My system is getting worse - now what?

One of the great advances of the last 20 years has been the almost complete disappearance of the graphic equalizer. They were a sort of obligatory accessory for one make systems and I have never heard a system that didn't sound better without them. A really effective equalizer is a very costly proposition and the home models fell far short. Some of the 555s were quite good but I believe that they were made in at least 3 different factories so it is hard to tell if you have one of the better ones. Al gives you some very good advice.

ADS L810's are a classic. The soft dome midrange made them popular. I believe Telarc used ADS in their studio before they switched to ATC - although I don't recall the model. An option might be an old pair of JBL 4435's but if you get them for around $1000 you might expect to have to do some work on them (bumoed up and reconing needed). They have mylar caps in the x-over which also need changing to polypropelene or other suitable higher quality cap. They would certainly rock out and could take everything you throw at them. A newer option might be a used pair of ATC SCM 40 - these also play loud despite they are a small speaker.

Al,

I have removed the grills and do so periodically to get the dust off. The surrounds are in great shape. But a light tap on a couple woofers produces an obviously bad sound, what research is indicating might be voice coil scrape.

I will take the EQ out of the loop to test but in general, I've been happy with the results over the years.

Placement is limited but I think near ideal - 10' apart, toe in to the couch 12' away, on custom made stands 12" off wooden floor about 8" from the wall. My room doesn't allow much variance.

I have slight curve up in bass at 125hz and again at 2-4Khz. always something like this.

Any thoughts if a subwoofer would help here to offload the biggest strain from the ADSs?

Thanks all.

I am going to run against the current here and lend a voice in favor of the EQ. I have several in my system. The key (provided the EQ does not add too much noise or distortion) is to limit your adjustments to very subtle attenuations. FWIW, a very well known speaker designer once remarked to me that he thought nothing was wrong with having and using tone controls. An EQ is little more than a sophisticated set of tone controls (if designed well). I also suggest a configuration that allows the removal of the EQ from the signal chain at the press of a button (e.g., connect it through a tape loop). FWIW, your EQ adjustments do not imply (at least to me) typical room acoustic issues.

That said, I think your most important task is to determine just which part of your rig is now the weak link. Borrow another pair of speakers, an amp, preamp or source component and see what happens.

While a subwoofer (with a hi-pass/lo-pass filter) will relieve the ADSes of the need to reproduce deep bass, a poorly designed crossover might cause more problems than it solves. I use a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs. While they require your mains to have useable response down to 40Hz, they use an unusual crossover scheme that promotes a clean, seemless blend with the mains. You can read more at www.vandersteen.com.

I have no personal experience with Adcom power amps, but everything I've read about them over the years suggests to me that they are very powerful, but not the last word in refinement. The Adcom preamps seem to be much better regarded. If you want to stick with solid state amps, consider amps by Arcam, Odyssey Audio, McIntosh, Classe, Monarchy Audio and others.

Based on your requirements, I can't recommend a speaker (I don't think I've ever heard your ADS speakers), but you'll need one that can output high SPLs, which means you should consider horn-loaded designs and probably avoid most ribbon-based and planar designs.

First off - find a shop that can look at your 810's for you . If you have damaged voice coils this is the equivalent to driving a car with a failed suspension - nothings going to work right.I've heard your speakers and liked them then (20+ years ago) -sold and serviced a lot Hafler 500's over the years.Really suspicious of the frequent thermal shut downs. To be blunt about it - do you listen at head banging volume levels -very,very high volume levels while completely ignoring clipping/dynamic compression? The only reason I think you might not is that I would have expected you to have blown up you 810's by now (probably a few times?).
What sources are you using? Much as I love vinyl - you can suck an enormous amount of power out of you amps trying to reproduce subsonic trash from a non-synergistic arm/cartridge/table/suspension(platform) combination.Take the grill covers off you speakers and observe the woofers while playing at a comfortable volume level.You will see some woofer pumping on most analog systems - but if it is very violent - this could explain a number of things. First - high amounts of subsonic trash are tremendously burdening your amplifier - it's the equivalent of driving around with 30 cement blocks in the back seat. Secondly -your woofers are going to be operating outside their "comfort" range mechanically a great deal of the time - this will massively increase distortion which will be very audible in the lower part of the voice range which is being reproduced by the woofers in the 810.