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My ADS 5.1 HT Project

soundmotor said:
Quite honestly the only reason so many ADS speakers remain in use today is from his rebuilds. Things would have resorted to scavenging long ago if not for him.
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Yes, we agree .. and thanks for the education on the badges. It's something I'll be looking for. I've ever even looked at the badges on the L1230's ... has me curious now. I know part of the story about Richard, but never seen where he had the insight to buy the remaining stock and set up shop. He's really an amazing guy whom I've spoken to a few times via e-mails. He's done a lot of work for me these couple of years. Had the L1230 Tweeters/Midranges and Crossovers reconed and updated. When I bought the L810 for surrounds he did the upgrade on both Crossovers, I've yet to send him the Tweets/Mids but will soon as I get some replacements to have on hand while he does the work, and to have as a stock. I need to send him a woofer from a L400 soldier when it took a bullet when I set a book on the remote which somehow muted the amp and at the same time turned it up. When I noticed the problem, I unmuted .. and at full power one of the 400's woofers hit the dirt .. so to speak.
 
I bought the L1230's from a guy here in the Dallas area. He was moving so didn't have them hooked up as everything was packed. It's one of the very few times I would ever purchase a speaker unheard. The circumstances seemed innocent enough at the time, but I learned as much as you'd like to trust people, you simply can't. The tweeters were fried. Noticed all sets of terminals were up, but didn't think much of it at the time. Checked the fuze and notice it had a 3.0a fuse in there ... that should have been a light bulb, but I didn't know much about the 1230's at the time. I only recall the L910's from the 80's and couldn't afford them then. In any case, I picked them up for $500 and another $250 in repairs I was back in business. The speaker cabs themselves are pristine.
 
Absolutely incredible. I love to see the ADS name and new adaptations carry on. Thank your Rich for all the help in getting all of us to the point where we need to get to.
 
I hope you made sure your speakers are sealed properly. air tight. your getting a great response here at AK for club ADS. ouch on your pick up of the 1230's (many of us have done the same thing at one price or another)
 
GD70 said:
This is very close to the original.
https://www.parts-express.com/mellotone-premium-black-speaker-grill-cloth-yard-64-wide--260-332
I'll probably pick some up for my 910's.

I bought some black cloth from PE, but the weave was too fine and I used it on mt AR 12 grills which worked out quite well.
https://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-speaker-grill-cloth-black-yard-70-wide--260-335
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Thanks very much Glenn. Yes I've seen that and tried to get Parts-express to send me just a small swatch. I asked twice and didn't get a response from them. I'll try again. I'm convinced they would if its not drop shipped from manufacture?
 
Finjima said:
I hope you made sure your speakers are sealed properly. air tight. your getting a great response here at AK for club ADS. ouch on your pick up of the 1230's (many of us have done the same thing at one price or another)
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Absolutely! My trick was making sure the seal between the tweeter and midrange worked. Cutting the holes for the magnets had me come close between the both. ADS used some kind of putty to seal the hole in the inside baffle where the speakers wires came though one chamber to the other to hook up to the crossovers. Not knowing how they did that when building the Center, I used Silicon Caulk. After dismantling the L810's for the surrounds I learned that ADS used some kind of putty to seal that hole. So keeping in ads tradition, who am I to argue with them ... I just salvaged that putty and used it again. Thinking about it at the time, if for what ever reason I'd have to pull that wire out again, I'll have a much easier time with the surrounds then I will with the Center.
 
that putty is like the Duct Seal sold at the big box stores sold in the in the electrical section. we use it a lot in the AR-3 speakers sealing.
 
Spiceman50 said:
Absolutely! My trick was making sure the seal between the tweeter and midrange worked. Cutting the holes for the magnets had me come close between the both. ADS used some kind of putty to seal the hole in the inside baffle where the speakers wires came though one chamber to the other to hook up to the crossovers. Not knowing how they did that when building the Center, I used Silicon Caulk. After dismantling the L810's for the surrounds I learned that ADS used some kind of putty to seal that hole. So keeping in ads tradition, who am I to argue with them ... I just salvaged that putty and used it again. Thinking about it at the time, if for what ever reason I'd have to pull that wire out again, I'll have a much easier time with the surrounds then I will with the Center.
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I suppose one could TRY and measure some sort of outcome difference between an ADS tweeter/mid combo with someone's favorite putty and that same combo with a simple Buna-N gasket, but I doubt that there's equipment anywhere that's sensitive enough to confirm everyone's instinctive gut feeling about gooping speakers into an enclosure. What is tangible is the frustration and damage done to said enclosures and drivers removing them 40 years later.
I couldn't begin to second guess professional speaker design engineers, but 40 years later, I'm well within my purview to question 1970's manufacturing expediency.
I take it all back if you're filling the cabinets with water and keeping tropical fish in them.:banana:
 
GD70 said:
This is very close to the original.
https://www.parts-express.com/mellotone-premium-black-speaker-grill-cloth-yard-64-wide--260-332
I'll probably pick some up for my 910's.

I bought some black cloth from PE, but the weave was too fine and I used it on mt AR 12 grills which worked out quite well.
https://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-speaker-grill-cloth-black-yard-70-wide--260-335
Click to expand...

Wow, that Mellotone looks exactly like what I'm looking for. Huge thanks for taking the time to look that up. That fabric was not available a year ago on PE, so I gave up on them. As you know, I need true black and the other fabric they offered there wasn't true black. I'm ordering later this morning. As much searching I did a year ago, I can't believe it was this easy today. pfft.
 
Ahahaha ... you cracked me up this morning. I found some material to use for the speaker gaskets and hand cut them to fit, I was very careful to make sure they sealed tight. Unfortunately at the time and being my first attempt, the material was a bit thicker then I wanted and the result ... at least on the woofers on the Center Speaker, was that I hadn't routed out the speaker holes quite deep enough and the speaker baskets are just a tad taller then the baffle. It's not much to be honest maybe a 1/16" but it was a lesson I learned for the future. That said, having to route the rest of the baffle by hand, it was very difficult to get a flat cut in the Tweet/Mid holes by hand. I didn't have access to a CNC, so a steady hand and NO BEER for at least an hour helped me get though it. As i said I didn't know how speaker manufactures dealt with the hole in the inside baffle so I used caulk. When dismantling the L810's and discovering the puddy, I thought about JB weld epoxy puddy sold at Home Depot with a hardener and just not use the hardener. But then thought I don't know how it would hold up over the years if maybe it would dry up and crack away. Seeing how long the puddy ADS used lasted, I just recycled it and called it a day. After all, the beer wasn't' getting any colder .......
 
Spiceman50 said:
Ahahaha ... you cracked me up this morning. I found some material to use for the speaker gaskets and hand cut them to fit, I was very careful to make sure they sealed tight. Unfortunately at the time and being my first attempt, the material was a bit thicker then I wanted and the result ... at least on the woofers on the Center Speaker, was that I hadn't routed out the speaker holes quite deep enough and the speaker baskets are just a tad taller then the baffle. It's not much to be honest maybe a 1/16" but it was a lesson I learned for the future. That said, having to route the rest of the baffle by hand, it was very difficult to get a flat cut in the Tweet/Mid holes by hand. I didn't have access to a CNC, so a steady hand and NO BEER for at least an hour helped me get though it. As i said I didn't know how speaker manufactures dealt with the hole in the inside baffle so I used caulk. When dismantling the L810's and discovering the puddy, I thought about JB weld epoxy puddy sold at Home Depot with a hardener and just not use the hardener. But then thought I don't know how it would hold up over the years if maybe it would dry up and crack away. Seeing how long the puddy ADS used lasted, I just recycled it and called it a day. After all, the beer wasn't' getting any colder .......
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Air duct sealing putty is perfect for sealing drivers to cabs. A 1LB block sells for 2 bux and Home Depot. Stays flexible for longer than we will live!

I'm having PE send me a sample swatch of the Mellotone to see how close it is to my 910 grill fabric.

Cheers!
 
Spiceman50 said:
Ahahaha ... you cracked me up this morning. I found some material to use for the speaker gaskets and hand cut them to fit, I was very careful to make sure they sealed tight. Unfortunately at the time and being my first attempt, the material was a bit thicker then I wanted and the result ... at least on the woofers on the Center Speaker, was that I hadn't routed out the speaker holes quite deep enough and the speaker baskets are just a tad taller then the baffle. It's not much to be honest maybe a 1/16" but it was a lesson I learned for the future. That said, having to route the rest of the baffle by hand, it was very difficult to get a flat cut in the Tweet/Mid holes by hand. I didn't have access to a CNC, so a steady hand and NO BEER for at least an hour helped me get though it. As i said I didn't know how speaker manufactures dealt with the hole in the inside baffle so I used caulk. When dismantling the L810's and discovering the puddy, I thought about JB weld epoxy puddy sold at Home Depot with a hardener and just not use the hardener. But then thought I don't know how it would hold up over the years if maybe it would dry up and crack away. Seeing how long the puddy ADS used lasted, I just recycled it and called it a day. After all, the beer wasn't' getting any colder .......
Click to expand...

I think speaker building benefits best from carefully controlled beer intake. That being said, I keep none in the fridge while I'm in the power saw/router phase of any given speaker project in the summer. There is nothing better than uncontrolled beer guzzling when you're frying hot, unless you're in the middle of routing some speaker recesses.I'm impressed if your work is done by hand - I can't do squat without jigs and guides, including drilling holes in anything thicker than 3/8". Fortunately, neither of this summer's projects involve recessing anything.

SubwooferBoxGlueUp.gif
 
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Just a reminder, never use silicone in a sealed cabinet to seal it. It will off-gas as it dries and the resulting fumes deteriorates rubber and plastic within the cabinet. It can destroy butyl surrounds over time.

Spiceman, love the surrounds. Another project when I rebuild my L1230s. I already had plans for the center. The search is on for L810s with trashed cabs. Or I could upgrade to L1530s and use the L1230s to build the surrounds from......
 
GD70 said:
Air duct sealing putty is perfect for sealing drivers to cabs. A 1LB block sells for 2 bux and Home Depot. Stays flexible for longer than we will live!

I'm having PE send me a sample swatch of the Mellotone to see how close it is to my 910 grill fabric.

Cheers!
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Oh nice!! .... I ordered today just enough to do the center. PE confirmed they'll send you a swatch? ... Twice a year ago I asked if they would and twice they didn't respond. Which was strange because their communication to me when I had to return a small amp for replacement was outstanding. The fabric looks pretty good from the pictures. I'm so pumped to get the fabric and finish the project.

That said, Thanks for the heads up @Dennis Gardner and @GD70, actually that makes sense. (exposing my amateur background in speaker construction). At 63 years old I hope to outlive the damage I may have created. Or .... rebuild? I had so much fun doing this.
The center is 24" W 11 3/4 w" T and 10" D
Surrounds are 19" T 14 W 10 1/2" D

@Porkloin, Carefully Controlled is the key word in my garage when working with powertools. Don't touch the beer during the work phase, it's always when I'm done for the day.
 
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