- Aug 13, 2008
- 337
- 0
- 16
Cole's notes: got A5s. Installed on mopads. Sound awesome, wicked stereo image, somewhat surprising bass (but does not go too deep), don't have anything to compare them to (first set of monitors) but so far they seem like great value for your dollar.
Just picked these things up... got a sweet a gift certificate to a big Canadian music store called Long and McQuade. I was just looking for a nice mid-range set of monitors.. Yamaha HS80Ms or something, or maybe a set of passives.. but they had some A5s there. I wasn't really looking for them because there was barely anything about them online and nobody really seems to have them. But I figured I would give them a shot... Enditol's A7s sounded absolutely kickass but as you can kind of see I have like no fucking space left in my room and they would have killed all of my desk space (spend all my money in gear so I'm living in the same room I moved into when I was around 10 - the wallpaper being a leftover of that time ahahaha)
I slapped in the reference CD I had with me (Terria by Devin Townsend) and was blown away by how huge they sounded. They have an incredible amount of low end - its not hyped, but clearly audible. I believe it when Adam says these things are good down to 55hz. I tried some of the other stuff there but there was a huge gap in their range - they had lots of cheap stuff for <$300, then the A5s, and then some other monitors I wasn't seriously considering since they were $1,000 plus, most importantly, there was no HS80s there so I couldn't compare them to those.
In any case, they have a great return policy so I picked them up along with some Mopads and brought them home. Being a moron, I bought the right balanced outputs to go with my Mackie but forgot to check the A5s... which do not have combo jacks on them. So I have some nice 1/4" jacks and the A5s only take XLR balanced ins. Then the Mackie doesn't have RCA outputs! So I was pretty close to being totally fucked and was facing another hour long drive to Calgary to get the right connectors.
Adam includes RCAs with the monitors thank god and I still have my Edirol UA-25 so I've got them hooked up to it right now.
Disclaimer on the listening evaluation; this is my first ever set of monitors.
I only spent awhile listening to Enditol's A7s and those were a revelation but I only listened for a couple minutes so I don't really have much to compare these to. Before, I mixed using a combination of HD 280 phones, my Logitech computer speakers, the stock stereo in my truck, and a set of expensive earplug-style headphones.
On the plus side, I was able to set them up right where they need to be. My chair is a little too tall to have them set flat so they are angled up 2 degrees but are aiming right at my ears now. Another bonus is that they are front ported, which made it possible to push them right back so in my normal sitting position I've got that exact equilateral triangle you should.
First things first, the one thing that really jumped out at me - the stereo image is fucking AMAZING. We are talking INCREDIBLE. I'm not sure if this is normal for monitors, but listening to Dave Matthews Band, you can hear exactly where everything is. The snare sounds like its coming from my monitor and Dave's disembodied head and lungs are sitting on my desk right in front of me singing.
The tonal balance is very good. It sounds like there is a hump in the response around 100hz - acoustic basslines are louder than I am used to on most systems. I put some sub drops through it and you can hear them dropping well below what these things can handle. On the plus side, the bass is also much clearer than I am used to so I can actually hear what kind of tone they are using on the bass.
On the high end, it is pretty bright too. I listened to my favorite bulb tune (The Focus Hour) and the cymbals are even brighter than they usually are. I am pretty sure this is normal for Adams though.
Other stuff I ran through these -
This Godless Endeavor by Nevermore (loud bass)
Labyrinthian by Misery Signals
Deathbox by Mnemic
Bleed by Meshuggah
Metatron by the Mars Volta
But the one song I really was using to put these through the paces (The Dreaming Tree by DMB) sounded absolutely phenomenal. Incredible.
Love 'em. Hopefully I can get a more experienced set of ears on these soon to give a better breakdown for you guys
here's a couple pics
Just picked these things up... got a sweet a gift certificate to a big Canadian music store called Long and McQuade. I was just looking for a nice mid-range set of monitors.. Yamaha HS80Ms or something, or maybe a set of passives.. but they had some A5s there. I wasn't really looking for them because there was barely anything about them online and nobody really seems to have them. But I figured I would give them a shot... Enditol's A7s sounded absolutely kickass but as you can kind of see I have like no fucking space left in my room and they would have killed all of my desk space (spend all my money in gear so I'm living in the same room I moved into when I was around 10 - the wallpaper being a leftover of that time ahahaha)
I slapped in the reference CD I had with me (Terria by Devin Townsend) and was blown away by how huge they sounded. They have an incredible amount of low end - its not hyped, but clearly audible. I believe it when Adam says these things are good down to 55hz. I tried some of the other stuff there but there was a huge gap in their range - they had lots of cheap stuff for <$300, then the A5s, and then some other monitors I wasn't seriously considering since they were $1,000 plus, most importantly, there was no HS80s there so I couldn't compare them to those.
In any case, they have a great return policy so I picked them up along with some Mopads and brought them home. Being a moron, I bought the right balanced outputs to go with my Mackie but forgot to check the A5s... which do not have combo jacks on them. So I have some nice 1/4" jacks and the A5s only take XLR balanced ins. Then the Mackie doesn't have RCA outputs! So I was pretty close to being totally fucked and was facing another hour long drive to Calgary to get the right connectors.
Adam includes RCAs with the monitors thank god and I still have my Edirol UA-25 so I've got them hooked up to it right now.
Disclaimer on the listening evaluation; this is my first ever set of monitors.
I only spent awhile listening to Enditol's A7s and those were a revelation but I only listened for a couple minutes so I don't really have much to compare these to. Before, I mixed using a combination of HD 280 phones, my Logitech computer speakers, the stock stereo in my truck, and a set of expensive earplug-style headphones.
On the plus side, I was able to set them up right where they need to be. My chair is a little too tall to have them set flat so they are angled up 2 degrees but are aiming right at my ears now. Another bonus is that they are front ported, which made it possible to push them right back so in my normal sitting position I've got that exact equilateral triangle you should.
First things first, the one thing that really jumped out at me - the stereo image is fucking AMAZING. We are talking INCREDIBLE. I'm not sure if this is normal for monitors, but listening to Dave Matthews Band, you can hear exactly where everything is. The snare sounds like its coming from my monitor and Dave's disembodied head and lungs are sitting on my desk right in front of me singing.
The tonal balance is very good. It sounds like there is a hump in the response around 100hz - acoustic basslines are louder than I am used to on most systems. I put some sub drops through it and you can hear them dropping well below what these things can handle. On the plus side, the bass is also much clearer than I am used to so I can actually hear what kind of tone they are using on the bass.
On the high end, it is pretty bright too. I listened to my favorite bulb tune (The Focus Hour) and the cymbals are even brighter than they usually are. I am pretty sure this is normal for Adams though.
Other stuff I ran through these -
This Godless Endeavor by Nevermore (loud bass)
Labyrinthian by Misery Signals
Deathbox by Mnemic
Bleed by Meshuggah
Metatron by the Mars Volta
But the one song I really was using to put these through the paces (The Dreaming Tree by DMB) sounded absolutely phenomenal. Incredible.
Love 'em. Hopefully I can get a more experienced set of ears on these soon to give a better breakdown for you guys
here's a couple pics
