So I think it'll be best to start this review with a disclaimer to (hopefully) avoid any negative comments from the AVI haters.
I appreciate that different people have differing tastes and not everyone likes the same speakers. So take this review with a pinch of salt as these comments are all 'in my opinion' and 'to my own personal tastes'. Also bare in mind that I'm a self confessed AVI fanboi. This is the third set of AVI speakers that I've owned because to my ears they have exactly the type of sound that I like. Right, with that out of the way lets get on with the review.
Lets start with the big question first. Are the DM10's really as big an improvement over the previous ADM9's as Ashley James says? Absolutely, definitely and without a doubt yes they are as big an improvement as he promised. The overall sound and tonal character is still very similar to the old ADM9's and DM5's but the clarity, level of detail and stereo image has taken several steps up in terms of resolution and definition. They still share the same AVI 'house sound' as the old speakers so any existing AVI owners who are upgrading to the DM10's will, I'm sure, be over the moon when they hear these. Anyone who disliked the old ADM9's probably won't like the new speakers for the same reasons though so if you like your hifi with big boomy bass or a warm and cuddly mid-range and treble then these are probably not going to be the speakers for you. But if like me you want an ultra clear and detailed sound while still being super smooth and easy to listen to then they're ideal.
They have more bass than the ADM9's and DM5's too. Initially for the first day or two I thought that they didn't but now that I've had them for a couple of weeks any initial reservations that I had about them being slightly lean sounding have completely disappeared. After several hours of listening what I originally though was leaness is in fact just ultra high levels of clarity and control. The bass is deep, rock solid, and defined in a way that I've never heard from any other speaker ever before. When playing rave music at high volume they'll kick you in the chest like an angry mule on steroids. They actually have quite a lot of bass but because it's so tight and controlled without even the slightest hint of boom or blurred edges at the beginning and end of notes you may miss it on a brief first listen as I did but live with them for a couple of days and you'll quickly come to realise that this is what bass should be like. Regular passive hifi speakers with regular amplifiers just won't cut it anymore after you've lived with the DM10's for a few days. Taking the 10" AVI subwoofer out of the equation only makes a slight difference to the bass sound but you do lose some of the solid kick in your chest feeling. It's well worth the extra £800 upgrade and although the DM10's are excellent on their own I personally think that you won't be getting the full aural and physical package without it. Also unlike all my previous 2.1 systems I haven't felt the need to fiddle with the subwoofer volume like I used to because it always seems to sound right as it is (I'm using the AVI recommended 60Hz subwoofer crossover frequency but with the volume increased slightly from 12 to 1 o'clock).
The mid-range and treble sound beautiful too. My old AVI DM5's, while slightly limited in dynamic range, were previously the best that I'd ever heard in the mid-range and treble department but in a direct A/B comparison they somehow manage to sound ever so slightly 'thick' next to the DM10's. By normal speaker standards the DM5's are crystal clear and far better than almost everything else out there with a so called 'hifi' tag but the DM10's improve on the clarity not just a little bit but by quite some margin. Initially I thought the DM10's were a bit lean in the upper mid-range but that's just the urber clarity which makes it seem like that until you become accustomed to the sound. Just like with my Senheiser HD700 headphones which on a brief first listen are very similar until your brain has had the chance to recalibrate to this new ultra high level of detail at which point they just become tonally well balanced and very very detailed. Just as Ash says the clarity and detail is comparable to the best headphones available (well the HD700's in may case) and I totally agree with this. Most speakers, irrespective of price, aren't even in the same ballpark as good headphones where clarity and detail are concerned but the DM10's are right up there with some of the best.
The most impressive part of the DM10's is the stereo image. No joke these stereo speakers can really do surround sound better than most 5.1 speaker systems. They have a depth and width that goes far beyond the speakers. In a dark room with the lights turned off the speakers and room totally disappear with the music coming at you from all directions (ok mostly from the front 180 degrees but they still do 3D sound more convincingly that anything else I've ever heard). The sweet spot is big too. Different instrument sounds come from their own pinpoint perfectly defined point of space in the sound stage and they stay pinned there even when you move around. The spaces in between the instruments where there's no sound coming from are perfectly defined and spacious too. No doubt this is due to the very expensive custom made bass drivers and steep 8th order crossover that the DM10's use to allow them to stay in perfect phase throughout the crossover frequencies. Even the Genelec 8260A with their fancy co-axial mid/tweeter driver and clever wave guide doesn't match the razor sharp imaging of the DM10's.
They're well built with good looking high quality veneers but overall visually they're nothing all that special being just square boxes. At first I wasn't particularly taken with the width and size of them but I have to admit that they've grown on me over the past two weeks. I still think that the smaller and better proportioned DM5's look nicer though. One thing that I don't like is the amount of wires coming out of the back of them. Once my bank balance has recovered from the DM10 purchase I'm going to get some custom made speaker stands built to hide all those horrible wires.
Being remote controlled with a built in DAC and pre-amp is a nice touch and makes the DM10's a doddle to setup and use. There's no volume display though which is a shame but I can honestly say that I haven't missed it much as expected either so that's less of an issue than I thought it would be. As many of you already know I have a Nakamichi AV1 processor which I could use for DAC and pre-amp duties which would give me a display for the volume and would also allow me to adjust the subwoofer using the remote control but so far I haven't felt the need for it and I'm perfectly happy with the simple setup of a PC connected straight to the DM10's via a digital optical cable.
Last year I said it'd be great if a speaker system could combine the clarity of my HD700 headphones with the balls and punch of my Neutron Five 2.1 system and Ash said the DM5's would do this. Well, whilst the DM5's are still outstanding speakers they don't quite manage live up to that promise but these DM10's do. Even when pushed to silly loud ear drum destroying volume levels they still sound perfectly clear and unstressed. I used to think that a regular sub 100 watt hifi amplifier would have enough power but once you've heard speakers that sound this smooth and clear at any volume you quickly realise that it's not even close. Even at more normal volume levels this huge dynamic range gives the speakers an effortless feel that's hard to find with lesser powered systems. I turn these DM10 up as loud as I dare and they just seem to sit there smirking at me saying "Is that all you've got? Well I'm not even breaking a sweat."
I take my hat of to Martin Grindrod (the designer at AVI). That guy is an electronics and acoustics engineering genius. Many thanks to yourself and Ash for producing the DM10's. As far as I'm concerned they're a resounding triumph!
I appreciate that different people have differing tastes and not everyone likes the same speakers. So take this review with a pinch of salt as these comments are all 'in my opinion' and 'to my own personal tastes'. Also bare in mind that I'm a self confessed AVI fanboi. This is the third set of AVI speakers that I've owned because to my ears they have exactly the type of sound that I like. Right, with that out of the way lets get on with the review.
Lets start with the big question first. Are the DM10's really as big an improvement over the previous ADM9's as Ashley James says? Absolutely, definitely and without a doubt yes they are as big an improvement as he promised. The overall sound and tonal character is still very similar to the old ADM9's and DM5's but the clarity, level of detail and stereo image has taken several steps up in terms of resolution and definition. They still share the same AVI 'house sound' as the old speakers so any existing AVI owners who are upgrading to the DM10's will, I'm sure, be over the moon when they hear these. Anyone who disliked the old ADM9's probably won't like the new speakers for the same reasons though so if you like your hifi with big boomy bass or a warm and cuddly mid-range and treble then these are probably not going to be the speakers for you. But if like me you want an ultra clear and detailed sound while still being super smooth and easy to listen to then they're ideal.
They have more bass than the ADM9's and DM5's too. Initially for the first day or two I thought that they didn't but now that I've had them for a couple of weeks any initial reservations that I had about them being slightly lean sounding have completely disappeared. After several hours of listening what I originally though was leaness is in fact just ultra high levels of clarity and control. The bass is deep, rock solid, and defined in a way that I've never heard from any other speaker ever before. When playing rave music at high volume they'll kick you in the chest like an angry mule on steroids. They actually have quite a lot of bass but because it's so tight and controlled without even the slightest hint of boom or blurred edges at the beginning and end of notes you may miss it on a brief first listen as I did but live with them for a couple of days and you'll quickly come to realise that this is what bass should be like. Regular passive hifi speakers with regular amplifiers just won't cut it anymore after you've lived with the DM10's for a few days. Taking the 10" AVI subwoofer out of the equation only makes a slight difference to the bass sound but you do lose some of the solid kick in your chest feeling. It's well worth the extra £800 upgrade and although the DM10's are excellent on their own I personally think that you won't be getting the full aural and physical package without it. Also unlike all my previous 2.1 systems I haven't felt the need to fiddle with the subwoofer volume like I used to because it always seems to sound right as it is (I'm using the AVI recommended 60Hz subwoofer crossover frequency but with the volume increased slightly from 12 to 1 o'clock).
The mid-range and treble sound beautiful too. My old AVI DM5's, while slightly limited in dynamic range, were previously the best that I'd ever heard in the mid-range and treble department but in a direct A/B comparison they somehow manage to sound ever so slightly 'thick' next to the DM10's. By normal speaker standards the DM5's are crystal clear and far better than almost everything else out there with a so called 'hifi' tag but the DM10's improve on the clarity not just a little bit but by quite some margin. Initially I thought the DM10's were a bit lean in the upper mid-range but that's just the urber clarity which makes it seem like that until you become accustomed to the sound. Just like with my Senheiser HD700 headphones which on a brief first listen are very similar until your brain has had the chance to recalibrate to this new ultra high level of detail at which point they just become tonally well balanced and very very detailed. Just as Ash says the clarity and detail is comparable to the best headphones available (well the HD700's in may case) and I totally agree with this. Most speakers, irrespective of price, aren't even in the same ballpark as good headphones where clarity and detail are concerned but the DM10's are right up there with some of the best.
The most impressive part of the DM10's is the stereo image. No joke these stereo speakers can really do surround sound better than most 5.1 speaker systems. They have a depth and width that goes far beyond the speakers. In a dark room with the lights turned off the speakers and room totally disappear with the music coming at you from all directions (ok mostly from the front 180 degrees but they still do 3D sound more convincingly that anything else I've ever heard). The sweet spot is big too. Different instrument sounds come from their own pinpoint perfectly defined point of space in the sound stage and they stay pinned there even when you move around. The spaces in between the instruments where there's no sound coming from are perfectly defined and spacious too. No doubt this is due to the very expensive custom made bass drivers and steep 8th order crossover that the DM10's use to allow them to stay in perfect phase throughout the crossover frequencies. Even the Genelec 8260A with their fancy co-axial mid/tweeter driver and clever wave guide doesn't match the razor sharp imaging of the DM10's.
They're well built with good looking high quality veneers but overall visually they're nothing all that special being just square boxes. At first I wasn't particularly taken with the width and size of them but I have to admit that they've grown on me over the past two weeks. I still think that the smaller and better proportioned DM5's look nicer though. One thing that I don't like is the amount of wires coming out of the back of them. Once my bank balance has recovered from the DM10 purchase I'm going to get some custom made speaker stands built to hide all those horrible wires.
Being remote controlled with a built in DAC and pre-amp is a nice touch and makes the DM10's a doddle to setup and use. There's no volume display though which is a shame but I can honestly say that I haven't missed it much as expected either so that's less of an issue than I thought it would be. As many of you already know I have a Nakamichi AV1 processor which I could use for DAC and pre-amp duties which would give me a display for the volume and would also allow me to adjust the subwoofer using the remote control but so far I haven't felt the need for it and I'm perfectly happy with the simple setup of a PC connected straight to the DM10's via a digital optical cable.
Last year I said it'd be great if a speaker system could combine the clarity of my HD700 headphones with the balls and punch of my Neutron Five 2.1 system and Ash said the DM5's would do this. Well, whilst the DM5's are still outstanding speakers they don't quite manage live up to that promise but these DM10's do. Even when pushed to silly loud ear drum destroying volume levels they still sound perfectly clear and unstressed. I used to think that a regular sub 100 watt hifi amplifier would have enough power but once you've heard speakers that sound this smooth and clear at any volume you quickly realise that it's not even close. Even at more normal volume levels this huge dynamic range gives the speakers an effortless feel that's hard to find with lesser powered systems. I turn these DM10 up as loud as I dare and they just seem to sit there smirking at me saying "Is that all you've got? Well I'm not even breaking a sweat."
I take my hat of to Martin Grindrod (the designer at AVI). That guy is an electronics and acoustics engineering genius. Many thanks to yourself and Ash for producing the DM10's. As far as I'm concerned they're a resounding triumph!
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