New York, New York
So good they named it twice.
In a way the same goes for Alta speakers – we've been saying the name repeatedly here for weeks.
And if you didn't know, Alta are based in New York of course.
About the Adam
To our amazement the Adam takes the brilliant performance of the Alyssa and Alec and just adds more of everything. It's a bigger speaker of course, and the fundamental change is that the Adam goes to a three-way design. This enables more separation of the frequency bands, with the precious midband now served by a dedicated driver.
The bigger cabinet also allows a bigger dual transmission line/port arrangement of the Alta Audio XTL concept. This extends the bass even further down but also increases the control over the driver, thus further improving bass resolution. It is fascinating to see how little the bass driver travels whilst producing serious bass and Alta puts this down to the transmission line element of the design.
The seamless driver integration is excellent too, with things smoothly transitioning up to the impressive pure aluminium ribbon tweeter. The timing, coherence and transparency overall throws an incredible musical performance all around you. This is a serious loudspeaker in every respect – but fundamentally, in musical terms – you just can't stop listening to it.
Tech Insight
The cabinet is an extremely important element of the Adam's design. As a speaker gets larger, with more drivers and more bass output, it becomes essential to keep the cabinet's resonances and colouration under even more control. Alta's 'Damphard', construction is said to be a multi-layered, multi-density arrangement that very effectively self-damps vibration and removes any specific sonic character that might be caused by using only a single material (with a single density).
Matching & Setup
The Adam's sensitivity figures show that these speakers are not a difficult load, though the 4 Ohm impedance should be kept in mind. A good 50W valve amp using the 4 Ohm taps, or a good solid state that can do 100W into 4 Ohms is a sensible starting point.
As a speaker becomes more capable in terms of its frequency range on one hand, and its resolution and imaging capabilities on the other, it demands more of the setup procedure to realise its true capabilities. The Adam is probably better suited to medium to large rooms where it can be allowed to breathe (bearing in mind its bass output). Then, very accurate positioning adjustment will be needed to balance up its frequency response and dial in its fine imaging capabilities. Good system infrastructure will pay dividends too, particularly with resonance reducing equipment supports – something that is almost mandatory with the amount of energy flying about when the Adams are doing their thing.
Specifications
Sensitivity
91.5 dB / 2.83 Volts @ 1 Meter
Impedance
4 Ohms
Frequency Response
20Hz to 47kHz
Power Requirements
50 to 300 Watts per channel
Height
41 inches
Width
8.5 inches at top, 15 inches at bottom
Depth
14 inches at top, 18 inches at bottom
Weight
96lbs