The Lowdown
The Hedd Type 07 A-Core is a completely analogue active monitor with a seven-inch honeycomb woofer and the company’s distinctive Air Motion Transformer ribbon tweeter. At £600 each, these German-made speakers sit in mid-to-premium territory but deliver sound quality that justifies the price. What makes them different is what they haven’t got – there’s no DSP, no apps, no software, just pure analogue circuitry for those who value simplicity and zero latency.
Don’t have our latest DJ gear guide? Click here to grab your free copy
Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
Unboxing the Type 07 A-Core, the first thing you notice is the solid build quality. These are heavier than you’d expect at nearly 10kg each, with a smooth, rounded MDF cabinet that feels premium in the hand (although prone to fingerprints). The finish is unusual for studio monitors – it’s got a soft-touch quality rather than the typical hard lacquer, and the rounded corners give it a more refined look than most speakers at this level.
The front is clean and simple. You’ve got the seven-inch driver sitting below that distinctive gold-striped Air Motion Transformer tweeter, which looks rather special. There’s a simple button at the front for standby mode, which lights up the Hedd logo, and a small red LED that warns you when you’re pushing the speaker too hard. The front port means you don’t have to worry too much about wall placement, which is always welcome.
Round the back is where you really notice the simplicity. There’s a chunky metal volume control that adjusts up or down by six-decibels – the idea of course being you set your main level on your mixer or controller. You’ve got subtle treble and bass controls for room tuning, again both offering plus or minus six decibels. Connectivity is straightforward with a combi jack that takes either XLR or TRS balanced inputs, plus RCA unbalanced with a switch to select between them. Power switch, mains socket, done. It’s all very simple compared to the menu-diving and app-fiddling you get with most modern monitors.
Setting them up takes minutes. I positioned them on stands pointing directly at my listening position, plugged in balanced TRS cables from my DJ controller, set the volume controls to match, and that was it. No software to install, no calibration microphones, no firmware updates. They were playing music within five minutes of opening the boxes.
In Use
I tested the Type 07 A-Core here in the Digital DJ Tips studio, which is fairly well treated acoustically with minimal reverb and echo. The speakers were positioned on stands attached to our work desk roughly in the middle of the room, forming an equilateral triangle with my listening position, and angled towards my ears – pretty much ideal conditions for any monitor to show what it can do.
Read this next: 5 Tips For A Great-Sounding DJ/Producer Home Studio
There’s an engaging quality to these speakers that makes you want to keep playing music through them. The bass goes surprisingly deep for a seven-inch driver – the specs claim 38Hz, and while I can’t verify that exactly, I can tell you there’s proper low-end rumble that you feel in your chest. This is in free space, not backed against a wall, which makes it even more impressive.
The Air Motion Transformer tweeter that this company and others related to Hedd (it’s complicated, but think Adam Audio & ilk) delivers detail without ever sounding harsh or fatiguing, even after hours of listening. High-frequency transients – cymbals, hi-hats, the attack of a snare drum – come through with clarity and speed. There’s a sense of air and space around sounds that you don’t always get with conventional dome tweeters. The wide dispersion means the sweet spot is more forgiving than usual, so you’re not stuck in a tiny zone where everything sounds right.
Midrange is where vocals and most instruments live, and the Type 07 handles this brilliantly. Voices sound natural and present without being pushed forward artificially. When mixing, I found it easy to judge how different elements sat in the mix, which is exactly what you need from a monitor. The honeycomb woofer clearly does its job – the mids are tight and articulate without any boxiness or colouration.
The absence of DSP means what you’re hearing is pure analogue. Some will argue this is a limitation, and if you’ve got a terrible room, digital room correction can certainly help. But in a reasonably treated space, the honest, direct sound of these speakers is refreshing. There’s zero latency – what you do on your DJ controller comes out of the speakers instantly. For scratch DJs or anyone doing performance work where timing matters, this is significant.
I tested them with everything from deep house to drum and bass, jazz to hip-hop. They handle it all with the same engaging, detailed character. At higher volumes – and these will go loud, claiming 116dB SPL per pair – they stay composed and controlled (although I did not push them anywhere near that – that red warning LED never lit up for me). The front port works well, giving you flexibility with placement. The bass and treble controls on the back are useful for room tuning – subtle enough to correct issues without dramatically changing the speaker’s character.
One thing worth noting is that these are revealing speakers. Poor recordings sound poor, which is exactly what you want from a monitor but might not be what you want if you’re just listening for pleasure. The flip side is that great recordings sound absolutely stunning, with layers of detail and texture that lesser speakers smudge together.
The analogue approach means long-term reliability should be excellent. There’s no software to stop working, no apps to become incompatible with future operating systems, no firmware that might cause issues down the line. These are an appliance – you plug them in, they work. My Technics turntables have lasted 30 years, and I’d expect similar longevity from speakers like this.
Conclusion
The Hedd Type 07 A-Core delivers exceptional sound quality in a deliberately simple, analogue package. At £1200 per pair, they’re not cheap, but the combination of that revealing Air Motion Transformer tweeter, the tight honeycomb woofer, and the solid German build quality makes them worth the money. The five-year guarantee inspires confidence, too. The sound is engaging and detailed without fatigue, with proper low-end extension that belies the seven-inch driver size.
These aren’t speakers for everyone. If you’ve got a problematic room and a limited budget for acoustic treatment, you’d probably be better off with DSP-equipped monitors that can correct issues electronically. If you want speaker emulations, room correction software, or the ability to switch between different tuning presets via an app, look elsewhere – the Hedd Type 05 or Type 07 MK2 models offer exactly that feature set with the same core components. But if you value simplicity, zero latency, and the confidence that your speakers will still work perfectly in 20 years without needing software updates, the A-Core range makes complete sense.
Learn to DJ with us: The Complete DJ Course
They’re ideal for DJs who practise and produce in reasonably treated spaces, particularly those using analogue gear or anyone who values directness and reliability over digital flexibility. The wide sweet spot from the AMT tweeter makes them forgiving for regular listening too. And of course, scratch DJs and performance-focused users will appreciate that zero-latency.
The Type 07 A-Core is a speaker that gets out of the way and lets you focus on the music. It’s revealing without harshness, powerful without colouration, and simple without compromise. These were a breath of fresh air for us against the more complex, more typical models that dominate nowadays.
