!

Anyway, fixed it, "wooom" gone from the recording as much as I can without compromising the vocal and guitar tone too much, and the recording has never sounded that good before.

[guitarron]

Thanks Andy
I've been mulling over getting new monitors for a while now. My tapco s8's are ehh. I am constantly running up and down stairs to check my mix on other systems. I use my AKG K701 for getting getting it close eq wise and while tracking, but need to rely on the monitors placing the the track in the mix.
The room treatment is another thing altogether. Carpet and furniture are my deadening. Not great
Now that I'm working on writing and recording pretty much fullime, I think it's time for me to address these things.
Your story about the eq reminds of something I did yesterday. While soloing an acoustic guitar, I added a touch of hi-mid to it, then a while later, while playing back the entire mix, I could hear a quacky ring in my monitors, used my headphones to find it.  it was that eq that I thought the acoustic needed whiling soloing.

I was considering getting the Kali monitors. I've been hearing good reviews on them. I will also check out the Adams as well.
Congratulations on the new investment. I'm happy to hear they're working out for you. Your stuff sounds great BTW

[chapperz66]

I've been eyeing these up for some time now. I'm getting more interested now.

[Blooby]

My tapco s8's are ehh.

I've been using the same and have grown more frustrated with the hyped mids. I have been better about gear purchasing lately, but this thread didn't help.

Blooby

[AndyR]

... I have been better about gear purchasing lately, but this thread didn't help.
Blooby

I am here to serve

Blame Mr Ferryman - he did it to me! And I am eternally grateful.

(I can show you pictures of a new Les Paul if that would help? :D:D:D)

[Ferryman_1957]

Well that's good to hear! Literally. They are great value for money IMO if you want to step up from the type of speakers that most of us hobbyists use and get into quality monitors without spending serious money. For example, one of my old school friends now runs Harbeth speakers and a pair of their mini-monitors will set you back £2,500..... Serious stuff, but thyen they are used by the BBC.

[Jean Pierre]

Unbelievable!...I don't have a monitor speaker...I do all my mixes with headphones...what do you recommend as a first purchase around 150-200 euros each? from a comparison on you tube I thought KRK ROKIT RP5..what do you think?

[AndyR]

I've heard of KRK ROKIT, and understand they're pretty good?
But I never heard anything about them that made me want to check them out and start considering a purchase.

Another I was aware of was Yamaha HS 7, I was actually thinking of purchasing them for some time (a lot of my gear is or has been Yamaha).

But I just looked on Thomann (France)... and Adam T7V are 179 euros each - pretty much in the middle of your budget?
(Yamaha HS 7 are 208 euros each).

I'd personally recommend the Adams - but only because I've got them, I think they do the job, and they're in budget.

I think monitors are a difficult thing to judge - there's all this stuff, various price points, and everyone on the internet has an opinion. And when you're first thinking of starting with monitors or upgrading, even if you could get to somewhere to hear them, you haven't got the "experience" in your ears yet to know whether they're what you actually want or need!

I looked into Adam Audio because of Ferryman's reports. I'd not heard of them, but various other people had (Flash Harry?) and thought highly of them. It was pretty much people on here led me to look at Adam.

Then when I started getting serious about actually upgrading, I started looking at youtubes about the Adams (and one or two comparison videos/reviews, but not many). I liked the vibe the company was giving off (on their official videos), and everywhere I looked I couldn't find anyone saying "oh, so-and-so is better"

I was pretty much "OK, I trust Adam Audio, they're gonna get my business if I do upgrade".

All I had to do was decide which of the T range I needed for my room - that took a while.

The T8V were physically too big for the space they would go in.
I wanted the T7V but was scared the bass response would be too much for the room.
The T5V are cheaper but I wanted the bass response if my room could cope.

I watched a few vids from Adam Audio about choosing the right model and also vids from some audio treatment guy (who keeps sending me emails now!).
From those I decided T7V was what I'd go for.

I'm very happy - listening to Don Williams while I work right now (well, typing in here!). Sounds fabulous...

The only problem I have is vertical positioning. I've got them positioned for work/mixing - ie sat down. The tweeters are level with my ears.
But when I play electric guitar, I stand up - my ears are above the tweeters, and the sound is a bit top-heavy then, less balanced.
I've learnt that I must NOT adjust my guitar tones while I'm up there

Which is OK... but once I've got a decent tone, I can't really "rock out" standing up because there's more top end fizz from up there - I still get tempted to start fiddling again instead of playing. I've got two solutions at the moment:
1. SIT DOWN you fool!
2. Turn it up REALLY LOUD and go to the room next door (there's a mirror there, anyway, good for posing  )

Really, I need a motorised desk that raises or lowers everything depending on whether I'm sitting or standing... (would help for work/meetings too) ... I have seen such a thing, the guy who runs alonetone has such a setup.

I don't know whether you guys can see this if you're not on alonetone. He (Sudara) has implemented a new forum there, which not many folks have found yet. This particular thread was started by me, in a spirit of "ok I'll join in then" ... Sudara's is the first reply with a 3s video showing his dynamic desk https://forum.alonetone.com/t/show-us-pictures-of-your-studio-or-workspace/44. (BTW, I keep meaning to get my post there together to post it here on songcrafters - it's a tour of the Broom Cupboard, stills not video. Bear with me, I'll get it done at some point!)

[Jean Pierre]

Thank you Andy for this very complete (and funny) answer

both are in my budget..so it will probably be Adam TV7 or KRK Rockit...

[Ferryman_1957]

JP, make sure you read some reviews. I was going to get ROKITs but the reviews of the Adam speakers were far better so I went for them. I haven't used the ROKITs though so I don't really know if the negative things I read about them are true.