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A/D/S line pecking order?

There always seems to be conflicting information from different people as to which drivers came from what models and what potentially acceptable replacements might be. Is there a list of orignal driver part numbers for the various ADS speakers published anywhere that you have heard of?
 
I just scored my first pair of ADS speakers, and I now see why these have a serious following. :yes: L-400's at the Salvation Army for $24.99. I have them playing now with my Yamaha CR-2020, and they just may replace the KLH 17's I was using. They don't go as low as the 17s, but they image much much better. I'm thinking that if I paired these with a small sub, I'd have the perfect set-up. In skimming the 14 pages of this thread, it appears I have the series 2 L-400s, because they are smaller in size than the dimensions posted earlier in the thread for the 400s. What is the difference between the two series for this model? Also, one of the grills is too loose to stay attached. What holds the grills in place, just a tight fit to the box? I see that one side of the grill has some rubber strips along the edge. Do I need to put some bend in the edges to keep the grills snug?
 
There should be metal strips along all four edges so if any are missing you will need to find something similar to tighten up the fit. Even if they are all there you still need some small pieces of rubber or plastic to squeeze in there. What ever you do don't bend the grills. :no: Be creative and you will find some other solution. Nice score. :thmbsp:
 
I have the L400's too and agree that the just sound spectacular (walnut w/black metal grills). Like 'em so much that I decided to ePay some L420's for $75 just about 45 minutes ago (local). Just picked them up and they are now jamming behind me and sound even better than the L400's. MAN! I'M A HAPPY MAN! (also walnut with the brown metal grills)
 
Raphael said:
I have the L400's too and agree that the just sound spectacular (walnut w/black metal grills). Like 'em so much that I decided to ePay some L420's for $75 just about 45 minutes ago (local). Just picked them up and they are now jamming behind me and sound even better than the L400's. MAN! I'M A HAPPY MAN! (also walnut with the brown metal grills)
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I was watching those, you already bought them, picked them up, and have them hooked up? Man you don't mess around. How is the condition of the cabinets?
 
Raphael said:
I have the L400's too and agree that the just sound spectacular (walnut w/black metal grills). Like 'em so much that I decided to ePay some L420's for $75 just about 45 minutes ago (local). Just picked them up and they are now jamming behind me and sound even better than the L400's. MAN! I'M A HAPPY MAN! (also walnut with the brown metal grills)
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Now that's a man after my own heart, Can't wait to get the new toys in play!

Cangrats!
 
Yah I got bit by the ADS bug pretty hard myself and now have like 6 pairs inluding 3
pairs of L880's. Nice looking setup yu got there!
 
OOOh yea! He was only ten minutes away. I tried to post photos but too big. I'll try here again. They turned out nicer than depicted in his auction--all is nice--just a few scratches but clean, square corners, and nice grills.

Sorry 'bout the crappy pics but I had to play around with the pixels to reduce to 190kb.
 

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Seems that there are some quite small L400s that sometimes sell for near $300 on the auction site. The L420 is almost that small, and there are other L400s that are bigger than either.

I'd asked here if the very small L400 was all that attractive (in erms of sound not eye), and got the opinion that they were not really the step up from the L300 expected (but the L5XX series were). There will always be a place for the small speaker in any case, and every inch often counts..

Does this jive with everyone's opinion on the small A/D/S? (The 600s are too big for any of my intended applications, and I have the fantastic L300 already. I would use a good sub with any of these.) -sf
 
The L420's are twice the size/volume of the L400's and have a larger woof. makes up for some of the bass deficiency of the L400's. Both sound great but the 420 is just a better rounded bass.
 
Great thread. My first pair of "high end" speakers was a pair of a/d/s 320i car boxes, that I paired to a Marantz 2225 receiver. I still have both as a secondary system. The 320i is a terrific small speaker, with speed and punch that mate well with a warm source like a Marantz receiver.

But, wow, everybody hates the 1990s-era M series towers, huh? Well, I bought a pair of M9s to mate with my then-new McIntosh 4300V back in 1990 and ya know what? You're all absolutely right! I don't know what I was thinking, but I loved the cabinets (still do) and the a/d/s name and figured I would spend $1000 in 1990 dollars on them. I assumed it would take a while for them to burn in. 16 years later, they still need to burn in. Or burn up. I shoved them in a closet when I bought my Harbeth C7s, and there they will stay until I figure out how to replace the woofers and coils so I can make use of the beautiful cabinets without having to plug my ears.
 
My first pair of "high end" speakers were A/D/S/ speakers, too. A nice pair of L810s that I bought in Reno, Nevada from the Tin Ear Sound Company in 1976. They were sweet-sounding speakers and to this day, I am impressed with the purity of sound from the dome midrange and tweeter. The speakers that I liked ever better when I picked out the A/D/S's was a pair of Dalquist DQ-10s. Man, those were some awesome-sounding speakers, but I just could not afford them back then. I still have my L-810s, but they had been coupled with a Pioneer SX-838 receiver (also a 1976 vintage) and it's front end distortion did a great job of frying the drivers several times (I fiinally learned). The L810s current sit in storage out in the garage with at least 3 blown voice coils. I've noticed replacement drivers on Ebay lately, but I am "speaker flush" with 4 other systems (1 B&W and 3 Klipsch) right now and don't feel very motivated to get them fixed. I admit that's a shame. I would like to listen to them again some day. I'll probably try hooking them up to my Eico ST-70 tube amp and see how they sound. They sure used to sound great! Perhaps, I'll make them one of my Summer projects??? ;)
 
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picky, welcome to AudioKarma.

If you do decide to fix your L810's consider sending the drivers off to Richard So. He worked at ADS and has parts to repair most of the earlier speakers. He recently rebuilt the 7" drivers from my L710's and did at nice job for a reasonable price using genuine ADS parts.
 
Duffinator: Thanks for the warm welcome and the tip. Is Richard So possibly the fellow I might of heard about a few years back that lives in the SF Bay area? How might I contact him?
 
picky said:
Duffinator: Thanks for the warm welcome and the tip. Is Richard So possibly the fellow I might of heard about a few years back that lives in the SF Bay area? How might I contact him?
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Not sure but he's now in Arizona. Send him an emial at:

richard so [ads_speakers@yahoo.com]

And nice job on the HT, very cool looking.
 
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Duffinator: Thanks for the email addy and thanks for the good words about my HT! 26 months of work and I'd do it again if I had too. It was worth every bead of sweat and every smashed thumb! :banana:
 
and where the heck do these fit in? never knew they existed till today.
Broadcast Monitor System 1 Model BC8

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