New: Adam A-77 X

[jipchen]

ADAM will present their newest set of monitors at Musikmesse 2011.
Looks pretty promising imho and closes the gap between the A8X and the (bigger) S series.

http://www.adam-audio.com/en/pro-audio/products/a77x/description

They look exactly like the S3As btw

I'm very interested in a comparison of the S3A/S3X and A77-X.
Price in Germany will be around 950€ / monitor, so a bit less than you'd pay for a used S3A. Now I really want to go to the damn Musikmesse but I just don't have the time for it.

Hope some people on here will go and tell us about their impressions.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Argh, fuck. I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of Focal Twins next week, I didn't need to see this, I hope they're horrible.

 

[TonyS.]

Will go to Musikmesse, but its always very loud there, so no good requirement for listening.

 

[egan.]

Wow this marketing copy is terrible:

"A revolutionary formula: 2 x 7 = 77"

Really? That's what you've got? Oh, it's a "game changer" too?

Back on topic, it seems really interesting all though I doubt it will sound as good as the old S3As or the twins. They don't mention the left/right situation (switchable or not) which is obviously important in a horizontal 3-way design (that sounded dirty).

 

[jipchen]

Argh, fuck. I'm about to pull the trigger on a pair of Focal Twins next week, I didn't need to see this, I hope they're horrible.

Btw, I forgot to mention they're the successors of the P33a monitors.
I guess Focal Twins > P33A, but I would wait and try the A77s out if I were you.
On the other hand.. it could take weeks for them to be available at the music stores.

Will go to Musikmesse, but its always very loud there, so no good requirement for listening.

Oh, right. Didn't even think about that.. I was thinking they had booths or something for the demonstration of monitors.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Btw, I forgot to mention they're the successors of the P33a monitors.
I guess Focal Twins > P33A, but I would wait and try the A77s out if I were you.
On the other hand.. it could take weeks for them to be available at the music stores.

Yeah, it'll take weeks to have them available, and months until there are enough user experiences to see if there are any serious design flaws (like the rattling ports of the new S3A's).

Ah well, I was never really an Adam guy anyway, and they aren't that much cheaper than the Twins.

 

[jipchen]

Wow this marketing copy is terrible:

Really? That's what you've got? Oh, it's a "game changer" too?

Back on topic, it seems really interesting all though I doubt it will sound as good as the old S3As or the twins. They don't mention the left/right situation (switchable or not) which is obviously important in a horizontal 3-way design (that sounded dirty).

lol, funny indeed.

What exactly do you mean: "switchable" design or not?
I guess it's the same as with the S3A.. the info text (on the A77) says:
"The woofers do not cover the same frequency bands: while one of them is responsible for the (sub-) bass frequencies up to about 400Hz, the other takes over most of the midrange."

Adam says you can set the S3As up the way you want - either with the "dark" woofer on the outside or the inside (as long as they are both set up the same way). I tried both and liked the image with the "mid-speaker" on the outside a bit better.. gives you a wider stereo-image. But my room treating isn't finished yet and I will experiment a day or two as soon as everything's finished.
Plus you can also use them vertical and horizontal, it depends on personal taste and the room imho.

 

[egan.]

Hey jipchen, yeah that's what I'm talking about. Whether there is a switch for which side is mid/woofer (this is preferable IMHO) or whether they're fixed and sold as left and right. Wouldn't you need to rotate the tweeter to run them vertically?

 

[jipchen]

Can't tell if it's possible with the new monitors, the S3As don't have a switch. They're labelled A and B (because L and R wouldn't be correct for some solutions).
Dunno if it would be better with a rotated tweeter for the vertical setup - ADAM germany and US have stated different opinions on which setup is better in the past
The tweeter is (at least with the S3As) exactly in the middle, to me it looks like the A-77X's tweeter is a tad above the middle, though.

I suppose the reason there is no switch for the woofers is because the bass reflex port has to be on the bottom (horizontal setup) and if you wanted the bass woofer on the inside you can just switch the monitors to the B ___ A setup instead of A ____ B.