$65.79
$125
STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGY ADAM Audio monitors have earned a worldwide reputation as the preeminent tool for sound engineers based on technological innovations that we’ve established in the field of loudspeaker technology. THE X-ART TECHNOLOGY The X-ART (eXtended Accelerated Ribbon Technology) tweeters and midranges incorporate a new approach to the Air Motion Transformer concept originally developed by Dr. Oskar Heil. ADAM Audio has improved upon this splendid idea utilizing superior geometries and materials to achieve unprecedented audio fidelity. X-ART strikes a new path concerning the kinematics of moving air, resulting in a dramatic improvement in the quality of audio reproduction. The X-ART membrane consists of a pleated diaphragm in which the folds compress or expand according to the audio signal applied to them. The result is that air is drawn in and squeezed out, like the bellows of an accordion. The ADAM X-ART design overcomes the piston-like motion of all conventional drivers and their inevitable problems (see previous page) by achieving an improvement in air loading by a factor of 4 over conventional transducers. To illustrate the basic principle by a comparison: When you breathe, your thorax is moving slowly whereas the air is moving comparably fast. Similarly, the X-ART diaphragm presses the air faster in or out of its folds than they themselves are moving. This markedly superior ”motor” is responsible for the unprecedented clarity and pristine transient reproduction that can be heard with the ADAM X-ART drive units. In addition, the X-ART tweeter’s pleated membrane avoids the typical breakup/distortion and subsequent dynamic limiting at higher frequencies of stiffer voice coil designs, such as those found in dome and cone tweeters. Another positive result of the X-ART design is that the driving ”stripes” are in direct contact with the outer air and are cooled immediately. MORE AREA = MORE DYNAMIC Diaphragm area is another important factor in determining the dynamic range of a transducer. Basically, what you see is what you get. The cone area you can see is always the acoustically active area of the loudspeaker–this is true for practically all other drive units. By folding the X-ART diaphragm into the 3rd dimension (as seen from the listener’s position) a larger foil can be used, thus increasing the acoustically effective area of the diaphragm by a factor of more than 2.5 times. This results in higher dynamic output with extremely wide dispersion. “…an excellent piece of craftsmanship…” Audio Media was amongst the first magazines to review a new SX-Series model. About the tweeter they say: “The famous ART tweeter as used in ADAM’s monitors has also undergone reconstruction in the X model providing 4dB higher efficiency and reproducing frequencies accurately all the way to 50kHz, which has made such a difference. The ART tweeter from ADAM has always been one of its strong points, but this new X-ART tweeter is a perfect balance in what is an excellent piece of craftsmanship. ” (Audio Media) THE X-ART TWEETER The lack of a traditional voice coil in X-ART tweeters results in a very flat impedance. Please note the vertical scaling – in a normal plot, the impedance rise would disappear in the line itself, as it is 1/500 of the normally expected value. Correspondingly, the phase response is extremely flat within ±1.5°. In summary, X-ART tweeters have a high efficiency (approximately 96 dB/W/m), a perfectly linear impedance (3.9 Ω ±0.21), an equally perfect phase response (±1° within the utilized bandwidth), excellent directivity characteristics and a superb power handling capacity; plus, the neodymium magnets and yoke (ring) utilized in the X-ART units result in perfect magnetic shielding. A groundbreaking technological innovation with easily discernible superior performance and no technical flaws, the X-ART driver is clearly unequalled in the annals of audio history. THE X-ART MIDRANGE Because midrange is musically speaking the most significant frequency band, the ADAM development team was particularly interested in building a midrange driver using the same principle as the X-ART tweeter. The X-ART midrange driver uses a diaphragm that weighs only a fraction of comparable voice coil units, and can theoretically cover the range from 400Hz to 20kHz. The large diaphragm area comparable to a conventional midrange unit permits very high, uncompressed SPL without compromising dispersion. The unit has an absolutely flat impedance curve and consequently exhibits linear phase behavior, with a mere ±0.75° deviation within the utilized frequency band. The result of this technological superiority is unmistakable. There is a special openness that is immediately apparent to the listener when auditioning ADAM monitors utilizing the ART midrange drivers. These monitors are a quantum leap forward in musical accuracy, closely approaching the ideal loudspeaker. A/B AMPLIFIER Every progress comes with new questions and difficulties. The new X-ART tweeter with its extended frequency band up to 50 kHz (-3 dB point) caused an interesting kind of problem: PWM amplifiers need a low pass filter to separate the modulation frequency from the audio band, and this may limit the reproduction capabilities of the new tweeter. So ADAM spared no efforts and decided to design its own high frequency power amp to allow the new high frequency unit to live up to its unique talents. THE PERFECT PARTNER FOR X-ART An internal bandwidth of more than 1 MHz is externally limited so that the unit delivers an ultra wide response up to 300 kHz. With nothing limiting the talents of the X-ART tweeter, the monitor has unsurpassed clarity and openness which will please, amaze and thrill even the most experienced professional ear. “…a response up to 50kHz it makes the clarity even wider.” “The famous ART tweeter … has also undergone reconstruction in the X model providing 4dB higher efficiency and reproducing frequencies accurately all the way to 50kHz, which has made such a difference.” (Audio Media) WOOFER HexaCone woofers are an integral component in most of ADAM’s monitors/speakers. The core is a honeycomb Nomex structure that makes them both extremely light and very stiff. The front and back of the cone have been coated with Kevlar, one of the most advanced synthetic materials available. Kevlar withstands elongation by a force factor greater than 1000 times that of steel, enabling the cone to resist deformation. NO BREAK-UP RESONANCES HexaCone woofers are far more rigid than paper, polypropylene or aluminum devices of similar dimensions. Due to this rigidity, break up resonances in the diaphragm cone are prevented. The effective length and diameter of the voice coils in conjunction with the size of the magnets and the available cabinet volume are all precisely aligned for a musically optimal low frequency reproduction. AUTHENTICITY INSTEAD OF INADEQUATE PRESSURE LEVELS Another general problem observed frequently in many so-called reference monitors is a disproportionate low frequency volume. With massive woofers (and frequently inadequate acoustic pressure levels!), the average listener is supposed to be impressed. However, this approach results in an inaccurate representation of the overall sound quality. ADAM woofers have been designed to reproduce the given sound material with the highest possible authenticity, guaranteeing ideal translation to the widest range of systems and environments. PWM – PULSE WIDTH MODULATION In recent years amplifier technology experienced its second big change after going from tubes to transistors some 40 years ago. You can still find semiconductors in this new generation of amplifiers, but the signals to be amplified are treated in a completely new and different way. PULSE WIDTH MODULATION PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) – sometimes referred to as Class D amplification, sometimes called Switching Amp Technology – converts the incoming signal to a series of rectangular waveforms of equal height. The width of the rectangles varies in time and the relation of the width of the rectangles represents the musical signal. This waveform can be amplified much more simply, as the transistors are not modulated anymore; instead they are used as switches that only turn the power supply voltage on and off. It is possible that a very fast mechanical switch could do the job, but power transistors are a better choice for the task, so PWM amplifiers still work pretty much like conventional Class AB designs. It is important to note there are no bits and bytes involved, so “Digital Amplifier” is a misleading and inaccurate term. ADVANTAGES OF PWM The main advantage of PWM amplifiers is their extremely high efficiency (>90%). As a consequence the heat to be dissipated is only one fifth of earlier designs, leading to much lower temperatures within the amps and making the use of heat sinks obsolete. This principle has been known for decades, but time was needed to develop units that perform at the leading edge in sonic reproduction quality and yet still maintain the high efficiency mentioned previously. The ADAM units use the new technology for both the amp and the power supply section (i.e. no more transformers) combined with state of the art input and filter sections to achieve the best in multi-channel active studio monitoring. IMPULSE COUPLING To improve the time behavior of speakers, ADAM introduces IC = Impulse Coupling, a method to vastly improve the connection between drivers and wooden cabinet. There is a well-known action = reaction principle of Sir Isaac Newton, which (as relates to speaker mounting) dictates that the forces created by the movement of the diaphragm/voice coil assemblies are transferred to the cabinet. As wood is not very stiff, these forces cause local instability around the driver, i.e. – phenomena that keep the drivers basket in motion relative to the diaphragm, thus deteriorating the transmitted sound quality. Imagine if you were to jump in the water… starting from a sand bank gives you a much less stable jump-off point than starting from a solid rock. Impulse Coupling is the rock solid connection that improves the situation of the driver in a comparable way. In both the S6X and the S7A Mk2, all drivers are mounted on an ultra stiff 25 mm thick aluminum honeycomb plate, which is acoustically dead – thereby providing an extremely mechanically stable bridge to the cabinet. As the drivers are much better fixed this way their time behavior (and consequently their clarity) is audibly and measurably improved.
Studio Monitors
