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ADS L420 Speaker Score!

onanysunday said:
I just picked up a pair of ADS L-420 at the thrift store for $13. Mine are in pretty good shape and have perfect looking drivers and surrounds. They have the cloth grills and fake plastic wooden veneer that is peeling in a few places. They have the nicest tweeters, and nicest sounding highs I've ever heard from a speaker, ever. They have excellent imaging and "openness" of sound.

They are comparable to a good sounding pair of Rectilinears except the stereo imaging, while extremely detailed and natural, is not as wide but is deeper and closer sounding like a very good, near field voice monitor speaker. But unfortunately they have very inadequate bass presence. I want to recap them to see if I can get some more bass out of the lower end which is almost non-existent. This is the main shortcoming of these speakers. I know it's best to use a sub with these but even without one, it doesn't really come close to full stereo music reproduction on the bottom end.

I know that recapping the electrolytics in crossovers typically only improve sonics in the upper frequencies and in this case no electrolytics were used for the upper frequencies (which is probably part of the reason why those tweeters still sound so good!). The only electrolytics are in the bass region. I am hoping that replacing them could bring back some much needed oomph to the bottom end, but I am just not sure there was any there to begin with. Can anyone verify these ever had any reasonable prescence in the lower frequencies when new?

I am not a bass-head at all and am only looking for what should naturally be there on the bottom end, but (right now) these speakers do not come close to delivering that.. It doesn't make sense to me that ADS would make speakers with tweeters sounding this good with so much bass information missing. Granted they are a 2-way with only a 7" woofer, but still, something is just not right. The tweeters sound good enough that I would like to put some effort into getting better full-range sound out of them..is this even possible?
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While I have not heard the 420's I am surprised that the bass is lacking. My 520's have quite good bass - feels like you are being kicked in the chest when you play some songs. The woofer is only 1" bigger on the 520 and the cabinet is not that much bigger.

Full disclosure - mine are in a small office (11 x 12) and I usually have the loudness and bass eq buttons depressed (NAD 7240pe). I also have the bass knob turned down a few notches. Treble knob is flat.
 
I just started listening to a pair of 420s in a new location, and I find the bass is great in a small 12x12 room with all tube gear. My son (recording engineer) says that the mid bass is muddy, and so I am going to try some room treatment. So far no luck on getting any Dow Corning 703 locally.
 
Speaker placement is important, especially for bass response. I would try optimizing this first (as according to your main listening position or "sweet spot") by elevating them off the floor using stands if you haven't already. Also, toe-in is another consideration, and how close/ far they are from walls, room corners and possibly even other furniture or how empty/full the room is with other furnishings can also effect sound, making it sound tighter or muddier, muffled or clear depending. I wouldn't mess with room treatments unless you've optimized speaker placement first.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Get a sub and run the speakers as satellites. Problem solved
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I got my ADS L420 new in 1982. They survived my older kid in the college dorm because
1 metal grille
2 rubber woofer surrounds
3 tweeter is fused
4 cabinets are well made

A few weeks ago I pulled them out because the DQ-20 were taking up too much room. Still great - as were most ADS products.

An addendum to a previous poster. I believe the cloth grille ADS were made by Braun, and the metal grille ones were made by ADS. Or something like that. Maybe ADS originally imported Braun drivers, then changed over to better cabinets and their own drivers?

On one of my many computers I have the brochure from sportbil; I will post it when I come across it.
 
onanysunday said:
But unfortunately they have very inadequate bass presence. I want to recap them to see if I can get some more bass out of the lower end which is almost non-existent. This is the main shortcoming of these speakers. I know it's best to use a sub with these but even without one, it doesn't really come close to full stereo music reproduction on the bottom end.


I am not a bass-head at all and am only looking for what should naturally be there on the bottom end, but (right now) these speakers do not come close to delivering that.. It doesn't make sense to me that ADS would make speakers with tweeters sounding this good with so much bass information missing. Granted they are a 2-way with only a 7" woofer, but still, something is just not right. The tweeters sound good enough that I would like to put some effort into getting better full-range sound out of them..is this even possible?
Click to expand...
I'm surprised by this. I bought a pair in 1980 and have used them on and off ever since. About 2 years ago, I put together a system for my son (12 at the time) with them, a Nak SR-4A receiver and a belt drive Technics. His thing is hip hop and while his room is pretty small, they shake the walls.

In college, I drove them with a NAD 3020 and when we had parties, ran my 2x15 bass guitar cabinet under them powered by a Mac MC2105. That rig definitely punched. Not really hifi, but no one cared.
 
Most resurrected thread? Probably not but it does keep surfacing.

2004
2015
2017 and again in 2017
2020
2026.

This thread keeps getting resurrected but then the L420 is worth discussion being a nice sounding small speaker.

woggles said:
I believe the cloth grille ADS were made by Braun, and the metal grille ones were made by ADS. Or something like that. Maybe ADS originally imported Braun drivers, then changed over to better cabinets and their own drivers?
Click to expand...
ADS made cloth grilled speakers and their 1980 brochure shows the move to metal grilles. The L420 shows s/n up to 13099 were cloth and above that they were metal, bronze or black. These were made after ADS was making their own speakers and drivers. There are threads with some of the early history and association with Braun
 
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