Amateur review of the Adire Audio HE 10.1 (1 Viewer)

I recently acquired a set of Adire Audio HE 10.1s and decided to post up some of my observations on this particular DIY kit.

I would describe these speakers has having a forward and musical sound. At first I was skeptical of the ability of a 10" 2-way speaker to play well in the mid-range, especcially since most 8" two-ways I've heard had lackluster mids so I assumed a 10" would be even worse. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this design though. The mids sound natural without any anamolies that I could detect.

The most impressive aspect of these speakers was the soundstage they project. They project a very focused and realistic soundstage. Center imaging is rocksolid, I could have sworn there was sound coming out of my Paradigm center channel despite it not being hooked up.

The HE 10.1s also have a respectable amount of bass output. Good enough to keep me happy with 2-channel use but a sub wouldn't be a bad idea. The bass is tight and musical. It did exhibit a certain "paper-like" quality that I only noticed extrememly off-axis.

The highs were lively and detailed. They do seem to cut off sharply once you move off-axis but this point is pretty far out and allows a decently large sweet spot.

Thanks for reading my impressions.

Thought I'd update this a bit since I got new equipment:

Here's the new test equipment. Pioneer DV-578 Universal DVD player connected via digital coax to a Musical Fidelity X-DAC. The DAC is connected via nice DIY RCA cables to a Cambridge Audio Azur 540a stereo integreated amp and the output to the HE 10.1s is carried over standard 12 gauge speaker wire. The speakers have also had some blue-tack added to provide a better interface with the stands.


Upon upgrading my equipment I noticed the speakers sounded much better, the low-end 5.1 reciever I was using, combined with the mediocre analog outs of the Pioneer player resulted in a bottle-neck to the speakers abilities. It still sounded good, but the improvement is quite apparent.

Among the biggest improvments were musicality, highs and soundstaging. The highs sound smoother, less harsh while still coming through with excellent clarity. The soundstage is improved as well. The left to right positioning seems about the same, but now I seem to notice more subtle positioning in regards to distance behind the speakers.

Another thing I noticed was an improved "presence" for lack of a better word. I noticed it most on Eric Clapton's Unplugged Album and least on very clean studio produced albums.

Thanks for listening,
Justin