ADS owners (ADS L620 here)

[bobsvinyl]

I have the L570/2 in a room smaller than yours with a Kenwood KR-4600.

 

[Brian]

I do not follow the ADS line as to value as other than the L300s I have always had some excellent speakers. It seems those who experience ADS generally really like them with very few detractors or owners finding sufficient fault to give even a neutral judgment. I just thought I might get an idea as to current values; for the right incentive, might thknk about a set of L200s or L400s.

Found it interesring. There has been little depreciation on my L300s. Not sure about the others but the L200 goes for almost the same as the L300. I had usually found speskers of this vintage had significant depreciation except for a few golden grails. Quite interesting.

 

[Mr. Paul]

I am using a non descript Sony receiver and just put my L520s back in service to pair with the new flat screen. Never stopped loving these speakers, just ran out of room to put them for a few years.

 

[Dswankey]

I was gifted a pair of working ADS L400's and I've been reading up on impedance and I was hoping to learn what are you fellow ADS owners are using for amplification, tubes or SS?

These will become bedroom speakers where I will rarely ever listen to them loud mostly in the 8 to 9 range.

 

[Blue Shadow]

These will become bedroom speakers where I will rarely ever listen to them loud mostly in the 8 to 9 range.

Depending on who is reading this, not loud and 8 to 9 are complete opposites. You are probably saying the volume control will be at 9:00 maximum because as we all know only a few amplifiers go past 10 with a couple actually having an 11 on the dial

The speakers are efficient and would work well with 20 watts for that not loud listening so go tubes or a nice small receiver. My 710s, the only ads hooked up right now is a bedroom system with an HK 330c

 

[Dswankey]

As Blue Shadow pointed 8 to 9 would be in the complete opposite of what I was trying to convey. I must of been staring at my watch prior to posting, what I meant to say was the 3 to 4 range. Thanks for pointing out my error.

 

[mikejennings]

Perhaps Dswankey was referring to 8:00 to 9:00 on the volume knob???

Have a set of L400's downstairs on my shop system and they are pleasing at all volumes. L630s up stairs on the Computer/Marantz SR4023 = Ditto!

[ Speakerlab 6's on the Tube/vinyl system]

 

[Aptone]

I have a pair of L300s on my desk powered with a 70 w SAE Two A7 integrated. I can't play it too loud or I will disturb my coworkers. I also have a pair of L300s powered by a 100 w Nakamichi TA-4A in the bedroom. The wattage is probably overkill for the applications for these.

I have a pair of L710s driven by Apt 1 amps running in mono. They sound super sweet.

My 910s are biamped with a 100 w SAE 2200 driving the mid and tweets and a 150 w SAE 2300 driving the woofers. This arrangement also sounds great.

 

[tomlinmgt]

Captured in the picture below is me rotating some different amps with my 1290/2's. There's a TAD-60 with EL34's making about 30wpc in triode, there's a second TAD-60 with KT88's making a very strong 60wpc in ultra linear, a Pass F5 clone making about 35wpc pure class A, and not pictured is a Threshold S-300. The lower power tube amp and F5 were weak on bass and lost a lot of the tactile presentation the 1290/2's are capable of with more power, but at lower volume levels they were electrostatic-like with their soundstage and image resolution. With the high current power of the Threshold they had excellent physicality, clarity, top to bottom dynamics, very good sound stage and image resolution, and scale that approached Altec 19's, JBL L250's and Infintiy QLS-1's. The higher powered tube amp fit somewhere in between the Threshold and lower powered amps mentioned. I have them set up in my bedroom now with a Soundcraftsmen MA5002 and they sound very nice in that casual listening environment.



EDIT: just reread the OP and saw you were looking for suggestions for amplification for smaller ADS models, so maybe the 1290/2's are a bit out of context. But based on my little experiment detailed above, I'd be inclined to try some muscular tube power with an ADS model smaller than the 1290.

 

[legalalien]

I'm running a Yamaha CR1020 with ADS 570/II's in a smallish (18 by 12) room with terrific results. The smooth mellow sound of the ADS's paired with the clean crisp sound of the Yamaha to me has perfect synergy.

 

[7whales7]

I have a set of l 880's powered by an Onkyo TX-4500 mk 2 in a 12 x 12 bedroom,it sounds amazing. And in my basement system i have l 810's powered by a Kenwood Basic M2A / C2 pre combo.

 

[scoville]

I just picked up a pair of L520's at auction. I'm powering with Bogen AP 30 integrated tube amp, Sherwood Interchannel Hush tube tuner, Knight MPX, Rotel RCD-855 CD, and AR XA turntable. It's kind of a cobbled together system, but all components sound very sweet through the ADS's

 

[cnolanh]

I just picked up a pair of L520's at auction. I'm powering with Bogen AP 30 integrated tube amp, Sherwood Interchannel Hush tube tuner, Knight MPX, Rotel RCD-855 CD, and AR XA turntable. It's kind of a cobbled together system, but all components sound very sweet through the ADS's

For a little while I powered L620s with a Bogen AP200 tube amp, and you're right that the combo was lovely.

 

[GD70]

Agree efficient speakers and tube amplification go together like peanut butter and jelly. When you get to the larger ADS's, big SS power is king!

 

[scoville]

Yes, I'm loving them, got lucky at a sale. Most of my other speakers are a bit inefficient... AR 10's, 5's, 3a's, 2Ax's. Altec Lansing Segovias. But I obviously had to go a different direction with the new to me tube setup. Lucky for me to have this forum! I just go with what I find, but I'd be dead in the water without info from you fine people! I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for more of these ADS's!

 

[MJB1959]

After upgrading to a Cambridge Audio integrated for my L980/880's, it freed up the NAD 3150 for my L620's. And the sound is lovely. The NAD is 50 wpc, and delivers a very authoritative sound, so this pairing has become my dedicated turntable system, with a Yamaha yp d71 tt, and a classic Magnavox CD player, as well as an NAD tuner. I have to add that having the larger ADS' is a nice convenience, but these L620's are every bit as much an enjoyable experience listen to.

 

[7whales7]

A/D/S is probably my favorite speaker company, they are hard to beat at their price point, you can't go wrong large or small size. By the way Tomlinmgt, that looks real nice i'm shure it sounds just as nice!

 

[Joewag]

I'm still pretty much in the middle of a move, so excuse the mess, but I wanted to get in on this. I have 910's hooked up to a pioneer spec 1 spec 4 combo. I tried this set with a number of different speakers and finally settled on the ADS. They just sound better. I tried Yamaha ns690's, JBL L112's, klipsch heresy's and others. The only speakers I have that beat them out were my altecs, both my votts and my 604e's, but neither of those pass the wife test (and they were too big for the room she let me have) and got banished to the basement. The 910's with their neat looking stands have plenty of WAF.

 

[tomlinmgt]

A/D/S is probably my favorite speaker company, they are hard to beat at their price point, you can't go wrong large or small size. By the way Tomlinmgt, that looks real nice i'm shure it sounds just as nice!

Thanks man! The 1290/2's, in that system, continually reminded me they're keepers even if they aren't the best in the collection.

 

[tomlinmgt]

View attachment 898401 View attachment 898399 I'm still pretty much in the middle of a move, so excuse the mess, but I wanted to get in on this. I have 910's hooked up to a pioneer spec 1 spec 4 combo. I tried this set with a number of different speakers and finally settled on the ADS. They just sound better. I tried Yamaha ns690's, JBL L112's, klipsch heresy's and others. The only speakers I have that beat them out were my altecs, both my votts and my 604e's, but neither of those pass the wife test (and they were too big for the room she let me have) and got banished to the basement. The 910's with their neat looking stands have plenty of WAF.

I hear ya. My 1290/2's may not sonically go quite where my Altec 19's can, but the Altec 19's definitely can't physically go where the 1290/2's can...and there are times when having a great sounding speaker that fits just about anywhere is a greater asset.