Adam A5X

King of the mid-low-cost market

The A Series and its sister AX have become living classics, giving producers and engineers the signature sound of expensive Adam monitors at a reasonable price. And even after 10 years, they are very popular and often appear on studio videos of famous musicians. The secret of success here is quite simple — Adam actually completely copied the branded speakers of top models, and saved on trifles.

5.5 Rohacell woofer

So, the A5X uses Rohacell's proprietary "honeycomb" diffusers made of carbon fibre and fibreglass. The use of this very light but ultra-strong material prevents resonance phenomena, resulting in a speaker with excellent dynamic and impeccable sonic characteristics. As a nice bonus, we have a serious power reserve of 100 W and an increased cone size (5.5" versus the standard 5), which, together with a dual front bass reflex, allows you to produce a noticeable bass.

Signature X-ART ribbon tweeter

However, the main object of adoration here is not him, but the proprietary X-ART ribbon tweeter, capable of sounding frequencies up to 50 kHz. The essence of the technology lies in the fact that the coil is the membrane itself, made in the form of a corrugated tape, on the surface of which a conductive layer is applied by a snake. Due to this, in comparison with traditional designs, the sensitivity is increased, the uniformity of the frequency response is improved, distortion is reduced, and the efficiency is increased by 2-3 times.

Perfect sound?

Usually, five-inch monitors are evaluated primarily by the quality of mids and highs, and the A5X is fine with them: clarity and detail are at the highest level, without any dips, artifacts or the ubiquitous spurious overtones at the crossover frequency. When mixing, any EQ changes are clearly audible even in a very rich mix. If anyone had fears of a lack of low frequencies, we hasten to reassure them. Low frequencies in monitors A5X are present in excess even in the neutral position of the bass control. Apparently, Adam got burned on previous models and decided to pile on the bass so that no one would have a reason to complain. At the same time, the bass here has a clear structure, articulation and detail. It's not that "lots of bass" like the old KRK monitors, when everything buzzes and merges into mush.

Take care of the room

Against the background of all this, the minus of monitors is the capriciousness of monitors to the placement and acoustic design of the room. Still, in the late 2010s, the bedroom studio boom wasn't quite as pronounced yet, and Adam was more likely to keep in mind mid-range producers who have some kind of studio with finished walls, bass traps, etc. If you If you plan to write and mix music in a typical bedroom with a carpet and a couple of curtains, it's not certain that the A5X will sound exactly as described in the lyrics. It's probably easier to save money and get the excellent Mackie MR524 or Kali Audio LP-6, which are designed for use in unprepared rooms and boast effective acoustic equalization systems.