Adam Audio A7 Review

By Leon Mufasa

Quick Facts

Pros: Very clear sound, unexpected for it's price
Very Little Ear fatigue
Good Design
Great Value For Money

The Cons:
At their price there really aren't a lot of problems to nitpick on.

The Bottom Line: If you are looking for studio monitors for your home studio, at less than $1000 (£600), with beautifully clear sound and the looks to match, then the A7s are probably the one of the best out there.

History

The contrast between most professional studio monitors when matched up side to side has never been large, in fact, when it comes to monitor preferences the beauty is usually in the eyes of the beholder or more appropriately in this case, the ears.

The A7s are Adam's first budget studio monitors, a welcome surprise from a company that was well known for its ridiculously expensive equipment. The A7s might fit snugly under $1000 (£600) for a pair, but they also promise to deliver the same quality that Adam has brought to the table with their previous speakers.

Design

In terms of the design, the A7's are not dissimilar to most near-field studio monitors, with a few distinctive features that Adam Audio has adopted and perfected over the years. Adam Audio's signature Accelerated Ribbon Technology (ART) tweeters are featured with the A7s, a feature that Adam Audio first introduced the back in 2002 with the ANF10 monitors. The distinctive yellow grill tweeters manage to accentuate the monitor's rugged looks.

Adam A7 Monitor ReviewFor those of you that don't know Accelerated Ribbon Technology is a feature that Adam Audio claims is 4 times more effective at pushing the air around it than your typical dome tweeters. This is the technology that allows the A7s to deliver frequency ranges as high as 35 kHz, which might sound good on paper, but considering that the human ear only hears frequency ranges as high as 20 kHz, I doubt anyone but our dog will appreciate that.

The top of the monitors are angled to decrease any surface reflections while most of the unit has very straight edges. Each unit of the pair has an "Input gain" knob that ranges from 0 to +6dB which work fine except for the fact that even though they are numbered, no two monitors are ever completely alike and setting the gain to +2dB on one of the pair won't necessarily mean setting the same gain level will yield the exact same sound output on the next one. The knobs are not very precise and you'll mostly have to use your ears to match them up right. It's hardly a criticism worth pointing out, most pros won't even care to notice.

The usual XLR and RCA ports at the back of the monitors are found with your standard IEC power cable holder. Three EQ control dials to tune your monitors specifically for your room ranging from the low 150Hz range to the high shelf 6 kHz dial, each gain going up as high as +6dB.

Adam Audio A7 Technical Specs

Dimensions Adam A7 Monitor Review
Width: 180cm
Length: 330cm
Depth: 280cm
Weight: 8,1kg (17,8lbs)
2-Way Active Bass Reflex Speaker
Accelerated Ribbon Technology (A.R.T.) Tweeters
Woofer
165mm (6,5")
Rohacell / Carbonfibre sandwich
46Hz - 35 kHz Frequency Response Range
Input/HF gain, Hi/Lo EQ
Power: 50W (sin), 80W (RMS)
Balanced XLR & Unbalanced RCA Input Ports

Conclusion

As I mentioned before, studio monitor preference is very subjective. It depends on who you are, what you like, what you are looking for, how much you have and what you expect to get. So to say Adam's A7s are the best studio monitors in their price range would be an exaggeration at the very least.

What I will say though is that at their price range Adam Audio's A7 studio monitors deliver a very precise and open sound. The A7s monitors carry sound at the level of most high end monitors, and they do it at less than half the price. If you are on a budget there are only a few studio monitors at this price range that will be better, according to your tastes.

To get a full list of Adam A7's biggest competitive studio monitors (alternative options), visit http://www.audioprotech.net/studio/sound-monitors/adam-audio/a7-review.php