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"It delivers a sound far bigger and more powerful than you would expect, with the sort of musical accuracy and honesty that you don't get at a grand and might struggle to find at £5000........the result is a product that's one of the most obvious Best Buys we've encounted in years. The revolution begins here..."
Read Alan Sircom's excellent review of our ADM9 speakers in HiFi Choice magazine |
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ADM9s the future of Hi FiTo those committed to Hi Fi Separates, some of which are incredibly expensive, it seems inconceivable that a relatively small pair of ADM9s can outperform them by an appreciable margin. Yet it’s true – thanks to active design, advances in technology and some new ideas from AVI. Below we’ve tried to explain how it’s done. ADM9’s are not (just) active Speakers. Though we’ve improved active technology, they also have a remote controlled two input preamp and a Digital to Analogue Converter (a choice of two actually) built in. This makes them unique and rather more useful than ordinary Active Speakers, because all they need is a digital source to perform far better than Passive speakers and separates could ever do – regardless of how much you spend on them. Conventional active speakers need a separate preamp and DAC so cost far more and take up more space. The great thing about digits (noughts and ones) is that they are the same wherever they are stored or wherever they are sent. Music is made on computers so they are excellent for both storing and playing music and it gives you a huge choice ranging from a bulky old PC, a Mac or excellent multi room systems like Sonos or Squeezebox. All simply provide digital information for converting by ADM9s and all therefore can sound just as good as the best Hi Fi CD player – but with the advantage of a superior user interface and far great reliability. Let’s face it, CD mechs are old, clunky and delicate by comparison, and you’re stuck with whatever CD you put in them. It is generally agreed that it’s only a matter of time before most music and video will be bought as download. With ADM9s you don’t need a hi fi system. You just need a digital source, which could be a Mac Mini that comes ready to stream Music to up to five rooms via an Airport Express www.apple.com/store and can share it’s screen with the TV (more space saved). Minis also have Bluetooth Keyboards and mice and a wonderful program called Front Row that controls and plays your music, your DVDs, your home videos and your digital photographs. With Sonos you can stream different tracks to up to thirty-two rooms. The possibilities are endless as are the number of Internet based music stations, many of which stream at surprisingly high bit rates and are virtually indistinguishable from the best CDs.
How we did it AVI attaches much more importance to phase than amplitude because it’s these errors that make so many passive speakers sound nasal, sibilant and boxy. Tweeters are (unavoidably) audible way below the crossover point not just because of phase problems, but also because they are distorting. They don’t like working at such low frequencies. They don’t have to in ADM9s because we can shut them down more quickly than is possible in passive designs and make sure the signal is in perfect phase with the Bass driver as well. We even had special drive units designed to enable us to do this. This means the mid range is dramatically better.
Nearly all the very rapid development in modern electronics has been devoted to miniaturising everything, reducing the cost and improving the performance. We’ve been able to use this latest technology to produce a two input remote controlled preamp that will perform as well as any 19” wide monster Hi Fi separate but isn’t much bigger than a credit card! It’s the same with DACs, they cost very little, they all outperform CDs and the differences you hear between them are caused by poor implementation rather than specifications. If everybody used them properly there’d barely be a difference between any of them, regardless of their price! Because we’ve used up to the minute electronics, we haven’t just improved the performance; we’ve also saved you a great deal of money and space. Old-fashioned separates needed their own metal boxes and bigger power supplies, too, but ADM9s don’t. Summing up ADM9s are smaller because they are modern and use the latest technology. They sound much better than passive speakers (and most actives to) for sound technical reasons explained above. They are a more cost effective and a major step forward for sound reproduction. So before you consider buying separates, remember that even a really well designed floor standing three way speaker at many times their price will struggle to do better and that no passive two-way will be as good however much you spend on amplifiers and CD players. Floor Standing ADM9’s We are occasionally asked if we will make a floor standing version of the ADM9s to which our answer is probably not, because their enclosure and packaging would cost a great deal more but they wouldn’t sound any better or give more bass. A Sub for the ADM9s
Active speakers produce “tighter”, better-defined bass than passive speakers because there’s no crossover to neutralise the damping effect of the power amp. This helps to clean up the mid range. It takes a short time to realise it’s better and that there’s actually lots of bass – it’s just less distorted. But some still feel the need for a Subwoofer. ADM9s have sold incredibly well, their success has been unprecedented and most customers are more than happy with them as they are. However, for movies and certain types of music, some of you have said you’d like a Sub. So we’ve produced one and it’s very special too.
ADM9s measure 30 x 20 x 25 HWD cms. And each contain one 250 watt Bass/mid and one 100 watt Tweeter Amp and a 4th order active crossover. The left speaker also has a remote controlled two input preamplifier (one analogue and one Digital) and choice of DACs. Most modern electronics, including the latest TV sets, Mac Computers and computer based music servers are sold with Optical digital outputs and for these we’d suggest the ADM9s with the optical input. However, if you are using a PC or have a valued collection of records and tapes, a version of the ADM9s is available which connects via the USB port. It not only plays your stored digital music and CDs but can also convert anything played via the analogue inputs to digital to be stored in iTunes or whatever media player is being used. We’ll never convince the chap who’s just spent £4,500 on a power supply upgrade (a hundred quid’s worth from www.maplin.co.uk) or the man who’s just paid £800 to have his high end amplifier serviced, but for those who take a more considered approach to spending money, ADM9s are the perfect choice.
The heart of the new Sub is the 10 inch drive unit, and they are available in black and white Click here for ADM9 specifications Further important advice when considering which speakers are best suited for you
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The ADM9 terminals
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The 10" Sub terminals
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Since they don’t have to drive passive crossovers and low impedances, we can design beautifully clean sounding high voltage amps that won’t clip and spoil the sound as so many Hi Fi Amps do. The bass one produces the passive equivalent of 250 watts and the tweeter 100! 
The Sub comprises of a single 35 litre box measuring 34 x 43 x 36 HWD cms containing a very heavy duty 10” drive unit and a special version of our 220 watt V2 power amp. So no Class D cheapie! It is adjustable for a wide range of applications including the low frequency effects channel of an A/V processor, but is intended primarily for ADM9s where the extra headroom over most subs is needed. ADM9s play louder than conventional speakers without distorting. 
