My system is getting worse - now what?


Hi all,

First post and I need some guidance. My system started out in the mid-80s with a Hafler DH-500 amp, Adcom GFP-1A preamp and ADS 810-2 speakers. I was perfectly happy with this system for 15+ years except for the occasional cut-out of the Hafler during high-volume sessions, which it did for protection. Eventually the Adcom had a channel signal drop happen enough I had to retire it. I replaced it with a Paradigm as it was one of the few affordable preamps with a phono section. I am nowhere as pleased with it musically as with the Adcom. Recently I grew increasingly frustrated with the Hafler cutouts at volume as well is its general fan noise during low volume operation and sold it. I replaced it with an Adcom GFA-555 based on friends having them and reviews, but I am not happu with it. My ADS speakers hate it at volume, resulting in woofer distortion and it just sounds far less musical. So now I am in a quandary. I can tell the Adcom is more of volume amp and I think I can live with it after I get my ADC equalizer set, but I don't think the ADS speakers will ever take what it gets handed. So I think I want an affordable floor standing speaker that will take whatever I can throw at it. I will even consider getting another GFA-555 and bridge to mono if that will help. So ... is there any affordable ($1000-1500) speaker that will sound as acoustically beautiful as my ADS's and be allowed to be driven to extremely loud volumes when the occasion arises?
hhlodge
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.
...But a light tap on a couple woofers produces an obviously bad sound, what research is indicating might be voice coil scrape.

If your speakers are damaged, you're wasting time and money monkeying with the other components. A damaged woofer is going to sound nasty no matter what you do.

It also sounds like you frequently listen at high volume. The ADS, even though an efficient speaker, is a 4 ohm unit and this can be difficult for many amps, but that really shouldn't be an issue for your Adcom. That leads back to a suspicion of speaker damage. Get your speakers checked.
Thanks all.

Can anyone recommend someone in the Boston area who can look at my ADS 810's? I figure I'm in the best location given where they were built.
Check with Tweeter, etc. They used to be a big ADS dealer. Maybe somebody still has some contacts. About a dozen years ago I blew out a pair of woofers in my 1987-era ADS 1090s (one generation after the 810), and my local repair shop (in Seattle) was able to replace them with OEM woofers. There are probably some companies around that specialize in rebuilding drivers for spares.
I believe Tweeters has gone out of business. I know the one in my town closed down about the same time Circuit City did.