Another thing too, if you buy a pair of Adam A5x’s used at $500 and sell your adcom gear for $250, you’re only in it for $250. Powered monitors are going to clean up the look at volume controls easily accessible on the speakers might be a plus over the adcoms.
Some swans or edifiers might be a consideration as well but
Adams are definitely the real deal though. You need to know that with these powered speakers you are getting 4 amps, so think of it as dual mono blocks. Each driver has its own amplifier, picked out but they speaker designer to perfectly pair with the speaker that they designed. Also, they don’t have conventional crossovers. The crossovers are all handled in the digitail domain. |
The vanatoo’s punch way above their weight, er, size. Really dynamic for their size.
I was going to mention the Audioengine A2+ as well. I have the the B2 which is 2 A2+ smashed together into one unit. I also use an audioquest red dragonfly and jitterbug to go wired. Def a noticeable difference between that and bluetooth.
The red is sexy for sure!
TMR has the bigger brotherIn white, the A5+ for $310...
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This thread ties in with my diminishing returns thread... it just goes to show how awesome of a set-up you can get for very little $ and how many choices are out there.
My buddy has the Adam T5v and they are awesome! His $800 setup (acoustic panels, isoacoustics, dac) sounds waay too close to my $4000 set up
You might as well add emotiva B1+, wharfedale 225 and Elac Debut 2.0 b6.2 as well.
Theres going to be a difference between something like the adam A5x and the Audioengines. The Adams will rock the house, the Audioengines, especially the A2+ really aren’t
I think you’d be pretty surprised with something like the Adams. They probably sound better than your adcom gear with some dreamcatchers. I love totems too, bu the way. There is a pair of rainmakers for $400 somewhere I saw.
Your adcom gear paired with elacs, or the wharfedales in nearfield will sound so good you might feel a little bad about your main rig. |
Fyi, they are 10x7x11. Same as the Paradigm Atoms but 2” deeper |
The Elacs and Wharfedales are great; I mentioned them.
I’ve seen them for sale Used so your argument doesn’t hold up |
@zdac... 1 post? I’m lol at a “home max” speaker ever making anyone feel foolish about an LS50w purchase...
I almost fell out my chair I was laughing so hard. Oh man. Thanks for that! That was a good one 😂 |
Zdac, still not sold. Looks like a lifestyle product with voice command. My 15 year old nephew who is Apple and Alexa fan boy would buy it.
For $400 if I was looking for something like that, I’d buy a Peachtree Deepblue.
Have you heard a Deepblue? |
If you aren’t rocking the office walls down, the A2+ should work just fine. They are tiny little guys so the size may be appealing and the red ones are pretty neat looking. Theyhave a nice tone but are rolled off on the highs.
The Adam T5V is twice the speaker, but twice the price! You could buy either new and if you don’t like them return them! The adams are much larger.
Adam T5V
11x7x11
45hz-25khz
5”woofer
Audioengine A2+
4x6x5.2
65hz-22khz
2.75” woofer
You’ll want the angles stands for the A2+ and those are around $35 so take that into consideration!
Think of the A2 as a pretty good sounding computer speaker. Like those plasticky altec lansing or cambridge audio computer speakers that you would see pretty much anywhere. Like the ones you see on craigslist for $10. The A2+ competes with those but the A2+ is prettier and has more solid bass and better tone.
The Adam T5V is a speaker that someone would use next to a computer for music production. The Adam T5V is going to have a much more extended low end and and high end and the AMT tweeter is going to offer much more detail. The Adams are real speakers.
I’m not bashing the A2+; I have the B2 which is a pair of A2+’s connected together without the dac. I paid $125 for one from Audioengine and it was refurbished.
If I were to buy the A2+ And the stands that would be $300 ish. Since the Adam T5V is $400 and within your budget, I’d go for the T5V for sure. The T5V will walk all over the A2+ soundwise.
The A2+ has a dac you won’t use, a conventional crossover and a single A/b amp outputting 30watts per channel.
The Adam T5V doesn’t have a dac, it’s crossover is handled via dsp (done in the digital domain) and uses 2 class D amps per speaker For a total of 4 amplifiers outputting 50 watts to the woofer and 20 watts to the AMT tweeter; 70 watts per channel.
The A2 is a cute lifestyle product that sounds decent. The Adam A5V is a decent looking speaker that sounds really good.
You’ve got to weigh which is more important for you in your application! 100% looks with 50% sound or 100% sound with 50% looks 😁 |
I’ve heard Vanatoos multiple times and was impressed every time. Every one who heard them at the shows were really impressed too. They do sound good, have ridiculous bass and play loud. The vanatoo would also smash A2+’s.
Remember, I bought the B2 so I’m not trying to say they are crap, they just aren’t in ghe same league at all
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Zdac,
I have heard the LS50w’s properly set-up and they are downright amazing. They compete with many of the dozens of high end speakers I have owned. I’ve owned LS50w’s.
I have never once heard, or heard about the speakers that you mentioned. I find it strange though that you only have 2 posts... do you work for the company or you are just a satisfied customer wanting to share your experience? I will look into them a bit more. I do hate when someone makes remarks about something they haven’t heard, and thrn I go and do it 🤷🏼 |
@hilde, I’ll sell you my Rosenut Kef R100’s for $500... I’ll even let you take them home and demo them. If you love them, shoot me the $ via friends and family pay pal. If you don’t love them, which you probably will, just ship them back to me. I had decided that I was going to hang on to them for awhile because they sound fantastic but the stars aligned and I’m buying some Carreras. I have the original boxes and screens.
What do you guys think? Kef R100’s with Adcom 535, Adcom Pre, Choice of Audio Engine Dac or Peachtree Dac...
I’ll even throw in some $300 Signal Cable Silver Resolution cables (one side has bananas, Other end is bare) to sweeten the deal... |
The Triangle Borea BR02 is $450... they are getting great reviews. Check them out too. |
Hilde45, at 3 feet I’d look for concentric designs. Something with the tweeter in the middle of the bass driver. The Tannoys are a good suggestion but at $700 are out of your budget.
I think you have the Adcom 535 correct? I’ve owned the 535, 545, and 555. The 535 is the sweetest, least harsh sounding of them all! Mine ended up in the trash can because I accidentally touch the speaker wire leads together while the amp was on. Be careful and never do that as there is no built in protection!
So, with that all in mind, a pair of Kef 100’s might work well being that they are front ported and ghat the driver sits high up in the cabinet so on a desk they’d be close to ear level. You can find them used in the $250 range + $50 shipping. Another option would be the Kef X300A for $399 + $50 shipping. Theres a white pair for sale here on the Gon right now. Nice thing about the X300A Is that they are active and have an onboard dac so the set-up would have a nice clean look on your desk!
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Is size of concern? Where will you place them? Whats your source going to be? |
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@chrshanl37 , great suggestion 👍 |
LoL, there nice little speakers my Man! The concentric design is great for near field since you don’t have to be back a certain distance for the drivers to integrate; they’re already perfectly integrated as they are a point source. They image well even off axis and they play plenty loud.
The reference series is a step up from the entry level “q” series.
If you like rosewood (which I do) they are awfully pretty speakers.
They come with grills which on the Q series are optional, not that you want to cover up those beautiful drivers.
They sound fantastic and I was planning on keeping them as my main speakers but things came together that allowed me to get some Carrera BE’s
I already got a quote for $220 for the pair, to upgrade the entire crossovers with brand new, completely assembled crossovers, using Clarity CSA caps and Solen and Goertz inductors with Mundorf Film resistors on the tweeter. Thats from madisound and it would be a plug and play upgrade.
They had an original msrp of $1200...
what more could you possibly want for $425??
Original boxes, styrofoam packaging, original literature? Got it!
I’ve even got a bow I’ll put on the box, no joke!
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@kren0006,how do you think the Q150’s compare to the R100’s? |
@kren0006, I was pretty impressed with the R100’s so I was curious about the Q150’s as well. I may have to give those, or the q350’s a try someday as well. The Q150’s seem to get good reviews.
Bummer about the SA-1’s. I would have thought that those would have been awesome as well 🤷🏼 |
