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ADS-910's

First time post, long time reader.

Welp, I bought them. I actually stumbled across this thread AFTER I bought them. I'm in Colorado, but a friend lived nearby in the bay area and picked them up for me. Unfortunately, I won't have them until probably late next spring, which is the next time they'll be driving out this way. Its a long term project, haha.

A friend at work (Orey Block, I think some people here might know or have heard of him) got me into ADS stuff after I went over and listened to his massive 2030's run by a couple home built PP mono tube amps pushing 300 watts a piece. He also had a set of 910's and 1530's just hanging out, along with a massive amount of other stuff. There were enough tubes, tube amps, and other random audio equipment laying around to start a museum. Sound wise, I've never experienced any audio, let alone vinyl, that even came close to that.

Anyway, after that life changing experience, I picked up a mint set of 710's last spring for FREE on craigslist and it began. Now they're powered either by a Marantz solid state or a chinese 10watt/channel single ended tube amp. Both sound pretty spectacular, but the cheapy tube amp takes the win. I've been watching for a bigger set of ADS speakers for a while, and the 910's or 1230/1530 were at the top of my list.

Speaking of stacking speakers, my 2030 friend Orey says that before he had his 2030's, he ran two sets of 910's stacked and they were pretty comparable to the 2030's.
 
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egesledder,
Congrats on the 910's. You should enjoy them. But, waiting til spring. Should be worth wait.
 
egesledder said:
First time post, long time reader.

Welp, I bought them. I actually stumbled across this thread AFTER I bought them. I'm in Colorado, but a friend lived nearby in the bay area and picked them up for me. Unfortunately, I won't have them until probably late next spring, which is the next time they'll be driving out this way. Its a long term project, haha.

A friend at work (Orey, Block I think some people here might know or have heard of him) got me into ADS stuff after I went over and listened to his massive 2030's run by a couple home built PP mono tube amps pushing 300 watts a piece. He also had a set of 910's and 1530's just hanging out, along with a massive amount of other stuff. There were enough tubes, tube amps, and other random audio equipment laying around to start a museum. Sound wise, I've never experienced any audio, let alone vinyl, that even came close to that.

Anyway, after that life changing experience, I picked up a mint set of 710's last spring for FREE on craigslist and it began. Now they're powered either by a Marantz solid state or a chinese 10watt/channel single ended tube amp. Both sound pretty spectacular, but the cheapy tube amp takes the win. I've been watching for a bigger set of ADS speakers for a while, and the 910's or 1230/1530 were at the top of my list.

Speaking of stacking speakers, my 2030 friend Orey says that before he had his 2030's, he ran two sets of 910's stacked and they were pretty comparable to the 2030's.
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Congrats! It's great an AKer got those! Were you able to get any back ground info on them from the seller?
910's stacked must have been mind blowing!
Anyway, yours looked pretty good in the listing pics. Looked like the cabs could use a light sanding and refinish which should be pretty easy albeit man handling them!
I noticed one badge missing in the pics. Did the seller have the other badge? There's been some movement on repro badges, not sure if you saw that a few pages back in the thread.
It's going to be a long winter waiting to get those home, but when you do, and hear them for the first time, you will have the biggest **** eating grin you ever had!
Ask your buddy to hook them up if possible to confirm all the drivers are working.
Congrats and welcome to the 910 club!
Glenn
 
egesledder said:
Welp, I bought them. I'm in Colorado, but a friend lived nearby in the bay area and picked them up for me. Unfortunately, I won't have them until probably late next spring,
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Pony Express...It's what we call it when someone hauls gear for someone else. I waited 3 years for a stack of Luxman gear picked up by a friend in Tulsa that he finally got to Nashville. A friend from Knoxville drove over and got them and he got them to an AKers house in Knoxville while he had an AK visitor from MD. He held them for me for a couple weeks and I finally picked them up at an AK get together almost exactly 3 years after the date on the pictures from the CL ad. Worth the way and thanks to all for the Pony Express on those pieces. You can post a wanted in the Pony Express forum if you think that might be quicker but those speakers are fairly large and many might not have the room.

Of course, an ADS 910 pony express would be stuck in my place for a few weeks while I auditioned them. Fortunately, I'm not on the trail from the Bay Area to CO. Enjoy your FREE 710s while you wait for the top of that line of speakers from ADS.
 
Pony Express is a great idea!
Just attended the Fall Frankenfest, and brought a couple pieces down from Massachussets to NY for another AKer who couldn't make it.
Look into it maybe you'll have them sooner than you think!
 
I ended up agreeing on $350 with the seller, contingent on all the drivers working. My friend tested them there before picking them up and one of the tweeters wasn't working. He dropped the price to $300 after that, which I figured was still worth it considering how rarely these pop up for sale. My friend was going to check fuses, etc to see why it wasn't working, but I haven't heard back yet. I got my L710's for free because the tweeter fuses were blown and they didn't sound great, so hopefully its a similar situation.

The guy said his friend had bought them from a shop in the early 80's, used them a bunch until the early 90's and then put them in storage when he left the country. They've been in storage since and he was selling them for his friend. No word on the badge. I have access to a nice 3D printer and I could probably make a pretty close copy.

The plan is to refinish the cabinets, get the tweeters and mid ranges rebuilt, and build some stands for it. I'll use steel, but I can make them exactly like the original ones, so it should work fine. I built some for the 710's that work great, I even filled the hollow steel with sand to keep the resonance down.

My friend who picked them up for me has a recording studio in his garage, so his "fee" was to demo them for the next 6 months or so, haha. Hopefully they'll be working nicely by the time they make it back here.
 
Good idea on the Pony Express thing. I'll probably just wait though, the 710's are pretty phenominal, and fit in the cramped living room a bit easier, haha. When they make it out here, it will give me a reason to go visit their ranch in southern Colorado and hang out for a bit.
 
egesledder said:
I ended up agreeing on $350 with the seller, contingent on all the drivers working. My friend tested them there before picking them up and one of the tweeters wasn't working. He dropped the price to $300 after that, which I figured was still worth it considering how rarely these pop up for sale. My friend was going to check fuses, etc to see why it wasn't working, but I haven't heard back yet. I got my L710's for free because the tweeter fuses were blown and they didn't sound great, so hopefully its a similar situation.

The guy said his friend had bought them from a shop in the early 80's, used them a bunch until the early 90's and then put them in storage when he left the country. They've been in storage since and he was selling them for his friend. No word on the badge. I have access to a nice 3D printer and I could probably make a pretty close copy.

The plan is to refinish the cabinets, get the tweeters and mid ranges rebuilt, and build some stands for it. I'll use steel, but I can make them exactly like the original ones, so it should work fine. I built some for the 710's that work great, I even filled the hollow steel with sand to keep the resonance down.

My friend who picked them up for me has a recording studio in his garage, so his "fee" was to demo them for the next 6 months or so, haha. Hopefully they'll be working nicely by the time they make it back here.
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The tweeters in yours are not the originals. They were used in a lot of different models and show up on fleabay often. Once you have correct tweeters, I would suggest sending the mids and tweeters to Richard So for a rebuild. The 910's deserve it and you'll have peace of mind knowing they are good for another 30+ years.
 
Yep, I saw that, and that's the plan. It looks like you can find original tweeters on ebay fairly regularly. It kind of seems like having an original ADS guy rebuild your driver isn't a thing that's going to be around forever, so its definitely worth doing while its still available.
 
egesledder said:
Yep, I saw that, and that's the plan. It looks like you can find original tweeters on ebay fairly regularly. It kind of seems like having an original ADS guy rebuild your driver isn't a thing that's going to be around forever, so its definitely worth doing while its still available.
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Good plan. These are simply amazing speakers that will blow you away, especially at volume and with live material. They just seem sonically limitless!
 
egesledder said:
and build some stands for it.
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Drugolf was looking into making a batch of stands out of aluminum, and I asked a friend with a machine shop for a quote for a batch of steel ones. I have not heard back from my friend, and am not sure where Drugolf is in the process although I think he is further down the path than I am. Maybe he will chime in with a status report?
 
Hey! I am actually heading to pick up more aluminum 2" x 5/8" bar today and to get another CNC machine shop recommendation or two. Since I have the AutoCAD DWG file for them, we were thinking we would have the top and bottom pieces CNC fabricated and then just weld them to the riser. Easier production, less man hours and probably more accurate. Cutting the bar aluminum and welding everything makes it a little difficult to get the angles exactly correct and even.The machine shop I got a quote from was too expensive.

After shopping around, right now the bar aluminum is looking to be about $3.30/ft and it takes about 10-12'/ per stand. Clamping knob of the correct size (3/8") and style will have to be ordered. They seem to be big enough that fgew places carry them and if they do they are way too expensive. The pricing on them isn't too bad on-line but the more you order the better for shipping etc.

What do you guys think we should use as a pad between the stand and speaker at the knobs? Just a felt pad disc?
 
Drugolf said:
Hey! I am actually heading to pick up more aluminum 2" x 5/8" bar today and to get another CNC machine shop recommendation or two. Since I have the AutoCAD DWG file for them, we were thinking we would have the top and bottom pieces CNC fabricated and then just weld them to the riser. Easier production, less man hours and probably more accurate. Cutting the bar aluminum and welding everything makes it a little difficult to get the angles exactly correct and even.The machine shop I got a quote from was too expensive.

After shopping around, right now the bar aluminum is looking to be about $3.30/ft and it takes about 10-12'/ per stand. Clamping knob of the correct size (3/8") and style will have to be ordered. They seem to be big enough that fgew places carry them and if they do they are way too expensive. The pricing on them isn't too bad on-line but the more you order the better for shipping etc.

What do you guys think we should use as a pad between the stand and speaker at the knobs? Just a felt pad disc?
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Could use a 1/8th thick rubber washer.
 
If you have the original knobs, maybe you can match them fairly closely at McMaster-Carr they seem to have a wide variety and that 3/8" is common. But knowing the knob style, smooth, round, two sided, three lobed and on and one and then the length of the threaded part, to include enough to add the scratch relief inside the stands next to the speakers.

Might be enough to have an adhesive-backed heavy foam stuck to the stand.
 
I've been listening to a lot of 70's-early 80's funk on the 910's for the last couple weeks, and dayum!
In the studio, or live, I am there! Slamming bass with these! The Mary Jane Girls are kicking out the vocals. Just so freaking good! Stupid giddy listening to these as usual.
 
OK, I'll bite, Glenn is trying to keep this thread open alive and active and keeps posting so since he posted that he was enjoying his 910s and I'm wondering if he will ever let a thread of his just pass on to the back pages, this isn't going to happen to this thread, just yet. We have a lot to finish up with the badges being allowed to be made, getting the list together of those that want, need and will be jonzin' for a set as well as we can see what Glenn has been listening to lately on those 910. Me I'm stuck listening to my lowly 1590/2s and cranking em so I can enjoy them in a different room in the house while I get some work done.

Party on Glenn. Just keeping you current, trying to catch Thain's epic Empire thread.
 
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