I liked O300D, but yes I'm biased and like S3A more. What's wrong with that? O300D is very very nice monitor no doubt, I take S3A over it and you take KH over ADAM, that's fine with me.

About the highs on KH. It is just what I was told, don't throw rocks on me... He's quite expirienced, but he has also to listen to unexpirienced clients and let them burn time to time when they stubornly insist on doing certain things and this is what happened to him more than once with KH. Just a facts, no pissing contest... he's very very happy about KH btw.

This is one that confuses me greatly. How something that colors midrange in such non-subtle way can translate well? It makes aprox 300-1200Hz range brighter than it really is. Maybe that's what we percieve as the midrange detail? An equivalent to "unsharp mask" in the photoshop?

The truth is, you don't hear the distortion 95% of time when mixing fullrange modern music. But once you work with solo piano or something like that, then there it is in its full glory. And yes it makes you uncertain if the distortion is really in the recording or it is the speakers. Fortunately most of my work is not in a pure acoustic music.

Hi,

I played and measured your test signal and have to state that I observed THD levels around 1 % at 400 Hz and 800 Hz in the S3A that were lower with other models. So however you judge that: it is in the woofer-midrange unit for sure.

It translates to a somewhat more bell-like sound, similar to a transientdesigner thing perhaps . Itried the new Bach: Goldberg Variations recording of Perahia to find out about the pianosound differences and cannot find them especially irritating for the overall impression.

greetings

Could you test your Bach CD with a lowpass at 2 kHz and a bell boost between 800-2000 Hz ?

Hi Klaus,
This distortion or vibration, very specific to the S3A, is trigged by a special part of the audio spectrum and lives in an other part,
so it's more easy to hear it with an EQ on the source.

You may try this file, just a few chords on a Shimmel with a drastic EQ, no clipping.

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

In advance thank you very much.

When I lower my test tone down one octave. I can't hear the distortion then. It really is very specific, normally you get more distortion from the bass, but here it seems to rise when you get near the crossover from the bottom, the tweeter side is clean again.

Now about the directionality. With this pure signal, I found the intenzity of buzzing from the distortion varies as I move around. There is a spot where it is loud and clear and where it is more subdued. Maybe that's because of comb filtering. With more fullrange sounds this is more evenly distributed around the "sweetspot" ;-).

Maybe some S3A doesn't exhibit such a behaviour and maybe they are the ones you, mr. Heinz, have in your lab. If it was easier to get to Berlin for me, I'd be there to try it with you. Maybe one day.

I feel there is no easy solution for this. Maybe we all are just waiting until someone sends their distorting pair over to ADAM for inspection (any volunteers? ). Until then we can exchange some words, but it doesn't sees to lead anywhere at this point.

Hi
I just wanted to add that I also have this problem with distortion on my S3A's.
They don't like piano at all.
It would be great to find a solution.

Well, aren't we seven now ?

I discovered that when i recorded a real piano, never had a problem before !
perhaps a few doubts sometimes when i "soloed" a pad track.

well finaly... you got me to the point to decide for the O300

i'll get the Adam A7 as alternative monitor, sicne i read many good reviews of it.. i think it'll be a nice combo, what you think?

IMHO this is one of the best combination possible. A7 for mids and O300 for balance, general picture, highs, lows, vibe and voice.

i agree, very nice combination indeed

Hi Klaus

Any news?

hi there ...... was keen to see if there was a conclusion to this thread ..... i've also been troubled recently by distorting piano in my s3a's ........

any official finding from ADAM ?

would love to get this fixed

ciao

g

Yeah, it seems that it's kind of blowing in the wind right now...

It would be appropriate for ADAM to find a solution and offer it to it's customers. I see this distortion as a major flaw. (But still love my S3A highly )

Funny, I had this exact problem with my Genele 1030s. Piano distortion that was very obvious, but not on full range material. My S3As do not have this problem. Must be very frustrating.

The sample plays fine on my S3-A's. No distortion, any tonal irregularity or harshness is also similarly apparent on my LSR28's.

-R

Well they didn't stop doing it. Luckily I have a lot of work now, so (unfortunately) I'm still unable to send them for checking.

Interesting thread. I have to chime in to say that I have been in a funk for the last week due to a piano track that has been distorting on my B&W M805s. No disto on my office Yamaha M5s or my Beyer DT880s

I feel strangely better that I'm not alone

The test wav's that have been posted also buzz.

Piano seems to be the ultimate test for speakers.....

I'm about to test a sub with my s3a's, not because I'm missing lows but in order to put less stress on the ampifiers(which may be the cause of the distortion).

Anyone already tried this?

I work with an Adam Sub from the beginning with S3As and i am afraid that it doesn't change anything. i suspect rather a mechanical vibrating thing.

hi guys,

i'm a new guy here, i have been reading but never posted anything.


I have a pair of s3a's and i got no distorsion playing that piano sample.

Just listen to sine waves between 30 and 300 Hz, you'll hear the distortion very clear.

You're supposed to hear a single pure tone and what comes out of the S3a's is quite...weird.

I can hear distortion very clear on my Focal Solo 6 Be

Headphones Sennheiser HD580.....distorted
HD280Pro....distorted


this is something strange.... I do not understand where the problem is

Maybe the problem of the very best monitors..... more distortion the better detail