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.