I do not need everything to sound great. I prefer hearing things the way they were recorded. Good or bad. That’s what studio monitors are for.

With that in mind, I started looking around for entry-level studio monitors to replace my old pair of Edirol MA-15Ds. I decided to get a pair of Adam Audio T7V speakers. It was obviously a big step up.

The speakers look very elegant and clean. It seems a bit like they were deliberately designed to look more simple than some of the higher models – bass port, on/off switch and indicator are all on the back. Nothing wrong with that though, I like the design a lot.

I love the sound. There’s so much detail and depth. I keep revisiting my favourite tracks just to hear all the new things I can discover. The signature “ribbon tweeters” are awesome and I doubt there are any higher frequencies I’d ever be able to hear from any speaker at all.

John Cleese, listening to “Shake Break Bounce” by The Chemical Brothers on T7Vs

There’s more than enough power for my small semi-treated room. My desk was just big enough to let me put them in the proper “triangle” layout.

The Edirol MA-15Ds had an optical input and I had them hooked up directly to my iMac. For the Adams I had to get an external USB sound interface with separate left/right balanced outputs. I got the affordable M-Audio M-Track 2×2 with a nice big volume knob.

I also added a subwoofer. Necessary? No. Would I keep thinking about getting one for the next 6 months after getting the speakers? Yes.

The sub does bring up the lowest frequencies and gives more punch to heavier music. However, this 2.1 configuration brought me some disappointment at first.

My sound interface was plugged into the sub and the speakers were connected to the sub’s output, just like the manual said. I tried to level things out using the sub’s crossover and volume knobs. This turned out to be very hard and frustrating. I couldn’t find a balanced “flat” setting.

I’m sure that pairing the T7Vs with one of Adam Audio’s own subs is more straightforward and could have saved me the trouble but it’s also way over my budget.

Luckily, I figured it out. I plugged the speakers into the sub’s other input! Both the inputs are just soldered together so the T7Vs effectively get untouched source input. Now I can easily tune the sub without affecting what goes into the speakers. Win!

Overall I’m really happy with this new setup. Great sound for a great price.

★★★★★ / ★★★★★