Adam Audio’s D3V is a small room hi-fi system for €329

Adam Audio has this week announced the D3V desktop audio system: a pair of small two-way active loudspeakers in which a 1.5″ AMT tweeter (that the German company calls ‘D-ART’) hands off to a 3.5″ long-throw mid/bass driver which in turn is augmented by a pair of 3.5″ side-firing passive radiators. According to Adam Audio, bass on the D3V reaches down to a respectable 48Hz (-3db).

The crossover is executed in DSP. So too are the user-switchable EQ dip-switch settings, designed to partially compensate for corner, wall and desktop placement as well as (more questionably) one’s level of room treatment. A reminder: DSP can do nothing to compensate for a room’s reverb problems.

Being an active design, we get one amplifier per driver: 70 Watts RMS for the mid/bass drivers, 30 Watts RMS for the tweeters. Only the primary loudspeaker needs to see wall power. The four amplifiers are all housed inside the primary loudspeaker which hands off an amplified signal to the secondary loudspeaker over the (supplied) 4-pole 2m interlink.

Connectivity is better than expected for an active monitor of this size. Alongside the 48kHz-digitised analogue inputs on the back of the primary loudspeaker—a pair of balanced TRS sockets—we find a USB-C input that talks directly to the internal DSP and DAC. That’s useful when desktop real estate is tight. On the front panel of the primary speaker, we find a multi-function volume control and a 3.5mm headphone socket.

The in-built desktop stands allow the D3V to be tilted backwards according to preference but they can be detached to make way for floorstands screwing into the 3/8″ holes on the underside of each speaker. This nudges us away from the desktop and into smaller listening rooms. Simply add a PC, Mac, Pi or iPad as a digital source – or a turntable and phono stage as analogue equivalent – and you’re off to the races.

Not a bad deal for £290 or €329 per pair. Your choice of black or white. Shipping starts in mid-November.

Further information: Adam Audio

Specifications…

• 3.5″ aluminum mid/bass + 1.5″ D-ART ribbon tweeter
• Amplifier power: 2x 80 Watt Peak (2x 70 Watt RMS) woofer, 2x 40 Watt Peak (2x 30 Watt RMS) tweeter
• double-sided passive radiators to amplify the lower frequencies and increase the sound pressure
• max. SPL: 96 dB
• Frequency range: 48 Hz – 22,600 Hz (@ -3 dB), 45 Hz – 23,200 Hz (@ -6 dB)
• USB-C Plug & Play for direct connection to a computer, smartphone or tablet with USB-C port
• integrated AD converter: 24 bit / 32, 44.1, 48 kHz
• DSP-based room adaptation
• volume control
• 3/8″ thread for mounting on microphone stands
• 2 line inputs: 6.3 mm jack
• Stereo headphone output: 3.5 mm mini jack
• USB-C
• power supply connection
• Dimensions without stand (H x W x D): 200 x 115 x 150 mm
• Weight: 1.85 kg left speaker, 1.73 kg right speaker
• incl. desktop / monitor stand, 2 meter link cable, USB-C to USB-C cable and USB-C to USB-A cable