AVI ADM9 active monitors with DAC

[Razz]

I have heard so many rumors about these new speakers from AVI but could not audition them yet, nor could I find any review on them... If anyone has heard them or owns them, could you PLEASE post a review (or simply a few impressions) on these speakers here? AVi has made some very bold claims regarding these monitors - as you may have already heard (if not see their site at http://www.avihifi.co.uk/avid/avid.html) - so could anyone let me know how close to the truth these claims are? (So far on forums I've only read reactions more or less visceral with regard to AVI's 'outrageous' claims, but no real analysis or opinions on the speakers themselves...) Many thanks - I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys... 🙂

 

[Simon Lucas]

I've had a couple of conversations with AVI about the ADM9s lately, and the company's certainly pretty bullish about them. I don't have an exact date of delivery yet, though, and I'm saying nothing about AVI's opinion of its product until it's here. As soon as we get them, they'll be on the First Test bench.

(It's not actually a bench, obviously.)

 

[Simon Lucas]

See what a fast-moving, unpredictable industry this is? I've got some ADM9s incoming as we speak, so I'll be aiming to have them under the First Test microscope in time for the October issue.

 

[Razz]

Great news, Simon - thanks. I can hardly wait. It would be great though in the meantime if someone on this forum who has heard them could share a few impressions - just as a preparation for the proper review 😛

Best wishes,

Razz

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a pair of these 2 weeks ago (toslink version) to replace a Cyrus/Proac system costing over £6.5k, they sound excellent partnered with a mac mini, trends ud10, and cds ripped in lossless format.

They have great imaging and are very detailed whilst remaining smooth and controlled. They are relatively modest sized but cast a very big soundstage and go deeper than you might expect. They are perfect in my 12 x 14 listening room and work well with a wide variety of music. The problem with my old system was that it was good with some cd's but difficult to listen to with others. I think there are big advantages to storing cd's on a hard drive, not least the huge convenience factor. As a system it is great and visually is a world away from the rack with 7 boxes and a pair of floor standing speakers that used to dominate my lounge! I look forward to reading how they get reviewed.

 

[Razz]

Thanks a lot Dave - finally something about these mystery boxes... So they ARE good it seems... I have loads of music on computer so such a simple yet comprehensive system that takes up so little space - and not least developed by one of the strongest names in hi-fi industry - has a particular appeal...

So you had a 'proper' high-end system before - how do the ADM9s compare to that? Do they sound like a budget or mid system, or are they indeed close to a high-end sound reproduction as AVI claims?

Again many thanks,

Razz

 

[Anonymous]

Razz

I can totally understand where you are coming from. I bought the ADM9's for their user friendliness and compact proportions and because I think long term computer audio is the way forward. I hoped they would be a step up from a budget system and listened to them at the Bristol show before purchasing, but having got the home I have been blown away by how good they actually are.

I ended up going with the toslink ones as opposed to the usb version as the spec for the dac was slightly better and use a mac mini outputting to a trends ud10 usb to spdif converter (£80) as this is claimed to isolate any computer noise and then via a good quality (cabletalk) glass toslink cable to the ADM9's. They sound fabulous. I tried them with a laptop running foobar2000 and asio drivers and also itunes using windows xp and they did not sound very good, it may have been the settings or a problem with the laptop or mini toslink lead - I am no computer expert. However using a mac mini straight out of the box they sounded a world apart. I am sure you could get the pc to sound as good with some tinkering, but it was plug and play with the mac.

What I can not tell you is how much of the sound is attributed to the speakers and how much to the mac/ud10 as the transport as I have listened to headphones on the ud10 and this sounds great as well.

As a system what I now have is significantly better than my old one for a fraction of the cost - it is just so much more musical I find myself listening for long periods, it is so addictive and fun to use. I look forward to hearing what the magazines make of them, and hope they use a mac to test them which is the simpliest way to hear them at their full potential in my opinion.

Dave

 

[Razz]

Many thanks, Dave.

Your description is enough for me to want
these boxes, irrespective of what WHF says about them 🙂 Am looking
forward for that review nevertheless...

Razz

 

[Anonymous]

After having auditioned some What Hi Fi award winning gear myself and found it desperately wanting I think its fair to say AVI aren't the only people who are making bold claims, seems to be par for the course in this business if you ask me.
If you read their articles on the website they appear to me to make a lot of sense, they also have a very good track-record in the higher end market, its not like they just arrived from nowhere.
I'm taking the gamble and buying the AMD9's unheard, their spec and price just suits me to the ground, i will let you know what I think.

J

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, very interesting thread as I am seriously considering going down this route myself and buying a pair of ADM9's. The thought of simplifying my current A/V system and moving over to a Mac based one is very appealing, for the reasons already outlined.

Dave, you mentioned using a Trends UD-10 to connect to your Mac. I had not heard of this before - can I ask please, what is the advantage of running the optical output fom this unit into a dac, rather than (say) taking the direct optical output from the Mac into the ADM9's (something to do with the 'reduction in noise' mentioned)? I had a quick look on the company web-site, but couldn't see a UK based dealer. Are you based in the UK and if so, how did you get hold of the UD-10?

Many thanks,

Simon.

 

[Anonymous]

I am in the uk, bought the trends from ebay for £79 including battery pack (which I do not use) after reading a lot about it on the computer audio forums. The ud-10 is merely a transport that takes the usb output from the mac (or pc) and converts it to spdif. I then connect a full size optical lead to the dac on the speakers. I must admit that I have not yet compared it to the mini optical port on the Mac - I suspect that the differences are not night and day - but the benefits are that a great deal of care has gone into isolating noisey computer signals out of the signal path which is peace of mind if anything else, plus for me I do not have to trail a long optical lead around the house, only a much thinner usb cable.

David

 

[Simon Lucas]

For those who want to read a review before getting their wallets out:

The ADM9s will be appearing in the October issue (on sale 23rd August).

Now we'll see who can't defer their pleasure...

 

[Razz]

Hey Dave,

I was just thinking: I think it is pretty obvious that you connected the ADM9s to the laptop via the ud10. Did you use the same converter when connecting them to the mac? I'm trying to understand why the difference in sound was so great from the laptop to the mac - I mean you did use the asio drivers, which is where windows normally screws up the sound... Was it maybe the laptop's sound card?

Maybe some clever friend on this forum might have an idea as to why mac sounded better - particulalry in the case under consideration.

In the meantime I'm looking forward to that October issue 🙂

Razz

 

[Razz]

For a user's thorough review of these speakers - with photos of the outside AND the inside (!) - check this external thread http://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum7/16897-1.html

Very exciting!

Razz