Back on the ADS wagon.... three L-880/2's

[zunde]

Last year I had a pair of ADS L780/2's, with the original A8 stands. Loved them but had to sell them several months back due to financial difficulties.
Well things have straightened out for me in that dept, so I started looking again. I'm sure some of you Dallas CL'ers saw the ad for the L-880/2's, guy had 3 of them for $100 each. Managed to grab those today, he sold all 3 of them to me for $250. Two in very good condition, one with some cabinet dings, but all 3 work flawlessly. Not the deal of the century but quite frankly I am surprised they were still for sale as it was a few days before I was able to meet up with him.
There was another thread here a while back where folks were discussing building their own sonic-matching ADS center speakers, I might try to do something like that with the extra 3rd speaker drivers. Would be kind of neat.
Anyway, this is my first pair of 880's so any thoughts/ opinions are welcome!

 

[Porkloin]

You're referring to @Spiceman50 's project. it sounds like you've got the fronts and center in hand. If you plan on re-dimensioning an enclosure for a center channel, you've got your work cut out for you making a matching metal grill. I've got an extra 780 that I'll be mooching the drivers from for a center channel, but I'll make a grill cloth to match the subwoofers. I get the feeling I could burn a lot of time figuring out a jig and how to shape some extruded steel over it.

 

[zunde]

You're referring to @Spiceman50 's project. it sounds like you've got the fronts and center in hand. If you plan on re-dimensioning an enclosure for a center channel, you've got your work cut out for you making a matching metal grill. I've got an extra 780 that I'll be mooching the drivers from for a center channel, but I'll make a grill cloth to match the subwoofers. I get the feeling I could burn a lot of time figuring out a jig and how to shape some extruded steel over it.

No my plan was to do exactly the same as you- mooch the drivers out of the extra speaker, build a whole new enclosure or whatever the best route to go is there. Not sure how I could incorporate the woofer from the 880 into the project, it would make the enclosure massive for a center speaker. I may just have to use the tweeter and mid and figure out another solution for the bottom end. That's where I need some ideas, along with the cabinet dimensions, etc.

 

[Porkloin]

I'm fortunate in that I'm building the center enclosure to fill a cavity in the console just below the TV. That cavity has slightly more volume potential than the 780, so I've got a bit of room to spare. Bucking up a bunch of cash for some smaller woofers sort of blows the joy of already having an exact match for your front channel speakers though.

 

[Porkloin]

You may be able to crunch the numbers and see what putting the woofer into a small enclosure would do to your low end. It may be surprising how small you can make the box for just a few notches higher on the low end.
Of course, it would all be theoretical until you actually verified with a listening test.

 

[zunde]

You may be able to crunch the numbers and see what putting the woofer into a small enclosure would do to your low end. It may be surprising how small you can make the box for just a few notches higher on the low end.
Of course, it would all be theoretical until you actually verified with a listening test.

I actually just meant due to the sheer physical size of the 10" woofer. The cabinet would have to be extraordinarily large (for a center speaker anyway-- at least 10.5" high) just to install it. I may be able to hash something out, but I've never designed my own speaker enclosure before. Not even a subwoofer box back in my juvenile car stereo days! Which is why I need some guidance.

 

[zunde]

In other news, anyone have a lead on where can I find these stands!

 

[Yukon888]

Congrats on a nice find. Those stands will probably be hard to find by themselves. I have mine up on 12" wooden stools that I found on an online retailer whose name escapes me at the moment.

 

[Porkloin]

I actually just meant due to the sheer physical size of the 10" woofer. The cabinet would have to be extraordinarily large (for a center speaker anyway-- at least 10.5" high) just to install it. I may be able to hash something out, but I've never designed my own speaker enclosure before. Not even a subwoofer box back in my juvenile car stereo days! Which is why I need some guidance.

Being constrained by the size limitations of what would be considered "acceptable" for a center channel is a real bitch when you have large speakers for your RF and LF channels. If you have anything "less" than the outside channels in the middle, you're doing yourself a disservice as a stereo environment from bigger, better speakers would be, well, bigger and better, than 5.1 from lesser speakers.
If the overall listening space can't accommodate that giant center channel, maybe it's time to think beyond that walnut covered box to a re-design of the entire picture.

 

[Old Guy8]

In other news, anyone have a lead on where can I find these stands!

View attachment 1011046

New, of similar design, are available for about what you paid for your speakers. Originals, difficult to find.
Edit: Pardon me. Sure your aware of above. See you had 780 & stands. Your a veteran.
BTW, nice speakers.

 

[GD70]

You did very well on this deal! Do you have another system you could use the 3rd pair on? A few dings can be fixed, then refinished, and you would have very nice looking speakers. Only thinking this would save a very good set of speakers. Maybe grab some smaller ADS woofers and tweeter off fleabay to make your. Enter channel enclosure.

 

[zunde]

You did very well on this deal! Do you have another system you could use the 3rd pair on? A few dings can be fixed, then refinished, and you would have very nice looking speakers. Only thinking this would save a very good set of speakers. Maybe grab some smaller ADS woofers and tweeter off fleabay to make your. Enter channel enclosure.

Sorry Glenn I think you misread- I got three speakers for $100 each, not three pairs. I am not sure where in the world you would ever find a pair of 880s for $100, although I'm sure some folks will chime in here shortly with their miracle finds!
Because I have one "left over" speaker I am trying to decide how to utilize it as a center. Either buidling my own enclosure to accomodate the drivers out of it (which I would have ZERO idea what I was doing) or just use it as is, which creates logistic problems of its own (like finding a way to position the speaker vertically like the other two.)

Porkloin, if you mean rethink my entire speaker setup, just because I can't have a massive center speaker, well no I won't be doing that. I'll see if there's a way to swing the 10" woofer, but I also think it's just as "constraining" and a "disservice" to operate under the assumption that you MUST have the same drivers all around in the center vs the FL/ FR to have a proper setup (although I'm sure it helps.) The mid/upper frequencies are by far the most important ones to be timbre matched anyway, so yes I am considering building my own enclosure, borrowing the tweet and mid out of the extra 880 (along with the crossover network and terminal plate), and then sourcing a pair of smaller ADS woofers to complete the speaker. (W-T/M-W array.)

 

[GD70]

Sorry Glenn I think you misread- I got three speakers for $100 each, not three pairs. I am not sure where in the world you would ever find a pair of 880s for $100, although I'm sure some folks will chime in here shortly with their miracle finds!
Because I have one "left over" speaker I am trying to decide how to utilize it as a center. Either buidling my own enclosure to accomodate the drivers out of it (which I would have ZERO idea what I was doing) or just use it as is, which creates logistic problems of its own (like finding a way to position the speaker vertically like the other two.)

Porkloin, if you mean rethink my entire speaker setup, just because I can't have a massive center speaker, well no I won't be doing that. I'll see if there's a way to swing the 10" woofer, but I also think it's just as "constraining" and a "disservice" to operate under the assumption that you MUST have the same drivers all around in the center vs the FL/ FR to have a proper setup (although I'm sure it helps.) The mid/upper frequencies are by far the most important ones to be timber matched anyway, so yes I am considering building my own enclosure, borrowing the tweet and mid out of the extra 880 (along with the crossover network and terminal plate), and then sourcing a pair of smaller ADS woofers to complete the speaker. (W-T/M-W array.)

Thanks for setting me straight! I like your center channel idea. Why not, right?
Glenn

 

[Porkloin]

Sorry Glenn I think you misread- I got three speakers for $100 each, not three pairs. I am not sure where in the world you would ever find a pair of 880s for $100, although I'm sure some folks will chime in here shortly with their miracle finds!
Because I have one "left over" speaker I am trying to decide how to utilize it as a center. Either buidling my own enclosure to accomodate the drivers out of it (which I would have ZERO idea what I was doing) or just use it as is, which creates logistic problems of its own (like finding a way to position the speaker vertically like the other two.)

Porkloin, if you mean rethink my entire speaker setup, just because I can't have a massive center speaker, well no I won't be doing that. I'll see if there's a way to swing the 10" woofer, but I also think it's just as "constraining" and a "disservice" to operate under the assumption that you MUST have the same drivers all around in the center vs the FL/ FR to have a proper setup (although I'm sure it helps.) The mid/upper frequencies are by far the most important ones to be timbre matched anyway, so yes I am considering building my own enclosure, borrowing the tweet and mid out of the extra 880 (along with the crossover network and terminal plate), and then sourcing a pair of smaller ADS woofers to complete the speaker. (W-T/M-W array.)

Watch a movie in 5.1 with an undersized center channel and then watch the same thing in stereo and be honest to yourself about which one you prefer. The accurate performance placement of modern digital stereo recording rendered center channels obsolete before there was center channels. The only advantage I've been able to come up with for a center channel is to bump up the volume on it in relation to the other channels so that your can understand British people without rushing for the volume when the action or music on the front channels kick in.

 

[zunde]

Watch a movie in 5.1 with an undersized center channel and then watch the same thing in stereo and be honest to yourself about which one you prefer. The accurate performance placement of modern digital stereo recording rendered center channels obsolete before there was center channels. The only advantage I've been able to come up with for a center channel is to bump up the volume on it in relation to the other channels so that your can understand British people without rushing for the volume when the action or music on the front channels kick in.

We may have had a communcation breakdown. I thought you meant get rid of the 880s altogether and go with something else (which ain't happening.) If you just mean don't use a center, that is certainly another option, although it does leave me to ponder what I'm going to do with the leftover 880. I still may try to build a center using the 880 tweeter and mid and split low end duties between two 8" ADS woofers if I can find them- I think my space will acoomodate that.

 

[Porkloin]

We may have had a communcation breakdown. I thought you meant get rid of the 880s altogether and go with something else (which ain't happening.) If you just mean don't use a center, that is certainly another option, although it does leave me to ponder what I'm going to do with the leftover 880. I still may try to build a center using the 880 tweeter and mid and split low end duties between two 8" ADS woofers if I can find them- I think my space will acoomodate that.

Hell no. You've got a great pair (plus one) of speakers that would give you your center material better than anything less planted between them. I got stuck envisioning a pair of 5.25" drivers sitting between a couple of speakers where the midrange is nearly that big (if you count the magnet).
Fortunately, both of my "home theaters" are relatively small.

 

[GD70]

My TV "surround sound" setup is a JVC A-X5 integrated amp, SEA 40 EQ, and a pair of AR-4x's in front, and a pair of KLH Fives in the rear. The amp connected to the TV. It sounds awesome, bass shakes the couch, stereo separation is terrific. I don't feel I'm missing anything sonically, or have a need for a center channel speaker, which the TV's sound basically does.
So maybe just try it with two speakers first, see how you like it.

 

[Porkloin]

My TV "surround sound" setup is a JVC A-X5 integrated amp, SEA 40 EQ, and a pair of AR-4x's in front, and a pair of KLH Fives in the rear. The amp connected to the TV. It sounds awesome, bass shakes the couch, stereo separation is terrific. I don't feel I'm missing anything sonically, or have a need for a center channel speaker, which the TV's sound basically does.
So maybe just try it with two speakers first, see how you like it.

About 30 years ago, Mrs. Porkloin gave me one of the first "surround sound" receivers for Christmas. It was quite the amazing contraption at the time, and honestly, I was a little intimidated by it at first. It was the normal fronts (the "Porkloin Generation 4's - a domed three-way design that I plagiarized from the ADS CM-7 of the day) and an old pair of Radio Shack speakers in the rear. Like my present 5.1 system, none of my non-audio friends gave a rip about the rear speakers, but all were impressed with the clarity coming from the front.
Fast forward to the 5.1 system (same house, different room) in the home theater and it's the same: Left to one's instincts, the whole "surround" thing amounts to very little, other than the bolstering of Ray Dolby's estate. A great pair of speakers, like the L-880's up front, coupled with superior stereo separation of modern digital material would make for much better listening to TV/Movies than a reduced 5.1 system (Bose Acoustimas, for example) any day of the week.

 

[zunde]

Thanks Porkloin and Glenn- I may try it without the center at first (I'll have to anyway because I'd have to find someone to build my center enclosure for me and wait for it to be completed.) Eventually I may just have to try the center, partly because I wouldn't know what else to do with the leftover speaker, and partly because, as in other cases, it makes for very unique ADS setup.
I even contemplated using the mid and tweet out of the leftover speaker for a center along with two 8" ADS woofers as mentioned above, and then find a good 10" subwoofer enclosure with built in amp and drop the left over 10" woofer in there! Talk about ADS overkill

 

[Old Guy8]

I've had three channel AV setups with non matching center speakers. Nice mains, but not a critical listening setup. Never been into it that much.
Would it be of value for you to trial the three L880's as three channel. Realize center might block screen if set vertical. But just to listen.
I'm not a speaker designer. I wonder if that woofer has enough travel or durability for a sub.