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ADC 18A loudspeakers

Swald

Swald

New Member
My father purchased these speakers new in the late 1960s and they've been in his house ever since. Last week I acquired them. This version is four-way, two tweeters, 5.25" midrange, and 15" round drivers. They sound great, are very efficient, and the cases are in great shape. I see very little online about them, so I'm sharing these images as reference and would welcome more information from anyone. Thanks!

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0D5nhQSTiBKHe
 
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I have heard a pair of these recently powered by a Sansui 9090db, they sounded excellent.

Thanks for posting and welcome to AK.
 
I had a set of the 18s, minty condition. They were huge and had giant squared woofers rumored to have been made by KEF. A different setup than your ‘A’ versions. The components inside had heavy cadmium corrosion but they were all original and worked and obviously needed new caps. They spent so long on the restoration back burner that I sold them last year. They have massive build quality.
Enjoy your ADCs!
 
Anyone know what kind of tweeters those are and what material the domes are made of? Soft domes back then were pretty rare.

ETA: OK, I see it says on the back that the tweeters are mylar. Philips was probably the most well-known purveyor of the mylar dome, but this doesn't look like one of theirs, and I don't think it goes back to the 1960s either.

Also, I see the MSRP is $300 (each, I assume). If we use an inflation calculate to go back to 1969, that's $4000 per pair in today's money.
 
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My first instinct on the tweeters was Celestion; they looked a lot like the tweeters in a pair of Ditton 66's that I had.
 
@jberger had to do a web search when you mentioned that, and I agree that they do look somewhat similar, but they're about a decade too new to be the same.
 
I assumed they were either KEF 33s or their predecessors, or related to the Coles headphone drivers used by IMF.
Note the 'assumed' since I have no actual reason for thinking this.
 
I was wondering why the tweeters are not placed as pictured in the marketing materials, maybe an earlier or later version I guess. Either way, those are nice looking speakers and I would love to take a listen. Just remember that the capacitors probably need replacement at this point, if you need help with that just ask. Welcome to AK!
 
doctorolds said:
I was wondering why the tweeters are not placed as pictured in the marketing materials, maybe an earlier or later version I guess.
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Wow, I didn't notice that. Actually the speakers in the brochure are laid out completely differently. Notice that in the brochure the woofer and midrange are centered whereas in the actual speaker they're offset. I suspect the speakers the OP has are the production version and the brochure was created when they were still being prototyped. From what I understand, having the two tweeters separated like that can cause comb filtering.

I also notice that the brochure says ADC mylar dome tweeters, which implies that they were made, or at least designed (I don't think ADC was ever in the speaker driver business) and exclusively used by them. A Google image search on adc mylar dome tweeter did bring up one pic of that tweeter, but the website was useless - one of those eBay aggregation sites.
 
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doctorolds said:
I was wondering why the tweeters are not placed as pictured in the marketing materials, maybe an earlier or later version I guess. Either way, those are nice looking speakers and I would love to take a listen. Just remember that the capacitors probably need replacement at this point, if you need help with that just ask. Welcome to AK!
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The only image or post I found anywhere online of this exact model was also on this forum, here: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/adc-18a-questions-good.487863/#post-12912853. The image posted there has the same layout.

Tell me more about the capacitors... I had an experienced local shop check them out and based on their sound, condition, and all-original materials, he did not recommend service unless/until something fails. Second opinion?

The sound is good, bass somewhat boomy and not as tight/crisp as I'd hope. Most styles sound better to me with the loudness switch on my STR-6065 (at low to mid volume. Speaker position in the room makes a huge difference as you'd imagine. We've enjoyed playing with the tests on https://www.audiocheck.net/index.php and certain low frequencies resonate much louder and rattle the house, which I assume is all about the room and not the speakers.
 
swechsler said:
Also, I see the MSRP is $300 (each, I assume). If we use an inflation calculate to go back to 1969, that's $4000 per pair in today's money.
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swechsler said:
Wow, I didn't notice that. Actually the speakers in the brochure are laid out completely differently. Notice that in the brochure the woofer and midrange are centered whereas in the actual speaker they're offset. I suspect the speakers the OP has are the production version and the brochure was created when they were still being prototyped. From what I understand, having the two tweeters separated like that can cause comb filtering.

I also notice that the brochure says ADC mylar dome tweeters, which implies that they were made, or at least designed (I don't think ADC was ever in the speaker driver business) and exclusively used by them. A Google image search on adc mylar dome tweeter did bring up one pic of that tweeter, but the website was useless - one of those eBay aggregation sites.
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The marketing brochure also says the "new" 303AX features "the famous" ADC mylar dome tweeter, presumably the same one. I don't however see many (any?) of these mylar domes out there. Most seem to have used normal cones. https://www.aussieaudiomart.com/details/649442667-adc-303ax-speakers/images/1908797/
 
Has anyone seen these drivers in an ADC 18. There was no paperwork on the back of the speaker, usually these Vintage unit had what is considered specs or a owners manual on the back of the speaker. A 12 inch woofer with a doped according surround. Paper or composite cone. I aquired these in a trade. I do not think the owner knew what he had, he had no idea they were over 50 years old. I found a rumor that these may be Celestron drivers. I may add this posting as I find out more info. The tweeter is a very solid unit. From the placement of the intieor,I think these were professionally modified to hold these drivers. Help AK pro's PXL_20220424_094753250.jpg PXL_20220424_095356010.jpg
 

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Doped woofer and cone tweeter? Sounds like ADC's MO. And the woofer looks like a CTS, which they were known to use.
 
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alteclipsch said:
Tweeter looks like a vintage GE (188 code in there).
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noogies said:
Doped woofer and cone tweeter? Sounds like ADC's MO. And the woofer looks like a CTS, which they were known to use.
Click to expand...
Before I put an power to these beautiful towers, I wanted to get an idea of what I was working with. I just took the woofer out Friday, tried to get a look at other vintage woofer to see any that matched up. No go yet. But only a few hours into , any idea of power needs or handling. I know these 60 era were no real high power handling. I found numbers 17-0055 on the backside of the cone. Still looking. Thank you Gentlemen
 
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