Adam A7X 2 way vs Dynaudio LYD 48 3-way? is a 3way better than a 2way?

all a matter of personal taste.....Used to have the Yamaha HS8......decided to check out other monitors like Adam A7x compared to the Eve Audio SC207.......did NOT like Adam at all...way to compressed and not natural....Eve Audio sounded way better...after hearing the Eve Audio SC305 (3 way).....SOLD !!!
 
Anand Mahangoe said:
all a matter of personal taste.....Used to have the Yamaha HS8......decided to check out other monitors like Adam A7x compared to the Eve Audio SC207.......did NOT like Adam at all...way to compressed and not natural....Eve Audio sounded way better...after hearing the Eve Audio SC305 (3 way).....SOLD !!!
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compressed?
 
I have owned the Adam A7X monitors ever since they first came out. The only other monitors I owned were the budget ones I had before these made by M-Audio I think Bx8 or whatever they sold about 12 years ago for around $500-$800 a pair, I used those with my Axe FX Standard and later my Axe Fx 2 XL+ and then switched to the Adam A7X with the 2XL+ and the 3.

I mean, I don't have any complaints, probably mainly because I have nothing else to compare them to....

Axe Fx always sounds great.

But when I'm listening to Hard Rock/Classic Rock music on the Adam A7X I'm just kinda surprised at how the GUITAR in CDs does not JUMP out at me and take front and center stage above everything else.

Sometimes it seems like the guitars are kind of perfectly balanced with the mix so as to NOT sound forward and grab your attention.

I just remember I had some huge 3-way Tower speakers in the 90s/2000's made by JBL and Cerwin Vega, and both sets of those speakers, one thing I remember about them, is when I put on a GNR CD, it sounded like Slash was playing in my room, the guitars were the center of attention, it was all about the guitars. The guitar dominated the mix. It never sounded lost in the mix, or submissive, perhaps it never sounded balanced. I don't care so much about balance or highs and lows.... When I listen to music, I actually WANT the guitars to stand out from everything else in the mix... perhaps this is what audiophiles mean when they speak of a midrange being "forward"?

Whatever it is, that's what I like.

So that got me to thinking.... was a big part of what I heard from the huge JBL & Cerwin Vega home speaker towers that big midrange driver?

If so then logically, having that 4" separate midrange driver in the Dynaudios would also benefit the guitar tones from the Axe Fx as well as normal music listening.

They cost about $800 more than the Adam A7X so I don't think they can be of any less quality speaker.

I've read that 2 way monitors can be better than 3 way -IF- the crossover is done poorly in a 3way.... but I highly doubt that Dynaudio would do anything poorly.

I feel like the Adam A7x does nice lows, and nice highs.... wonder why? Well maybe it's because there's a driver for lows and a driver for highs? But the midrange just seems to take a backseat to the highs and lows, guitar does not seem to dominate the rock music when I listen to it.... logically seems like the culprit would be the missing midrange driver.

As far as the ribbon tweeter... I'm not that impressed. I have no complaints about the ribbon tweeter or the highs. But let's be serious, a real ribbon speaker is the $20,000 Magnepan MG20 speakers that stand 6 feet tall 2 feet wide and only 1 inch thick, the entire speaker is a ribbon... THATS what I call true ribbon technology. This ribbon in the Adams is more of a gimmick. It's like having a Ibanez Jem and thinking just because the last 4 frets are scalloped you are playing a scalloped guitar, no... a scalloped guitar would be a guitar with ALL the frets scalloped like that of YJM.

I bought the Adams because at the time, it seemed like the most popular monitors on this board.... I'm happy with them still, but I'd still like to have something better, if better is possible, and I think better is possible, becuase I don't think it's possible for a 2 way speaker to fully reproduce the sound of guitar without having a midrange driver.

And I think the absence of the midrange driver is what is making the guitars in recorded music sit too nice and blanced in the mix of CDs I listen too.

I want the guitars to jump out at me and hit me over the head and demand my full attention.

I want monitors that ROCK like my old JBL Century L100 speakers did!
they were 3 way with a 5" midrange.
Guitar never sounded subtle or polite with those things....
It sounded like a guitarist playing their amp in your room.
 
It's all in the execution. I'll take a well- designed 2-way speaker over a less-well-designed 3-way speaker any day. And vice-versa.

The only way to know whether the speakers give you what you want is to give them a listen.
 
Maybe so... I'm just thinking out loud.
I may order a pair of the LYD from Sweetwater and try them out and return them if I don't feel that I'm missing anything with the Adams.
It'd be interesting to do a poll on here though to find out if Adam is still what the majority of Fractal users here are still using.
I went to Best Buy Magnolia and tested some of the electrostatic Martin Logan speakers, and they were good, but it was actually a pair of bookshelf speakers there that I thought sounded even better or at worst close enough to being the same. The downward firing subs in the Martin Logans would not have been well suited to my 2nd floor apartment.
But it just goes to show sometimes in our minds before actually hearing something we build up a day and night difference of expectations, when sometimes reality shows two products may not be really THAT big of a difference apart.
I will probably stick with the Adam A7X as long as that remains to be what most people on this forum use for monitor solutions. When it comes to Axe Fx I'd rather play it safe and go with what the majority here are using than to risk being adventurous and trusting my own ears. I don't really trust myself anyways. I may buy a pair of Klipsch Forte 3 speakers though for dedicated music listening. I think yall talked me off the ledge when it comes to spending money on real Friedman amps. My Friedman hardtail tele though, it sustains longer than Nigel Tufnel Les Paul. I think it may actually be just as good as my Suhr.
 
Neumann KH 310 was my (painful $!) choice after listening to the Adams and a few other 2 ways. I also track/mix on them, which allowed me to justify the expense. I find the driver integration to be seamless, on or off access, couldn't find any beamy listening spots. They are very detailed without being fatiguing, even at high levels. The sealed enclosure means no port noise/turbulence at any volume. I’ve found some ported 2 ways to exaggerate/smear palm mutes at mid to high volumes.

Used the KH 310’s recently for tracking a loud 3pc band and my engineer loved them, wants to buy a pair. 5 string bass, double kicks, no problem.

Regardless of what anyone may think about DSP crossovers for mixing, I looked specifically for powered monitors with analog crossovers to avoid any latency because I will be using them mostly for Axe preset work and control room tracking. The KH 310’s were hard to beat given my criteria, and I’m very happy with them.
 
I'm streaming For The Love of God right now off Vais CD P&W through the Adam A7X and I just don't understand it. I mean, I put my ear flat up against the ribbon tweeter and then flat against the woofer.... Sounds like 85% of the guitar is originating from the tweeter and 15% from the woofer....

I just can't stop wondering how much better would the guitar sound in this, if it had it's own dedicated midrange driver?

The guitar range of frequency almost all lives in Midrange, so I just can't help but think the tweeter has to be compromising the sound of guitar in this song in some way or another....

Tweeters and Woofers just weren't designed for guitars as far as I know.

I feel like maybe if there was a 4" or 5" midrange driver in these Adams the guitar in this track would probably sound more full and stronger and have more meat to it and stand out more.

Maybe I'm wrong but it's bugging me not knowing.

I kust think the size of the drivers make a big difference.

Tweeters for Cymbals and the higher range of vocals etc

Midrange for pretty much fully and soley reproducing guitars and the human voice

Woofer for Drums and Bass.

For midrange it seems midrange would handle 80 percent of guitar/vocals meaning that the treble would handle 10 percent that is higher out of the midrange frequency and the woofer would handle 10 percent that is lower than the frequency of guitar/vocal, while the midrange due to its size is made for 80% of the range of guitars/vocals.

I've just never heard a speaker reviewer say anything like wow, just listen to how that tweeter or that woofer performs at reproducing human vocals/guitars....

That's why the 2 way design is not making any sense to me at all.

I'm listening to this Vai record... and it sounds to me like the guitar is coming out of the tweeter, which it is, but what I mean is I feel like it's more trebly than what it should be, but it can't be anything else because tweeters do treble. I just think logically it has to be missing something without a midrange driver.

I'm all about Midrange.

I mean, I would probably choose a speaker that ONLY had nothing but a 4" midrange driver, over a 2 way bass/treble.
I mean midrange is the most important part of the sound frequency to me.
I really don't care much about bass at all.... in fact, I rather dislike a lot of bass.... and treble to me has always just been there to add the icing on the cake that the midrange is incapable of producing.

I'd prefer a monitor with just treble/midrange drivers over a treble/woofer monitor.

I don't know.

Vai is sounding ok on the Adams... but if I had a 3 way monitor here right now side by side listening to this, I can't help but think I might say this actually sucks and wow listen to what I been missing all this time.

I just don't see the logic in a 2 way design.

When did bass and treble become more important than midrange? Why should they get their own drivers and midrange not have a driver at all?

It's all making me very OCD.
 
FWIW, and while it doesn't precisely answer your question, I have Adam A8Xs and 12" sub in my living room for my AX8 and digital piano, and 3-way JBL SRX835 PA speakers and 18" sub in another room for my AxeFX 3 and Roland V-Drums.

The Adams are exquisite and exceptionally detailed, sound great and I love them. But that said, I prefer playing guitar through the 3-way JBLs. Granted, they're PA speakers, so they're not directly comparable to the Adams (and they're MUCH bigger and even more expensive). But they pack considerably more midrange punch (and every other kind of punch) and give a more amp-like feel.

Depends on the space you're working with, of course, and how loud you want to play. I've got a basement studio, so I get quite loud, and I doubt my Adams would have been able to handle it. 9 months ago, one of my Adams blew while playing Elton John on the piano (I tend to play that kinda loud too ;)). I should note that while it was a bit of a PITA dealing with their warranty service, they did fix it and it's worked great since.

Just my two cents. You can't go wrong with Adams, particularly for critical monitoring, as they are very detailed, but if you're really looking for midrange punch (and have the space and budget for them), I can attest that 3-way PA speakers are a blast.
 
I used to listen to music at home through a PA system when I lived in a house, it was pretty good, horns.

I just have a very small 10x10 room in a apartment right now.
So I can't play above speaking/tv volumes.

But I may be moving to another state in another year if I can save enough money. I'm thinking about either moving to Idaho or South Carolina, and I'm thinking about buying a house with a basement and living in the basement and renting the rooms out upstairs to cover my utilities and food.

So maybe at that time I can be louder.

But yeah, your response kinda confirms some of my suspicions....
I won't have the money to order a set of 3-way monitors for a couple more months so it's going to be a long wait to find out myself what I am or ain't missing.

I think JBL, Klipsch, Dynaudio are great speaker makers.

Don't get me wrong though, I've been using these Adams ten years, they are good with the Fractal, and I've never thought music on them sounds "bad".... it's just a case of I wonfder if the grass is greener on that 3-way side.
 
I personally think those Dynaudios would be tasty!
Their other speakers are very well designed and sound great.
Thanks
Pauly
 
londonireland777 said:
Does the guitar sound better to you on those Neumann 3 ways though than comparable quality 2 way monitors?
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I play mostly extended range guitars and they certainly sound good through the 310’s. I can hear any tiny tweaks very easily and the audio spectrum sounds very full and even, top to bottom. And this impression is given further credibility by their performance in the studio as a mid/near field monitor during band tracking.

I guess I didn’t think to audition any 2 way speakers in that same price range with analog crossovers. After talking to my engineer buddies, they all seemed to think a quality 3 way design would always beat most, if not all 2 ways for accuracy/clarity. No mastering engineer I’ve ever worked with used less than 3 ways, so I guess the more complicated phase relationships between 2 vs 3 drivers not withstanding, I took their word for it.
 
londonireland777 said:
I used to listen to music at home through a PA system when I lived in a house, it was pretty good, horns.

I just have a very small 10x10 room in a apartment right now.
So I can't play above speaking/tv volumes.

But I may be moving to another state in another year if I can save enough money. I'm thinking about either moving to Idaho or South Carolina, and I'm thinking about buying a house with a basement and living in the basement and renting the rooms out upstairs to cover my utilities and food.
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As it happens, I was in an apartment for years in California, then moved to North Carolina and bought a house with a finished basement (actually saving money in the process, given the difference in housing costs). I've got a beautiful living room that I rarely see, because I practically LIVE down here in the basement and my cranked PA's. lol

All that is to say...be prepared to go hog wild if you make that move -- I've spent a fortune on new gear. lol And I have nothing but good things to say about the Carolinas. Great people, great food, and most importantly, affordable houses with basements. lmao
 
londonireland777 said:
I am wondering how using a 3 way monitor would sound with the Axe FX 3 instead of a 2 way?
I am thinking in theory the dedicated 4" midrange driver in that Dynaudio would be very beneficial to guitar since guitar lives in the midrange.


https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-3-way-powered-studio-monitor-left-side-black
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I am also interested in the Dynaudio Lyd-48, have you had the chance to compare them with the Adam AX7? I am really interested in knowing if the dedicated mid-range driver will really reproduce better the guitar frequencies. Thanks in advance @londonireland777
 
I am with the OP on this. Way back I had both a set of Adam A7x in my house and what I ended up with hivi swans t200b. The Adams are nice but the swans beat them out for me in a head to head with the same source in the same location. Price wasn't an issue as I would have chosen whichever one sounded better but the swans were also cheaper.

Fast forward 12 years and my swans are still going strong and I have them hooked up to my axe FX III in my office.

I also have an FM3 hooked up in my music room and I wanted speakers for that to fill that larger room and do double duty as music playback.

I looked around and found the swans m5a which may have been replaced with the swans m500. They are 3 way with 8" woofer. They spec out extremely flat and with a wide dispersion. In short for the same money or less than the a7x to me these do a much better job both at low volume and filling a room with a lot more versatility.

The Adams have a deserved reputation and are good but there are other options out there.
 
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