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a/d/s L1290 Scrooooooooe!

I've owned a pair of the L1090 little brothers for over 25 years now and love them. Mine are black like yours. I've been careful not to drive them too hard and they still have the original drivers. They like to be placed in the equilateral triangle method and pointed strait at the sweet spot. I've used several amps through the years and right now they are being driven by 2 channels from a Carver 806X at 135wpc.

I had them connected to a Primaluna Prologue 5 38wpc tube amp for a while and they sounded very sweet but not as dynamic as they sound with a higher power SS.

I also have a pair of ADS SW2 subs to take the bass down a couple of octaves, combination sounds great! I believe the 1290s go down about one octave lower than the 1090 so a sub is not so important.

Tower speakers have a key benefit to easily place in a room for good imagining because they take so little floor space and don't block reflections. I believe ADS was the first to really instigate this?

Its because of my love of the ADS towers that I purchased my Soliloquy 6.5 towers. Totally different level of performance but same tower concept.

If you have carpet, just lay them on their side to connect the terminals.

Enjoy
 
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Plenty of power

I have run my 1290/2 with a Nikko Alpha II ....I have also used an Onkyo M-504 and have had nice results. They could probably benefit with some more in a larger listening space then mine.
 
Augy said:
A beer lover as well...A man after my own heart......I am currently into american micro brewed Ales, IPA's, Porter and Stouts....at the moment I am enjoying a beer called Hop Devil made by victory brewing co. another favorite IPA is Ruination by Stone city brewing co in Cali. Though it has become quite expensive round here. ....I was into Belguim beers for a while but have weened off the sweeter taste for a hoppy one I am constantly changing my taste...I used to work for a man that owned your old haunt at one time Whitey Keeson
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Nice speakers.... I live about 20 miles from the Victory Brewery and my bro lives in the same town about a mile from the brewery. You should taste the Hop Devil fresh off the tap.... not bad. They've got a BUNCH that they don't bottle and just sell at the brewery/restaurant. I don't particularly care for the hop Devil (too hoppy) but they've got a great selection to choose from in all of your favorite categories. I'm a beer snob too - you know what they say.... life is too short to drink cheap beer. Learned that a LONG time ago. It was good advice and I listened to my dad when I was like 19 and he was right. Of course back then there really wasn't any choice for real good beer. I think he was drinking Balentine Ale (total yuk but local brewed) so that I wouldn't drink it all when my friends came over to .... well drink my dads beer!

Good beer and good music, it doesn't get much better. In fact I don't usually go into my listening room without any.

Cheers,

Bob
 
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jmitchnh said:
Augy said:
Well, I can definately see what some people describe as a "laid back" sound. Not as punchy and high-end (frequency that is) forward as my Polks are but they are very smooth yet detailed.
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Laid back is good. I think too many speaker manufacturers make the higher frequencies too bright on purpose for the US market for whatever reason. Not all but the better speakers don't have the HF shrill that many think is the "norm". You will get used to NOT hearing the HF punch pretty quick and get into listening to the subtle nuances of the complete sound (beer helps there too).

From reading about your setup, I'd suggest getting as decent separate pre-amp as you can afford before getting a 2nd amp. Good sounds start with a good pre... go down the line as you upgrade when your wallet affords it. You have good speakers that will let you know you're going in the right direction. It sounds like you like to listen to LPs. So again a good pre-amp will help in that area as well. I'd also recommend that you do NOT use a consumer CD player to audition with when trying out new gear. I've found that most CD players dont really sound that good. When you have good speakers, amps and a pre-amp and and good turntable you will hear the difference and wonder what the heck you were doing listening to a crappy CD player for. For CD playback I've got decent players, HHB burnit is a good one - it can keep up with a good TT. There are a few decent consumer CD players out there even vintage but you've got to do some homework like some here on AK have and they don't go cheap. I don't have any experience with the Adcom units but there are many here on AK that like them. I'm sure someone can suggest a good pre to go with what you already have. Then if you want to get into the world of bi-amping then you can still use what you've got and get more power for the bottom end.

Cheers,
Bob
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bobrown14 said:
Nice speakers.... I live about 20 miles from the Victory Brewery and my bro lives in the same town about a mile from the brewery. You should taste the Hop Devil fresh off the tap.... not bad. They've got a BUNCH that they don't bottle and just sell at the brewery/restaurant. I don't particularly care for the hop Devil (too hoppy) but they've got a great selection to choose from in all of your favorite categories. I'm a beer snob too - you know what they say.... life is too short to drink cheap beer. Learned that a LONG time ago. It was good advice and I listened to my dad when I was like 19 and he was right. Of course back then there really wasn't any choice for real good beer. I think he was drinking Balentine Ale (total yuk but local brewed) so that I wouldn't drink it all when my friends came over to .... well drink my dads beer!

Good beer and good music, it doesn't get much better. In fact I don't usually go into my listening room without any.

Cheers,

Bob
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You lucky dog!!! & I couldn't have said it better myself....Enjoy!!!
 
jmitchnh said:
Finally got my hands on my "fantasy" speakers! Just got back from a 4 hour round-trip to pick up a pair of ads L1290/2's from the original owner. To my delight, I arrived to find these mint units packed in their orig boxes! Also included was a pair of factory platforms and the owner told me that they even had the orig driver covers on the mids and tweets as well.
Will unpack and photograph tonight. Can't wait!!!:banana:
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It was interesting running across this thread. I'm an original owner of a pair of ADS 1290/2's that I purchased back in 1986. I don't have the original boxes (too big!), but I still have the original driver covers.

These speakers served me very well during my early stereo days and continue to kick butt in my current HT setup. It was a bit of a challenge finding a center and surround speakers that blended well (by then ADS was no more:sigh:), but the NHT center and surrounds I ended up getting do a fine job.

I think you will enjoy your 1290's. They are some seriously sweet sounding speakers.
 
I just ran across this thread...and I can add that an NAD 2600 recently recapped does a pretty decent job driving a pair of 1290/2.

I am using the matching 1700 preamp, though it has not been updated(caps etc)...anyone here have experience of before and after with one of these preamps? I have been tempted to send it out to the angelfire guys on Long Island (they did the 2600, very happy with the results)...and in reading the above thread, there is the comment around "preamps first, amps second" philosophy so, I am questioning whether I should make that investment...btw...located in Upstate New York, been digging the Ithaca Flower Power a lot..along with your Victory, Ommegang...all good!

Finally, original poster mentioned ADS stands/mounts for the 1290...what are these? are they specific for version 1? and yeah, I would love to see a pic of these things...
 
L1290s

I owned a pair for years, that traveled with me from Texas to New Orleans, back to Texas, to Chicago, back to Texas before they were finally sold off 9 years ago. They were great. I really liked the large sound without getting heavy and slow.

Congrats!:thmbsp:
 
Scoober65 said:
I just ran across this thread...and I can add that an NAD 2600 recently recapped does a pretty decent job driving a pair of 1290/2.

I am using the matching 1700 preamp, though it has not been updated(caps etc)...anyone here have experience of before and after with one of these preamps? I have been tempted to send it out to the angelfire guys on Long Island (they did the 2600, very happy with the results)...and in reading the above thread, there is the comment around "preamps first, amps second" philosophy so, I am questioning whether I should make that investment...btw...located in Upstate New York, been digging the Ithaca Flower Power a lot..along with your Victory, Ommegang...all good!

Finally, original poster mentioned ADS stands/mounts for the 1290...what are these? are they specific for version 1? and yeah, I would love to see a pic of these things...
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Can't say anything about the pre or speakers but I can attest to Flower Power/Horseflies at Castaways in Ithaca! yeah u right. Mmmmmighty fine beer there, eh? Oh and I think some of the lower model ADS speaks have a metal U-shaped swivel stand...

Cheers,
Bob
 
Welcome to ADS L1290 ownership. You are going to love them for yrs to come. I ve had mine since 88 and have never regreted buying them. ENJOY!!!!!!!:banana::banana::yes::thmbsp:
 
Augy said:
I used a NAKAMICHI PA-7 amp.....loved those 30 yr old caps!!
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Mine are being driven today by my Nakamichi PA 5/2 amp, Nakamichi CA 5 Pre amp. I also use the PA 7 amp to drive them when its in rotation.:thmbsp:
 
Any 1290/2 owners here ever been inside to see networks? Good stuff in there or have you replaced and if so what did you use?
 
jmitchnh said:
Finally...

Here's the pics. Just like unpacking them for the first time. A few minor (very minor) blemishes but that's really being nit-picky. Not real crazy about the connection location (bottom of the speaker) but I guess that ads to the clean lines of the speaker.

Very accurate, laid-back sound. On some selections I prefer the punch of my Polk Monitor 10B's, but overall these are beautiful speakers! Currently running an Adcom 545 MkII so maybe down the road I'd be looking to move up to a 555, sounds like from what I've read these guys love power.
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When I first got mine, I was using 545 MkII, that I was ready to sell because it sounded so bad with my B&W DMs. Anyway, I came my pair of L1290s in bad cosmetic condition for $350 and refinished them and the 545 didn't sound so bad. Then right before I moved to N.O. I picked up a 555 which was great right up until I traded that out for an a/d/s/ PA4.

So, in short; they were better with more power, but I never did give them ridiculous amounts and they were great the whole time!:yes:
 
Badass! I have the 1590/2s right now and the 710s and 620s in the closet. Love the ADS sound. Rescued them off craigslist and the veneers are terrible. Need to figure out how to reveneer them but the price was right and they sound like heaven. They all respond well with more power and may get around to biamping if I ever track down the C2000 crossover. Have fun with them-
 
Another bigtime ADS fan here! Wow thanks for dredging up this old thread, Wat a score (drool)...

I had a pair of L1290's back in the mid 80's - early 90's. They met an untimely demise. I now run a pair of their little brothers the L1090's. I run mine in my main system, bi-amped with an active crossover, but the stock crossovers are there should I decide to re-purpose and return them to stock form. They sound great with either my little SEP el84 amps OR my big Perreaux transistors and I can biamp them with either set of amps. Very sweet line of speakers, the entire L-series. ADS Baby, Yeah!
 
jmitchnh said:
Finally...

Here's the pics. Just like unpacking them for the first time. A few minor (very minor) blemishes but that's really being nit-picky. Not real crazy about the connection location (bottom of the speaker) but I guess that ads to the clean lines of the speaker.

Very accurate, laid-back sound. On some selections I prefer the punch of my Polk Monitor 10B's, but overall these are beautiful speakers! Currently running an Adcom 545 MkII so maybe down the road I'd be looking to move up to a 555, sounds like from what I've read these guys love power.
Click to expand...

I know - old thread, but I too was thinking about getting a pair of L1290 speakers. Based on one of your pics - you have Advent Heritage as well (which is what I have now) - so I was wondering how do these two compare?
 
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