Adam A7's to AVI ADM9/9.1......upgrade or not

[speedyj]

I have a set of Adam A7's that I rum from a PC using an Asus Xonar Essence soundcard playing lossless. This is pretty much my only music system and has been for a while. It is in my garden office that is only about 3m x 4m in size so the setup is very nearfield in nature. The sound is very good in my opinion, very revealing in nature as you would expect but the ribbon tweeters are surprisingly easy going to my ears also.

 

Has anyone compared the A7's to the ADM 9/9.1's at all, I know one is a near field monitor and the other is not (really) but I am curious as to how different they would sound.

 

Are the ADM's very flat and true or are they more like a typical hifi speaker?

 

I will soon be moving this all into a larger room that will be my office and music den, dimensions more like 4m x 6m and I'd like to listen in a more conventional way as I will have the space to spread a little. The remote volume would also be very handy as would the onboard DAC.

 

Any advice, especially if someone has made a silmilar transition, most appreciated.

 

[Mr.C]

Bump, I'm curious too.

 

[VincentH]

Hi there, I think you really should listen to the ADM's before you buy them, or at least ensure that you have a good return option. The AVI's are good within their limitations, but they are sonically *very* different from Adam's.

 

I have had the AVI ADM 9.1's for a month now in my seconday system. In my main system I have the Focal Twin 6Be, which I compared (more than a year ago) side-by-side for 2 weeks to Adam's monitors that have the same tweeter as the one in the A7.

 

For me the main difference is in the highs. Both Adams (with their ribbon tweeter) and Focal (with their beryllium tweeter) have exceptional highs, they are sonically much more close to each other than to the AVI's that have a more traditional tweeter.

 

I do think that the AVI's are very good at vocals and mid-range. If you are looking for ease of use (less boxes and cables due to the built-in DAC in the 9.1) they still are an optimal solution, IF the sonic character agrees with your taste. However, if you don't mind a separate DAC there may be better upgrade options out there.

 

Hth, Vincent

 

[speedyj]

I listened to the ADM 9.1's and could not see an improvement on the Adams, infact the Adams have a far superior top end to my ears. Don't get me wrong, the ADM's are good but not better, subjective I know but thats what I heard.