Finishing home studio with an Adam Audio A7X with Sub 10 MKII question

  • Hello. I'm just your normal "been playing forever" guy. I am not an audio engineer; I play guitar. But I'm not completely inept. I don't know how to adjust my crossovers on my sub or my monitors to work together. I have watched the videos on yt. The videos on yt are completely useless for me as they are just infomercials with regurgitated information from the outside of the box. I want to set these up correctly for the best audio. I have only found "good to my ears" advice; good for a kid, not what I am looking for. The NEW Adam Audio line is COMPLETELY made in China now; so I can't base my settings off the new models due to different internals (Adam Audio was previously made in Germany, when quality was priority). I have been running all the settings at the factory 12 o'clock on them for a couple of years now. I run all Mogami XLR for the audio setup.

    The setup is routed like this:

    Audio source from 3.5 to RCA -> RCA in Zoom L20 (set to 96kHz head room) XLR out -> XLR in Adam Audio Sub 10 MkII XLR out -> XLR in Adam Audio A7X


    If anyone can either show me how to find the information, or why they set theirs a certain way, would be appreciated.


    I play my guitar through a Friedman ASM 12, not monitors.

  • There's not much to adjust in terms of crossover. You can either engage the 85Hz Satellite Filter or not.

    1. If you have the Satellite Filter engaged (85Hz LoCut) and the Sub Filter set to 85Hz, the crossover frequency is 85Hz. The benefit of this is that your A7X get less work to do with the low frequencies and might do a better job handling the mids. Use the Sub Level knob to achieve a good balance of A7X vs. subwoofer.
    2. If you have the Satellite Filter off (FLAT), you use the full range of your A7X and the subwoofer is used to extend / augment the low end of your monitors. Use Sub Level and Sub Filter to adjust how much you want to extend / augment the overall low end response.

    General advise:

    Listen to quite a bit of recorded music of various genres to get a feel for how much subwoofer you actually need. Otherwise it's easy to add too much. You want to go for a well balanced listening experience, not an extreme techno club sub experience, haha.

  • I started at 85 and adjusted the sub level accordingly. My question (at this point) is where do I set the low and high shelf, or tweeter? The room is untreated, short of a thick rug on the floor. I have the sub set out of phase (due to location).

    A7X:

    I tried setting the high shelf back 1 click from center, and the low shelf set 2 clicks forward. The tweeter is at 12.

    Sub 10 MkII:

    180 Degree phase, -10db level, 85Hz filter


    I'm realistic in my expectations, but it sounds "off." I listen to mostly hard rock/ blues, so dialing it all in has left me confused.

  • There's not much to adjust in terms of crossover. You can either engage the 85Hz Satellite Filter or not.

    1. If you have the Satellite Filter engaged (85Hz LoCut) and the Sub Filter set to 85Hz, the crossover frequency is 85Hz. The benefit of this is that your A7X get less work to do with the low frequencies and might do a better job handling the mids. Use the Sub Level knob to achieve a good balance of A7X vs. subwoofer.
    2. If you have the Satellite Filter off (FLAT), you use the full range of your A7X and the subwoofer is used to extend / augment the low end of your monitors. Use Sub Level and Sub Filter to adjust how much you want to extend / augment the overall low end response.

    General advise:

    Listen to quite a bit of recorded music of various genres to get a feel for how much subwoofer you actually need. Otherwise it's easy to add too much. You want to go for a well balanced listening experience, not an extreme techno club sub experience, haha.

    Apologies. I meant to quote you with my response. I appreciate what you said. I'm at the "where do I go from here" moment. I am admittedly out of my depth with these; but I do need them. I want to get the best sound possible from them; but I lack the knowledge to know what to ask. I know basics; but just enough to keep things working well. I have run them at the factory settings for years. After just the above settings; I can hear a dramatic change in sound quality (in a good way). So I am here to learn whatever you have to offer. But I also want to understand why things work the way they do.

    I want to learn.

  • I have a JBL306 and sub system. I don't use the sub at all for mixing or practice because it is way overpowering. I only have the sub engaged for casual playback. EDM and 808 is where the sub shines. My crossover is at 80hz.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • The general advice here would be to do some basic treatment of your room. First reflections including a cloud, and then bass traps. Also experiment with the speaker and mixing position. This will make the biggest impact.

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
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  • The key to good sound in a room is a good mix of absorbtion and diffusion. In a completely untreated room, reflections off walls and ceiling lead to pretty severe issues like comb filtering. A typical rule of thumb ... spend as much money for sound treatment as you have paid for your speakers (and subwoofer).


    I'm willing to help but currently I'm still at work in the studio. Will follow up with some more info as soon as I can.

  • I have a JBL306 and sub system. I don't use the sub at all for mixing or practice because it is way overpowering. I only have the sub engaged for casual playback. EDM and 808 is where the sub shines. My crossover is at 80hz.

    That's where I have been trying to find a sweet spot. I listen to music of many genres, so trying to find a good balance between 75Hz-85Hz has been a challenge. I use the sub for practice; but never again with recording. MAN was that a learning lesson! Remixing all that; never again. The sub I think I have about dialed in; but not the monitor crossover.

  • The key to good sound in a room is a good mix of absorbtion and diffusion. In a completely untreated room, reflections off walls and ceiling lead to pretty severe issues like comb filtering. A typical rule of thumb ... spend as much money for sound treatment as you have paid for your speakers (and subwoofer).


    I'm willing to help but currently I'm still at work in the studio. Will follow up with some more info as soon as I can.

    That is the unfortunate truth. I'm just trying to get as close to perfect as possible (given the shortcomings). Plus, I can learn all this along the way, then apply it all in the future, vs the little I can adjust now. I just can't sit and continue to use these without setting them up properly and learning how to work it all. My logic is: The more I learn, the better everything will sound as I apply it.

  • Quote: “I don't know how to adjust my crossovers on my sub or my monitors to work together.


    Bob's a nice man and a great mastering engineer, the author of Mastering Audio the Art and the Science.

    His blog is designed to help you set up your sub and monitors without specialised equipment.

    Subwoofers - Digido.com

    That is a great article. I adjusted my sub back to zero. I will do the pink noise blend tonight. Thank you!

  • Let me give you a very simplified (yet easy to understand) example why some degree of sound treatment is key to improve the listening experience.


    Let's assume your listening (ear) position is exactly 1 meter from your speaker. Let's also assume that the same sound travels 3 meters total from speaker to side wall (reflection) and back to your ear. So the difference between direct sound and reflected sound off the wall is exactly 2 meters.


    This situation leads to the following effect:

    • The reflection of a 1kHz sine wave will hit your ear (6 wavelengths) later than the direct sound ... but "in phase". So what you hear is direct sound PLUS reflected sound.
    • The reflection of a 500Hz sound will hit your ear (3 wavelengths) later than the direct sound ... but also "in phase". So what you hear is direct sound PLUS reflected sound.
    • Problem is with 750Hz. Obviously the reflection will also hit your ear later than direct sound. But this time 4.5 wavelengths late. So it is 180° out of phase. This leads to the effect of hearing direct sound MINUS reflected sound.


    Now if you feel like you need to boost 750Hz, you need to keep in mind that by boosting 750Hz (e.g. via EQ) you also boost the reflection, not only the direct sound. Bottomline: EQ doesn't help at all to fix your issues.


    The example above is VERY simplified, but it should help you understand how important it is to manage especially first reflections (which carry the most energy). Best way to tackle these (at low cost) is acoustic foam panels in the first reflection points.


    Talking about acoustic foam:

    Thickness of the acoustic foam matters. The thicker the foam is, the lower the frequencies it can absorb properly. For example 3cm foam will only handle high frequencies down to 1kHz. If you want to make sure you can handle lower frequencies as well, 10cm foam will help down to roughly 250-300Hz. In my opinion (and experience) 10cm of foam in the first reflection points already helps massively. You will instantly hear the difference and the improvement.

  • I still need to pick up some sound deadening, but it is amazingly better. After going on a deep dive of the article and the above advice; I realize now that there aren't any "quick or generic settings" past the stock default. I had SO much to do that I didn't understand. You have to set the monitors and sub to the environment (which will always be different). Also, the sub was 20db too high. Adjusted the whole system down 30db. I adjusted the high and low shelf as well. Thank you all so much! I hope to be able to help some people as well.

  • I will be using this. Thank you!

  • Just incase you wonder how to find these "first reflection points" or "first mirror points", here's a picture I found on the interwebz that might help. On top of that you can also imagine mirrors on the walls and ceiling. When you sit in your listening position, these points are where you would see your speakers in the mirror. A commonly used size of the acoustic foam absorbers is 50cm x 100cm (20" x 40").


    https://www.powerestudio.com/w…st-reflection-in-room.png

  • I think the battle for honest low end is always a compromise. (not sure what honest low end is, but whatever.. hah)


    Imo lightbox advice is spot on. If the room has no other specific treatments, you'll see instant and dramatic audible improvements by hitting the reflection points, but low end will still be a wayward beast, especially at any kind of volume.


    Typically the cross over point of your existing speakers/new subwoofer is less important than the room response to low end. Bass traps are surely going to come up, but man they need to be big to work well. The online home theater crowd is an excellent resource for that stuff. Seriously, they are the biggest nerdiest cashed up subwoofer integration dorks you'll ever meet. Its a rabbit hole though.


    In short. Imo, keep the volume moderate, listen for what your existing speakers are missing, then very gently add your sub. Does the sub even help? It might, and it might not..

  • Just incase you wonder how to find these "first reflection points" or "first mirror points", here's a picture I found on the interwebz that might help. On top of that you can also imagine mirrors on the walls and ceiling. When you sit in your listening position, these points are where you would see your speakers in the mirror. A commonly used size of the acoustic foam absorbers is 50cm x 100cm (20" x 40").


    https://www.powerestudio.com/w…st-reflection-in-room.png

    I have that one down. After the adjustments, I had some friends sit and try it out. The sound is so much better. I may use these specific to mixing and listening, and use a pair of S1's for practice. Starting off the day great! I appreciate all of this information; truly.

  • I will do that today. The more challenging part will be the satellites. I can't wait! As for rabbit holes; that's what we are doing now, just without the ads and other nonsense that get's in the way. Generally speaking; I've found everyone (I have actually talked here) to be helpful and knowledgeable, relative to anything I have inquired about. A bit "basic" to you all, but I also discovered that I have to set my audio source volume on a device (plugged in for practice to my mixer), and use the mixer volumes vs the audio source (iPad, phone, etc). Using the device volume raised the high, med, and low separately. I set the volume to around half on my device, and put the volume at 0db on the master track. I am hearing so much more now. I can't help but be excited.