AVI ADM40 loudspeakers

The AVI ADM40 speakers are active digital floorstanding speakers available in a range of finishes including real wood veneers.

It has been obvious for a long time that there is a worthwhile demand for a slightly larger and more versatile floor standing version of the ADM9Ts, but since these would have to be more expensive, we were determined, if we produced them, that they should offer significantly better performance. However, in the event, it has been so difficult to improve on ADM9s that we've spent a couple of years working on ADM40s. The exercise has taught us a lot and finally we've produced what may well be the finest sounding speakers money can buy. They compare with the best headphones for smoothness and clarity, but have the advantage that speakers have, of a lovely deep and wide stereo image.

Without the price constraints of ADM9Ts, we've been able to design completely new floor standers that provide more inputs, a digital display, more bass and improved sound quality.

ADM9s have almost certainly redefined Hi Fi, they've made expensive traditional separates redundant and given others a blueprint for the future and yet clones are only beginning to appear now, a full five years after they first appeared. AVI is an innovator and was the first British company to stop production of CD players in June 2006. We predicted the end of hi fi separates then.

Description

ADM40s comprise of an elegant, slim and comparatively small floor standing two ways measuring 90H x 21W x 31.5D. Small is crucial to good sound because the size of the box dictates how it radiates from it and also how it impacts on the acoustics of a room. Different boxes sound different and small is preferred because dispersion is better and cabinet reflections are less obvious.

There are four optical digital and two analogue inputs, a digital display and outputs for one or two Subs.

In the old days, passive three way speakers were regarded as the best that could be done, but we know now that even the tweeter/mid crossover is very intrusive and that the bass/mid, in our opinion unacceptably so. Therefore Active two ways are more pleasant to listen to and a different approach is necessary to get the benefits of three way without the irritating distortions.

The ADM40s have been designed as a full range two way with a -6dB point of 40Hz, or to be switchable to a full three way, crossing over to a Sub (or two if required) at 100Hz. This extends LF output to well below 30Hz and gives greater mid range clarity and more dynamic range because driver excursion is considerably reduced. A full, active, 2nd order crossover at 100Hz has been built into the ADM40s which has to be extremely accurate because phase errors can amount to a metre or more! However our ears aren't very sensitive at such a low frequency, so unlike a big old three way, we don't hear it provided its done properly. This means that the internal AVI SUB filters are not used and that ADM40s, unlike ADM9Ts are connected to the LFE input.

Electronics

We've designed new electronics for the ADM40s and these give four optical digital inputs and two analogue. There is a discrete digital display that indicates volume, sub level, input selected and mute.

Drive units

The weakest link in any speaker is its drivers and because good actives sound better than passives by losing the sound of the crossover, it becomes more important to find the very best possible. We already have them in the ADM9Ts, or we thought we had, but after a considerable amount of evaluation we've found better, albeit at far greater cost. Scanspeaks normally appear in ludicrously expensive hi end speakers, which is not necessarily a good reason to choose them, but these are special, they have 50% more linear travel and the cleanest mid we've ever seen. Their tweeter is too, is the most beautifully transparent, smooth and detailed we've ever heard.