ADAM P11A VS. ADAM A7X!?

FIXXXER

¯\(°_o)/¯
Feb 18, 2008
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Germany
i am running a RME HDSP9632 PCI card into a Coleman Audio M3PH MKII
monitor matrix that's connected to a pair of active ADAM P11A speakers.

it's a decent setup and i am happy with the sound but i'd like to minimize
the number of connections and cables.

pluging the P11A directly to the soundcard would work but i'd have no volume adjustment this way.

i could use the software mixer but if this one (or cubase, winamp etc.)
ever crashes i might get deaf.

i have tried this setup once and something with the RME mixer gone wrong.
t i resulted in a pretty uncomfortable noise+ monitors running at max volume

the loudnes kicked me out of my chair...i guess that's how it fels when a grenade explodes in your face :D

recently i found out about the A7X. the good thing about these is the volume control on the front. surely not as comfortable as using a monitor matrix but this could do the job.

i am just not sure about the A7X monitor quality,
is it comparable to the P11A!?

any experience/suggestions!? :)
 
A7x owner here.
The point is that volume know is independent for each speaker so:
a) you have to be close to your monitors and b) set the volume for each monitor. For me it would be a workflow killer.

Out of the box mindframe solution.
If you have an android phone/iphone you can download some app to control your daw. Make a "virtual master bus" just to control the output volume with your wireless phone controller!

But in the end... i would keep your setup as it is.
 
Your setup seems simple enough and that Coleman is supposed to be a good monitor controller with mono and mute features that can be useful. Why do you want to reduce it more?

I don't know the P11A but if you're happy with them why buy another pair of less expensive monitors just too save 2 cables?

You could get a TC Electronics Level Pilot for 70$. This is what i use with my Dynaudio monitors and ADI-8 converters and i haven't had any issues with this setup. It would be a more straight forward setup and you'd have the level knob at hands reach, but you'd be using the same amount of cables and loosing all the features of the Coleman.

You could also get a dedicated DAC like a Benchmark DAC1 or similar with volume control that would run on a single S/PDIF cable. You'd have to add a power cable though so you're back to the same amount of cables in the end.