TV SaitamaProduction Workflow Excellence with S5V monitors

Shingo Saito is deputy director of the Broadcast Engineering Department’s Technical Bureau at TV Saitama.

Serving one of Tokyo’s key residential districts, TV Saitama is one of Japan’s most significant regional broadcasters. It delivers quality local news and programs focussed on the Saitama prefecture as well as unique promotional content such as “My CM”, an innovative campaign using individualised advertising.

The first time he heard ADAM Audio monitors, he knew instantly that he was listening to a special piece of audio equipment. “I had the impression that the ADAM monitors have a very high-resolution sound”, Shingo Saito recalls. “When we updated our studio, the S5V were included in the listening comparison – we found that they excelled.”

“When we updated our studio, the S5V were included in the listening comparison – we found that they excelled.”

In a broadcast environment driven by quality and efficiency pressures, mission-critical equipment like monitor speakers must fulfil an array of expectations. Mr Saito recalls that the decision to purchase the ADAM S5V main monitors was founded on its outstanding transparency and resolution. Recalling the stringent audition process, he explains that other important factors built on those excellent fundamentals. “The reproducibility of the original source and the resolution were not impaired when the playback level was changed while the stereo image and the localization of sound were good, too.” An additional factor placing it ahead of the competition was the S5V’s wide sweet spot. “When the cost-performance ratio was also taken into account, we made our decision. And now we have the S5V in our studio.”

Having since produced an array of programming and content on the new system, Mr Saito is gratified that the audition process chose a worthy winner. “The mixing work became much easier as we could hear very small details without using headphones”, he comments. Crucially, the surgical precision of the S5V lets TV Saitama produce content with better accuracy than ever before. “They enable us to hear even the most microscopic sounds, which was not possible with the previous monitors we used, so we are spotting improvement points we had missed until now.”

“They enable us to hear even the most microscopic sounds […]”

A further benefit, Mr Saito says, is the compatibility between the S5V and the headphones in wide use at his facility. “The sound translates well between the S5V and our reference headphones. That enables us to do the mixing work more efficiently.”