Adam Audio T series – Pro studio features on a home studio budget
Finding highly functional, incredible looking and superb quality speakers/monitors for small working studios, professional video production or high-end home studios can be akin to searching the desert for an oasis. While some cheaper options can quench the thirst in the short term the ideal is a budget friendly system with all the accoutrements of high-end studio speakers.
Adam Audio seeing a gap in the market decided to take some of the features inherent in their S and AX series monitors and put them into a budget friendly package. Thus, the T Series was born. The T Series studio monitors come designed in a similar fashion to its more expensive brethren in the AX series of monitors. With a beautiful symmetrical chamfered slope from the top edge to the bottom edge of the front face of the monitor the series immediately looks expensive and desirable. The classic yellow of the Adam Audio U-ART (Unique-Accelerated Ribbon Tweeter) tweeter sat above the gloss and shine of the Adam Audio woofer plus the rear facing, beautifully rounded bass reflex port, really set this range of monitors apart from others in its class.
As attractive as the range of monitors are, functionality is a monitor’s bread and butter and Adam have created a buffet of features that will sate even the hungriest producer. These monitors are made to sit close to the producer and given enough room around all sides to utilize the rear bass reflex port. The two-way title refers to the tweeter, the small speaker situated in the upper portion of the monitor and inversely the larger woofer located in the lower portion of the monitor. The T Series comes in three sizes of woofer and 1 Sub (which is designed to work with the 5”, 7” respectively) while the 8” has a slightly tighter frequency response than the two smaller monitors.
All three monitors come fitted with class D amplifiers (Class D amplifiers are far more efficient than linear gain amplifiers, by utilising transistors to be in fully on or off positions and using pulse wave modulation, the T series can achieve as high as 90%> efficiency) with 20 watts for the U-ART tweeter (in of itself highly efficient, the design is based of the S-ART tweeter built into the flagship S Series line) and 50 watts for the woofer. One of the key features of the T series is the DSP driver crossover & EQ, this splits the high and low gain frequencies at 3 kHz and sends to the tweeter or woofer respectively but unlike passive crossover it is digitally controlled with a wider range either side of the crossover point making the speakers great for smaller rooms as well as studios. The rear of the monitor has two three-way switches for tweaking high and low frequency response. The middle setting is a flat 0 and you can choose between a +-2dB cut or boost. This allows you to fine tune the frequency response based on your room size or placement of the monitor i.e. free standing, on a shelf etc. The line level ranges from -60 to +18dB. There is an balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA input at +4dBu (3.1volts) and -10dBv(-10 volts) respectively with a toggle switch to choose which input. The transformerless (thanks to pulse wave modulation) power unit can accept between 100-240 volts at either 50 or 60 Hz respectively with a power limit of 132 watts. Essentially meaning this monitor can be used anywhere in the world without fear of electrical irregularities and is relatively light when compared to monitors at the same price point.
The U-ART 1.9” Tweeter is derived from the S-Series S-ART and AX Series X-Art tweeters giving the budget friendly class of monitor another high-end feature. Dome or cone tweeters will produce a piston type movement in order to move air and produce a sound, while the U-ART tweeter draws air into its pleated ribbon and then squeezes the air out respectively based on the inputted audio signal, creating four times as much sound pressure levels (SPL) with much less distortion. The U-ART tweeter is fitted to a precision waveguide with the same dispersion control attributes found in the high frequency waveguide found in the flagship S-Series. What does this mean to the buyer? The outputted audio is dispersed in a way to minimise sonic reflections from surfaces within your studio or home such as a mixing desk or other horizontal surface creating a much truer audio experience.
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention the 10” Subwoofer, this sleek, discrete subwoofer is deigned to compliment and expand the range of the T5 and T7 series monitors. The Downfiring 10” speaker can produce a SPL of 104dB, has a frequency response of 28 Hz to 120 Hz and has an internal adjustable two-way crossover at either 80 Hz or 120 Hz. This adjustable crossover allows finer calibration of the bass signal again to suit the room the sub resides in. There are 2 x Balanced XLR ins and 2 x outs and two unbalanced RCA ins and outs, both with the same dBu and dBv rating as the T series monitors. This sub is optimised to work with the T5 and T7 series Adam Audio monitors and should be a consideration when purchasing either.
The Adam Audio T Series monitors break the boundaries of what is available at their price point and take many features from the flagship class brethren. They are ideal for use in professional or hobbyist studios and aside from sounding utterly incredible their sleek contoured design means they will look outstanding in the home or studio.
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