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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 9 responses by chrshanl37

chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
It wasn't always a/d/s/ in fact I think the best speakers they made were back when it was ADS.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I have owned 710, 620, L8e, l9e, s700, L980's & of course the 1530's and have heard at least 6 others in the line up. The only other Michael Kelly design I have owned were a pair of ERA D5 (great little speaker). I just purchased a pair of LSA 1 Statements and will be interesting to see how it goes. I will say I enjoy my ADS as much and often even more than my Proac 2.5's and Speaker Art Super Clefs. I've always thought spending much more money on speakers would get me much better sound but I always seem to go back to that ADS sound. Perhaps Aerial's would be the way to go. Anyone have experience with the 5's? Thanks.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
Actually I wanted to try something new that offered similar dynamics of the 1530 in a smaller room. I found that in the sound field audio m1. I do still own a few pairs of ads speakers but haven't even thought about hooking them up since I got the m1's.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
@ kevinkwann that was funny actually. To Phasecorrect the ADS threads on Audiokarma are very informative as Paraneer points out and quite extensive. The one member on AK who has the most knowledge on the company was a former ADS employee and goes by Soundmotor.

After buying and demoing many bookshelf speakers lately I have finally settled on a pair of Soundfield Audio Monitor 1's. Amazing speakers with true full range sound in my small room.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
As I said before I purchased a pair of LSA Statement monitors to try. While im still trying to configure them in my room, compared to my Speaker Art speakers at half the cost is really is no comparison, the Super Clef's are better in just about every aspect. Again this is in my system in my room. I guess one would have to spend a substantial amount of money to better the ADS or the Superclefs.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
I do not see the statements listed in the link for the price you quote. They are 1799.00 through Walter now but were almost $3000 when they first came out. Have any of you ADS owners heard anything from the sat or cm series? I have my eye on a pair of sat 6's but not sure if they will have the old magic like the older stuff. I have read conflicting opinions.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
I have owned the following L710, 620, l8e, l9e, l980, l1530, s700 and have heard the 520, 570, l990, l1290, l780 & l880. I most regret selling the 710 and l9e. The 710 have a very well balanced sound with a very nice open and airy top end albeit the imaging wasn't as good as the l9e but they were startling at first listen. They are much easier to drive than the later 4 ohm bookshelves and are the ones that got me started on ADS.

For the money I think the L980 are the best I have heard but I don't think you could go wrong with anything in the L series. I was least impressed with the 780 and 990.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
Depending on condition I would say yes that is a little high. Most of the 710 I see go for around 200-300. I paid 100 for mine but had to refinish the cabs. It will also depend on where you live as well. I've have seen sellers command high prices in areas where they don't come up for sale very often. Keep in mind the series with the metal grills and the rounded edges on the cabinets are much more sought after.
chrshanl37 OP
830 posts
 
Rmenergy....I have a pair of the original Clefs with the metal tweeter as well. I had been looking for a speaker in my smallish room and was afraid the Clefs would overload the room. Well I put them in to see how it would go and I have to say it sounds great. I have since sold off all of my other speakers except my Clef and Super Clefs. I talk to Bob regularly and I have spoken with him about the Ribbon Clefs and I am very tempted to add a pair to my collection. Nice to meet a fellow owner of these excellent under the radar speakers.
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