I'm curious to know how many ADAM S3X-H users have had a rattle problem? For example, the pair I'm using now, the right monitor rattles when you have, say a mini-moog bass play around 50hz or so -- ONLY the right monitor.

A few friends of mine have the same damn problem with their monitors as well! It keeps coming back from the dealer with the problem still there!

Let's hear from other users and see if anyone else (other than the 3 of us) have this rattle problem?

HA!
I knew i wasn't crazy!!! When I first got my pair of em...they were rattling the same way...actually there was air coming through the knobs! I was like WTF? I believe its a sort of design flaw that only gets revealed by us low end happy folk. Mainly EDM, Hip Hop and Rnb cats. I haven't seen this happen with them in other genre's of music. I've kinda had an issue with the H series because i believe they don't have the same low end extension as the V's...but people think i'm nuts even though the V's have a bigger driver. lol! I'm not completely sold on 2 smaller drivers giving you the same amount of low freq energy as one bigger one as there was an immediate and major difference when I swapped over to the V's. If you do hip hop and dance...you'll dig the V's more. I switched over... got better low end extension, no rattle and trust me we run em wayyyyy up there...added a Sub 12 and i've never been happier. We had to get a White Instruments room eq for those ribbons though...my brain was pouring outta my ears after a few listens...i needed more precise control due to my room's acoustics than what the onboard hi and mid roll offs allowed. Those H's are sure purdy though....a shame i can't deal with them....lol

ymmv
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I have the same issue with my S3A [original]

I need to send them to ADAM but can't really afford to be without them while they're being fixed.

I don't have this problem. No rattles here and I crank them pretty loud at times with big bottom. I do think the workmanship on the boxes is questionable. I brought this up with my dealer who called Adam. The response was, "They're hand made. That's normal." Also, I had to pick plastic fibers out of my tweeters and screws that hold the drivers with a pair of non magnetic tweezers. Be sure to use non magnetic if you have this issue or you will be sending a tweeter back to be 're-ribboned'. I was shocked to find these issues after spending nearly seven grand. But they sound frickin' amazing. So, I forced myself to get over it.

My S3A's buzz a bit with certain bass notes when solo'd and somewhat loud (but not cranking). This has been discussed before (with S3A's).

I actually wasted about an hour the other day working with a distorted bass I was mixing only to realize it was the Adams that were distorting, not the bass. I almost called the label to tell them the bass was totally distorted and needed to be re tracked! That really scared me.

It sounds like the speakers themselves are just bottoming out and maybe this is their way of "complaining". At first I thought it was a mechanical vibration -maybe the plastic ports rattling against the mdf, but now I'm not sure.

Again, I have S3A's, not the X's, but it sounds like the same issue.

I'm not sure if this is solvable or not considering both of mine do it given the right note in the right key.

You generally won't hear this distortion unless you solo the bass.

S3X-H here.

I had the same problem, I was tracking with my Fender Jazz Bass, and the left speaker sounded distorted, I thought I blew one woofer, so I order a pair of spares, when they arrived, the same thing happened!

As some of you mentioned, it only happens when you solo the bass, and only with this bass, or some kick drums. Weird.

Also, sometimes A LOT of air comes out of the speakers (With Steven Slate Kicks!).

Best regards.

delcosmos.

It is a fact that S3a's do distord with some frequencies in the bass range.
I have a love and hate relationship with mines.
I love them in the midrange, voices sound so natural...
But they distord on bass.
I'm amazed that the problem wasn't solved on the new series.
I want to listen to the new Atc's...but they need a sub and it's getting quite expensive.

Yes, exactly what's going on with my speakers as well!!! It's not just all the time but with certain low freq elements -- drives me crazy with that rattle sound!!!

This seems to be a design problem. I wish ADAM would address this problem, I do know Klaus is on this forum but they've decided to not return my emails and PMs. This is not what a 6-7 grand pair of speakers should be doing.

Same here!

Only when you solo deep low-endy stuff like basses... in the beginning it was only on my left speaker... now both At least now the rattle is matched!

It would be great if Klaus or someone from Adam would at least comment on what's actually happening -if this is fixable or some aspect of the design.

I experimented a bit with high pass filter on the suspect bass just in case there were some crazy subsonic 10hz type stuff that got recorded with the track. This didn't seem to help until I raised the frequency far into the audible range.

I figured they'd have addressed this in the X's.

woah.... this is getting a bit serious seeing how many others are having the same problem.... Wonder if Michael Wagener also has this problem?

+1 to the rattle on the S3X-H. I have a Moog Little Phatty and noticed this rattle many times.

Adam shoud give all of us an explanation !

Don't hold your breath... I never heard back any time I emailed them...

That's because this is big. Really big. I fear that soon this thread will be deleted and most of us will mysteriously disappear.

same here with their subwoofer..
sent it to fix with authorized repair place and they told me that there was nothing wrong with it... still rattling with very low notes...

wow this is tough!
I use the small p11a's as nearfield and also experience this rattling with soloing bass.
I always thought - well this must be the cutoff-frequencies at and below 50Hz which can't be reproduced by those small woofers properly and thus make them rattle...

I thought a subwoofer like the sub10mk2 might help me out on this by taking those critical frequencies off the p11s...

Right now I am not too sure anymore...if this is also happening with the big ones...I mean 7000$ a pair - come on!
One can expect some proper working speakers - ADAM!!

And then at least appropriate support - not good - I hope they take it seriously and respond to this issue...

I'm having the rattling problem as well.

-- Mikko

I got to say that while in the beginning I found this flaw unacceptable, considering the cost of these monitors, I have since learned to live with it and I mix completely fine with them. I'm not saying its OK because it clearly isn't - it just doesn't render the monitor useless.

I also have a rattle issue with my left speaker on med/high levels (S3A)

I think perahps those of you that are having low end distortion issues may be because there is too much low end in the mix or instrument or your playing it way too loud with too much low . Think of it as a warning that you need to clean up that freq a bit . I have some JBL's I can tell if i have too much sub content if the speakers are moving too much compared to commercial mixes of all types , metal , hip hop , tekno . I dont hear distortionn or feel any air but the visul is enough to tell me to clean up the low end

Just play a commercial tekno mix , or rap - does that same prob happen ? or just your own material ? Also the steven Slate Kiks are great but they do have an excessive amount of low end / sub content - more than what is needed compared to standard mixes - So in the past i shave a bit off of that region .Those kiks will def get those speakers moving .

The answer is to get the S4X-H ... that's what I've done, no rattle here ! the most amazing speakers.

and you can go to town with the volume and the bottom end

Adam S3A were never loud enough for me, what you're all describing is a normal behavior when you're playing music too loud, if they still rattle at low volume than there is a problem.

Most of us if not all would love to do this if you pay for us. The real answer is to have a high end manufacturer such as Adam answering all of us !

Yeah, why should anyone expect the cheapo $7000 model to work correctly?

To get the rattle free version you have to spend $10,000.

Of course, problem solved. Thanks, mac!

Question for all of you , do you get the same rattle , low end problem when you play commercial mixes on these speakers ? or is just when working on your own stuff ?

p22a here... no rattlin but me ears!

Its just the way they deal with the sub lows... if you play at low volume no prob... regarding loudness, they are scary loud.

Its only when an instrument is solo'ed. No rattling with full mixes.

It's hard to pin down because it's only with certain notes and certain recordings. It may be there in the full mix but masked.

Ehm, I dno't know if I'm right here...

...is this the thread where someone called "mac black" or so is
giving away a bunch of S4X-Hs for free so we all will be "rattle-free"??

If so count me in heh

I would completely understand if my monitors were some cheaply made, say A7's, made in China....for 800 bucks...

but these monitors are very expensive! Made in Germany. These are considered one of ADAM's top mixing monitors!!!

C'mon, ADAM, speak up! We need help here.

Did you all start to get the rattle from day one of acquiring the monitors or is this something that has developed over a period of time?