Life after ADS


When I first started this hobby a few years ago I was immediately drawn to vintage ADS speakers because of the performance/price ratio plus they are just flat out musical.

Many well regarded speakers have come and gone that offered an amazing hi-fi listening experience but I always kept at least one or two pair of ADS speakers around for background music and so forth.

It has taken me the better part of three years to find a mint pair of L1530's and wouldn't you know it a pair came up for sale to me locally and I grabbed them. However I am moving into a smaller house and will not be able to keep them. My first question is what would be a good modern monitor to replace them with.

I will say I listened to some Adam Audio's (not sure what model)and for the money they were very good. In fact I am thinking of getting a pair. The ribbon tweeter sounded very open and detailed without being harsh or aggressive. Before I get the Adams are there any other speakers with ribbon tweeters I should consider? Others I have been looking at are LSA Statements, Vapor, and Evolution Acoustics.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Thanks.
chrshanl37

Showing 1 response by brownsfan

Chrshan,
I have been and still am an admirer of Kelley's ADS efforts. I still own a pair of 1290s that I use in my HT system. I did not suggest you consider magnepans because of your space limitations, but as Johnny mentioned, they probably capture most of the sonic virtues of the old ADS speakers better than anything else I have heard. The ribbon or QR ribbons will give a bit different treble than the ADS soft dome tweets, but other than that, I suspect you will find much to like. Consider if one of the smaller Maggies with a sub might work in your new location. For what its worth, to the extent I have had opportunities to hear the Aerials, I have not found in them the old ADS magic. Perhaps you will.