ADAM S3X-H owners: does yours rattle?

[Hypnotik]

What about S2X owners ? I think i got the same rattle problem with a dominant around 50-55hz....Should i contact Adam ?

[ARIEL]

I sometimes get a bit of the rattle issue when I have too much low end happening on my mixes , With either my JBL's or yamaha MSP 5's . For me it is an indication I have too much low end content either in the Kick drum or Bass . I use it as a warning to clean it up a bit in that region . Do you find you get the rattle in your S2x's when you playback your fav mixes ? Or just when mixing ?

[Hypnotik]

thanks for your input Ariel

i got some port noise especially when i'm mixing kick and/or bass solo'ed. It's not too much but kinda annoying when you're looking for the tight bass sound :(

it's the same 'port' between s3x and s2x, i think the problem can be correlated to both series.

btw i love my s2x when listening full mixes!

[GiLindo]

Originally Posted by Mixing Suite

From what I understand, the S3X-H's are now being shipped with the new style flange/port. Here's a picture of the old and new flange/port.

Observing the first photo your port was blocked by the damping material.
I did just change my pair of S3X-V for this problem.
A few days ago I received, in return for the second couple that has never had a problem with rattle or port noise, a third pair with new reflex ports (identical to that of the second photo).
Now I have both and I am waiting, after a burning period, to return the "worst" ...

[relaxo]

I got the new retrofitted curved ports installed in my S3X-H and they have had a huge improvement in reducing the infamous ADAM S3X-H low frequency port noise.

[Metal_Duc]

Hi there,

Just to make one's contribution, I recently get my S3X-V retrofited, and it's really working well. No more rattling ! (and an impression of a clearer low frequencies)

Adam Audio sent me a carrier the next day after our conversation. They did what they had to do and sent my s3x-v back. The only thing i could say is that it was too long; almost 2 weeks and a half (I'm in france and the s3x-v were sent to Germany...).

I strongly recommand to S3X owners (built before summer 2011) to do the operation !(you can contact Adam and they will tell you (if you are not sure) with the serial of your monitors if it's necessary).

[hbj]

Do they all rattle? Is it a global defect, or just some of them?

[Hypnotik]

same thing there with my s2x i've contacted Adam about this rattling thing, because it's alo happening on s2x series....now i've sent back my speakers to Adam and i'm waiting for the updated "port", i'll you know...

[John T]

Glad my new ones don't rattle!

[brad22589]

I was tracking at Blackbird in Nashville for a couple weeks in January. While we were there, we decided to use ADAM A7X's as our big midfields, as they sounded FANTASTIC. Very natural!! However, we went through at least 5 speakers... I lost count. Luckily Blackbird had many replacements ready to go. They would start out not rattling, and then one of us would notice it on a kick drum hit or when the bass was soloed a few hours later. Blackbird's tech actually opened up all the cabinets that we heard rattles in and showed me... An entire piece of MDF that was running side to side was unglued from the sides and bottom of every enclosure!

IMHO if a speaker can't handle certain frequencies at certain SPL it shouldn't be forced to generate those! I don't know anything about speaker design, but can't they use a crossover to do a HPF or something? Plus glue just seems like a bad idea to me anyhow...

Have any of you guys opened up your S3X enclosures? I'd be curious if anyone else found the glue an issue.

[GiLindo]

Originally Posted by Metal_Duc

I strongly recommand to S3X owners (built before summer 2011) to do the operation !(you can contact Adam and they will tell you (if you are not sure) with the serial of your monitors if it's necessary).

My new my S3X-V have the same problems as old speakers.
No improvement... Shit...

[ECM]

Originally Posted by GiLindo

My new my S3X-V have the same problems as old speakers.
No improvement... Shit...

Should be okay on new monitors, maybe they old stock?

[Petrus]

Originally Posted by brad22589

I was tracking at Blackbird in Nashville for a couple weeks in January. While we were there, we decided to use ADAM A7X's as our big midfields, as they sounded FANTASTIC. Very natural!! However, we went through at least 5 speakers... I lost count. Luckily Blackbird had many replacements ready to go. They would start out not rattling, and then one of us would notice it on a kick drum hit or when the bass was soloed a few hours later. Blackbird's tech actually opened up all the cabinets that we heard rattles in and showed me... An entire piece of MDF that was running side to side was unglued from the sides and bottom of every enclosure!

ADAM is an enigma to me. Many models sound extremely good (I have or have had A7, A8X and S3A), but the overall design is in many ways sloppy and build quality downright bad compared to many "serious" brands which are more or less faultless. Maybe some of their models just turned out better than expected (A7 and S3A come to mind) for the price, creating nice hype, which in turn brought new professional customers, who are much more critical than the "Behringer crowd". Making a monitor with reflex ports too small in the first place is an idiotic mistake. A truly professional company would not make that decision just to make the box more compact.

[Pranay]

Picked up my S3X-H's today. Only 1 question that is not stated in the manual. Does it matter which one is left and which is right? It doesn't say on the back or in the manual.
Thanks

[jamwerks]

Originally Posted by Pranay

Does it matter which one is left and which is right?

No

[GiLindo]

Originally Posted by ECM

Should be okay on new monitors, maybe they old stock?

No, they are new series (You can see the different grid on the back).

I'm thinking of using a sub to cut the frequencies under 80Hz

[GiLindo]

Originally Posted by Petrus

ADAM is an enigma to me.

+1

[Mixing Suite]

+2

[GiLindo]

+3

[shelterr]

Anyone looking for an update on the port noise issue, my S3X-H's are completely fine. They have ZERO rattle and output tons of awesome bass. Couldn't be happier with my speaker purchase.

[delcosmos]

The build quality is great, no doubt about it.

The failure of the S3X-H IMHO lives in the design and their poor tech support (and P.R.).

[buffert]

How ADAM Tensor Alpha/Beta compare with S5X/S6X in term of sonic performance?

Is it same leauge?

[GiLindo]

You can adjust the reflex, pulling out the tube of about 2 cm