Who uses ADS Speakers

Gotta throw in my two cents worth, as I'm also a big ADS fan. Bought my first pair of L710's in the early 80's, then onto 810's, 910's, the Sub-sat system, and currently own L1290/2's, 1590/2's and a pair of L400's with the metal grilles. They still satisfy me a lot. If I was to go to anything else, probably would be the Aerial 7T, but I'm still happy with the ones I have with Mac electronics!

i've owned the 1290 (good but very sensitive to pairing), the 710 (great tweeter) and the 780 (vg but not as good as the 710). the real gem was the L470, which i found for tenbucks at a yard sale--amazing clarity and surprisingly deep, tight bass for a little box.

Dear @brownsfan ​@au_lait  : I never heard the 1290 or other ADS speakers but my L-2030.

I agree that all those switchs makes more harm to the audio signal. Please take a look to what what I posted in this thread:

Even that my 2030 goes really down in the bass I decided to add a pair of powered subwoofers and the high pass filter at around 80hz, so de 2030 frequency range is from 80hz and up and below 80 hz is handled by my Velodyne subs.

The improvement was " day and nigth " because the IMD levels goes really down and everything in the whole frequency range just shines as never before. The 1290 crossover at 500hz when the 2030 crossover at 450hz  so I'm totally sure on this specific improvement regards.

R.

Thanks @rauliruegas - I was looking for a couple years for the C2000 but its really hard to find, and once I did actually find it but the sale didn't go through. I was then willing to try a Bryston 10b but all the reading I did about bi-amping these speaker just didn't really add up, and I was never that interested in a sub.... but I'm happy to read your experience and now might look at trying it again now with a sub. I don't know if I would want to wire direct to my amps, I move house too much for that.

I use ADS speakers in my main system.  I have the L1290 that were completely rebuilt by Richard So (tweeters, midrange, woofers and crossovers) that I drive with a Jolida 60W tube amp.  They sound great.

However, I keep thinking, would more modern speakers sound better?  What caught my interest are the new KLH Model 5 speakers, since they are also an acoustic suspension design.  Would they sound any better?
 

I bought some L810s around 11 months ago and haven't yet thought about removing them from the system. In fact, all I've thought about is buying another pair as back-up.

I have been using a ADS Sub 10 in my main audio system for the past more than 15 years and it has continually performed very well - augmenting my system with deep clean base.

Wile other speakers come and go my ADS sub will stay till it dies......Jim

Listening to my L1590 here as I type in my home office.  SS Monoblock amps, tube preamp.

Also have 710's.  Had the 910's.  

All great.

If you have any ADS speakers in the upper level that you want to keep in tip top shape, consider sending your tweeters and mids off to Richard so for a refresh before he hangs it up.

     I have a pair of the L710’s in my living room. They are not hitched up now, not sure why so maybe I’ll bring them up to my music room and give them a spin. These were one of the first speakers, Dahlquist DQ-10’s being another that started my hi fi journey. I’ve been into restoring vintage gear lately, DQ-10’s being one of them and it has brought back many fine memories of hanging out at the dealers trying out stuff I couldn’t afford. So I guess I’ll check out the 710’s and see how they are doing after all these years. Who knows, maybe my next project after finishing. my Rek O Kut Rondine Jr. table. Got to love audio gear from the golden ages, at least I do.

Hi

Yes love ADS speakers !! I have 4 pairs of them all bought brand new from a friend who also worked at the factory in Wilmington. 3 pairs of them are in my home theater to this day ! These are great speakers and I still love listening to them !! OIne of the pairs is the 1290 II otherwise I forget the model numbers

BTW - I've seen you playing numerous times with the B Street Bombers

L570/2 and l470/2, both excellent

 470 had a slightly better midrange imo, but I preferred the 570s overall went a touch lower and more balanced bigger sound. About 200/pair used for each ,perhaps more now

I have a pair of L-570/2s and a pair of L-810s and will not part with either set. The 570s are mated with a Cary SL-100 preamp/PS Audio HCA-2 amp and augmented with a James Loudspeaker S10 subwoofer. Well-balanced and non-fatiguing and just plain fun to listen to. The 810s are harnessed to a Parasound P5 preamp/ATI 1802 amplifier combo, along with a Bag End Infrasub 18. All I can say is that the giddyup-factor is very satisfying. I agree with a previous post that said 810s do not sound good at lower volumes, but at 75-80db, they will put you in heaven.

I bought L-880s in 1983 after extensive evaluations and used them for many years. I originally drove them with a Sony ES receiver rated at 80W/ch IIRC. I had two big epiphanies with them in terms of sound quality. The first was when I moved the speakers from low, wood stands to 30" heavy steel stands with spikes on the base anchoring to a concrete floor. The other was when I switched from the Sony receiver to Adcom electronics (GFP555/GFA555), which seemed to provide the power reserve the Sony was lacking (or something else I haven't thought of). In each case the change was more noticeable better than any change I've made in a hifi system. 

My dad liked them well enough that, to both get the sound and outdo me, he bought a pair of L-1090 floor standers. Both pair are now in possession of my son who loves the sound and the history. He uses the 1090's as one of several speakers that he mixes and masters his music with.

I'm hoping to get the L-880s back from him at least for awhile to compare to the Paradigm and B & W speakers I now have. Perhaps things haven't improved as much as I pocketbook thought they should.

2023 now but, L910's restored, and L710's both in use from time to time in my office system. 

My neighbor had the ADS studio monitors, rdm-1 or something. A 10" woofer, dome mid and two tweeters with a toggle switch to match the tweeter to standing the speaker or laying it down. He talked me into a pair of ADS L9e that  weren't bad for the size and price, but I did find them a bit bright.

Timely post

My dad has had l810’s since he bought them new in 1980 or thereabouts. 
I grew up with those speakers, he still uses them daily.

In the late 70’s / early 80’s they were paired with a big Technics receiver (I think a 5250) and then in the 80’s with a Carver MX900 receiver and now with a lower end Cambridge 100 watt receiver (axr100 I think).

He’s recently inquired about replacing them with some more detailed bookshelf’s but I’m wondering if it would be worth it do look into a doing some kind of service on them.  They’ve been used a lot for 40 years … but only moved once in one house move and have stayed in great shape.  Sending them to Richard So seems excessive given their size. 
What would be the common approaches to squeezing more years out of these? The drivers / tweeter seem fine , but does it make sense to renew them anyway?

Would it just be a crossover refresh?

If he gets rid of them , I’ll end up with them, so either way I’d like to ensure they are performing best as possible.

any advice appreciated 

pic of his l810 here :

https://ibb.co/zZpfL4D

Following up on my post from last week

Does anyone have any suggestions on an approach to assessing / potentially refreshing a 40 year old pair of 810's (which are in great shape currently) ...without sending them to Richard So?

thanks

JS

now 2024, and i have L910's and L710's and still love them, i dont thnk I could not own a set of ADS speakers. SureI now use them in a second system. 

@j_andrews Did you ever get your 810's refreshed?  I have a paid that Richard So worked on and that came out fantastic.  I am lucky enough to live not too far away from him so it was a pretty easy process...

I still have a pair at my cabin

Very cool pics.  Those could be my L810s, that I stupidly sold as part of my initial ride on the high end merry-go-round.  I wish I had them back.  I also miss the 300i automobile speakers about which I received many complements from those who heard them. I still have a pair of L200s in my outdoor system (garage speakers) and a pair of L400s for music in my kitchen/dining room areas. 

I was never satisfied after selling the L800s until I found Aerial Acoustics speakers, whose principals Michael Kelly and David Marshall were formerly executive vice president and on the engineering team, respectively, at ADS.

My dad bought a pair of 910's in the late 70's I think. Brought it all home with a Mc C-28 and MC2125. I would crank the bass and blow the tweeter fuse on occasion. 3 amp I think. Fun speaker, he still has them in his shop. Can they be refurbished?

After reading all the positive comments about ADS speakers I have always wanted to try a pair. A pair of L810's were available locally last year  but they sold before I could hear them. Now a year later there is a pair of L1090-2 within (3 hours) driving distance and appear to be in good condition from description and photos. Before I make an all-day trip to audition them, can anyone compare the L1090-2 with my JBL L5 and my Snell Type D's , and the Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home that I purchased reently.  Thank you.

Yes, ADS speakers well ANOTHER good vintage brand i would like to try
i have seen several YT videos where the guy has some or talks wistfully about some he USED to own !
If they were so good where are they now ? you can only have ONE set of speakers at a time ? OMG i feel sorry for all the wimps and simps who have to kowtow to some shrieking biteothching, and do the WAF arse kissing ! LOL
grow a a pair will you ?
BUT i do HT 11.2 systems at my place, and so NEED a LOT of speakers!
there do seem to be enough survivor ADS around and still working ?
currently ,! the good ADS ones are not cheap and i hear there is still some old guy that can redo the magic goo ! the weird sticky stuff they ladle over the mid and tweeters? ( but for how much longer ? is he training his replacement ? i bet NOT! ) not a good choice for my 15 cats the sticky glob attracts cat hair big time!
WHY did they do that ? adventures in weird industrial science materials choices!
SO, ADS in my future if i live long enough ! can afford to buy them!
would be MUCH easier if you only do stereo!
But OMG the 11.2 HT is GLORIOUS, enveloping ,stupendous! playing music ! MUCH better than mere 2 way stereo ! it is funny i mean there was a time when hi-fi was ONE speaker ! LOL
were there hissy fits leaving the mono speaker audio world ? LOL "it’s going to cost twice as much! "

I am getting together modified ( by Danny @ GR research ) low-end Sony and low & medium end , vintage Yamaha as a sort of proletriat project ( lets find a way to improve the POS yamaha 6490 for the MILLIONS of poor folks who bought them !) GEE! turns out we CAN !
yamaha has only a small cap for tweeter and mid and runs them basicly as FULL RANGE speakers! NO WONDER THEY SOUND LIKE POS !
So even adding ( the right ) cheap ali express 3 way x over CAN and DOES improve them markedly !
YOU are welcome third world ! ANYONE else here helping the poor of third world audio owners? AHA ! thought NOT !
and we are also assembling basicly stock vandersteen and Allison acoustics 11.2 HT systems !
i use a good 3 way tower speakers for L & R and similar laid ( and modified ) horizontal for Center channel !
C channel is THE most important needs to be just as good as L & R ! in HT seldom is! so i mod a tower laid horizontal so it is W,T/M, W tweeter on top of mid ! cut apart a tower make new face plate w/ speakers as i said

the rest of speakers can be 2 way if needed the surround , rear, side atmos etc
the 4 diff brand L & R are on 2 huge 3’ dia turntables w/ casters w/ electric servo motors ( i used paint rotaters they come w/ remote controls ) so the L & R are adjusted for the proper tilt , aim toe in/ out etc i have lasers shooting up to marks on ceiling so all i have to do is rotate them to the marks on ceiling and they are perfectly set up for each brand it is getting a bit crowded w/ 45 speakers in room but i will cut it down to the best single system and 2 nd place will go in bedroom!
then we will sell last place maybe put 3 rd place in shop/ garage !