Rumski Forum - Adam a7x port noise (zapravo cijela AX serija)

bio sam dosta zatrolo adamov facebook page jer sam htio odgovore, i christopher iz adama mi je napiso sljedece:

"Hi Dvapsa,

Thank you very much for your extensive research, involvement, and feedback. Straight to the point: We will not change the A5X.

In your many posts you are talking about many different things. As far as I can see, there are two-diffe...rent but equally important-main aspects in your statements: On the one hand you are talking about the port noise issue. On the other hand you accuse ADAM Audio of not caring for its customers. Even more, you accuse us of intentionally dismissing/evading complaints and/or criticism. I would like to address both aspects in detail, hoping that this helps to clarify the situation.

1.) The ‘Port Noise’ Issue.

This topic has been discussed at length and I have frequently commented on it, answered questions, and made several announcements. It can all be found in recent posts. So, most of what I can reply with regards to this topic has been said before. However, this might be a good occasion to sum it all up.

What a few people (you being amongst them) describe as a ‘flaw’ is the flip side of what most people see as an outstanding feature of the AX models, and that is the bass performance. Since the AX models show considerable more bass response than most other models of similar dimensions, they are more prone to ‘port noise’. Port noise is something that necessarily comes with bass reflex design. The question is not: is there any port noise, but: is there too much port noise.

When we got aware of the discussions about this issue, we immediately reacted. We sought contact to those who took part in this discussion and started extensive research. We have tested and retested all AX models (as well as many bass reflex speakers from our esteemed competitors) to come up with objective data allowing us to assess the issue at stake and, if necessary, find with a solution.

Our findings in a nutshell:

A) Customer’s Feedback
Aa) The centre of the discussion initially took place on online forums. About 20-30 people participated, about half of them wrote quite a few posts in a long-ish period of time. Most of the people saying they haven’t experienced any problems with regards to low end performance were either dismissed or did not get any reactions. The discussion/language was partly pretty fierce.
Ab) We received a few (a very few) emails, partly referring to those threads.
Ac) The statements are NOT conclusive. The descriptions vary. Of those rather few who experience irregularities in the low end response, some only experience it when they use very heavy bass music or certain sine sweeps, others experience it even with ‘normal’ music at ‘normal’ levels.
Ad) We started to ask more people, specialists, and reviewers. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive-as were and are the reviews we get worldwide.

B) Speaker Tests
Ba) None of the speakers (incl. those by other brands) was/is completely free of ‘port noise’;
Bb) the AX models show, relative to their dimensions, a bass performance that is amongst the very best, if not the best, therefore they are more prone to port noise than some others;
Bc) that the two bigger models, the A7X and A8X show port noise to an extend, that can be considered critical if the speaker is being used in certain (rare) ways.

These were and are the facts. Now, we faced the need to make decisions. After many talks, discussions, and meetings, one thing became very clear: Despite the fact that we get one outstanding review after the other, that the products are praised and sold in great numbers, despite the fact that the percentage of those having an issue with their speakers is very small, we have to stick to our main maxim. You cannot achieve it but you can strive for it: Our goal is nothing less than 100% customer satisfaction. Sound’s like a meaningless phrase? Maybe. However, it is true.

To make the rest of the long story short: So, we started to look for a solution for those two models. It took some time and quite some assets, but we’ve found a solution. We needed more time to realize and implement it, but the result was/is: Every A7X/A8X user who did experience this ‘port noise’ and contacts us via our support will get a free retrofitting. Also, we will implement this in the manufacturing process as soon as possible.

2. My Replies/ADAM Support

We've got your opinions regarding the A5X performance when we came into the office yesterday morning. I also read James S1X-post and decided to answer the latter right away because this reply would not take too long-agreement usually is simple. Before, on the other hand, answering your post I wanted to not only discuss it with our technical department, I also wanted to – again! – take a pair of A5Xs and see if I can somehow back your findings. In a word: I wanted to take the time to do the research needed for a clear and substantiated answer.

In the meantime, you added more posts, complaining about our “approach to problems” in general. Here's our response to that.

2.1. We have reacted very fast and continuously, even on online forums, contrary to our belief that as a manufacturer we shouldn’t. Let’s be clear about it: those forums are PUBLIC and not an ADAM group or alike. These forums are intended for people who want to exchange information and discuss certain topics amongst each other. Public forums are NOT marketing channels for manufacturers. Yes, we are aware that some other companies use it this way; that there are people hired to spread certain opinions; etc. We think this is wrong and will be bad for all of us in the long run. Whoever wants to go public has a wealth of possibilities to do so; whoever wants to contact us also has several options. To post something somewhere online and to expect a company to react to this shows a fundamental misconception of what forums are for, what purpose they serve.

2.2. What is true and what we can be blamed on us is the fact that it happened several times that our reaction time concerning emails was to slow. We have internally reorganized responsibilities for our email accounts, trying to guarantee a reply within 24 hours after we have received the email (with the obvious exceptions like week ends, holidays, etc.).

2.3. We are much more present in Social Media, mainly on Twitter and this great Facebook group. If you would actually bother to check, you will find that every post, comment, statement addressed to us is being answered promptly, usually on the very same day or even within hours, disregarding the nature of the statement or query.

2.4. As for the port noise issue: it’s all there. We had to take the time the whole process simply had to take, but we did react and we did communicate this.

2.5. Every accusation like yours that we would not react to complaints, that we would try to evade negative feedback, that we would not care about our customers, or-more specifically- that we would refuse to deal with the ‘port noise’ issue is simply FALSE. This is not a matter of opinion but of facts. Obviously, you still can hold the opinion that the way we communicated this was not adequate or did not satisfy you. But generalizations like 'ADAM doesn't care' are misled and misleading.

To sum up: With the AX series, we have introduced four new models to the market that are in many people’s view the new benchmark in sound quality within their price range. When the discussion about port noise came up, we reacted instantly because we do take discussions like this one very serious. Let me finish by quoting from an email about this matter we got very recently: “I thank you guys for acknowledging the problem, not so typical these days. Great speakers and a great company!” I think this gentleman understood what we are trying to do and how we are trying to distinguish ourselves.

Best regards,

Christian"

ko i obicno, puno prica a malo kaze. a ovo sta veli da a5x nema taj problem je cista laž. isto se cuje ko na a7x