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ADS L810. Educate Me, Please.

gdmoore28

gdmoore28

Super Member
I've never, ever heard an ADS speaker. It's one of many brands that just never show up around here. But reading the comments here regarding them and the L910 has moved them to the top of my hunt list. But I need a little information so that I'll know what I'm looking at.

Thus far I've found what looks like two series of the L810. One of them has metal grills, tweets and mids that are surface-mounted and slightly separated on the motor board, along with bolts that appear to attach the rear panel.

The other models seem to have fabric grill cloth on mdf frames, tweets and mids that are nicely flush mounted into the motor board and closely abutted, and no bolts on the rear panel.

Which version is early and which is later? Are there any other differences between them? Do they use the same drivers? Same crossovers? Is one version more desireable than the other?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

GeeDeeEmm


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I have not heard them yet but am also interested - love my L520's. Cloth grills are earlier. Later models also have rounded corners vs the square sharp edges.
 
http://sportsbil.com/ads/ Research!! Check out the ads parts schedule 1992 supplied by jdurbin1 to that site. It shows what parts are supposed to be in the speakers.

We'll be available for follow up questions as needed.

If your speaker location has bass reinforcing floor/walls, you will have a lot of bass in the 810. This is the reason many prefer the 710 with slightly smaller woofers and a more balanced sound. But if you love extra bass...party on with either of those two choices of yours.
 
Parts listing from another thread pasted below. The only difference over time seems to be the tweeter, with the 3/4 inch supposedly the more desirable. Personally, I'd veer toward the metal grill for it's protective properties.
A lot of people beef about the 810's bass to treble ratio when compared to the 710's, but I've never understood that. I found the 810's to be an all-around better room filler.


L-810 series I
Tweeters 0206-0100 (one inch)
Mids 0206-0201
Woofers 0206-0317 or 0206-0332 (replacement)
XO 501-0031

L-810 series II
Tweeters 0206-0107 (.75 inch) or 0206-0117 (replacement)
Mids 0206-0201
Woofers 0206-0317 or 0206-0332 (replacement)
XO 501-0042

810 (no L)
206-0117 tweeter replacement
206-0211 midrange
206-0212 midrange replacement
206-0317 woofers
 
Just to add a bit of clarification, I found a pair with the midrange and tweeter separated and they had an earlier serial number (46xx),
 
So, three series of them. Thanks so much for the info and the links. I've got a lot of reading to do.

And if 810 translates into big bass, I'm in. (With all the usual qualifications, of course. Not boomy, loose, flabby, yadda, yadda, yadda . . . . )

GeeDeeEmm
 
My theory is the 810s were voiced for rock. My teenage brother and my teenage self both bought 810s, my parents bought 710s. I drove mine with a Citation 12 and later a mid 80s Denon PMA integrated. I always kept them a foot away from both the wall they were on and a foot off of the floor. Never noticed any boom. I do like my bass, I now have my parents' 710s with a dual sub setup.:)
 
GD70 said:
This is why I'm an advocate of EQ's. Every listening space is different, and EQ's let you tailor the sound when needed.
Click to expand...

Better yet, an RTA. They used to be priced so high that they were the domain of people who worked sound for a living. Now, they are so reasonably priced that even po' folk like me can afford a decent used one. (Or, at least my neighbor can - I'm using his!)

GeeDeeEmm
 
gdmoore28 said:
I've never, ever heard an ADS speaker. It's one of many brands that just never show up around here. But reading the comments here regarding them and the L910 has moved them to the top of my hunt list. But I need a little information so that I'll know what I'm looking at.

Thus far I've found what looks like two series of the L810. One of them has metal grills, tweets and mids that are surface-mounted and slightly separated on the motor board, along with bolts that appear to attach the rear panel.

The other models seem to have fabric grill cloth on mdf frames, tweets and mids that are nicely flush mounted into the motor board and closely abutted, and no bolts on the rear panel.

Which version is early and which is later? Are there any other differences between them? Do they use the same drivers? Same crossovers? Is one version more desireable than the other?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

GeeDeeEmm


th
th
Click to expand...




Your pictures show the earliest version on the left, and the second version on the right. Version 3 has metal grills and rounded corners.

I had the second version and sold them. I regret it. They were fun to crank up loud because they never sounded harsh. They were a little boomy, but enjoyably so. I've read that refreshing the crossover capacitors helps tighten up the bass.
 
jpciii said:
I've read that refreshing the crossover capacitors helps tighten up the bass.
Click to expand...
Who'd of thought? I wouldn't have, until I actually did it. In most ADS crossovers, the only electrolytic cap is the higher value woofer cap. I did a bit of A/B'ing, one speaker with a new electrolytic cap for the woofer, one with the old one. I swapped the drivers back and forth and the quality sound followed the crossover, not the driver. The bad part is trying to find 10% tolerance radial caps. I converted to axial.

Before-and-After-Reduced.gif
 
I bought a pair of L810s and they were one of the best purchases ever. I do not find them to be bass heavy, I just turned of the Loudness. I have since gone 5.1 with all ADS (sans the .1) and am very happy.
 
Oops. As far as versions go, make sure to find one that works with yours amps. I know they had 4ohm and a 6ohm versions.
 
I bought a pair of L810's at a nearby thrift shop Friday night, the night before FrankenFest in Clinton. $45/pair, and after getting them up off the floor, and angled slightly, I tamed the boom, resulting in the most amazing speakers I own. And, oh yes, also restored the finish with some neutral Howards Restore A Finish!
 
Arthur Smith said:
I bought a pair of L810's at a nearby thrift shop Friday night, the night before FrankenFest in Clinton. $45/pair, and after getting them up off the floor, and angled slightly, I tamed the boom, resulting in the most amazing speakers I own. And, oh yes, also restored the finish with some neutral Howards Restore A Finish!
Click to expand...

Hi Arthur - thanks for relating your story.

Which state are you in?

GeeDeeEmm
 
ADS L810, whatever series, are all great speakers. The Braun L810 version are also very similar. The difference between the Braun and ADS variants is the Braun used one large resonance chamber for the enclosure for both woofers. The ADS versions had each woofer separated by an angled baffle.

The earlier versions use a larger diameter dome midrange. The later versions use a slightly larger diameter tweeter. The oldest ones used large square-shaped face plates for the midrange and tweeter drivers. The later versions used smaller faceplates, smaller magnets, with rounded corners.

For giggles, I measured my Braun L810 yesterday. To address the questions about how they are "voiced", there is a notable bass hump from 40 to 200 Hz. This is typical of speakers from this era, and most mass-market speakers in general. This bass hump gives the listener that "Chest thump" and "warmth" since it's usually 5-10 dB higher in output than the rest of the signal. Very few speakers, when measured in a real room, have a flat frequency response.

35418020581_f6a45e60dc_b.jpg
 
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