TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
www.audiomediainternational.com
ADAM AUDIO S1X
MONITOR
They might not be new to
the market, but Stephen
Benne explains why
these niy nearfields –
combined with a Sub 10
for this review – are still
well worth a look.
DAM Audio speakers
conti nue on their q uest
for X-ART tweeter-based
monitor world domination
A
The X-ART Ai r Motion Transfo rmer
twee ter has come t o define thi s range
of moni tors and gi ves the comp any’s
produ cts a defin able sound . So what
does the nearfield monitor bring to
the studio?
A robust crinkle-finish cabinet
encloses the aforementioned tweeter,
a midrange unit and amplification.
The mo nitor weig hs 6kg, b ut is not
elect ronically s hielded – I didn ’t find this
a proble m in practi ce and a five-y ear
warranty demonstrates the company’s
commi tment to qu ality con trol. The
X-ART twe eter offer s a flat impeda nce
and pha se respons e, alongsid e high
efficiency and an extended frequency
range a nd there’s a s pecially desi gned
50W Clas s A/B ampli fier for driv ing it.
The familiar Kevlar HexaCone
midrange/bass unit is present, driven by
200W of P ulse Widt h Modulatio n (PWM)
Class D am plificatio n.
Speci fications ar e impressiv e for a
small cabinet: a 40Hz-50kHz frequency
range i s coupled wit h low distor tion
and a 103d B maximu m SPL. ADAM
monit ors are usua lly happy to go r eally
loud wi th few proble ms and the S1X
is no diff erent in th is respect . I was
please d to see that t he front pa nels are
devoid of t weakabl e controls , which are
a nigh tmare in ed ucationa l situation s.
The un cluered r ear panel fe atures
cont rols for equa lisation a nd input lev el
via th e two-wa y active S1X.
sein g alongside t he usual IEC an d XLR
signa l connec tors. The t wo rear Room
EQ cont rols have a 6dB b oost or cut a t
6kHz a nd 150Hz and a b oost or cu t 4dB
adjus tment for t he high fr equencies t o
balan ce the bass an d treble level s.
Also on t est is the Sub 1 0 active
monit or. T his unit allo ws you to audit ion
signa ls from 150H z down to 25Hz ,
both h elping creat e beer mixe s and
frightening small animals. A pa perconed 10 in driver mov es the air via a
200W am plifier. It’s a stu rdy beast ,
weigh ing in at 21k g, but wit h dimension s
of 560 mm x 300mm x 4 00mm it
should n’t be difficu lt to place.
The rea r panel feat ures a cuto ff
filter co ntrol for se ing the up per
freq uency of th e sub, a level con trol,
an out put for dais y-chaini ng several
Sub 10s a nd various in s and outs fo r
aaching satellite monitors including
XLR bal anced and 0. 25in unbal anced
conne ctors. T he control s section ha s a
sein g to turn on th e sub when a si gnal
is received or for continuous operation,
a phase s witch and an 8 5Hz Dolbyread y high pass sa tellite filter bu on.
Front p anel LEDs ind icate the st andby
situa tion of the mo nitor.
In Use
Addin g a sub unit to a mo nitorin g system
can oe n create mo re problem s than it
solves i f the room is n ot ideal, b ut luckily,
for thi s test, I was a ble to set up th e three
speake rs in a new aco ustically t reated
cont rol room. T he first thi ng that is
appa rent when l istening t o the S1Xs alon e
is tha t they exhi bit ‘the A DAM sound ’ that
is famil iar to anyon e who has spe nt time
with t he compan y’s speake rs – a detaile d
top end , revealing m idrange a nd a qualit y
of bass t hat has no ri ght to be em anating
from su ch small spe akers. The y can also
go extremely loud without apparent
disto rtion – alt hough t he tenden cy to
‘shou t’ can bec ome tirin g at high SPL .
In comp arison to my ATC SCM2 5s
the bas s is a lile ‘one n ote’ – a commo n
issue w ith port ed design s – and some
work w as required w ith the re ar panel
cont rols to get th em siing nice i n the
room . These con trols also c ame in
hand y when addi ng the Sub 10 to t he
monit oring chai n, but rea lly, did I leave
Key Features
nX-ART tweeter allows for increase in
frequency response up to 50kHz
nSpecially designed 50W Class A/B amplier
nHexaCone woofer provides more linear
excursion for higher maximum SPL
nMidrange/bass unit driven by PWM amplification
nWeighs just 6kg
RRP: S1X pair = £1,799; Sub10mk2 = £849
www.adam-audio.com
all tho se noises do wn there? Th e sub
worke d without f uss and th e results
in use we re similar to my n ormal low
freq uency uni t that cost a l ot more and is
a lot big ger. The integ ration of t he Sub 10
with t he S1Xs was pre y seamle ss and
had me ha nkering to a udition a co mplete
surr ound syst em using the se speaker s,
the X-ART t weeter s bringing o ut detail
in both v oice and effec ts. Using t he Sub
10 with m y ATC s also worked a t reat and I
spent a h appy few ho urs hi-pa ss filtering
almos t every thing I have e ver recorde d.
In the ri ght room , a sub can be a n
essential addition to any monitoring
syste m, while in a s pace with ac oustic
proble ms, it can ma ke audition ing and
mixi ng almost im possible. I f you have
the ri ght stud io space avail able, the Su b
10 is a reall y nice low-fr equenc y speaker
that yo u would be hap py to use ever y day.
If you like t he ADAM sou nd – and many
do – the S1X i s a really comp etent smal l
monit or that sta nds out in t he crowd of
near-field sp eakers by vi rtue of it s unique
high-frequency driver. It’s detailed,
power ful and co mpact an d doesn’t m ess
up your s ound in any a ppreciab le way.
The Reviewer
Stephen Benne
has been involved in music
production for over 30 years.
Based in Norwich he splits his time
between writing books and articles
on music technology, recording
and touring, and lecturing at the
University of East Anglia.
November 201636
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