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ADS speakers and their growing popularity in 2025

H2oman7.62mm

H2oman7.62mm

Super Member
I am not an expert on ADS speakers and I didn't own my first set until about 2 years ago, but I have noticed that the brand is experiencing a resurgence in interest and a spike in prices. Has anyone else noticed the recent uptick?

Kevin at Skylabs Audio probably has more to do with this than anyone else, he has praised his L810s more than a few times in his YouTube videos, and those videos are what steered me towards investigating and finally investing in the brand.

I am very proud of the L570/2s, L780/2s and the L980s that I own ... these are the best speakers that I have ever owned, I just wish I had learned about their existence decades ago.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
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H2oman7.62mm said:
I am not an expert on ADS speakers and I didn't own my first set until about 2 years ago, but I have noticed that the brand is experiencing a resurgence in interest
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Seeing as you're relatively new to them, I can tell you that for those in the know the interest in them never ebbed

H2oman7.62mm said:
.. ADS speakers... I have noticed that the brand is experiencing a resurgence in interest

Kevin at Skylabs Audio probably has more to do with this than anyone else, he has praised his L810s more than a few times in his YouTube videos,
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No disrespect to Kevin but as mentioned above they've always been popular. AK is littered with TONS of threads praising them.

Here's one for example started 20yr's ago and 65 pages and still active

A/D/S line pecking order?

I have seen that the A/D/S line of speakers are well regarded here. I have the 570. Anyone care to rank the ADS speakers you have heard/owned? How would you characterize/describe them? What amps/receivers seem to be good mates to the ADS line?
audiokarma.org
 
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Kevin at Skylabs is/was responsible for my addiction to vintage audio. I like modern as well now but…..that vintage stuff sure is purdy. Matter of fact if I hadn’t stumbled apon his channel I would still be listening to crap audio.
 
Everything posted on-line needs to be scrutinized with consideration of the source, motives, etc.

As an example, this one seems to go ga-ga over bookshelf speakers on pedestals, providing "high" efficiency at 90dB/W sensitivity and resonance at 80Hz. I guess the history has been forgotten, since even the late '60s had superior performance. When the presenter indicates that sub-woofers are still needed to complete the system, that's not praise, but condemnation:

 
Having just gone thru the "small speaker" experiment again with the Polk ES20, I was reminded that there is an unshakable flavor to the sound of these small woofers that just doesn't change much by brand or time. I was playing large speakers for a few years, and then tried to substitute the Polks - nope - it's a no go. Not they they are "bad" - just that they have the "small woofer sound." My wife - who hadn't paid attention for the first week or so, told me after she had listened to some of her music for a few hours, "What's with the small sound?"
 
DesertRatt said:
Having just gone thru the "small speaker" experiment again with the Polk ES20, I was reminded that there is an unshakable flavor to the sound of these small woofers that just doesn't change much by brand or time. I was playing large speakers for a few years, and then tried to substitute the Polks - nope - it's a no go. Not they they are "bad" - just that they have the "small woofer sound." My wife - who hadn't paid attention for the first week or so, told me after she had listened to some of her music for a few hours, "What's with the small sound?"
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See, small speakers that do the midrange correctly just hit me differently. I have some real hogs in my collection. EV Sentry VI's. McIntosh XRT 20's. Ohm Walsh 300mk2's.

But do you know what really sounds good to my ear? Infinity Modulus. LSA-1's. My Dynaco A25's. Lastly, this humble set of Ascend Acoustic HTM-200's while using a Miller and Kreisel with Maven woofer for the bass.

I guess I've just gotten used to not hearing that last 80hz or so. Just doesn't bother me, the absence.

There was a time that boom and sizzle was the litmus. Now, it is a different thing, and either choice is fine. We like what we like.
 
DesertRatt said:
Having just gone thru the "small speaker" experiment again with the Polk ES20, I was reminded that there is an unshakable flavor to the sound of these small woofers that just doesn't change much by brand or time. I was playing large speakers for a few years, and then tried to substitute the Polks - nope - it's a no go. Not they they are "bad" - just that they have the "small woofer sound." My wife - who hadn't paid attention for the first week or so, told me after she had listened to some of her music for a few hours, "What's with the small sound?"
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It can be hard to beat big woofer cones. :thumbsup: What comes close and even very acceptable are some smaller woofer cone speakers with passive radiators.
I do still prefer a big woofer cone, 10" or larger, over even dual 6" woofers in most cases. I have a pair of Polk Monitor 10's with dual 6" midbass drivers and a large passive radiator. They can dig down to 29hz. They have plenty of tight bass with good impact. I have plenty of smaller speakers with 6" to 8" woofers that sound great in a small room, but in a larger room I do have to hook a subwoofer up to them. I have several pairs of speakers with 10" woofers both sealed and ported cabinets. None of them need a subwoofer.
I have the Monitor 10's and a pair of Imperial 6 speakers in my main system at the moment so my sub isn't even being used. The 6's have 10" woofers in ported cabs.
I have a pair of ADS L570/2's that I really like, but when used in my main syatem do need a subwoofer.
 
Lavane said:
. I have plenty of smaller speakers with 6" to 8" woofers that sound great in a small room
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Roger that.

In my small office (11x10) my Pioneer Andrew Jones B22 with 4.5" woofer sounded acceptable sitting about 5-feet away, as did the PSB speakers. In my L/R with vaulted ceiling the little guys just don't impress even when using the sub. The vocals really seem to suffer.
 
DesertRatt said:
Roger that.

In my small office (11x10) my Pioneer Andrew Jones B22 with 4.5" woofer sounded acceptable sitting about 5-feet away, as did the PSB speakers. In my L/R with vaulted ceiling the little guys just don't impress even when using the sub. The vocals really seem to suffer.
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I bought a pair of the Dyaton Overnight Sensation speaker kits a few years ago. 4" midbass driver, 1" silk dome and rear port. They sound really good near field, like on a desk. But ljke you said, even with a sub, they just don't sound right in a larg room. Your right, the midrange really suffers.
 
Govany said:
But then I hooked them up this morning for a short listen and quickly came back to
my senses..
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Of course, after seeing those clean sticky domes because you have the non-cat proof, air filtering cloth grilles. The cat friendly, metal grilled ones have dustier sticky domes and the open top grilled XX90 series have sticky domes polluted with all kinds of floating around dust, dirt, hair and stuff on the top half of the domes.

Much prefer the air filtered cloth grilles. They look great. Not bad for 40-45 years old.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Of course, after seeing those clean sticky domes because you have the non-cat proof, air filtering cloth grilles. The cat friendly, metal grilled ones have dustier sticky domes and the open top grilled XX90 series have sticky domes polluted with all kinds of floating around dust, dirt, hair and stuff on the top half of the domes.

Much prefer the air filtered cloth grilles. They look great. Not bad for 40-45 years old.
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Thanks Blue Shadow, I got a great deal on this pair because everyone was wanting the metal
Grilles at the time.
Fine by me, I'll take cloth grilles and clean sticky domes any day!
 
"Welcome to the party pal!"
ADS has been a AK fan favorite for a long time.
As far as the 810, for the longest time there was almost a consensus amongst those here that it fell between the 710 and 910 in terms of performance quality. But they are all very good.
Put my 1590/ii (rosewood) into rotation last night with a nice new pair of AVM monoblock amps. Amp break-in period.
 
Dswankey said:
Seeing as you're relatively new to them, I can tell you that for those in the know the interest in them never ebbed


No disrespect to Kevin but as mentioned above they've always been popular. AK is littered with TONS of threads praising them.

Here's one for example started 20yr's ago and 65 pages and still active

A/D/S line pecking order?

I have seen that the A/D/S line of speakers are well regarded here. I have the 570. Anyone care to rank the ADS speakers you have heard/owned? How would you characterize/describe them? What amps/receivers seem to be good mates to the ADS line?
audiokarma.org
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Yes. Reading a lot of AK threads on the subject was part of my learning curve.
 
When I came across some L810's for sell several years ago, I didn't know anything about the brand until I got on AK and read up on them. After reading up on them I promptly went and bought them. They are the metal grill version. About a month later I came across a pair of L1090's that I bought.
ADS made great speakers!
 
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