Comparison ADM9 (9.1) and Quad Actives

[The Computer Audiophile]

"I think if you read through what I've said a few times, it'll begin to make sense."

 

Ashley - I'm speechless :-)

 

[Phil Bishop]

I have just skim read this interesting thread and admit to know very little about the technical side. However, I have owned some ADM9s and a Sub for a few months now and I continue to be blown away by the sound! There is an air of absolute authority and control about them, whether they are driven by a CD player into the analogue inputs or Mac via the digital inputs. I recently connected my previous system up (pre-amp, monoblocks, etc) and it sounded nowhere near as good. I have been interested in hi fi for 30 years or so, but have never been so pleased with a product. Given the wife-friendly nature of the system (basically, hooked up to an Airport Express, for example, you need no black boxes in your sitting room) it is just an out-and-out winner as far as I am concerned.

 

Let me make it clear that I am in no way connected to AVI, although I have got to know Ashley and Martin and consider them fine chaps! I have also not heard every system out there by any means!

 

However, I feel a product this good deserves all the accolades it is receiving.

 

On the subject of power and output, I wish Apple products in the EU pushed out a bit more volume! I believe you guys Stateside don't have this problem?

 

Phil

 

[nathan0001]

I am not disputing that the ADM's are powerful enough or that they go loud ( I rarely listen that loud anyway! ). I am just saying that I feel the stated figures are perhaps a little mis-leading as there simply isn't as much detail given as you get with most other manufacturers as to how the figure is produced.

 

I am hoping to get a listen to a pair in the very near future, hopefully alongside a friend's Proac Response 1SC's which so impressed me before, paired with a Primare I30 Amp as before. This is of course a more costly combination than the ADM's, and so should they even approach the same level of performance I would be very impressed..........

 

[Ashley James]

With most things that you buy price is an indicator of quality and performance, but not with hi Fi in my opinion. One only has to look at normal consumer electronics or Pro audio equipment to see that much specialist hi Fi is disproportionately more expensive and for a variety of fairly obvious reasons that include often much higher margins, low volume production, poor buying power for smaller quantities, older and more costly production methods and to be frank, a degree of snobbishness. More expensive products may be better but I wouldn't put money it. In fact I'd recommend a a fair degree of scepticism.

As an example; In the UK and despite the fact that reviews have tried to fudge the issue, it's an open secret that Cambridge Audio more than competes with established "hi end" products.

Ashley

 

 

 

[Phil Bishop]

Interesting arguement, the value for money aspect. A few years ago, I rented a room for a while and bought a "cheap" £100 Cambridge Audio CD player to use with a cheap Cambridge Audio amp and headphones. When I took this CD player home and compared it with my £1000 plus Arcam CD transport and DAC set up, it sounded just as good to my ears....and it is still going in my brother's flat! I now have a £200 Cambridge Audio DVD player which plays music (and video) superbly.

 

Controversial statement here....I think a lot of traditional audiophiles are hung up to an extent on the more black boxes they have, the more their system looks like the Large Hadron Collider, the better it must sound (and maybe it does!). Earlier this year I was going down this route, looking at spending £1000 on two more monoblocks so I would have each drive unit driven separately. Hitting on this site and the fantastic advice provided by Chris, Ashley, etc means I now have a neat, flexible system at a reasonable price that sounds better than anything I had previously.

 

That is not to say all has been, or is, a doddle in the world of computer systems. Compared to just loading a CD in a traditional CDP, getting to know all the ins and outs of Macs and itunes can be frustrating at times. But I have not yet had an issue which I have not had resolved from advice here.

 

Phil

 

[tino]

Hi all, I am a new member here but have been on the site before and this thread caught my eye. My brother posts on here as well - i think his name is beemb (matt) and he knows Ashley a little as he has just become the proud owner of some ADM 9.1's.

 

My reason for posting is to say that we are planning to compare our systems at my brothers house in the next few weeks ( he has a much better listening room than me ! ). We will report back on our findings for anyone that is interested and it is going to be a traditional system vs a computer based one. Matt has just sold his Mac and is assembling a new PC (maybe as we speak!). He runs the digital output from this straight into his ADM 9.1's. My system is a Cambridge CD player, Naim Nait 5i amp and Proac Tablette Reference 8 speakers.

 

I am quite keen on the idea and concept around the 9.1's and computer audio in general, so if his system out-performs mine then I will very likely be making some large changes! However, I have briefly heard his 9.1's and I think, based on how good my own system sounds (especially in the midrange), it is going to be a very interesting day. I know the Proacs cannot possibly compete on bass, but I run them with an M&K sub anyway so its more a test of the mid / treble, and the sharpness of the lower frequencies rather than the sheer depth.

 

Hope to report back our findings soon........

 

Martin

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Very cool Martin, be sure to let us know how it goes!

 

[tino]

Well, last night my brother and I carried out the comparison we said we would on this post previously. My Canbridge CD, Naim Nait 5, Proac Tablette Reference 8's vs his ADM 9.1's run from the Cambridges optical out. I'll try and keep it quite brief, but here are my thoughts.........

 

Matt's room is quite big compared to mine and the Proacs did sound far brighter than they do at home, but I still found that vocals sounded better, less coloured, on the Proacs / Naim. Interestingly Matt found he preferred the ADM's on vocals ( how much of a factor just being used to our own speakers is, I don't know, but we spent a while listening ). The overall better balance belonged to the ADM's, the Proacs lower mid / bass lacking in comparison. But particularly on the last track we played the Proacs / Naim were sharper in the lower frequencies ( something I was expecting the AVI's to be ), and, I felt, more open. Interestingly my younger brother turned up unannounced - he is not a hifi person, just having some speakers under his computer desk - and he commented to me that he also found the ADM's more closed in on this last track.

 

In the room we used, I feel the ADM's were, just, the more listenable speaker over the range of music we tried. In a smaller room the Proacs sound better than they did last night, but it was a close thing and far from the "walk over" I had been led to believe would happen. It has however made me relalise I can improve in areas of the sound my system gives and I feel I will be sticking with Proac in the future to achieve this, possibly some Response 1SC's or (at a real stretch) some Response D Two's which have been recommended to me by a dealer this morning , even if I have to save up!!

 

The ADM's are very good speakers though, and considering you don't need to buy an amp or a DAC they are good value too. I will be more than happy to have a listen when I go to my brother's in the future !

Martin

 

[darrenwm]

Thank you for carrying out this test.

 

First and foremost it is great to see yet again, the ADM9.1 outperform a more expensive system.

 

I used to own Naim CD5i / Nait 5 / Dynaudio Contour 1.1 and I thought the ADM9.1 were in a completely different league though. It was night and day. The Naim CDP was nice, but the Naits are just terrible. The sound is just not accurate and it is completely underpowered. You need to spend at NAP500 level to get any sort of power.

 

I found that my Naim combo was fun with some music, but a one-trick pony in that respect. I quickly sold it on.

 

I'm suprised with a couple of your comments. The bass control of the ADM9.1 should be far greater because of their active configuration. This also has a knock-on effect of a clearer midrange.

 

Anyway, it was an interesting read and thank you for taking the time.

 

Darren

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks a lot Martin!

 

[tino]

Darren,

 

I respect the fact that you did not like the Nait and you really like the AVI's. But, if we were all the same it'd be a boring world !

 

Yes on the majority of tracks they did out-perform my system, but when you say "more expensive" the difference is only about £250 (when you add the cost of the Cambridge to the AVI's ), so hardly another league.

 

And as for the whole active argument, I heard with my own ears that this doesn't mean "sharper" or "more control" or any of the other things that have been claimed. There is far more to the sound of a speaker than just whether it is active or not. You own the ADM's, so I'd expect a little bias, as I would from myself regarding my system, but I do love to get new things (any excuse), and if the ADM's had been "night and day" better, I'd be buying some. But I didn't feel they were, so I'll be listening to some more Proacs when it's upgrade time!

 

I think the key point is, there are a lot of good speakers and systems out there. And some not so good ones. A lot of the choice between the good ones will be based on personal taste. There is not just one "best" speaker, and I have just got a little fed up hearing claims ( mostly from AVI, or owners following their lead ) that the ADM's re-write the hifi rule book. They don't. I heard that myself, and my own eyes are more reliable than any forum, magazine review or manufacturers claims will ever be. They are good £1200 active speakers (with dac), and I think we'll see a lot of makes follow the concept.

 

Martin

 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Martin - I agree 100% that the world, and this site, would be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing! I also agree that active speakers are not inherently better than passive. It really does depend on design. Please let us know if you get some new Proacs. I am interested in learning more about them.

 

I sense a little frustration in your closing paragraph. I hope you're still enjoying this great hobby of ours and aren't taking things too seriously :-)

 

I look forward to your continued posts!

 

[Phil Bishop]

Chris, spot on, well done. It is all about enjoyment. A computer-based system, and it's compatability with ipods, has brought me just that - I am playing and enjoying more music than I have for years (much of it out-and-about on an ipod/headphone amp/phones system - see my other post!).

 

I would just say one more thing about the ADM9s/9.1s if I may. A lot of the discussion, quite rightly, has been about the sound. However, an almost equally important factor from my perspective has proven to be aesthetics. My previous syetem was several black boxes on a rack, thick speaker cable across the fireplace, etc. My wife was very tolerant, but basically hated it. The ADM9s are much more wife-friendly, particularly driven remotely from a wireless Macbook.

 

To some this may be a negative - I know many folk love the aesthetics and flexibility of their separates. But it cannot be argued that the ADM9s do allow you to set up a great sounding system which is also aesthetic and minimalist.

 

Phil

 

[BEEMB]

Yeah, I second that. Good response Chris.

 

Martin's frustration comes from the discussion we've been having; Ashley, Martin and Myself, his system vs the ADM9.1's.

 

Our test was interesting. Martin is completely correct in that the last song we tried his speakers were more open and had a better controlled bass, I'm not sure why, they just did. However, I won't tell you what the sond was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no way !!

 

For all other songs though, the ADM's did perform better and in my opinion the voices were better too and I felt his sytem was more closed in - infact, on one or two songs I thought mine were considerably better.

 

We were able to switch immediately between them which I think highlighted some huge differences - some were just that though - differences - but overall the ADM's one it for me. But that's my opinion.

 

Martin is looking to upgrade and will be going to listen to some more expensive ProAcs. We'll also compare them to. I'll also have Martin listen to the ADM's for a much longer period because I just know the sound will grow on him.

 

A heard a pair of speakers at a HiFi show that really stood out as different this year. Mark & Daniel - ever heard of them ? Totally different sound - amazing bass from such small cabinets. I know they've got some technical issues - some faults that aren't acceptable, but they were magical little speakers - full of flaws but so great in their musicality. Well, I thought so anyway.

 

I'm so pleased we have this site; such well rounded views on everything. And people don't get upset if some of us are often rather forward ..

 

 

 

 

 

[tino]

Chris, I most definitely will not stop enjoying it! And thanks for the open minded view. Should I venture up the Proac ladder I will be sure to let you know how it goes, though it won't be for a while (funds !!!).

 

You should google the Proac D Two's - they are still quite new but everything on them so far is simply brilliant. However, I really will only upgrade if it is for a clearly superior sound. I have been lucky enough to get in touch with Stewart Tyler (founder and designer at Proac) and he describes them as a 1SC (next stand-mounts up from the Tablettes ) with a massively larger soundstage and far better bass extension. I believe Proac even make parts for the drivers themselves now too. If that is accurate, they should be very impressive based on the 1SC's reputation over it's 11 years in production since the original.

 

As you can see, you can even sit on the same night, in the same room, with the same music, and still come away with different views on the same equipment - or at least how they perform relative to each other.

 

But enjoying it is what it's all about !

 

Martin

 

[tino]

Chris, what is your system ?? I'm sure many people would like to know.

 

Thanks,

 

Martin

 

[darrenwm]

We'll have to agree to disagree

 

I'll leave those on the fence with Bob Stuart of Meridian talking about the advantages of active:

 

http://uk.cinenow.com/videos/318-meridian-bob-stuart-on-digital-dsp-loudspeakers