Who uses ADS Speakers

Like Imaninatural above, I bought ADS L710s in 1980. I had saved enough money from my first decently-paying job to replace a KLH model 5 (the portable one) that had been stolen from me three years before. Kept them more than 30 years before trading them in at Echo Audio here in Portland for a pair of used Harbeth M30s. Thanks for the post.

A/D/S L-810s were the first pair of home audio speakers I purchased in 1981, and I owned them almost 20 years till I stupidly sold them.

I also had a full car audio system with (I believe) 300i speakers, and I would often get comments such as, “this is the first car system I have heard, that sounds like a home system”.

I still use a pair of metal L-300s in my garage system and they are still going strong.

After trying to live with a variety of speakers, I bought a pair of Aerial Model 9s about 16 years ago, since Michael Kelly formerly of A/D/S is the Aerial Acoustics owner/designer. I found the Model 9s reminded me of the great tone and dynamics I remembered from the L-810s. With Michael’s help, I have migrated from the 9s to a pair of LR5s with a pair of SW-12 subs and will probably never change, except maybe to add another SW-12 sub or two.

I really enjoy the great tone and dynamics of the sealed box LR5s and agree 100% with Michael Fremer’s review of those speakers.

We carried ADS and displayed the formidable 2030. They were stock but could be easily biamped which we did w a variety of SS and tube amps, notably the CJ Premier. My memory is we sold 3 pair, which given cost / size and complexity was excellent. We carried Infinity and a bevy of ESL, but properly setup they certainly had significant virtues. Given modern cabinet construction advances, i would say the cabinet was the weak link ( same as Infinity ). Man could they rock but still the excellent and sweet dome mid. Obviously we sold a lot of 810 and 710, excellent. ADS had probably the only cat proof and quasi transparent grill on the market….metal perfplate. This is a brand that deserves resurrection. Remember the disaster foray into electronics ? ha.

Jim

@rauliruegas ​​​​@sbank thanks so much for jogging my memory. Congrats Raul for taking the 2030 up many levels. Would be a hoot to hear them someday. My 7’s have a rear firing tweeter which i very rarely use as i don’t have an overly dead room. Every now and again it’s use helpful in spritzing up a dead recording, typically close mic stuff. Interesting addition. Best to you two truly experienced, high sample size passionate audiophiles.

Jim

I still have a pair of ADS L1290ii that I used for a couple of years.  I used a MINIDSP to biamp them driving them with a total of 350 Watts per channel while they sounded OK I could never get the sound out of them that I liked.  My other system used Dahlquist DQ12s and dynaco tube amps and I preferred the open baffle sound opposed to the sealed boxes even though the ADs had much better bass.   I have replaced the ADS with SpeakerLab corner horns and a SET amp.  I prefer this to any of my other systems.

It may be the amplifiers which are the same vintage as the speakers (Luxman and SAE) but I just couldn't make it work for me. 

The ADS are going up for sale.